Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Buongiorno da Italia!
Big dilemma!
Do I fit the washer with the screw of the dash board?
... with or without?
I would say "with" but it seems that nobody fit them!
... and what about the cracking of the varnish coating?



Buona fine settimana, have a nice weekend!
Paolo

Wrong washer. Should be a fibre washer IIRC, this will protect the varnish.

Hi Paolo

I think it is a red fibre washer you need.....that's how I remember it to be....unless someone knows otherwise?

Not the correct size but it was all I could find at short notice

Hope that is helpful

Adam

Yes, red fibre washer

Red fibre washer.

Red fibre washer found!!!!
Ready to close the dashboard hopefully forever.... maybe

The original dashboards were fitted with steel tube inserts, through the fixing holes, whose purpose was to prevent the screws cracking the varnish. The steel tube inserts were fractionally longer than the thickness of the dashboard.

When I got my new dashboard it did not have the inserts and they were difficult to remove from the old one so made some more from stainless tube.

in bocca al lupo

Couple of things i noticed when i did mine, first all the usually suspects sold machine screws that were too long and two of mine bottomed out so had to be cut down. Second chase all the treads in the bobbins with a tap, we had to do a repair for a customer who managed to rip a bobbin out because the bolt was too tight in the threads for some reason (probably just dirt or corrosion in the threads.

Just one more thing to ponder, are you going to glue the crash pad to the top of the dash? i have seen a couple that haven't and you get big gaps in the corners.

O and when your tightening the dash in position keep trying the glove box lid, it's quite easy to tighten it unevenly which results in the glove box lid sticking.

lotusfan wrote:The original dashboards were fitted with steel tube inserts, through the fixing holes, whose purpose was to prevent the screws cracking the varnish. The steel tube inserts were fractionally longer than the thickness of the dashboard.

When I got my new dashboard it did not have the inserts and they were difficult to remove from the old one so made some more from stainless tube.

in bocca al lupo

Yep, when I did mine I made up some threaded inserts that stood slightly proud of the dash so the screws didn't actually touch the varnish.
Not noticeable and has kept all cracks away for 30 years.

I fitted mine with these "washers",nice tidy job..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bolts-Screws-W ... B013WQLDUY

John

John!
very nice but a fiber washer of the gas-bottle is enough

Mind you,I did work for BT, building up Data racks , so they were plentiful...and cheap

John

Made up a puller to remove the inserts from the old dash and put them in the new one, as previously mentioned, these are slightly thicker than the dash so no chance of squashing the dash and cracking the varnish, so no washers for me. Nothing fancy for the puller, long bolt, some washers and tubing.