Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Can anyone shed light if the seat rails in a 1972 federal +2 sit directly onto the bobbins or are there two spacers that sit above the rear bobbins?
From the way my seats sit it seems as though there should be spacers but I don’t see any listed in the workshop manual.
Part of the perils of buying a car in boxes.....

Usually a stack of washers are fitted between the rails and the bobbins to allow for carpet and underlay thickness

The bobbins also serve as a rear height adjustment...

Cheers,

My 72 has two strips of wood, running front to back between the rail and the carpet/sound deadening/floor. The strips are approximately 3/8" thick supporting the full length of the rail. Can't be sure this is original, as the interior carpet was replaced by a PO, but it works. The wooden strips look much older than the carpet.

My UK 69 had two strips of wood, my 70 Federal had washers, it still has washers as they do the job and give you some flexibility. Both cars had been extensively renovated before I bought them.

Although with the age of many of our seats I am not sure that 1/4 to 1/2" of washers is going to materially make a difference we can feel but it does help with movement forwards and backwards.

Nick

Thanks to everybody for the information. I ended up making up a bunch of 1/2” aluminum spacers. I used four on the passenger seat and two at the rear of the drivers seat to make it slightly more upright. The seat slides work fine with dynamat, felt and carpets installed.

Is all that silver stuff Dynamat? How much weight have you added with it? Not picking on you, just curious.

Hi Sabbot,
is your car on the road now and do you feel that that Dynamat has worked? I have considered putting it on the front bulkhead and transmission tunnel but I wonder whether it's overkill (and heavy) for the floor.

Another option is 3-4 heavy coats of Gravitex which, aside from its more obvious anti stone chip purpose, has sound deadening/anti drumming properties. It's also a good sealer for the powdery firebglass you tend to find inside the Plus 2 cabin/floor.

The amount of weight added is a good question. I used about 45lbs of 80mil thick sound deadening, and then replaced pretty much of all of the original felt with new 1/2". I figured the new felt was a little lighter than the old (I should have weighed it all but forgot), but the + 2 is probably carrying an extra 40lbs of weight. Given that both of my children are too big to fit in that back I figure 40lbs is acceptable for a GT that is only every likely to have two people in it. I also added felt between the head liner supports with what I hope turns out to be strong heat-resistant contact adhesive. I haven't driven it far yet but will report back after a longer (~500mile) road trip that is planned for a few weeks time.

I used a Gravitex-like high-density particulate paint on a previous S4 elan and wasn't convinced it changed the panel resonance that much, but at the end of the day they are never going to be whisper quiet,