Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

In the US, the locking strip is fairly universal. It is the same that was used on my 78 Chevy PU, and on my Sabra GT and Elva Mk4T Coupe, as well as both Lotus. It comes in 100' rolls.

After taking Brian Buckland for a ride in my car, he pointed out my non mitered lockstrip. He told me that it needed to be mitered at the corners to be original. I did not argue with him, but I have seen 2 original unmolested Sprints, and they had a single joint in the lower middle.

elancoupe wrote:After taking Brian Buckland for a ride in my car, he pointed out my non mitered lockstrip. He told me that it needed to be mitered at the corners to be original. I did not argue with him, but I have seen 2 original unmolested Sprints, and they had a single joint in the lower middle.

Being a Lotus I would expect that it depended on the bloke in the factory on the day... Pretty sure mine is mitred, and appears that it might even be original.

Photos of mine, obviosily needs new seal fitting as seal is all dried out. You can see the filler strip is trying to straighten out in the corners and ruins the corner profile. I can't see how you can avoid that happening when fitting a single piece strip with center join. The corner seal will move and always try to straighten.

If you mitre them they may pull away at the corners leaving a messy looking gap but the corner profile should stay.

Very much down to personal preference on which looks worse when the strip ages.

Quite a few pictures of the ?non mitred? filler strip now. Many of us saying that was the original fit. Anybody care to post pictures of mitred corners for comparison? Especially any believed to have been original? Or that have been fitted for a few years?

I?m genuinely interested to see how they both look, and survive.

Thanks

Andy

Here are some pics of my Sprint and my old S3, originally all had non mitered corners although they were all replaced over time, I had the S3 front mitered when the screen was replaced but I left the Sprint continuous.

I mitred mine - tried non mitred but could not get it to work.

Very happy with it - never leaked in 5 years and looks 'correct' IMHO

EPC 394J wrote:Just don?t forget the loctite glue wherever the rubber joins!

Which glue, exactly?

I believe Loctite 406 is the adhesive to use.

It?s certainly what I used, and it worked instantly.

Hi

I have just had the same problem as my rear screen fell out after 30 years as the rubber was perished. I cut it up to get the correct cross section of the original rubber.

I have matched it to the rubber supplied by seals direct to part WR 937 which is 25mm wide as my original. WR63 is nearly the same but only 22mm wide so will not look correct.

Body fitting: 3mm gap
Glass: 5mm
Web: 7.5mm
WR937

https://www.sealsdirect.co.uk/shop/wr93 ... tegory=473

I hope this helps

elancoupe wrote:After taking Brian Buckland for a ride in my car, he pointed out my non mitered lockstrip. He told me that it needed to be mitered at the corners to be original. I did not argue with him, but I have seen 2 original unmolested Sprints, and they had a single joint in the lower middle.

For me Buckland is wrong. The chrome locking strip should not be mitred.
I wonder what Saint Miles says.
Alan

Mine has never been touched on my +2 Elan. The rubber is mitred and the chrome is continous and the join is at the centre of the lower edge

When I removed the badly weathered locking strip from my Plus2, it was continuous with the join at the bottom center.

Ditto, originally mitered rubber, continuous 'chrome'
The rubber being rotten and the 'chrome' brown when purchased in 1984, stored since 1981, so unlikely to have been replaced
I had put off replacing they rubber because it was unavailable mitered, but then lost my replacement when the car was apart, and installed the continuous.
Careful install, I find the results acceptable.

Interestingly, the rubber and locking strip is the same for my S2 front, Plus2 rear, Sabra GT
front/rear, and Elva Coupe front/rear. It is also the same profile and locking strip for old Chevrolet square bodied pickups, with exception of the 3mm/1/8" recess for the pinch weld, which is narrower.