Original Plus 2 Chassis

[Berw]

A friend in the UK who also has +2 tells me that original chassis are almost unknown, so you may be interested in photo of my Chassis following restoration.
Car was purchased in 73 new in the tropics and has never seen road salt, I bought last year for total restoration after the owner died and it stood for 7 years. This is the chassis after 43 hours of wire rushing and painting.
Underside is stone chip, top is black, cost 600 pounds but I can't import a new chassis. Needed a few bits of metal welding in,
During the strip down I removed 6 carrier bag of animal bones from the transmission tunnel,

[john.p.clegg]

"Animal bones"...is this some kind of Voodoo curse ???

John

[Sea Ranch]

Love the chassis!

But truthfully, I want to see pix of the "animal bones"!!

Randy

[Limey]

My 80,000 mile UK 69 +2 has its original chassis - and it's as solid.

[john.p.clegg]

Yeah,but you've got no bones....

John

[gus]

The problem with an original chassis is that the closing plates at the ends of the front cross member rot out invisibly. The first warning sign is the inability of the headlight system to hold vacuum. While there are several other failure points, this is the one that is usually fatal. There are many cars with original chassis, but as with the drivers, they are in the slow process of falling apart.

As one who has reconditioned an original chassis, towers, closing plates and all, and had it wear out all over again, I am a firm believer that anything but a new chassis[of whatever flavor] is a waste of time

[pharriso]

As one who has reconditioned an original chassis, towers, closing plates and all, and had it wear out all over again, I am a firm believer that anything but a new chassis[of whatever flavor] is a waste of time

Good info, I was considering repairing my original chassis, even though I have a replacement already.

[jeff jackson]

agree with all the comments about trying to repair a chassis. I was told from day one of Elan ownership 30 odd years ago that you can't or shouldn't weld the chassis. In the back of my mind I always thought that this was Lotus trying to flog a new chassis rather than one be repaired.
I get what Berw is saying though, he is stating that as he is somewhere in Asia, getting a replacement chassis could be problematic, but as the car has only seen dry non salted roads, this chassis could be brought back to life, unlike the ones of a similar age here in the UK.
My Plus 2 is on a 72 plate and has the original chassis. The PO used to fill the front towers up with oil (as do I) every six months or so, plug the drain hole, leave it for a few hours and unplug the drain holes ans capture the resultant oil in a pot. I don't have any trouble with the headlight vacuum, and I cant see any significant rust aside from a little bit where the chassis meets the rear of the front wheel arches. I do treat this every year, but I think I am losing the battle here. However I plan to replace the chassis with a new one next year, depending if I can get it through the MOT this May.
Now, where did I put those animal bones?
Kind regards
Jeff 72+2

[jeff jackson]

agree with all the comments about trying to repair a chassis. I was told from day one of Elan ownership 30 odd years ago that you can't or shouldn't weld the chassis. In the back of my mind I always thought that this was Lotus trying to flog a new chassis rather than one be repaired.
I get what Berw is saying though, he is stating that as he is somewhere in Asia, getting a replacement chassis could be problematic, but as the car has only seen dry non salted roads, this chassis could be brought back to life, unlike the ones of a similar age here in the UK.
My Plus 2 is on a 72 plate and has the original chassis. The PO used to fill the front towers up with oil (as do I) every six months or so, plug the drain hole, leave it for a few hours and unplug the drain holes ans capture the resultant oil in a pot. I don't have any trouble with the headlight vacuum, and I cant see any significant rust aside from a little bit where the chassis meets the rear of the front wheel arches. I do treat this every year, but I think I am losing the battle here. However I plan to replace the chassis with a new one next year, depending if I can get it through the MOT this May.
Now, where did I put those animal bones?
Kind regards
Jeff 72+2

[Berw]

Just for info, I had a Sprint in the UK in the 70's and had a accident front qtr, I had the metel checked, by a specialist company, and it came back as mild steel, We pulled the front uoright back and welded it and never had a problem, I've always worked in the oil industry so I have access to mates who are metal and welding experts, and all of them agree that there is no reason you can not weld the lotus chassie,

Yes you are right I can not import a chassie without a 'goverment issued Approval Permit' as aone of that would cost me up to 30,000 US$

[Craig Elliott]

The big problem with welding ?lan chassis is working around the front cross member. Unless you're very careful and ensure that it has no fuel vapour/condensate in it you could end up with it going pop. They also appear to suffer from fatigue cracks which I guess can also be welded/reinforced. I'd suspect for a UK car the chances are that original chassis would be suffering from both the above - hence the "it's not worth it buy a new chassis as you can buy a new one for less than the cost of fixing it" advice. Other than that it shouldn't be a problem (assuming that the person has the skill to ensure that it's to the right dimensions/geometry and the cost of the labour to do the work makes sense).

(BTW welcome to the forum Berw!).

[pharriso]

I can see repairing a corner when you're assured of the extent of the damage. However when you start repairing a rusted out turret you really need to know the extent of the corrosion. Take a look at this picture from Gary's Sows Ear thread:

Gary did repair this... But you end end replacing the bottom of the turret & the closure plate to the vacuum tank which is really difficult to access. If funds are available it's more time effective to replace the front end of the chassis (a la Spyder) or replace the chassis.

Please bear in mind that for those of us not in the UK it's almost as expensive to ship a chassis as it is to buy one!

[Sea Ranch]

Please bear in mind that for those of us not in the UK it's almost as expensive to ship a chassis as it is to buy one!

Yup. Definitely one big reason I'm hoping to continue using my car's original chassis (won't know for sure till I strip it and inspect, but hoping . . .)

Randy

[gus]

I think if I lost my mind and decided to do it again, I would build the chassis with a spyder style upright. I think a very stiff upright/crossmember setup would not change the stresses in the chassis like many of the patches do

My[original] chassis had the lower ends of the tower reinforced, but the entire chassis is sheet metal and designed to moved together, stiffening one little piece of it causes cracks. This is what happened to caused me to repair it.

The spyder style front crossmember/tower arrangement is very stiff and welding it onto a stock chassis I believe would last pretty well as the engine bay sides can flex and I would not anticipate any cracks. One could fabricate it to look more original if desired.

Again, there are many other failure points on a chassis that was never designed to last 50 years. Rear towers do go eventually, mine had moved a bit. Lower diff mounts pull right off the chassis

But if the chassis is more than the car is worth ,what are you going to do................