Trunk space & configuration in +2

First post. Hope I have done things correctly.

By way of introduction, I am located in Calgary Alberta Canada. My wife and I are considering a +2. I have just started looking at what is available on the 'net in the last few weeks. Have never owned a Lotus, but was pretty familiar with them back in the '70’s as several friends had them in Vancouver.

For my first newbie question… :smiley:

How much space is in the +2 trunk? Does the spare tire fit below a floor panel or take up a bunch of the space in the trunk?

Where is the battery correctly located? Is it fastened down? Is there a cover panel over it?

Should the trunk walls and the underside of the trunk lid be painted body colour or are they just unfinished FG? Trying to figure out how finished the trunk should be when looking over a car.

Does the rear seat back fold forward between the trunk and passenger compartment?

I see there is a 1970 +2 available in Toronto on eBay at the dealer Gentry Lane. I can’t post a link of the car as I am a new member. Any opinions on the car welcomed.

Cheers!

Stu Calgary
'87 BMW M6

Welcome Stu and Ms. Stu !
The spare tire fits below and the plywood trunk floor fits just above it. The trunk space isn’t what I"d call small or large, no golf club bags but more than one suitcase.
The battery is in the trunk, right front corner. Mine isn’t covered but it should be, by the other floor piece. Preferably the battery is securely fastened down.
I believe the trunk surfaces as viewed with the deck lid open should all be carpeted, but Lotus is known for it’s inconsistentcies so someone else may have other stock information. The trunk floor below the spare should be painted flat black (?) and the inside of the lid should be the same as the body color.
Rear seats do not fold down, there is a fiberglass bulkhead and the gas tank between the seat backs and trunk space.
I’ll try and find the Toronto +2 and give you MHO. I’ve got a '69 +2, I love it but would not recommend one as an every day driver in snowy Canada.

Hi,

Just like to say that there was a run of +2’s whose rear seat (the backrest part) did fold down. There was still no access to the boot as 1964 S1 pointed out, it only gives you a small flat area behind the front seats for a coulple of extra overnight bags. Mine is a '69S and has these seats fitted.

Chris.

Stu…there’s plenty of space behind the front seats for storage too. If you are of normal height like me (6ft 4 inches) then your seat will have to be right back against the rear seat, and you won’t get another human behind you…especially if they are of normal height as well :smiley:

One model of the Plus 2, the early ‘S’ of about `1970 / 1971 I think, did have a fold down rear seat. This was just the back of the seat folding forward over the two ‘cushions’, making in effect a flat platform that things could be loaded onto. Still no thru access to the trunk of course…the petrol tank was still in the way.
Mark

Hi Stu,

Most of the details covered in above posts.

One of my needs when I bought my +2 was to have a decent boot.

And it certainly is a decent sized boot.

My wife and I easily fit two bodyboards, wetsuits and weekend bags in the boot.

For such a ‘small’ looking car it’s amazing…

There is only really space for kids in the back seats. I’m a below average 6’1" and my 8 year old gets her feet a bit crushed.

BUT if there are no back seat passengers then there’s plenty of room for extra baggage in the back seats.

I believe also that Colin Chapman specified in the design requirements that a golf club bag with clubs should fit in the boot too!

Great car…if only I could get rid of that oil leak…

Peter 1973 +2S 130/5 bleeding black at the moment…

Peter…change you oil to Duckhams. It won’t stop the oil leaks, but you’ll bleed green instead :sunglasses:
Mark

Hi Stu , If you happen to look at an early car (external boot handle & transverse rear silencer/muffler) I think you will find that the boot is a little shallower than the later ones. IIRC the later lower boot moulding had a depression in it to help accomodate the spare wheel, thus allowing the boot boards to be lowered. I have owned both , but it’s twenty years since I’ve looked in the boot of a later version! Of course there is always the Elise method of carrying the spare in an aerosol can which would free up even more space!

Cheers, Brian.

community.webshots.com/user/niallf17

In the Plus 2 album above there’s a few pics of my boot before restoration. This shows battery & spare wheel location.

Niall

One thing that pleased me when I got a Plus 2 was that the boot was exactly the correct size for me to fit my Guitar amplifier in! :sunglasses:

I’ve had an 88note Keyboard, Various Leads & Cases, Combo Amplifier and MIDI Rack modules in mine. Caused a few turned heads turning up to a gig in a lime green, silver roofed, seventies spectacular.

Niall

Thanks to all for the great responses, particularly the photo’s above. The boot looks excellent! This is exactly what I was hoping for; battery and spare located below panel leaving a pretty finished up boot without interference with the wiring.

The one I am looking at on eBay does have the battery visible in the one trunk shot, but it looks like this should be able to be properly relocated to below the floor panel.

I had read about the fold down seat, which is visible in the pic’s. However, from car on offer and my faded memory of the '70’s, I think in Canada we only got +2’s with the more “sport seat” configuration rather than the plusher looking “comfort” seats I have seen on some of the Brit cars. Maybe this deletes the fold-down. Not a big deal to me, as now know no pass through anyway.

I just got the original 1970 +2 brochure in the mail off of eBay! Interesting that it says “Printed in Canada”, so assume it is the correct brochure for the car on offer. Brochure lists 110 bhp with Stromberg’s, which appears to apply to car on offer? Anyway, hoping the brochure will assist in convincing Lynn of how great these cars can be!

The auction ended for this car (again) with no bid activity. It has been re-listed several times. Item number is 110169173861. As bidding has officially ended you need eBay ID to see it now. I cannot post the link until I have posted a few times and been a member for a while.

Cheers! Thanks again.

Stu
Calgary Alberta

Is the +2 on eBay a red car with an asking price of more than $12000?

Tried to post the link again, but can’t. Need to have made three posts to forum prior to including links. Item number in eBay is 110169173861.

It is a 1970 +2, red with gloss black roof. Has been listed several times, with bid level to start at $US15,000. Last listing was started at $US17,500. Difference $CDN to $US is presently trivial as exchange rates have changed drastically in last several months.

You need to be eBay member to see it now as bidding has ended with zero bids. There are several other dated listings of the same car, generally with zero to like two bids. The reserve is not revealed, but my guess is around $US19,000, as I saw the same car listed on a site for $19,500 asking price. You can see the other listings I think by searching on Gentry Lane, which is a Toronto area Lotus dealer.

They mention frame off resto “over the past”, but there are no progress photo’s or photo’s of critical underside areas are provided. Visually looks good and complete, although I think I see damage to rear bumper and front grille surround (are this obtainable parts?).

Car is located approx. 2000 miles from me, so need to decide if this is worth a look or not.

Thx for any help/advice.

Stu
Calgary Alberta
'87 BMW M6

Here’s the link and a couple of pictures:

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lotus-El … dZViewItem

It looks to have most of the original features for a pre-‘S’ car. These had the fixed back seats, rather than the recliners, and a couple less dials. Some think that these are the more ‘pure’ Plus 2…more like the 2 seater, whilst others prefer the slightly more comfy reclining seats. Other than that, there’s not a lot of difference until you get to the ‘big valve’ 130 S, which is a little faster, and may have a 5 speed box, which can be troublesome.

There are only a couple of bits you can’t get for a Plus 2…the grille surround chrome and the rear bumper! The first was from a Ford Anglia van, and the second from a Mini variant called an Elf or a Hornet…modified by adding in a piece to make it longer. Actually, you can get a repro rear bumper, but they look horrible. So long as the original isn’t rotted out, it can be sorted out. Likewise the grille surround, but they don’t rust.

Mark



Thanks Mark for the info and posting the pics.

What dials would be not included in this model? My wife likes the style of this model’s dash better than the one’s with the later rocker switches, so it probably does not end up being a big deal. More just curious. I am assuming the four secondary gauges are individually fuel level, oil pressure, amps, and coolant temperature as none appear to be the double type like in the baby Elan? I guess a clock is added to the later model, but can’t think what the sixth gauge would be?

As above, I think we only got the non-recliners here. I guess I like the more “pure” look, or it could just be that it is more familiar!

I understand the engine can be converted to “big valve” configuration if a rebuild is ever needed? Although I can’t see this being an issue for me, I checked out the performance stats in my brochure and they seem pretty modest by today’s standards. I am more concerned with driveability with the stock Stromberg set-up, and hoping no major mod’s would be required to the car if it is sorted.

I did not realize the five speeds can be a bit dodgy. I was thinking this would be a good feature for longer distance cruising, perhaps considering a conversion. I do not recall we got them in Canada, so I had not expected this to be part of my search criteria. I think the +2 was NLA in Canada by the time they became available, so not familiar with them at all.

Can you give me an idea of the RPM at say 60 mph (~100 km/h) and 80 mph (~130 km/h) in the four speed car? According to my “new” Canadian brochure I got on eBay it is probably the 3.77:1 final drive and 1:1 in fourth gear.

Will one of these vintage engines be happy at about 80 mph cruising speeds all day or is this problematic? I am not particularly fussed with the higher RPM in terms of noise or vibration, more concerned about general driveline durability.

Your remarks clear up why such a presentable looking car might still have an issue with the bumper and grille surround. I will make sure to look these components over very carefully if I get to the inspection stage. Did you mean that they can likely be banged out and repaired in some way if they are not rusted?

The rear view mirrors look non-stock but period correct. Again, doesn’t really bother me, but curious if they would offer much visibility in their current location.

Any other advice on what to look at would be appreciated. Not sure where exactly to look for frame corrosion.

Thanks again.

Stu
'87 M6 Calgary

About 18 mph per 1000 rpm, 80 mph cruise not a problem, in fact that’s just about ideal, vibration means something’s not properly sorted!

I think the other dial was ambient temp, don’t know what that means, 50/0183 didn’t get one!

A previous post

lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15049

has downloadable spreadsheets that allow you to determine virtually any answer to questions about speed, rpm, gearbox ratios, differential ratios, tires sizes, etc.

David
1968 36/7988

… Once again msd David, what the heck are these spreadsheets about? This new member was asking about boot size (I was wrong, you CAN fit a smaller 3/4 set of golf bags in it) and folding back seats, both questions irrelevant to airflow and gear ratios. Sincerely, Eric

I have no idea how that post wound up over here, it was on another thread last I saw it!

Stu…to answer some of your other questions…I wouldn?t worry about converting the engine to ?big valve? spec. If you just change the cams for the ?C? type (as in the Sprint / big valve) and set up the timing and carbs you?ll get pretty much the same power. This was the specification of the ?Super S/E? engine in some S4 Elans.

The Lotus 5 speed box doesn?t have a very good reputation, and is prone to wear which shows up as stiff and crunchy changes. They can be rebuilt properly, but rarely seem to be. The 4 speed box on the other hand is a delight to use, and gives very few problems. Cruising at 80 is fine with a 4 speed. If I was to put a 5 speed in an early Plus 2 it would be a type 9 gearbox, out of a Ford Sierra?..there are kits around to adapt them very easily, and a few threads on this site discussing them.

The main place to check for frame corrosion is where the front wishbones attach to the vertical part of the frame …called the towers. These can fill with dirt over the years and start to rot out at the bottom. Get the car on a ramp for a close inspection. The cross member that joins the two towers at the bottom also acts as a vacuum reservoir for the headlights, another quirky Elan feature. The early Plus 2 (the one you?re looking at) had non-failsafe lights, whereby if the vacuum system fails, the headlights stay down. The later cars had the lights staying up on failure. Check out the car by putting the lights up when the engine is running, then switch the engine off. If the lights go down within, say, 10 minutes, there?s a problem in the vacuum system. At worst, this can be a rusty vacuum reservoir, but more likely to be one of the actuating pods or simply a bit of pipe leaking.

Whist it?s on the ramps, check for any fatigue splits around the engine mounts, gearbox mounts, and if you can see them, the differential mounts.

At the back you?ll see the driveshafts coming out of the differential to the hubs, connected by 2 rubber ?doughnuts? on each side. Check these for splits. Most folks now are replacing them with solid driveshafts which eliminate the surge which is very evident in the Plus 2.

Probably the most expensive thing to sort on any Elan is the paintwork. Check that there aren?t too many cracks in the paint, and no blisters or craters. The older the paint job, the more assured you can be that what you see is what you?ve got! An Elan can be painted very cheaply and it will look great for a few months, then all the cracks will start coming through. Check the invoices for the work done if it was recent?if it was a $2000 blowover done a few weeks ago, walk away, no matter how good the car looks now. I?d expect to pay ?3000 to ?5000 over here for a good job on a car which doesn?t have too many problems to start with.

The other things to check are pretty much as per any old car?smoking, oil pressure, overheating & oil leaks on the engine. A little extra to check is the noise the cam chain is making. They do rattle a bit compared to a modern car, but not too much. Check that there?s plenty of thread left on the adjuster?.a threaded screw with locknut sticking out of the front right (carb side) of the engine. If it?s screwed right in and rattling?.it?s a tired engine.
Mark