Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am repairing the rocker panel/door sill/floor pan area on a '63 Elan S2.
Looking for information on the seatbelts anchor boss configuration. The
seatbelt and attachment assembly that I removed was essentially just a
pile of rust. Does anyone have pictures or descriptions of these attachment so that I can rebuild this area.
Thanks, Jerry

Hi Jerry, I can send you photos of my car's belt mountings. "Rebuilding" that area may be tough. I don't think there are any '63 S2 Elans. Does your car have round tailights?

I don't have my car with me here, but on my S2, I know that the seat belt fitment was simply a bolt welded to the mild steel trusswork, right where two pieces come togeher. Nut is welded on two sides to the truss. If I recall, the nut is a 3/8" UNF thread. There is a modified bolt (described below) that screws into this nut which has a 1/4" hole thru it at the top, to which the small shackle bolts. The shackle is the piece the seat belt actually attaches to. My original S2 body was beyond restoration for numerous reasons but I did have 1 perfectly good seat belt mounting that I used as a pattern. I got a new body from TThompson which had the same nut welded to the latticework. I ended up buying shackles at local hardware store and making the modified bolt piece to mount the shackle to by cutting the head off the bolt, welding a piece of square steel tubing to the top of the bolt (about 1/2 long--just enough for shackle to pivot on), drilling the hole for the shackle pin thru the whole mess, and then grinding the whole thing down and painting to make it look like my one original.
Agree there were no S2s in 63 - but the seat belt mountings were the same.
No, It's not that sturdy. But if I get hit by an SUV I'm dead anyway.
Good luck.
Write me a [email protected] if you want me to describe this better
Paul Zimmerman
65 S2

I'd say the same, the anchor boss's on my '65 Elan S2 are both fabricated out of a chunk of steel tube or pipe, probably about 3/4" to 1" long; which has been theaded 7/16" NF on the inside; and are just welded into place at the junction of all the various wire struts. And from everything I can tell mine are the original, I've had the car for 15 years and the prior owner had it 18.....and did almost nothing to it in that time!
Dave
lotus026

Hey guys... you are right. This car is a '64 Elan S2. Jerry is the guy who has been doing the body work on this car for me. I was just out at Jerry's shop checking out the work and it is coming along very nice. The seatbelt mounts are now repaired and he is almost finished with the repair on the metal frame work.

This body really had a lot of damage to it. Looks like it was once wrecked in the front end. I talked to the previous owner about the car... trying to learn more about it's history. It appears that it was once competitively raced. I don't think it ran on a road cource circuit though... it raced autocross. This explaines the competition mods I found on the car.

Jerry is doing a great job on the body work. Thanks for helping him out!

Hi, I have the whole side piece out of a shell (S4) I will take a photo if you need one.
Regards
Steve

The seat belt threads have always been 7/16 UNF (20tpi) - and still are on new cars!

patrics wrote:Hi, I have the whole side piece out of a shell (S4) I will take a photo if you need one.
Regards
Steve

Steve,

Thanks! I think Jerry has it under control though. I stopped out to his shop last weekend to check it out and he is almost finished with the repair work. Sounds like he got in contact with several people off topic who provided him with good advice.

The car is mostly stripped and now that the metal frame work is repaired he is going to begin repairing the damage to the nose. Looks like it was hit at one time and broke a section out near the left head light socket. There are also a few cracks that need repaired.

Jerry thinks the car should be finished this Spring... I'll keep working on the suspension and drivetrain in the mean time. I'm still buying parts and stuff like that.


The only tough decision I'm faced with is... do I paint it the original color (French Blue) or a different Lotus color?

I'm also looking for a factory steering wheel... Anyone?