Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Getting ready to do some fiberglass repairs and I?ve noticed that I have a crack in what appears to be a hole on the passenger side engine bay compartment near the shock absorbers.

I?m assuming that is not a good day and I need to fill the hole and reinforce the crack, is that correct? Hole is circled in red, crack is in blue.

Thanks for humoring my two rapidfire questions this morning. Happy Halloween!

Doesn't look that bad, I'd just go over it with some matting wetted out with resin, I'd also see if the boot coating cleans off with thinner

Steve

Thank you Steve

Easy repair I agree, but i would check the front turret of the chassis to see if its rusted and moving that has caused the crack to appear.

V

Will check that, thanks.

Acetone didn?t do much so used a rotary drill with wire brush and a very light touch. That seems to work.

Bit unsure how to address the hole here and the heat damage here. Any tips? Just layer in material until it is filled?

Not sure how you feels about modification, but that bump or protrusion you are looking at is there to provide some extra clearance for the steering shaft. On most cars it protrudes much more than is required. Trimming it back a half inch or more then laying in new 'glass is, IMHO, a worthwhile mod, as is then covering it with a section of thin foil faced thermo insulation to prevent future issues from exhaust heat.

Better yet to have the exhaust manifold ceramic coated which will reduce heat significantly.

Good morning Steve, thanks for the response and info. I am fine with sensible mods that improve the car so I will take a look at clearance. Having a bit more of an air gap is probably not a bad idea, and will use heat shielding for sure.

Good morning gentlemen, hope everybody is having a good weekend so far. I am planning on addressing this hole and crack tomorrow and wanted to get some coaching on how much coverage is needed to repair those.

To be more specific and clear In my question how far over those damaged areas do I need to overlap the fiberglass?

Are the blue and red circles in the first post about the right size of what the overlap needs to be? Just one layer of additional material on the crack or should that receive several layers of mat?

Thanks!

I'm confused. You say it is passenger side yet there is talk of steering clearance, what am I missing? And if there is heat damage, presumably from the exhaust, you must be RHD.

Hi - sorry if this was confusing.

I am LHD, I have cracks on the passenger side and heat damage on the driver side.

I had this problem with cracks on a plus two and it was the Towers collapsng .
You need to check the camber angles of the Wheels. Easy to check with angle cube.
Alan

Thanks Alan, will check.

As for the crack itself any ideas on how large of a patch overlap and thickness to use?

Thanks!

I would feather from cracks 3 cm.
Use only chopped strand matt and finish with Tissue. If you finish with Tissue when it"s rubbed down you will never see the repair. Imho i don't use filler but Tissue and resin to finish.
Alan

Thanks Alan.

Tissue is new to me, let me get searching.