Lotus Elan

Squashed squab

PostPost by: Harvey » Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:10 pm

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After removing my seats to fit a new instrument panel to my '71 Plus 2S I used one of the rear seat squabs to sit on to access the wiring. When I went to fit the squab to the rear seat I noticed that it would not allow me to push it all the way back to meet the backrest. Further inspection revealed I had collapsed the front of the squab so that it no longer met the upper portion of the squab at a 90 degree angle but rather at an acute angle that prevented the squab from moving rearward to meet the backrest. I have included a couple of pictures comparing the squabs so you can see that one is now shaped like a "J" rather than an "L" like to undamaged one.

My question for the forum is how do I return the damaged squab to its original shape? If the squab is composed of two wooden boards covered in vinyl, how can I get the front board to relax into a 90 degree angle with the top board? Would the application of a heat gun to the underside of the front board help it to relax and assume its former shape?

Lee
Jackson, CA
Harvey
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Posts: 133
Joined: 21 Aug 2010
Location: Jackson, California

PostPost by: Harvey » Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:07 pm

Thanks to the 218 persons who were intrigued enough by the title of my post to take a gander and learn that a Plus 2 squab is not a young pigeon. I am happy to report that the squab is no longer squashed thanks to Ken Gray at Dave Bean Engineering. I stopped by to see Ken today and ask him about the squab. He reasoned that the two wooden pieces are held together by a metal strip. Ken placed the squab on a counter and applied considerable pressure to the bottom piece. It slowly yielded, opening the angle between the wood pieces to 90 degrees. As our friends across the pond might say, done and dusted!

Lee
Jackson, CA
Harvey
Second Gear
Second Gear
 
Posts: 133
Joined: 21 Aug 2010
Location: Jackson, California

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