Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Sorry to ask, is this gap normal? It's in the engine bay running all along the upper and lower bulkhead pieces where I marked in red:



The gap is about 1cm and it goes all around the edge marked.




It looks like a join that hasn't been made properly. Is it normal? Should it be sealed?

JonB,

All three of the Plus 2's I had, had that gap. I believe that was just the way the bodies were put together.
Bill

Mines much the same. Slide a thin screwdriver in and it goes in about an 1" before
hitting something solid.

Perhaps I should have tidied it up whilst the engine was out.

Yes, it's just a Lotus-quirk in general. Mine has it too, and so did every Esprit whose bonnet I've been under.

My 1973 130/5 has the ugly gap. I plan to fill it with panel gap sealer and paint to match the engine bay,
Mick

My +2 had gaps on this seam, more like around a 6mm gap.

I attributed the gaps to poor matching on the various panel joins.

I cleaned them out with abrasive paper and filled them with Davids Isopon P40 to bond the edges together.

Sounds like another job to be added to the "engine out" list. At this rate I may as well take the body off and do it properly!

funny ... no gap on mine