1970 Elan S4 SE DHC ground up

[alexblack13]

Oh yes!


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Alex...

[collins_dan]

I'll be the contrarian here. Why take the body off if the chassis is "in really good condition"? If its just the paint that needs addressing, just address the paint. I went more the rolling restoration route, which has allowed me to enjoy the car and chip away as time and money permits. It probably depends on how you like to tackle projects like this, head on and bit by bit. I know its cold now (just south of you in Baltimore), but spring will be here before you know it and you know you will want to drive it. Just another point of view, something you will come to learn that there are a lot of on this site. Either way you go, it will be a great project. Looking forward to the pictures, Dan '70 S4 SE DHC

[stugilmour]

David, I think Dan above hits the nail on the head. If full inspection of the frame indicates you are comfortable not removing the body, so be it; paint in place. I thought I could go that route with my Plus 2, but it turned out a new frame was required when we inspected things more closely.

If, as you indicate, you are removing the body for sure, I would prep & paint with it off. This worked well for me. The access to various areas of the body is much better, and the paint shop could easily handle the body on a steel cart. He also put an undercoating material in various areas, which was way easier as a raw body. For hauling the body around finished, I rented an enclosed auto hauler trailer with smooth floor, which worked very well. They have a smooth surface ramp type door with a very gentle slope and low approach angle, which made loading & unloading of the body reasonable when supported on castor pads. No real risk of damage rolling the body on & off.

Anyway, removal of the body is the key. It adds a considerable amount of work, but assures all is good with the frame and facilitates a lot of work, like fitting brake lines, hand brake cable, diff & shafts, etc.

One thing I did not realize at the start of the project was the amount of storage space & work space required. The complete body located off site for a considerable period of time during prep & paint ended up helping a lot. I am in snow country as well, and using my wife's side of the garage to store the body off the car was not an option, and leaving it out in the weather even covered does not seem to be recommended. I got a shed to store all the various components while off the car or out of the frame, which worked well.

With the body back, I am just at the assembly stage now. Body off the frame is making access considerably easier. I have most of the separate components ready to go and stored in the basement; rebuilt heater, light pods, dash with wiring attached, flushed gas tank, etc.. My plan is to essentially build up most of the body with the rolling chassis complete with drive train now safely stored off site and out of the way.

Obviously to each is own, but that`s the way I am doing it.

Here is a link to some photo's of the body work showing the cart he used. You can see the Ali square tubing frame I installed at the Plus 2 jacking points located in the side rails, I believe the Elan is a bit different in this detail, and the body would just rest on the flat cart top.

http://www.halerconcepts.com/1971_lotus ... ts_ltd.htm

[dpchamp87]

Here is a link to the 'before' pictures. Hope the link works.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?u ... feat=email

David

[Chrisrich]

David, my .02:
Don't paint it this season -- it'll never be ready for the summer.
Drive it and take it down end of next season.
Whatever you estimate it'll take, you can probably double it.
PS: I'm about 1/2 hr from you -- reach out if I can help. I just did the bodywork on this one, by hand.

Chris

[dpchamp87]

Chris,

I may well take your advice. I am in the middle of changing the damn rotaflexes (I forgot what a pain in the a.. that job is) and once I get the DMV bureaucracy out of the way it might well make sense to drive the car this summer, do the brakes (they certainly need done), get the car running really well and cure any problems before starting the cosmetic restoration.

David

[Chrisrich]

Yeah, I've been there. While I was doing my car I left the car up in the air too long and destroyed the donuts. I put those CV joints in, probably because I didn't want to be humiliated by 4 lbs of rubber.
Let me know if I can help. My favorite way to spend an afternoon is often in someone else's garage smirking at THEIR problems. (I mean that in a nice way).
Don't forget, it you drive the car, you can make a laundry list of everything it needs when you do the resto.

c

[cabc26b]

Hi David ,

FWIW , and having painted them both ways I would echo some advise here - First you can get a nice paint job with the chassis on if ( big if) the painter invests the time necessary to be neat. Second , you can really work the details on the build if you take the car completely apart and restore/ replace everything , the look you get is very crisp.

The bigger decision may be the time/grief/dollar(pound) distribution - take the car apart and it will be a long time and a lot of money out to have it back on the road - its too easy to fall into the the long as I have it apart , i may as well do this syndrome - In my case the nut and bolt on the S1 has taken years - the refresh on the s2 was measured in months ( about 4) like Alex says its all in what you want....

George

[dpchamp87]

I certainly hear you so I have decided to get the car working/running really well first and run it long enough to find out all the problems and hopefully solve them. Only then will I make the decision as to whether to take the body off and do the restoration or just to have the painter do a nice job with the body in place. Next job (once I get the remaining 2 new rotaflexes on) is to start on the brakes which are a joke mainly due to frozen calipers but also because the servo has been removed (good thing) but the m/c is still the standard size.

David

[alexblack13]

That's exactly what I decided I would do David. When I bought it and looked at the money recently spent on it with its history etc I thought a tidy up (which I knew it badly needed) and drive it around for a while would be possible. Errr no.. I took it to a local garage where I know the guys well and had it up on the ramp and it was bad. Well worse than discribed and way more than I took in when I was down on my knees looking under. It still had nearly a years mot to run and it was lethal!!

No luck! I had no option but to get on with it.

I hope your car is up to being used for a while. I see nothing wrong with the idea but please give it a good thorough inspection.Get it up in the air and have a good look under it etc.

AND......... Have fun!!

Alex.....

[dpchamp87]

Alex,

Luckily I was able to get it up on the lift before buying. The car spent its life until 2002 in California and it has only done 500 miles in NY since. The rotaflexes were seriously frightening and are in the process of being changed now. The brakes certainly need attention but the chassis does not have anything other than a little surface rust; most of it is still the original red colour. I gave all the weak spots a real poking with a large sharp screwdriver and no nasty surprises ensued.

Hoping to get it registered tomorrow (it's a major production in CT requiring about 3 visits to the dreaded DMV) and finish up the rotaflexes on Saturday so I can find out how bad the brakes really are!

David

[alexblack13]

Terrific! Sounds to me like the body does not need removing. (I had no choice) Repair it and paint it.

Oh how I wished I lived somewhere warm and sunny at times!!

Have fun..

Alex..