Spyder vs Original Chassis - The debate

[Elanintheforest]

I totally agree. My Plus2 is now 32 years old, and still has it's original chassis, but there is an invoice from some 15 years back to repair the diff mount area due to fatigue cracks...god knows how they did that, or what they did...another horror to find when I put a new unit in. I did replace the chassis in my S3 when it was 8 years old due to rust, and it had been off the road for 5 of those. They were only painted in red oxide, and I doubt that much of that got into the front towers. The engine mount and diff mount areas also had cracks. 6 months after replacing it, I clipped a kerb, at parking speed, which bent the new chassis. You can get very fast at changing them with practise! But that incident does indicate how fragile the original units are.
I think that with all the comments above, the Spyder is definately coming out tops. Especially when on the original, the front to back dimensions have been found to be different each side (twice), and the manufacturer doesn't acknowledge any problem. How many have been fitted without checking? I bet there are a few crabbing Elans on the road!
Has anybody out there fitted a Lotus chassis in the last 10 years and it's been fine? Measure the distance between front and back wheelnuts before answering!
I feel a phonecall to Spyder coming on. And I'll call it a subframe rather than a chassis from now on...that will make me feel better!!

[1964 S1]

I've got a 41 year old chassis in one car and a 36 year old in the other. Both cars are "restored" so the chassis were probably stripped and repainted because they both look almost like new, (and I live in Rusty Ohio.) Has anyone had UNEXPECTED problems from an original design chassis? Any old vehicle with steel components is susceptible to rust, just be glad we're not Porsche owners.

[marcfuller]

just be glad we're not Porsche owners.

You are exactly on target - Almost 30 years ago I used to have a 1958 Cabriolet with a S 90 engine. In retrospect it was one the rust prone car with the most difficult to repair body work cars I have ever owned. And a real let down performance-wise after having had an Elan S4 the year before.