New chassis needed

[PC777]

Hi all, I have been busy pulling lots of suspension bits off the car (1967 S3 Elan) and cleaning, cleaning cleaning..only to find amongst the couple of chassis cracks, a quite large one across the lower wishbone mount. It appears that the previous owner has had a go at welding the other side.

Here are a few pictures of the area in question:





Anyhow my dilemma was do I try to patch it to get a few years driving out of the car or do I carry on with looking for a new chassis.

Well I have decided to try and go for a new chassis, so here is the question, does anyone have any recent experience with bringing one over from the UK to Australia?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards

Paul

[rgh0]

HI Paul

I had exactly the same problem on my Plus 2 many years ago. The bracket actually failed and I was left with the wishbone front pivot loose, made for interesting handling ! I was planning to cut out and replace the cracked bracket and chassis bottom tray as that seemed practical to do and cheaper than a new chassis. However when I removed the chassis for the repair I discovered that the backbone was rusted through on both sides the full length of the lap joint at the bottom and a new chassis was thus the better option.

I had a Spyder chassis shipped out to replace it. The shipment cost was about the same as the chassis cost at that time more than 20 years ago. I sold the old chassis to a guy who wanted to use the front section which was in good condition to repair a chassis with rusted out front towers.

cheers
Rohan

[Spyder fan]

Paul,
If you decide to go down the new chassis route there is the option of Spyder supplying the original pattern folded metal chassis as well as their spaceframe type, so you can go for originality or "improvement" whatever is your choice. I also know for a fact that Spyder ship their chassis inside a purpose built metal crate for export and that there's lots of room in there for other goodies to make the trip, so if you needed wishbones, driveshafts, brakes and all that stuff you could get it all shipped at the same time and save on cost. Freight costs on this scale are volumetric rather than weight orientated.

Here's a link to a rolling chassis that was shipped to Australia a couple of years years back. http://www.spydercars.co.uk/spyder-zetec-elan-2-rolling-chassis-exported-to-australia/

The metal crate I'm describing above is similar (but narrower) to what is seen here.

Contact details for Spyder are on the link, it costs nothing to get a quote.


If you want to persevere with repairing your existing chassis here's a good source for inspiration on these forums, but bear in mind what Rohan mentioned about his chassis being rusted on the backbone, you won't know how bad the situation is unless you remove the body, and you will need to do that to fit a new one anyway, so get busy http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-chassis-f36/sows-ear-chassis-t24752.html

[PC777]

Thanks for the reply guys, I did in fact send a request for more information from Spyder on the folded metal chassis and if they can deliver to Australia, but as yet I have not had a response.

I have decided that the body will have to come off sooner than later and I am sure that the chassis in the car is not worth saving.

I will give an update when it happens but it could be a few months away.

Thanks for the support and feedback.

Paul

[Elanintheforest]

It only cost around ?1700 to ship a car in a 20 ft container from the UK to Australia. If you could find buyers for 10 or 15 chassis then shipping becomes pretty cheap. Remember that you wouldn't have to pay our 20% VAT, so you'd be buying them for pretty much the same price we pay in the UK....plus whatever tax you have to pay at your end of course.
Mark

[bill308]

Hi Mark.

Your quote ?1700 for a 20 ft container from the UK to Australia seems very inexpensive. Can you provide contact details for this shipper/forwarder?

I was quoted ?2000 for a 20 ft container from the UK to the east coast port of Newark,NJ, USA.

My friend Tim shipped a Cobra replicar from his home in MA, USA to New Zeeland at a cost of about $5000 (?3125) two years ago. He loaded and strapped down the car in the container himself and indeed was required to do it within a 3-hour window to avoid additional onsite costs.

Bill

[Elanintheforest]

Hmm, I think that a bit more time may have passed than I remember! I sold a Plus 2 to a friend in Melbourne and he organised the container. He was also shipping quite a lot of other things, and that was the cost for the container shipped, with as much stuff as he could put in it. 9 months later and he also shipped a V8 MGB the same way, and I believe, for the same cost.

But it was about 6 or 7 years back, so maybe things have changed a fair bit since then!

Mark

[AussieJohn]

I have used a 20' "reefer" container [refridgerator] which was cheaper than a standard one as they were being returned from UK to OZ for more perishables [and they are slightly smaller inside ].

[CBUEB1771]

I did in fact send a request for more information from Spyder on the folded metal chassis and if they can deliver to Australia, but as yet I have not had a response.

I find that the people at Spyder are not great at responding to email, at least not to requests sent to [email protected]. However they are good with telephone calls.

[vstibbard]

I'm bringing a shell and new chassis for 26R over from UK leaving at end January, via shippers that TTR uses. including collection, packaging of shell and chassis and shipping cages CFR its costing ~ 1000GBP, will take 22 days from loading.

I'll also be bringing another 26R S2 shell and 26R chassis in few months. I've heard of another Lotus owner in Sydney who is thinking of bringing shell and chassis in, maybe worth consolidating as three fit in a 20" container.

Local changers are to be paid by me.

drop me a pm if interested in exploring the consolidation route

V

[bill308]

Good for you V.

I'm trying to arrange a similar shipment to Newark, NJ, USA. I'm still waiting on some shipping estimates. Only TTR has replied to date.

I think you will find a 20 ft container will handle a lot more volume. I was looking at a 4-chassis and one 26R body, but even that leaves a lot of unused volume. Could probably take another 6-chasses

Bill

[Spyder fan]

Bill,
It's worth persevering with Spyder, PM me your contact details and the list of stuff you are after if not just the Chassis and I will forward it to Sean at Spyder and chase him up to respond when we next speak which is normally a weekly occurrence.

I just got a quote for Paul of ?1595 GBP for the chassis plus ?865 GBP for door to door shipping to his address in South Australia, this includes the special crate required to ship and there's lots of room inside for other stuff if required and that won't affect the shipping cost. The shipping cost can be reduced by?200 GBP if Paul collects from Adelaide port. I really think that this is reasonable, although it's not a purchase I would want to make on a regular basis

[PC777]

It's OFF !!

Yes I managed to remove the body single handedly ? well with some help from my other half, but at least it came off without any problems.

Next step is to clean the chassis up and remove the running gear.

Just in case anyone is interested, I used two hydraulic tables to lift the body up and lowered the chassis to more or less ground level.







OK ready for the next step..to assess the state of the chassis.



PC