Lotus Elan

Front spot light attachment

PostPost by: Johnny America » Fri Jan 12, 2024 12:22 pm

Hello All, looking for some guidance/advice please. I have purchased a pair of Lucus LR8 rectangular spot lights that fit below the front bumper for my +2.

Can someone confirm the mounting arrangements for these to the car please? Is it via the front bumper?

If so I assume it’s best to remove the bumper and fit and adjust before refitting.

Thank you in advance.
Last edited by Johnny America on Fri Jan 12, 2024 3:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1969 Lotus Elan +2 4 speed - Barn find and currently undergoing recommissioning.
1979 Lancia V6 Group B Rally Car
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PostPost by: Foxie » Fri Jan 12, 2024 1:37 pm

It's attached by a 25 x 3 mm bracket bent and drilled to attach to the bumper bolt in front and pop-riveted to the headlight opening inner flange. The bracket should be flush with the spotlight recess panel,

It is not necessary to remove the bumper.
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Spotlight bracket.jpg and
68 Elan +2, 70 Elan +2s
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PostPost by: mbell » Fri Jan 12, 2024 1:45 pm

There are three options here:
1) The car never had the lights and there is no provision for fitting them so need to make your own up (Early cars)
2) The body was modified by the factory to provide a hole with plastic lining and bracket shown by Foxie
3) The body includes a molding for the lights and bobbin to bolt them through (Late cars)

My guess would be yours in 2.
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PostPost by: Johnny America » Fri Jan 12, 2024 4:00 pm

mbell wrote:There are three options here:
1) The car never had the lights and there is no provision for fitting them so need to make your own up (Early cars)
2) The body was modified by the factory to provide a hole with plastic lining and bracket shown by Foxie
3) The body includes a molding for the lights and bobbin to bolt them through (Late cars)

My guess would be yours in 2.

Thank you Foxie and Mbell.
My car is option 1 never fitted. So will have to make my own bracket and will follow the drawing design as much as possible.
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PostPost by: mbell » Fri Jan 12, 2024 4:45 pm

Johnny America wrote:My car is option 1 never fitted. So will have to make my own bracket and will follow the drawing design as much as possible.



Afraid you'll also need to cut the body, the lights are recessed in to the body. For 2 this was down by cutting the body and fitting a plastic cover behind the light.See viewtopic.php?t=42244&p=298722

For 3 the body mold was change to allow space for the light. Without these the light will protude a out a lot from the body of the car.

SJ sell a piece that can be used. Not sure it this is plastic or fiberglass and what is required to fit it.
https://www.sjsportscars.com/parts-and- ... 0B0032.htm
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PostPost by: Harvey » Sat Jan 13, 2024 1:53 am

I have a late 1971 Plus 2S (April '71) with the third option described by bell. I was unaware of the second option described by Foxie. You guys were "Johny on the spot" responding to the question and represents what is so great about this website.

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PostPost by: alanr » Sat Jan 13, 2024 9:07 am

To be correct two spot lights were never fitted as standard in the UK to a +2. There should be one Foglight and one Spotlight fitted to the later models.
The L/H one should be a Foglight ( Opaque glass) used for following the kerb edge or verge edge on a foggy night and the R/H one (Clear lens)only is a Spotlight used for distance following the dotted 'cats eye' centre line.
The 1960's pea soup fog, aka smog, that we had back then made them desirable equipment on all cars

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PostPost by: mbell » Sat Jan 13, 2024 10:20 am

alanr wrote:To be correct two spot lights were never fitted as standard in the UK to a +2.


It's a good point that through a lot of production it wasn't two fog lights but I believe that late S130 cars came from the factory with two fog lights. My car certainly has two fog lights and the electrical system doesn't include switches/wiring for spot and fog lights.
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PostPost by: alanr » Sat Jan 13, 2024 1:09 pm

My +2 S130 has one foglight and one spotlight on separate switches which as I say I understand was standard fitment on uk S130's at the time. But knowing Lotus they probably just fitted what they had on the shelf that week!

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PostPost by: mbell » Sat Jan 13, 2024 1:19 pm

I suspect it was changed when the wiring changed (engine bay fuses to in dash). So would guess your car has engine bay fuses, mine has the in dash fuse box and single switch.
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PostPost by: Johnny America » Sun Jan 14, 2024 11:16 am

A big thank you to all that have taken time to reply. Sharing the knowledge/ experience is most appreciated.

J
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PostPost by: TonyA » Mon Jan 15, 2024 10:54 am

Ditto Alan; my S130 with fuses in the engine bay has fog and spot lamps mounted by an articulating lamp mounting stud and bolt directly into moulded body shell recesses and operate on separate switches on the dashboard edge trim pad.

By the way, the thread on the light mountings is 3/8 BSF - I replaced the original chromed brass nut on each lamp mounting stud with a stainless nyloc to give a snug grip without overtightening that allows aiming adjustability without having to take the grille off, but won't shake loose..!

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