Sprint Door motor ?? vibration insulation??

[bloodknock]

Elan Sprint .....Bearing in mind that this car was stripped in the seventies, at which time the window motors were removed stripped and prepared for re installation. In the boxth the refurbed motors were Two virtually square pieces of trim vynyl, two squarish pieces of foam about 2mm thick, both about 6 x 4 inches and lastly two pieces of trim vynyl about 2 x 8 inches.
Where the hell do they fit????? Im assuming that theyre some sort of vibration insulation and water deflection mechanism to protect the motors??????
Has anybody any pictures of the original fitment please???
Thanks
Bob
PS, by the way, completion is getting horribly close, minor jobs associated with fitting the doors left to complete....My right foot is itching!!!

[bloodknock]

Here's more info:

Do these nudge anyones memory???
Cheers and Happy New Year
Bob

[1owner69Elan]

Not sure where all your pieces fit in.

My 69 S4 had a piece of rubber sheet under the motor and strips of tape over the aperture as shown. As original from factory.

[bloodknock]

Duct tape!!, I like it!
Think I'll investigate that, I was thinking I would have to stick the Vynyl bits over the motor in th hole.
That looks more like its there to stop water from in the doors getting into the car via the motor orifice.
Thanks

[oldelanman]

There is a small piece of vinyi trim material stuck under the flap of the inner door handle to hide the fixing screws and tidy up the appearance. It's only about 2" square though so not one of your left over pieces.

Have you come across the bit in the Workshop Manual on waterproofing the door and window motor. ?

And while you're in there have you considered adding a stiffener bracket to support the heavy weight of the window motor ? It greatly reduces the rattle when the door is slammed shut and helps prevent the bottom frame rail cracking over time. Several methods have been described here in the past ... here's what I did.

[bloodknock]

Hello Roger
No, I had'nt seen the bit in the workshop manual so I'll now get to it! The bracket seems like a good idea since i had cracking of my door frame.

So I drilled a crack stop hole

Then I added a strengthening plate ensuring that it was protected against cathodic corrosion

Both doors had cracked in exactly the same place. So, to be sure, to be sure, I'll add a bracket.
Thanks
Regards
Bob

[oldelanman]

Nice repair job Bob !
Regards,

[Elan45]

My Elan SS has no extra support, much like your Sprint, but my early pre-airflow Coupe has a steel plate that is screwed to the fiberglass inner door. The plate has a rectangular hole which fits snugly to the motor and eliminates a certain amount of vibration when the door is slammed. The screws holding it on are probably 10-32 UNF and the door has riv-nuts at the proper locations for the screws.

Since my coupe is apart during restoration, I went looking for the plates to photograph. I didn't find them this evening, but will look again tomorrow. I believe I remember the plates having Lotus part numbers stamped into them.
Roger

[Elan45]

I just looked at my Coupe parts book and it shows the plate as item #17 and that transposes to # 36 B 633. Makes me remember that this plate is left out of the later cars, and this must be known as "add lightness"!

RLS

[bloodknock]

Hello Roger
I manufactured my strengthening plates. Theyre bonded and bolted to the door. Probably overkill and counter "Add Lightness" I have a tendancy to "over engineer"
It was pretty obvious that the mass of the window motor was applying excess force to the bottom of the door, from the crack I found and the fact that the lower part of the window frame had been "stress bent". I just used The plate and a crack stop hole to execute a fix, which I hope will be stiff enough to prevent recurrence.
If you have a picture of the Lotus plates I would be interested to see them.
Regards
Bob

[bloodknock]

For what its worth...........I spotted this on Ebay and decided to try it to protect my window motors:
PVC Heat Shrink Tubing Wrap RC Battery Pack 17mm - 150mm LiPO NiMH NiCd
You can buy it in any colour and various diameters, Slide it over motor then wave a hot air gun over it, just like electrical shrink fit tubing

.
Hope this helps someone out
Regards
Bob

[1owner69Elan]

Bloodknock. Nice, neat solution for waterproofing the motors.

I note that, according to Robinshaw, polyethylene bag enclosures were introduced from unit number 70.08....
As a 69, my car has no such enclosures. Something I might consider adding if I get into the doors again in the future.

[billwill]

Pieces of a cork tile or unused cork gasket should be glued to the frame wherever the steel hawser cable comes near to the metal frame.

The hawser vibrates when under tension and can touch the metalwork making annoying noises.