Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello all,

I have a couple of questions....

1) I am in the South West of the UK and I need to have my 5 x steel wheels repainted (stove-enamel?)
They are bare wheels, previously blasted to remove the old paint, has anyone any recommendations?

2) As I am about to reassemble my Elan's bare chassis so that it is rolling again. However, due to a lack of space, I will need to have the totally stripped bodyshell suspended above the chassis, has anyone else used rachet straps (or similar) to suspend the body shell from their garage roof? (The garage roof joists are 12" deep so there's no danger of the roof failing)

Thanks in advance,
Mark

Could you slide two stout bits of wood (6x2) across each end of the floor and lift it from each end of these? Then use some wood screws from inside the body through the bobbins to secure the beams to the body.
I would then make a brace between the front vertical wall of the boot and my rear beam to stop the boot sagging while it's in this storage.
Had it like this for almost a year and the bolt holes lined up perfectly upon reassembly!

Hi Mark,

For your wheels I would speak to Steve at SJ Sportscars in Crediton, he will do them or know who in the South West is good.

I’m in Swansea and have used The Wheel Soecialist with excellent results. This is a franchise and therefore could be variable results between different locations, there’s one in Bristol.

Whoever does them needs to be able to check for runout and any stress cracks, and be able to true them prior to finishing.

Regards
Iain

I've held the body up with a couple of straps from the roof. I got them from the roof box company and although I can't see the ones I used, these are similar:
https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbveh ... cC4ure5Hno

Hi Mark
You shouldn't use ratchet straps for lifting, they're not designed for that purpose. I used a steel wire pulley system that was simple to put together and works well.
As for the wheels, powder coating is probably the best way to go. I did my own by building an oven out of bits off eBay - an old filing cabinet and oven, really cheap (£10) and easy!
David

Hi Mark,
An alternative to hanging the body is to make a support frame for it. You''ll see the one I used in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFMTjNaYUhk
The two angle sections passing under the bodywork have holes so that the body can be bolted to the frame utilising the bobbins that fix the body to the chassis. The height of the frame is adjustable.

Paul

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated!

Mark

Try ABC Enamelling and Fabrications in Nailsea, as you are in the South West. They do a cheap and good job of blasting wheels for me. They will powder coat them for you too, but personally I dislike powder coat so usually spray wheels after blasting with acid etch primer, a filler coat and then for Elans, Renault RAL7 silver metallic cellulose.

Mark,

What I did was similar to vxah except I used a sheet of 3/4” plywood to spread the load onto the body. The body is basically flat where most of the bolts join body to chassis. In my case only one of the chassis to body bolts actually fitted correctly, I have not found out why, the boot bonnet and doors all fit, but the body to chassis bolts do not.

Do mind your head, although I could walk underneath if I ducked, I hit my head several times.

Hope this helps,

Richard Hawkins

Thank you Nigel and Richard for your replies,
Mark

Richard, might it be that mine is a FHC so more rigid? I also had it upside down sitting on trestles for 6 months (with doors on) while I repaired the floor/sills, bolt holes spot on!

Vxah,

Mine is also a FHC. I have sorted it now, but am no wiser about how this happened.

Richard Hawkins