Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Dear All ,
I am making new ply floorboards because the originals are wavy & badly delaminated. I have put all the old boards,felt, carpet etc back in to see what the original fit was like and find that at the petrol tank the boards appear to fit UNDER the bottom edge of the piece of carpet covered hardboard that covers the back of the petrol tank.Photos attached.

I would have thought the obvious thing was to drop the hardboard panel onto the top of the floor brackets and butt the boards up to.the carpet on the hardboard.
I do see however that at the bumper end of the boot the locating prong on the LH board sets the position fore and aft and it looks OK.

I just wonder if I have a car with a 1973 assembly line bodge built in !.

Can anybody with Plus 2 take a look and let me know how their boards fit please.

Thanks and Best wishes,

Dick

The boot boards need to be held in place so they do not jump about when you go over bumps. I think that's why they slip under the rear panel.

Mine slip under the rear panel like that too, so I think that is standard. Can make it hard to put them back in after removal.

Hi Dick,

Remaking the Floor Panels was the very first Job I did on my +2 and as others have said,
the correct placement is that they fit under the Rear Carpeted Panel.

I re-made mine to fit as original, but to be honest, I found it a real PITA every time I
needed to remove them.

I couldn't get them to locate back correctly without first unscrewing or sometimes removing
the Rear Carpeted Panel first, so as to be able to locate the Floor Panel on Top of the
support Brackets.
Then having to muck about trying to get the Screws back in the Rear Panel (Fiddly at Best).

So I got the Circular Saw out, cut back the Floor Panels so they are now forward of the Rear
carpeted Panel. I than made a full length Lip just forward of the Rear Panel edge for the Floor
Panels to sit on.

I also found, that all Modern Batteries I could find, were really a bit taller than perfect.
So I routed out some hollows in the underside of one of the Floor Panels to accommodate the
Battery Terminals. Gives an extra 5mm or 6mm Height for the Battery.


Not original I know, but very practical and since I was missing all the original parts anyway,
no great Historical Crime has been committed.



Ian

Hi all

The vertical carpet panel fits behind a tab on the rear of the PVC closing panel above the fuel tank containing the speakers, it is a pain to fit but when correct there is a gap between the boot boards and carpet board of around 10-12 mm. I use this gap to locate a timber plank the is used for lifting the car under the cills

Check the fit at the top of the carpet board

Thanks for these 4 replies - all very helpful and clear, and will follow.
I too have had problems location the floor panels back under the carpet board over the hidden supports below the tank,
I have remade the those 2 brackets with a 3 1/2 inch projection rather than the original 2 inches - visible now, so i hope this is a cure.
Thanks again,

Dick