Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi can anyone confirm the depth of the aluminium roof gutters on an S4 elan?

I have mine cleaned up ready to refit but they seem wide particularly at the front where the roof meets the pillar

Thanks Steve

not right off since my car is (still!) in storage, but I recall the profile is parallel, and goes all the way to the vertical lip that holds the door seal. If you reuse the same ones alignement may be found via the screw holes (small ones, easy to fill up though). They don't stick out significantly more front vs. rear of the door top I would think.

I have the ones off my pre-Airflow coupe and close to being ready to re-fit, but I meant to bring them north and let the shop that did the aluminum work on my Sprite do a final smoothing on the left one. I have one NOS left one that was always going to be to replace the damaged left one on the car, but the finish is so different I now don't want to use it with the good used RH gutter. But then I forgot to bring the gutter with me along w/ some other items, so not sure how I'm gonna handle this.

I've had the NOS gutter for a long time, perhaps 30 years. I picked it up in one of the "Sports Car World" sales Frank used to have. I think my aluminum shop can probably repair my old LH one to look more matched as a pair.

If I had to guess, I'd say the gutters are about 1-1/4 in wide, maybe as much as 1-1/2 wide and constant width their whole length.

Roger

The gutter rails on my Sprint (same as S4) are approx 32mm wide through their entire length, they do stick out away from the body which is quite normal.
A few pics to illustrate.

Thanks that's how mine look, my next job is yo actually refit them

Steve

Bumping this topic as I have a question regarding the FHC gutter trims. Should the top inner visible part (the part that actually forms the "gutter") be in bare aluminium (as per photos above), or should it be painted black? The old trims that came with my car have black paint in this area and I wonder is it OE or did a PO do it? It's definitely paint and not the remains of the fixing sealant. I have some new Sue Miller trims that are just bare aluminium.

Mike

They were never painted black from the factory, usual caveats . I have some new, never fitted old stock items and they are anodised aluminium, which is, I suspect, what Sue Miller sells. I would think that old ones and new replacements are anodised, otherwise the aluminium would go fuzzy over time, due to damp in the atmosphere.

You will no doubt be aware that a type of black body putty was used to seal the gutters against the fibreglass to stop water ingress, but if applied carrectly, it cannot be seen.

Leslie

Thank you.

The new trims have a rather dull matt finish (on both sides), the old trims, although badly scratched, still have a bright shiny finish on the visible side. The new trims are currently with a local metal polisher as I would like them to have the same bright shiny appearance. I'll probably also check with Sue M. to see if they are anodised or not. If they are, I'm not sure how that will affect how bright a finish the polisher can get. Perhaps a coat of clear laquer after polishing would protect against possible corrosion.

Mike