Can The Body Be Fitted Off-centre?

[Matt7c]

I ask this question because my rear passenger side tyre rubs on the wheel arch when cornering. The tyre is noticeably closer to the wheel arch that any of the others, which don't rub. I have had a look at the suspension geometry and on initial measuring and visual inspection all seems OK. So could the body have been put back on slightly off-centre after the chassis replacement? Is that possible? It would only have to come over about half an inch to solve the issue and there is room on the other side. In anticipation of the obvious question, yes the tyres are a little too big, so the problem is partially self-induced, although that doesn't excuse the car being out of kilter...

[types26/36]

Welcome to the world of Lotus! nine out of ten elan bodies are off centre and it shows up more with wider tyres,go through previous posts as its been discussed before.
Brian

[Matt7c]

Do you mean they were built squiffy, or fitted squiffy?

[types26/36]

I have always believed that the chassis is/was built to a acceptable standards (within reason)as it was assembled in a jig, the body on the other hand was not built to such exacting standards and when fibreglass cures distortion can be a factor.
New replacement chassis are not drilled and taped for the mounting points so the chassis can be mated to the exsisting body bobbins, it would be unusual if body was equally spaced on the chassis.
Brian

[bill308]

I'm in the middle of a restoration on my S2 Elan that's been going on for some years now. As part of this process, I made a reference frame and templates to compare the contours of the left and right sides of the body. I found that my body (the car's body that is) was somewhat banana shaped, when viewed from above, in the rear by about 5/8 of an inch. I also found the contours of the rear fenders were asymetrical to compensate for the curvature. If the right side wheel well were lips, they would be puckered. I also found the door openings were also quite a bit different too.

Well, I wound up making a verticle slit in the fiberglass body from the right rear tail light area to just forward of the drivers's seat (RHD car), prying open up the body about 5/8 inch at the tail light, and glassing in the scare. Oh yeah, I didn't want to change the dimensions of the trunk opening so I cut around it and moved it over 1/2 the distance and reglassed it in. The final major tweak was to make the fender contour of the drivers (right) side rear fender look like the left side. Alternatively, I could have made the left side look like the right side and gained some additional tire clearance (in retrospect, this may have been a better decision from an oversize tire clearance perspective). This was accomplished by cutting radial slits in the rear wheel opening, compressing the panel slices and reglassing as necessary. The end result, is a reasonably symetrical rear end with nearly identical wheel clearances.

I decided to ignore the door opening differences.

[steveww]

I had similar issues on my S4 when I fitted 5x13 minilites. The NSF and OSR arches just caught the tyre sidewall. However there is quite a bit of lip on the inside of the arch. 10mins with a grinder and a bit of extra space was created. From previous post it would appear that most of them were just built like that. You just have to be careful what size wheels and tyres you fit and remember that on the Elan wider is not always better. If you are looking for sticky rubber that will fit try the Michelin XAS FF 155x13, not cheap but well worth it.

[Matt7c]

The tyre issue is something of a saga! The S2 originally had 5.20/13s, which is a size I was unable to find when I was replacing the old tyres that were on the car during its 14 years lay up. The nearest size is (I think) 135/13 which is the size of the old tyres (Goodyear Grand Prix S - remember them?). I scouted around, but found the tyre choice very limited at that size. So I thought, what difference could an extra 10mm make - 5mm on each side - bound to be enough clearance...

Well actually there probably would have been room for 145s. Except that the tyres on the car are actually 155/13...

This came as an unpleasant shock to me when I noticed the other day - the dreaded sinking feeling! I really don't know how it happened. :blink: I have always known that I wanted to put 145/13s on there and until I actually looked at the tyres properly, I really thought they were 145s. I remember asking for 145s, and I even remember looking at 2 of the tyres in the bay which had already been completed while 2 more were on order, and I am certain (in my mind) that they were 145s... but the ones on the car aren't :blink:

I am very confused! 2 possibilities arise: either I had a complete cognitive failure lasting a few days in which I imaged 145s to be the original size and so 155s were the ones I wanted. :unsure: Or, the tyre bay have stiffed me and put 155s on 'cos they couldn't get the extra 2 145s in short order. :angry:

Either way, I am confused and embarrassed, not to say annoyed with myself 'cos it comes back to me either way.

[avhation]

Following up Matt's comments, the UK Ford cars of the era which started on 5.20 x 13 (e.g.Anglia, Cortina) switched to 145 x 13 when radials became fashionable. I think 135 x 13 would have been too narrow. My S3 had 155 x 13 when I got it (in 1969) and I managed to damage one front wheel arch when bumping over a low ramp on full lock The rear arch clearance was minimal but present, and I ran with 155 on the rear and 145 on the front for a while until getting back to 145 all round. If you have 155 on the front be very careful when turning on full lock - the inside wheel may damage the top of the arch if you crossany kind of bump.

[twincamman]

I just string aligned my car and its body is off on a angle too --but if you want something reliable that wont leak oil buy a caddie n ed