Elan Plus 2

[2-SHEDS]

Thanks for all this advice as Iam half way through removing 15 various (yes..15) coats of paint,primer etc by way of a scaper and 80 grit elbow grease on my 74+2.Tried heatguns but with such a thick coat on it was a fine line between scrapping the paint and digging into the gel.I intend to epoxy gelcoat and 2-pak the entire car when fully preped, but my question is do I fill and flatten the body before or after gelcoating.Did you use a epoxy filler or a body shop type one.Also you mentioned 5 coats of gelcoat was applied. Was each one painted on while the last was still tacky and did the gelcoat have a percentage of wax mixed in. With all the pain in stripping this thing I do not want to tackle this job again. Do it right first time I say. :blink:

[LaikaTheDog]

wow, is this thread still going

2-Sheds;

I used epoxy, which you say you are intending to use. I am not sure what others will have to say about this as the pro shops still use polyester resin...anyway, to answer your question, I used a space heater to get the garage up to at least 30 degrees celcius before applying the resin. I found that to apply a new layer over the tack finish was verrrry messy, you tend to get bad drag lines, I waited at least 4 - 5 hours at 30 degrees before I did the next layer, as I said elsewhere, I did a minimum of 5 layers, but recommend perhaps a few more, but not too much, as you start to loose shapes, like that nice clean line at the top of the front wings, starts to get rounded if you apply too much resin. ( i use a potters 'squeegie' to apply gel, not a brush, it is a rubber kidney shaped rubber thing) I did not use any wax, and I used a standard p38 filler, I filled before I gelled up to make sure I had a uniform surface type for the paint...

fit up the entire car body parts, boot, bonnet, light pods etc and fill/profile as necessary before you put any gel on, and as always make the base perfect before you move on to the gel, then make that perfect and move on to the paint. also I waited a few months before doing any paint on the new gel to make sure any chemicals had leeched out..despite epoxy cliaming to be utterly inert.

one other thing, if you are using a space heater wear a bandana...the heat in the garage can get a bit much, the last thing you need is a drip on wet gel...believe me on this...I can still see that damn mark next to the light pod.....

[gap]

Hello all
I wondered if anyone can give me some advice.
I own a 1969 2+2 which I use almost daily.
Mechanically it has had all the common things done
eg chassis, engine steering, brakes and suspension.
All that is left to do is the bodywork.
I have had a quote for ?3500 body off repair and re-spray from a
fibre glass specialist.
What I was wondering is how hard is it to remove the shell.
Can the shell be removed with the engine and ancillaries left in?
Or is it a complete strip down?
Your advice would be much appreciated.
Gordon

[LaikaTheDog]

you can remove the shell and leave the running gear like gearbox/engine etc still in, you just need to lift the entire body over the highest point which I recall is the rocker cover

3 or 4 people or a hoist, I had to get the top of my roof over 7 ft from the ground before I could pull the chassis out from under...on flat tyres for those last inches...

recommend the shell is doorless, glassless, bootless, hoodless and obviously...no interior,including the tank and cross bar, get that thing as stripped and light as possible, and if your sills are shot...you need to consider reinforcng the door aperture to prevent damage from flexing.

looking back...3.5k is not that bad value afterall...hehe, depends if you enjoy the work or not !

[gap]

Hello Laika
Thanks for the help it will come in very useful.
Would I also need to remove the steering column,
and dash board?
Thanks again
Gordon

[kevin]

Gordon

If you're not worried about their weight, I think that you can leave the steering column and dash in place. I lifted the body off mine last year; the engine was already out when I lifted it off, but was on the new chassis when I lowered it back down.

I could be wrong, but I reckon that the highest point may be the lotocones on the rear suspension. There are some pictures of the lift and drop at www.lotuselan.info.

I'm looking to get my car paiinted this year - who did you approach for the quote?

Thanks

Kevin

[gap]

Hello Kevin
I got in touch with a company called Paintwrx I think they are part of Rumbar racing, and spoke to a guy called Darren Barnett (very helpful guy)
The web site is <a href='http://www.rumbarracing.co.uk' target='_blank'>http://www.rumbarracing.co.uk</a>.
I am not to sure if this quote was for them removing the shell or if they just work on a stripped shell.
As I will not be having the work done till later in the summer I was just making general enquiries.
I was even thinking it might be better to get another shell and have the work done on that one which would save me having my +2 off the road for a few months.
I still haven?t made my mind up as to what route to take yet hence the enquiries I made on this MB.
Hopefully by September it will all be done what ever I decide.
Thanks for the info you gave me I will go look at the pics you told me about and thanks for your help.
Gordon

ps I have just been to that site you mentioned. I have been following the progress of this rebuild and its been a great help.

[LaikaTheDog]

dang it, gordon you are right, now i do recall that the rear of the chassis was pretty high, but my hoist was slightly off centre so the rear height wasn't a problem for me.

Rack
I just undid the nuts and bolts by the bottom of the Radiator to disconnect the steering rack from the shaft...don't forget to put that earthing strap back on when you get around to reattaching them 2 years later....


I lifted mine with the glass and the dash etc still in...only just managed it.

[DrEntropy]

Reading this thread, I have reinforced my opinion that we're *all* absolutely daft! I did a body-off on my S-3 "back-in-the-day" and am preparing to do it again ~soon~ while the +2 waits patiently in the back. It will be more effort with the +2 as weight/height are a bit different, but I ~will~ do the job... It's simply worth doing!

Foot onna loud pedal on a crisp Sunday mourn, The bark o' th' Webers...

Well, mebbe I'm speakin' out o' turn here. Shoulda read: "I have reinforced my opinion that ~I'm~ daft"...

Off to continue th' inventory inna garage!

[gap]

Hello all
Thanks for your help it is much appreciated.
One last thing.
How hard is it to remove the front light pods.
It looks straight forward enough but has I haven?t removed them before and things are never as easy as they look, is it a fiddly job to refit them?

Gordon

[LaikaTheDog]

to removwe the pods;

take the chrome surround off the headlamp ( it just pulls off from the bottom, careful use of a flat blade screwdriver can assist)
the headlamp is held into the metal light bowl by a spring and the four (3 ?) screws
that you turn to adjust the direction of the beam. Turn the headlamp (not the screws!) and the headlamp should slide off the screw lip
the headlamp will try to pull itslef on the spring into the bowl, just feel inside and unhook the spring from the back of the bowl
pull off the wiring block and store the headlamp
unscrew the four screws (probably rusted lumps by now) that hold the headlamp bowl to the pod (you can drill them out, they are just threaded screws into metal clips on the pod)
the lamp bowl should now be free, about 50 cms from the back of the bowl along the wiring loom is a series of 'lucas' connectors, take a note of which is which and unplug...store the headlight bowl
inside the bare pod you will see a bolt on the left and a bolt on the right (13mm socket?) (I am assuming you are now working on the offside/drivers side (UK) light pod for the next bit and you are looking into the pod from the front of the car)
the right hand bolt goes in to a threaded metal bar that joins this pod to the nearside pod, below this bolt is another smaller bolt that has a nut on the other side and joins the pod to an arm that comes off the threaded metal bar (this bar rotates when you pull the light switch and makes the lights pop up !)
to get the pod out, undo the smaller lower right hand bolt and remove. now undo the right hand bolt while holding the threaded bar, the bar will drop a little bit when the bolt is undone enough, continue undoing it and the bolt will then come out of the fibreglass aswell releasing the right hand side of the pod.
now undo the left hand bolt (the other end of this bolt goes in to a 'bobbin' stuck in the fibreglass) once the bolt leaves the bobbin the light pod can be removed !
when replacing just reverse process, but the tricky bit is making sure you do the left bolt first to get the 'gap' even all round before you do the others.

sounds more complex than it is, once you do the first one the other one takes a couple of minutes

goodluck

L

[gap]

Many thanks Laika, that will be of great help.
I am not to sure if I have the same thing that you have discribed,
I don't seem to have a threaded bar which joins both pods.
What I have is a vacuum pod which pushes a thin bar attached to the light pod.
there is also a spring connected. The spring is what I was a bit worried about
it looks as if it will be a pig to line up.
Looking in the workshop manual it appears I have a non failsafe system.
Regards
Gordon

[LaikaTheDog]

hmm,, I think we are talking about the same bar. I did not find the spring to be a problem, would recommend that you just wrap the spring in plastic tape a couple of times before you start if you are worried about it pinging up and causing body damage

[kevin]

Gordon

Do you have two vacuum pods (one for each light pod), or a single vacuum pod link to a horizontal bar, which in turn is attached to the two light pods?

The former is the non-failsafe system and the latter, the failsafe system.

Regards

Kevin

[gap]

Hello Kevin
I have two vacuum pods with no conecting bar.

Gordon