I’m currently restoring a Lotus Elan +2 S and documenting the full restoration process from start to finish.
The car is currently painted and completely stripped. I received it already dismantled, and while building a full parts list from the original Lotus manuals I realised that some important parts are missing.
I can already see that some items are still available new, and I would appreciate recommendations on the best suppliers to buy from. However, there are also parts that I suspect will be difficult or impossible to find new.
Any advice, contacts, suppliers, or parts for sale would be very welcome.
The main UK suppliers are SJ Sportscars, Sue Miller (Mick Miller) and Classic Team Lotus. Each has their good and bad points. SJS has a good website and can supply most parts but I find their packing and shipping policy expensive. Sue Miller is great, has no website and works almost on an old fashioned personal basis. Can supply most parts, has a great knowledge and shipping costs are good. Classic Team Lotus have a website but not that brilliant and I find you need to phone them. Lotus also used lots of parts common to other uk car manufacturers and you can find these all over the place.
Happy hunting and welcome to the site.
Having just checked your profile I suspect you’re US based. So there will be US suppliers as well.
Welcome Jopi!
As Donels said, there are US suppliers too if that’s where you are. RD Enterprises on the east coast and Dave Bean Engineering on the west. RDE has a pretty comprehensive website but it isn’t set-up for direct ordering. DBE has a very old and basic website; you really want to order their catalog as it’s got more useful information than you’ll ever need. I’ve also dealt with Kelvedon in the UK, who have a good e-commerce platform in their website. For those bits that come from other cars, you’ll find some of them from sourced like Moss Motors.
On a more personal level, it looks like your car is the best colour!
Thank you for the warm welcome and for the supplier recommendations, that’s very helpful.
It’s great to have confirmation on the US side with RD Enterprises and Dave Bean Engineering, and I appreciate the notes on how best to deal with each of them. Kelvedon and Moss Motors are also excellent additions to the list and will certainly be useful when tracking down shared components.
And yes, I couldn’t agree more on the colour. Some choices are simply correct.
Thanks again for the guidance, and I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions as the project moves forward.
Thank you very much for the warm welcome and for taking the time to share such a detailed overview, that’s extremely helpful.
Your insights on the different suppliers are much appreciated, especially the comparison between SJS, Sue Miller, and Classic Team Lotus. That kind of first-hand experience is exactly what I was hoping to learn from the community.
Just to clarify, the car itself is based in Portugal, although I work with suppliers both in the UK and elsewhere depending on availability and practicality. As you mentioned, given how many components Lotus shared with other UK manufacturers, that wider sourcing approach will certainly be useful.
Hi Jopi
Welcome to the board and good luck! You may not be aware, but the cosmetics of the Plus 2S gauges are unique to Lotus. They have stnadard Smiths interior workings, but have a grey background on the face, red needles, unique graphics in white and flat chrome bezels. Your best bet is eBay if you want second hand units, there are usually some on there. I bought a new ambient temperature gauge from Kelvdon last year. The oil pressure gauge can be electric or mechanical - you probably need to see what sender unit you have on the engine. Also the oil pressure gauge is a 0-60 psi range - most aftermarket gauges are 0-100 psi. The Lotus twitcam engine runs with an oil pressure of 35-45 psi.
I coan post up some pictures of my dash (1973 Plus 2S 130) if you want.
HTHs Matt
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation, that’s extremely helpful.
I wasn’t fully aware of how specific the Plus 2S gauges are cosmetically, so that clarification about the unique faces, needles, and bezels is very valuable. Knowing that the internals are standard Smiths but the appearance is Lotus-specific helps frame the problem much more clearly.
I’ll start by checking exactly what is currently fitted on the engine, particularly in relation to the oil pressure sender, and from there determine which gauges will be appropriate. The note about the correct 0–60 psi range and the typical operating pressure of the twincam is also much appreciated.
Thanks as well for mentioning Kelvedon, I’ll definitely have a look there to see what’s available.
I may well take you up on the offer of dash photos once I get a clearer picture of what I’m working with.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your knowledge.
I have a few parts left but I don’t know what you are looking for.
I have an Elan +2
Petrol Tank
Rear Heated Windscreen
Turn Signal Stalk
Dimmer Stalk
Lucas Voltage Regulator
Nader Nuts (not 3 ear)
Brake Rotors (2)
Rear Bearing Carriers
Wheel hubs for Knock Off Wheels
other misc parts
Let me know what you need. I am located in Beaufort SC
Might be worth contacting https://www.smiths-instruments.co.uk/ for the dashboard instruments. The website has possible replacements (a Europa tacho for example) but I bought an Ambient Temperature gauge from them despite it not being on their website so an email/phone call may bring up other items.
I feel slightly bad posting this link as I expect these gauges have gone, but there is a good picture of them all here so you know what you are looking for, and it must be worth a quick message to check they are not still available.
Not at all. I just saw this email pop through on my iPad. I have just arrived back from uni after my final aerospace engineering exams. I have had offers for these gauges already, but have not been able to reply to them quite yet.
