S2 Elan door surround Latice - is yours rotten too

[garyeanderson]

Here are a couple of photos after glassing in the steel. It's fiddlely work, the wetted out chopped strand mat does not like to make the radius around the 3/8 inch steel and then do an opposite curve to the floor and sills, likewise the omega shape around the steel to the rear wheel arch. Maybe I should have used some 6 ounce cloth to start and finished up with a couple layers of chopped strand matt, but it probably would have done the same thing anyway. The Left hand side still needs a little more work, it was totally separated and two layers of 1 1/2 ounce mat doesn't seem like enough. I think I am going to put another 2 layers on the underside, I just love hanging glass and letting gravity help pulling it down...

[elj221c]

Gary,
Yes, gravity is a wonderful thing!
It all looks very good. You didn't quite answer my question, though! As my diagonal bracing is rotton to half it's depth I was considering bonding new diags to old to obviate welding in situe. Do you think that would be acceptable, and more to the point, would it pass a (knowledgeable) MOT tester's scrutiny with regards to seat belt mountings. I would need to replace those with the bottom rail much as in your earlier diagram. The tester I intend to use is also used by Bell and Colville in Surrey (UK) so he knows his Lotus.
Mmm, perhaps I should also go visit and seek his advice as well.
Roy
'65S2

[garyeanderson]

Hi Roy

I guess, maybe I didn't understand your question. How much are the sills broken out on the bottom? Are they split from the rust expanding? Are they expanded so much that the floor is partially separated from the sills? What are you going to bond in and to what?
If you were to make a fiberglass panel of say, several 3 or 4 layers of
1 1/2 oz. matt on a waxed 4 x 8 foot sheet of high-density fiberboard or large piece of glass. Then cut them out to the desired shape and bond them in with an adhesive it may work just fine. I wouldn't trust a seat belt with it. Are seat belts mandatory to have in a 65 S2?
As for fiber-glassing steel diagonals back in place, I do not think its going to do much of anything.

Gary

[elj221c]

Gary,
My intention was to weld up a new bottom rail and diagonals as in your diagram then bond the diagonals to the existing diagonals instead of welding them and obviously bonding in the lower rail to the sill bottom. All I was trying to do was avoid welding within the car but your pics show it can be done.
The left side of the car is worse than the right (drivers) side. The worst area for splitting out on the bottom of the sill are at both wheel arch ends. The centre section doesn't seem too bad.
I would want belts in any case even if they were not mandatory for this period. I do have a roll bar which picks up on the mounts so giving added strength there.
Thanks for your comments and excellent pictures. It has given plenty of food for thought.
Roy
'65S2

[garyeanderson]

Just a couple of photos of the wheel arches blacked out. I bought the last two cans of spray trim black at NAPA, when I got home I droped one and it punchered. Well I was covered from head to foot wit h a fine spray in my face and one of my shoes is half and half, what a way to start the morning. This concludes this project, I hope everyone that followed along enjoyed the show...

Gary

[twincamman]

I use Saran wrap -- the stuff the wife uses to cover bowls --[ comes in rolls ] to over come the forces of gravity when vertical fiber glassing ----it sticks to the surrounding area and leaves a smooth finish when removed if all the wrinkles are press out - -ed

[vstibbard]

I know this is an old post but through I'd offer an alternative approach taken from the yacht building.

I replaced rusted lattice frames by removing the rusted sections front and rear of door opening up to the level of the panel that the pedals bolt to, and replaced the removed section with glassed in 12mm think composite panel, I used nomex panel with a bilaxial kevlar/glass layer on each side of it, added lightness and way more strength than the original structure and no welding required!!!

then drilled 4 70mm holes to allow access to the the inner sills and filled it with expanding fire stop foam to act a crash structure.

Cheers

V

[Mazzini]

Thanks for posting that. A very interesting solution.

[pharriso]

Any pictures?

[Robert10]

I did something similar to vstibbard 30 years ago, only using aluminium sheet. Later cut holes towards to ends to insert side impact bars (connected to a roll cage at the back & to the chassis at the front via footwell bars)

Has improved the stiffness of the car significantly (& crash protection!)

[vstibbard]

Should have, somewhere.

V

[661]

I've just received some parts from Spyder and I see in their adverts that they are supplying stainless steel latice replacements.

[Andy8421]

Graeme,

Thank you for the info. My lattices are rotten and I had planned on DIY stainless replacements. I will investigate the Spyder alternative.

Andy.

[661]

I've just looked at their website and I can't see them.
It was a paper flyer in with my purchases so gave the impression of being a new line.
Off the top of my head they were £150 ish, plus VAT each side, seemed pretty reasonable.

[gherlt]

On availability of replacements, I bought a pair of lattices for my S1 LHD, 450 GBP all incl at Boss Motors. So 150 GBP for SS ones sounds pretty good.