Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi all,

I own a '68 S3 FHC that has been (ab)used as a sprint car during the 70's.
The body needs some serious work and i'm thinking of fitting 26R arches while it's being redone.
Can someone on here provide pictures or tell me how to do it? I would like to know how much original shell has to be removed to fit the 26R arches.

well take a look at SADLOTUS post and that is how it was done for his Elan.

Progress so far
elan-f14/progress-far-t14299.html

Get some beer, 2 or 12 cases and you can see some other arches. I just posted this reply and it may or may not interest you but there is a lot of info contained in these links.

Front Bumper
elan-f14/front-bumper-t19193-15.html

The short answer is, "there are no short answers". Not sure what the real answer is but 26r had them and no other stock elan did. The 26r came out initially with the "stock" arches and bumper (I think) with 5 1/2 inch wide wheels, My guess is when they brought out the 6 inch wheels is that the tires mounted on those 6 inch rims fouled at the front and the arches were modified, this left the bumper that extended rearward of the now modified arches so it was like wise modified. I started the topic that I linked in the last post to find out more as there were not that many made and I just didn't know enough about them. the topic took off. That is until some folks that didn't enjoy my form of humor and folks stopped posting. Anyway when you install wide wheels you need to modify the the arches, I am going to have to do some more cutting on my type 26 that was once Don Tingles C modified body on another chassis. The write up for that body is

Tingles ex C production race Elan Body
elan-f14/tingles-production-race-elan-body-t16586.html

The bumper (in the above thread) is a stock style (my friend Willie has a mold that is well used from 40 years ago) and I cut the ends back of one of those to make it work with those flairs.
Its only 2 pages but there are quite a few photos.

The front arches are the same as I installed on another project that has gone stillborn for a few years like a lot of the stuff I have. Money make the project list go round and I don't have it.

Elan Flairs - Marsh Motors begins a new season
elan-f14/elan-flairs-marsh-motors-begins-new-season-t16535.html

This topic has just about every Elan flair that I and others have seen, on most when the front arches are done then the bumper needs some attention too.
Elan Flairs - the good the bad and some ugly ones
elan-photos-f18/elan-flairs-the-good-the-bad-and-some-ugly-ones-t16400.html

Better order up a truck delivery from the Bud plant up in N.H., you are going to have a lot of reading material that needs some "washing down" liquid

Have a great Holiday everyone and don't take me as serious as some that just want to talk...

Oop's I don't think I answered your question...
Gary

Bart_arc wrote:Hi all,

I own a '68 S3 FHC that has been (ab)used as a sprint car during the 70's.
The body needs some serious work and i'm thinking of fitting 26R arches while it's being redone.
Can someone on here provide pictures or tell me how to do it? I would like to know how much original shell has to be removed to fit the 26R arches.

Hi Bart,been doing a load of searching since joining...some great pics of surgery on this thread--- wow! a brave man needed!
Just completed bonding the 26R arches onhttp://www.lotuselan.net/forums/elan- ... 24751.html

Regards - Sonny

Hi all,

Thanks for the reply. I already used the search function to browse true 26r topic but didn't find these threads.
Only the rear arches have extentions on mine and i don't like them very much. Wheel clearance is a problem on the front due to the original arches....

Does anyone know where one could buy a set of wide flairs? Dave Bean used to sell them, but the guy who made them for Bean doesn't do them anymore. Don't know what happened to the molds.They are shown in the Bean catalogue.

Search ebay USA I saw someone selling them there recently

I have a damaged lightweight 26R bodyshell available in the UK.
Possibly, the front right part may still be availabe too.
If this may be of any help, let me know !
Louis Lempereur

gordont wrote:Search ebay USA I saw someone selling them there recently

Thanks for the feed to E-Bay! George

Fitting a set of front & rear wheel arch flares to the elan body is a
job that will take quite a bit of time, the best way to attack the job
is to have a bare body shell to begin with, and also to have a rotisserie
or some method to turn the body on its side in order to complete
the fibreglass bonding and finishing, especially underneath or on the
inside of the wheel arches, as there is nothing worse than having rough
ragged edges left underneath, and if the bonding is not correct on both
sides, the arches will develop ugly fractures & cracks along the joins
over time.

The flares should be blended into the body line, and not merely stuck
onto the outside of the body, the original F/glass body material surrounding
the wheel arches is best removed, otherwise the end result could be left looking
like a quick weekend add on job.

There is a lot of time (many weeks) involved in the fitting and prepping, and
making sure that all of the wheel arches look the same from side to side,
and also that they blend neatly into the original lines of the body.

Way back in the 80s during the first rebuild of my S2 I fitted a set of
wheel arch flares which I obtained from GS Motor Bodies (Not sure if GSMB is
still operating) in Sydney Australia, the photos below show the results of
many weeks of careful prepping and fitting and finishing of the flares.

The wheels are Australian made 14"X6" three piece alloy Simmonds, shod
with Continental 195 - 60 series rubber, which give almost the same rolling
radius as the original 13" wheels and tires.

I have had many complimentary comments from others on these
flares, and they certainly add a nice filled out, performance sports look to
the elan body, but wheel arch flares are not to everyone's liking, as with
most things, if you don't like it, don't do it.
Ceejay