Factory under bonnet finishes

I’m preparing to deliver my 67 S3 FHC to the painter as soon as I can afford the ransome. Can anyone tell me, or better yet provide pictures showing, how the factory finished the underside of the front and rear bonnets.

My car came out of boxes and the bottom of both were resprayed the same color as the exterior which I don’t think is correct.

Any advice may stop me from kicking my dog after I discover I made another mistake. My dog is appreciative of any and all help.

Dear John’s Dog,

RUN!!! :smiley:

Peter '73 +2S 130/5

Hi John

Early bonnets for the S2’s had a smooth black horse hair sound deadening pad glued to it. I don’t have any photos, this was one of the favorite locations for mice to make nests in and the 2 or 3 that I got with the Elan’s were tossed out. The underside of the boot lid was paintred body color. I am not sure how long the sound deadening pads were installed under the bonnet but I don’t miss them, Beauregard, my Yellow Lab doesn’t mind and he doesn’t like to be kicked!

Gary

From the archive pictures it appears that the S3 had a body colour boot lid. I cannot find anything definite about the bonnet, but I guess its reasonable to assume it was body colour also.

Unless you?re a stickler for originality, I would paint them both with satin black that can be obtained in a spray can from any auto shop. The bonnet will then match the engine bay which, in my opinion, makes the whole thing better looking and easier to keep ?clean?.

Brian Clarke
(9172 Sprint)

My 68 titled S3 DHC had body color trunk, satin black underhood–have seen the sound deadening on a +2S130 that I will put on mine as apparently original but mine was satin black, trunk body color as seen cocsistently. Gordon Sauer

My 68 S4 and 72 Sprint: satin black under bonnet, body colour in boot.

Pete.

Elans may be different, but other Lotuses of the period had all the insides painted satin (or flat) black.

Unless the painter’s a friend, you’re paying a lot of extra unnecessary labor to have them do this. Because you’re dealing with inside corners and whatnot much more, it’s very hard to get paint in some of these areas by spraying it. The overspray doesn’t have a place to go, and therefore the paint coming from the sprayer stalls.

A few hours with a can and a brush will, unlike the exterior bits, provide a very nice appearance at very low cost. It may actually adhere better over the long haul, too. And touchups come from what’s left in the can rather than trying to find same later.

On my Europa, I used Rustoleum because it was in the basement already. Looks great, much better than the outside parts (which need attention). And you can never be too careful about protecting that fiberglass surface from corrosion. :wink:

The trunk of the Elans is too nicely finished, with gel coat, to not have body color paint and in the two trunks I’ve stripped it was clear there was no black paint–unlike under the hood and in the engine compartment–but even the engine compartment had body color under the black as do the wheel wells. Under the hood/bonnet there is still the blown fiberglass look since gelcoat nor the polyester filler was used. Gordon Sauer

As far as I was aware the engine bay was painted in satin black to satisfy British Ministry of Transport “type approval” (then called something else). They required it to ensure a totally black background to the white registration letters mounted on the grill. Early cars having the wider radiator without side baffles so the sides of the engine bay could be seen through the grill. *** Is this an old wives tale? ***

The process of spray painting would have involved the whole exterior shell with significant overlap areas of the engine bay opening, with the black paint cut in over the top of the finish colour. I doubt that the finish colour would extend to the whole compartment - just the width of the spray painters stroke. Unless somebody else has some further insight?

As for the boot - all I can say is the inside of my S2 lid is painted red - like the car - but isn’t a very glossy finish, but hey, who polishes there? I have some areas of dark grey showing through, that I’ve always assumed was a primer coat of sorts and was the original paint.

BARNEY