differ to a standard Elan chassis both in terms of strength and dimensions? Will a 26R chassis fit an S3 or S4 shell? Any pictures anywhere?
cheers
Mark
Mark
There’s help on the lotuselan.net homepage entitled I think 26r chassis?..
John 
Top level - A lot stronger ( a bit heavier to). They differ little from the oem chassis in the dimensions required to fit to your body- attached are some pictures of mine . This is a period ( numberd) lotus chassis with the R mod’s
- the 26R chassis is strenghtened in some places ( rear uprights etc. ) and , yes, will fit your S3 body as there is only one chassis for the 26/36/45 Elan I believe…
DH
It will fit- I run a 26R style chassis in my S3.
For the record, there were two variants of the backbone chassis. S1 & S2 cars had the front turrets angled backwards by 7 degrees, whereas the turrets on S3 and S4 cars were only angled by 3 degrees. Obviously, this influences castor angle, hence steering feel and response.
The difference is not sufficient to cause serious problems with interchangeability of the chassis, though, and a 26R spec can be fitted to fit any Series bodyshell.