Chassis inspection.

Elan Discussions
1

Hi Everyone.

       All the cars I have been looking for (a LHD- S130 in particular) are still on the original chassis.   I would like to find a car with replaced chassis but haven't suceeded after many months.   I will look at a car this weekend and want to be armed with as much knowledge as possible.

What is the best way to make an inspection of the chassis?
Where should I look for rust and stress cracks?
Can it be done with out a lift?
Any photos or guidance is appreciated!

Johan

2

Johan…There are 3 main things that are expensive to fix on any Elan, and in order they are bodywork / paint, engine and chassis. The chassis is a lot cheaper to fix than a tired engine, and together they will cost less that rough paintwork to sort out. So I wouldn’t be to bothered about an original chassis, unless you are after a perfect, fully restored car.

There are only really 2 areas of the chassis you can inspect; the front towers that support the front wishbones, and the engine mounting points. It’s the front towers which rust out, or are bent due to clipping a kerb. You can perform a reasonable inspection of them with a screwdriver (if the owner doesn’t mind!) to detect any serious rot. You really need to jack the car up, using the front member of the chassis (which doubles up as the vacuum tank). If you find some rot, the car shouldn’t really be driven. The other tell-tale with rusted towers is that the vacuum tank, which powers the headlights, will not hold a vacuum. Without the engine running, if the headlights don’t stay down when off (on a late Plus 2) or up when on (early car) then a cause could be the chassis tank,but there are other causes as well.

Even if you don’t find rot, there may well be stress cracks around the towers, which are much more difficult to see without cleaning the whole area off.

The stress cracks that can occour around the engine mountings are much more obvious, and can usually be seen from under the bonnet.

If you want a fully restored car, and the one you look at is fine apart from the chassis, it is still worth buying at the right price. Putting a new chassis on an Elan is a pretty straightforward job, and it allows you to overhaul the rest of the mechanical bits with ease…compared to trying to fix things with the body in place, and rusty nuts and bolts that haven’t been touched in many years.

If the car still has it’s original chassis, and it has been driven regularly over the past few years, chances are it will do a few more. If it hasn’t been used for a long time, expect to replace it,

As an indication, Paul Matty charges about 50 hours work to change a chassis. A lot less than restoring a rusty Healey, MGB or E Type!

As for original and matching numbers, that rule doesn’t seem to apply to Elans. Most folks, like you, want a non-original new chassis. I don’t even think that a matching engine number makes a huge, if any, difference

Mark

3

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the good advice. I feel a little bit better about looking at a car with the original chassis. I was trying to avoid it but I could not seem to find a “nice restored” LHD.

If anyone knows of any restored LHD S130 for sale, please let me know. I am trying to be patient but I have the bug!

Johan

4

All good advice but not many elan owners will allow you to place jack under front of chassis take a set of wheel ramps wth you and an experienced lotus man must be someone near you that could help might save you a lot of grief best of luck Colin :smiley:

5

Hi There

In addition to what has been mentioned, I would clean off any gunk along where the engine mounts are hand have a good look for cracks. Especially down near the turrets. Also at the back where the diff ties are the chassis can be easily torn. And they crack on the upper diff mounts. I have experienced all of these, and not just one one chassis. Price in a chassis change and then do one is my advice.

After you have done the change you will feel a closer bond with the car and understand it a bit better too, so it it is not all bad news.

All the best

Berni

6

Johan

Specific places I have seen problems in chassis as follows, some of which have been mentioned before

  1. Front towers - cracking around the suspension pins from hitting kerbs and rust in the base of the towers from blocked drain holes
  2. Front vacuum tank - cracks from incorrect jacking and around the welds to the front towers and rust expecially around the base of the front towers
  3. Engine mounts cracks from vibrating engine loads
  4. Roll bar mounts - cracks from roll bar loads
  5. Along the base of the central backbone just above the lower flange - rust from water retained in the bottom of the felt padding.
  6. Distortion along the lower chassis flanges and cracking where the body mounting bolts go into the flange- take a careful look from the rear along the lower flanges and see how wavy they are, a long hard life on rough roads and race track starts to induce bends and distortion
  7. Diff mounts points both upper and lower can have cracking where the mounting bolts go into the chassis due to diff loads.
  8. Corrosion around the rear of the chassis due to battery acid spills from the boot and electrolitic corrosion where the earth lead connects to the rear of the chassis
  9. Cracking in the cross braces across the rear of the chassis or welds between the braces and the chassis that make up the rear suspension A frame inboard mounting points.
  10. Distortion and cracking of the lotocone mounting plate at the top of the rear towers.

In summary just about every load bearing point can crack or distort and anywhere water or dirt can collect can rust so check them all. Fortunately a replacement chassis is relatively cheap and easy to do as has been already commented on.

cheers and good luck in your search
Rohan

7

The advice is well received. Now I need a bit of luck to find a good car. After looking for more than a few months, I really get a feeling for how few cars are available. Once you look outside of the UK, the numbers drop significantly. If this weekend works out well, I may drop the number of available cars by one more.

Johan