Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

does any one know who manufactured the dash pads for lotus in the 60s?--- they may still have the molds and know how to produce some -- -ed

The short answer is "No", to the best of my knowledge. None of the US suppliers had an original style one. I've seen several made by local shops with stitching at all the seams. I've contacted "Just Dashes" in the US and they refused to make one for the early Elan because of all the convex and concave parts. So I ended up buying one of the fiberglass ones. Although I wish it were soft - it does look nice and the grain pattern matched my old cracked original. Fit quite well. Got it from the place in Texas, I recall.
Paul Zimmerman
65 S2

Paul ---can I buy your old one ? I am assuming its from an s 1 or2 proper Elan--- ED

Even if you could find out who originally made them they will probably have long ceased trading. The British component industry is a fraction of what it was 10 years ago let alone 30.

Hi

Why not make one yourself?

It's fairly long-winded but pretty straightforward and you guarantee a perfect fit.

How- remove the old one and using 2 inch masking tape mask off everywhere (and I do mean everywhere) around the screen (up to 2 inches upwards from base), over the mounting base and over the dash completely down to the seats/floor- in short anywhere the fibreglass resin might fall/end up. It's easier without the screen in place but I did mine with it fitted.

You then need to mould the base using 1 oz mat. 2 layers will suffice although I used 3.

Next once set carefully remove from the car, masking tape and all. Clean up the rough edges (but not too much at this stage), replace back in the car and then using expanded foam or polystyrene fir a layer of about 5/16 inches over the base moulding. Then once satisfied the contours are roughly ok start moulding the top piece over the foam to produce a sandwich. This is only for lightness- I never bothered with foam but made mine out of solid grp.

The rest is the laborious part involving much trial fitting and further lamination/sanding/filling etc until satisfied with the standard of finish. If you have the patience you can get the base moulding to fit to within 1mm of the screen rubber base all round and with the same gap where the crashpad meets the top of the dash panel.

Depending on the car model you need to incorporate cut outs for the demister grilles.

After that it's simply a caseof either trimming it yourself (it can be done without stitches along the front) or get a professional to do it.

Done properly you don't need to glue it into place because the underside is such a snug fit it simply won't budge at all.

Drawbacks- messy to do, time consuming, fibreglass dust etc.

Pluses- mine cost me about ?10 in materials 15 years ago plus I trimmed it myself so that only came to about ?15 for the materials. Never distorts even under hot sun. Easily repaired and replaced if necessary (try removing the standard one which is glued in and you'll see what I mean)- mine was in perfect shape and as new but still distorted when I removed it.

Minuses- weight (if that bothers you), hard to the touch.

Sounds complex if you're not used to working with grp but it's really only a matter of having the patience to get it right.

You can also make the underdash trims in the same way but using cardboard templates this time. Again quite fiddly but results in a perfect fit and they can be trimmed to match without the need for stitches in the covering material. Stops the squeaks and rattles too!

If any owner wants to see how it looks or wants info on how to have a go I can send some shots of my car feel free to get in touch.

John

I would rather buy one ---ed -

Hi Ed
I generally buy another car to get the parts I am missing from the last one I bought that was also missing a few parts. Its perpetual motion of a sort.

Gary E. Anderson

did one have a spare crash pad ?----ed

Hi Ed
The Coupe I bought 4 years ago north of Toronto had a nice crash pad and I removed it to finish another car. The other S3 coupe was missing it when I bought that one. So I am looking for another Elan for a spare.

Gary

400 will buy a formed one from dave bean ----hell of a lot cheaper than buying full cars --ed

Here's the Dave Bean dash cap. I understand that they aren't a perfect fit and will require some work to make look good. I've not bought one yet, so make sure you leave one for me!!!

I passed on it so there will be one for you ---Ill hold out for a real one --even if it needs rebuilding -- --ed

Alpine_Ian wrote:Here's the Dave Bean dash cap

It took a while to realise that the picture shows the dash pad from the drivers point of view and not the rear view that only the dashboard gremlins see.

If there was a way needed to really cheapen the Elan interior then that's the perfect solution. To say it looks crap would be an understatement, I hope there is a way of getting rid of all that shinyness!

Are they really 400 dollars?

Hi Ian

Is the dash pad foam filled or does Dave Bean leave that for the buyer to do. or is this just a cover to put over your original pad?

M100 - I suspect that when the all Elan's were new that they had a pretty nice shine on the vinal, besides there was lots of shiney stuff around it so it didn't look too out of place.

Ed - I get a few other parts with the dash pad so I don't mind paying a little more.

guys,
surely having a crash pad made out of grp defeats the purpose of the exercise??-if its designed to prevent you braining yourself or recieving crush injuries when you impact,then surely it needs to be soft??
as for the vinyl ones youre showing us,doesnt $400 seem a bit steep?-i'd be tempted to play around with vacuum moulding if i had the workshop space!
peter.