A plea to the makers of Elan parts
Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:37 pm
Over the years I have bought many Lotus spares and replacement parts from all the usual and specialist suppliers. In the main these parts do the job they are supposed to do but I have been disappointed with the poor fit and attention to detail. With a little more care (and at no extra cost) the quality of the good could be improved considerably. Below are some examples of what I am referring to.
Bottom radiator hose (2 seater only?)
In the past when we were able to buy the genuine Lotus part the two ends of this hose lined up beautifully with the engine and radiator stubs. Current offerings are just an approximation of the original shape and apart from requiring shortening just to fit in the available space they end up having to be installed with inbuilt stress.
Petrol Tanks (2 seater)
I fitted an aluminium tank to my car but struggled to fit the filler hose as the tank inlet pipe was welded on at the wrong angle. Really there is no excuse for this. A simple cardboard template is all that would be needed to ensure the pipe points to the filler cap. The picture here is of a stainless tank that another member fitted.
Hoods.
The forum text editor has some sort of visibility limit so I will continue in a second post.
Ian Phillips
Bottom radiator hose (2 seater only?)
In the past when we were able to buy the genuine Lotus part the two ends of this hose lined up beautifully with the engine and radiator stubs. Current offerings are just an approximation of the original shape and apart from requiring shortening just to fit in the available space they end up having to be installed with inbuilt stress.
Petrol Tanks (2 seater)
I fitted an aluminium tank to my car but struggled to fit the filler hose as the tank inlet pipe was welded on at the wrong angle. Really there is no excuse for this. A simple cardboard template is all that would be needed to ensure the pipe points to the filler cap. The picture here is of a stainless tank that another member fitted.
Hoods.
The forum text editor has some sort of visibility limit so I will continue in a second post.
Ian Phillips