BPK 806 New Project +2

PostPost by: BullAndrew » Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:57 am

Hello to the forum, and thanks for convincing me that a Lotus would be my project.

Just a little background, I built a kit car in my teens only just moved it on after 32 years (you can guess my midlife crisis and hankering after a sports car is driving me) anyway after years of family, house etc. I finally have a pocket of cash and a desire to put a sports car in the garage that I can afford and be responsible for restoring!

Challenge, the house is an old 1900 with tight access to the garage, solution at first thought was a midget, but.. Then I looked at the Sebring sprite which would have made converting a midget a more interesting proposition http://www.sebringsprite.com/. But just before committing to this a trip to RaceRetro this year and chatting with friends, one owned up to having an Elan+2 in storage for the last 5 years waiting restoration, the rest of the guys laugh because he has two other cars still in the restoration queue before he ever gets round to this. Over a curry that evening I agreed to take a look at the car. The financial agreement was very reasonable and now I am the proud owner of a Lotus Elan +2 S registered 1970, although chassis number indicates a 1969 build.

I already know that I could buy a reasonable running car for what it will cost to restore but that is not the point, and the chassis is new a galvanised lotus unit which is still bright and has never been on the road, the body has been part rubbed down which is useful as I can see where damage needs redoing and it would need stripping for painting so it may have saved me a few hours. I have stripped most of the car now and am now ready to start the first real work. The sills are shot and I think from previous body removal or jacking I have some sill damage, at first I thought the repair indicated the car had been cut and joined, but I can?t trace this join across the car so think it must just be the driver?s side ! So sill replacement and some fiberglass repair and strengthening are the first priority so I can lift the body safely and start of the mechanical components, optimistically would like that done by Christmas, engine by Easter and the body back to start the cosmetic work before next summer

I will start posting some topics as I would like some feedback on thoughts that I have not found reference to on the forum
Andrew
Lotus Elan+2S 1969
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PostPost by: Gordon Sauer » Wed Aug 20, 2014 6:26 pm

Great project and should be fun, I'm finally closing in after 25 years on my "project" so I know what it's like for things to not move along. When I removed my sills I still worked on the car supported upside down to work on the bottom with only the fiberglass shell (everything removed, even the jute) and I did not find it to move around or shift and it was that way for many months and then I went and put the sills in easily showing again that it had not moved or warped. I think the shell is really pretty strong with the tubular design that the sills fit into is robust and certainly adding any foam would not Really add support with the sill members being plenty strong on their own. Have fun with the project. Gordon Sauer
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