left hand drive conversion

[pmp]

Folks,

i'm going to buy an 2+, but it's a right hand drive and in France we drive on left....it's not compulsory to change but it's easier for driving...
Is it possible to convert? Is it easy/expensive?

Thanks you for any help!

Pierre-Marie

[Elanintheforest]

Early (pre 'S') cars are easier than the later cars, as they have two sets of holes in the firewall....one for lhd, one for rhd. You'll need to find a lhd rack, but that should be easy enough. The biggest job will be to sort out the dashboard (and steering column / handbrake) as the whole lot will have to come out, a new lhd dash bought and everything swappped onto it. It's a job that is often required to be done anyway, as after 40 years, many of the original dashboards are a bit tatty, with cracked wood / varnish. It's also a good opportunity to clean up all the wiring behind the dash and make sure the connections are good.

It's not a job that can be done in a weekend, but it is easily done and if you take some time and do it all properly, will sort out / prevent many of the Plus 2 electrical problems that can arrise.

There will be other things required for sure, like new speedometer drive, and the brake lines will have to be re-routed. It would probably be much easier to do by having the engine out of the way, which would give you the opportunity to clean up the engine bay, sort out the headlamp vacuum system and a few other little jobs...maybe detail the engine as well. If you get a Plus 2 parts list and analyse that, it will reveal exactly which parts are required. Don't let the conversion put you off buying a Plus 2!

Mark

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Being so low down in an Elan is a problem when driving a RHD one in Europe.
Those fast run outs on the country roads on the weekend, where our cars come to life, can be a pain in the a55 when you can't see around all of those Sunday drivers that need to be overtaken.
Yes the change to LHD is well worthwhile.

Cheers
John

[pmp]

In fact i've to change the dashboard by a new, re route the break line and change the pedals.
And for the parking brake?
How many does it cost (money/time)?

Thanks you.

Pierre-Marie

[bcmc33]

I would have thought the best option is to import a Federal +2 from North America.

[terryp]

Pierre
There are loads of RHD cars in France , infact most of the plus 2's here are RHD
You do get use to it. Why not get a car, drive it for a bit, see it you can live with it and if you can't then change it. I believe the cost is circa ?2000
I know people say about country lanes but there are less cars here so less to pass!

All the best

Terry