Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I?ve just removed the seats and carpets from my Elan. A replacement carpet set , not good quality, was fitted over the old carpet. It also covered a few bodges, including a seat belt mount, and when removed presented a hole!!!!

https://youtu.be/fK-0OzCNczM

that cardboard, Masonite, fiberboard backing along the body sill interior I believe IS factory with the jointed and riveted square metal joiners. someone else can confirm or deny this, but one of my cars also had the same jointed sections there at the bend. You would think they would be uncut single pieces, but all I can say is mine had the "repair" joint as well.

Mine, too, has the joint.

That's interesting. Mine may have had a little modification using the original joints by the pedal box.

I'll have a closer look after I've removed the carpet glued to them.

The plates are shown in the parts list. They are bent and have the effect of shaping the panel which creates a bit more space for your feet around the pedals. I assume that's why they were used rather than a one-piece flat hardboard panel.

Any recommendations as to how to attach the innner side carpets (items #3 and #4) at the top of their fixings ? My passenger side keeps folding down from the top.

What sort of fixing should be there or is it just glued ?

Thanks
Richard

richardcox_lotus wrote:Any recommendations as to how to attach the innner side carpets (items #3 and #4) at the top of their fixings ? My passenger side keeps folding down from the top.

What sort of fixing should be there or is it just glued ?

Thanks
Richard

Just glued I think - certainly no other fixings on mine anyway.
The headlamp vacuum lines run behind the top of the carpet there, so the top flap of the carpet may not actually be stuck to anything - fine when it's new and stiff enough to support itself but it tends to fall down with age ( don't we all ) That area is also very near the exhaust and the adhesive may have got cooked and dried out over time too.

oldelanman wrote:The plates are shown in the parts list. They are bent and have the effect of shaping the panel which creates a bit more space for your feet around the pedals. I assume that's why they were used rather than a one-piece flat hardboard panel.

Carpets.png

Thanks, I missed that... I think I'll use the originals as a template and reuse the fixing plates. I know there are a few fixing points here and there to which the boards are screwed to, but were they also glued in certain areas, like the sill area at the door aperture?

djb222 wrote:Thanks, I missed that... I think I'll use the originals as a template and reuse the fixing plates. I know there are a few fixing points here and there to which the boards are screwed to, but were they also glued in certain areas, like the sill area at the door aperture?

Yes, the carpet extends beyond the board all around the door aperture and is glued to the lip before being trimmed off then the door seal goes over the top. You may need to shave the pile off the carpet along the edge to get the seal on.
I used the old hardboard as templates and made new boards from foamed PVC, I retained the plates on the driver's side where they seemed to serve some useful purpose as described above but not on the passenger side where it really did not seem to be necessary - unless of course you are a purist ! Possibly both sides were done in production to accomodate left and right hand drive using the same parts. Pure speculation, who knows !

Just caught up with your clip. Nice. Thanks for posting them. If you want your Kangol belts refurbished I can recommend FDTS Ltd. I sent my grotty Europa belts there and they came back like new. No personal connection just a happy customer.

Bombay Racing Green wrote: If you want your Kangol belts refurbished I can recommend FDTS Ltd. I sent my grotty Europa belts there and they came back like new. No personal connection just a happy customer.

I'll second that - Sue even went to the trouble of carefully removing the Kangol labels from my old belts, washing them and stitching them to the new webbing. Another satisfied customer.

Thanks, I've been in two minds about the belts, they are still ok, but discoloured. The fact that new carpets are going in means faded belts would look out of place. Thanks for the contact, keeping the original labels is a nice touch.

Also the old webbing may not be as strong as it once was as polymers and fibers do degrade over time, and in a crash is not a good time to learn the answer to that uncertainty.