Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi all,

Can anyone give me some help on the heater valance that fits on either side of the dash? Items 13 and 14 in the following picture:

• Does anyone supply them (I have seen the more complex ones for the 2S and 130 but not the ones for early cars)?
  
• Presumably it is made from plywood, metal or plastic covered in vinyl. Does it have foam as well?
  
• Does it line up with the bottom edge of the centre console?
  
• How is it secured? Particularly, there looks to be an angle bracket fixed to the dash?

Any pictures/sketches would be good.

Thanks,

Richard

On my car they were made of thick cardboard with some vinyl covering.

Richard.
On my Jan 1968 +2.
I used the originals as templates and made new ones.
Used a type of fibre board 3mm thk and 5mm thk foam.
The crease in the vinyl disappeared after approx 3 months.

Hi Trevor,

Thanks - I can work from that.

Could you describe how is it secured?

Thanks

Richard

Richard.

The "L" shaped brkt is screwed to back of dash and the heater valance passes at the back of it.
A screw and cup secure the opposite side, the screw just long enough to pass through the carpet and into the body.

You will notice that I am still missing the heater deflectors, which I still need to obtain. The deflectors should either pass through the slot in the valance or be very close to it.

Heater Deflectors, see item 19 on attached document.

That’s interesting.IIRC Part Number 19 I believe is made of glass fibre or was on my 70’s plus two. On my 68 plus two it’s bashed out of ally.

Don’t know if the ally one is correct for an early plus two but willing to learn. Also I don’t think I have seen the cut outs before?

Peter

my 68 +2 is also an ally plate riveted to the dash bracket. guessing they ran short at the factory. My side panels, possibly not original, do not have the holes shown. I think they are left with a gap at the lower edge to allow warm air to circulate.. currently not fitted.

According to the parts list available in the wiki the deflector moulding was fitted from chassis 1170 , so a 68 car may well have been built too early to have had it fitted from the factory.
Brian.

Thanks Brain and wotsisname for your comments.

I’ve just visited the “Wiki-coming soon” re both the Heater Valance and Heater Deflector and interestingly it confirms Brain and wotsisname comments. This is good to know.

So as my car is 0173, well before 1170, it would not have the Deflectors fitted.

Regarding functionality the slots do allow the Hot / Cold air to pass through, so I am guessing that a PO made the change to improve the Heating / Ventilation.
A mini project for the coming months is for me to make the Deflectors, which should improve the air flow even more.

wotsisname wrote:my 68 +2 is also an ally plate riveted to the dash bracket. guessing they ran short at the factory. My side panels, possibly not original, do not have the holes shown. I think they are left with a gap at the lower edge to allow warm air to circulate.. currently not fitted.

That’s good to know the allow plate is correct. I think my dash was original before I replaced it, so i assumed it would have been. Back to the trim, mine had small bocks of wood attached to the inside to creat/support a curvature in the trim panel to allow the heater air to vent.

Peter

I plan something similar. I put a plate with a captive nut on the lower dash fitting and have extended and bent it to give another potential attachment point for the side trim.