what would be a fair price for a respray on my elan + 2.

[Spyder fan]

Thanks for the info alan . I took the elan to work today for the first time as some of the guys were desperate to see it, a couple of them are engineers and one has just bought a westfield and is very experienced on rebuilds etc .The road is notorious for impatient drivers speedin towards kidderminster at 6.30 -7 am overtaking on blind bends and pushin in to evade oncoming traffic so u hav to brake is the norm (.Don't get me wrong i'm no prude and given a straightish bit with no obvious danger i like to push it.) Anyway after about 8 miles of travelling just above the 40 and 50 mph speedlimits i ended up with a car right up my arse weaving about and lookin to overtake all the time being a real prick, anyway as i was coming towards the long hillclimb and turn into work i just gunned it in 4th gear and into 5th half way up, the response from the 2ltr zetec & jenvy throttle body with emerald management was instant and devastating all he saw was a disappearing rear end with lotus written across it...you can call me childish but i loved it.

Most people give a little room and respect to our old sportscars just writing them off as old has beens, but some just see the L O T U S on the boot lid, it's like a red rag to a bull. I must admit I'm often tempted to let them eat my dust, it's very satisfying on a nice piece of road, trouble is most of them are tailgating and weaving around when there's a queue of traffic in the way and it's just downright dangerous, so I normally slow down and save it for the trackdays.
Hope you get your paint sorted to your satisfaction, the biggest cost is labour as I'm sure you know. Option 1 and others do a fine job, but you pay well for better than new.

Regards

[EMA7K]

Just to add my pennies worth I asked Paul Matty last summer to get option 1 to quote for a respray on my Sprint. They quoted between 8-10K. They had questioned whether the car had had a new front end grafted on. As the car had had a brand new genuine Lotus shell in 1990 and had no accident damage since I came to the conclusion that they had not checked the car properly and just plucked a figure from the ether. Paul did show me a car in his workshop that Option 1 had just painted. The finish was excellent but i would be reluctant to use my car with such a good and expensive paint job. My +2 had a respray in 2006 and 5 years on the paint still looks good but the odd crack is showing through on the boot lid. I'm afraid if you use your Lotus on British roads with all their potholes you have to expect to pick you the odd chip or crack through shocks coming through the chassis after hitting potholes - I'm still looking for some one local (Cheshire) that can offer a decent respray at a realistic price.

Off to wash the plus 2 and polish the chrome!

Gareth
EMA 7K
Zetec + 2

[jono]

Gareth,

Banks in Southport?

Jon

[bcmc33]

I know of two people that have had the Option 1 treatment on their cars and are now afraid to drive them.
I'll stick with my blister ridden Sprint that I'm not afraid of picking-up stone chips.

[JJDraper]

I went down the Options1 route a few years ago, for several reasons. Firstly, I wanted to get the job done well and secondly I wanted a finish that would survive anything that the UK weather can throw at it. I don't have a garage, and the car sits out on the road, unless I'm driving it. I went out to wash the car yesterday, and it still gives me pleasure to bring out a deep shine with so little effort - 20 mins, including a dry with a Chammy..

Yes, it was expensive, but there are no cracks anywhere on the body, after 15k miles on the nastiest, potholiest roads in the UK and abroad; no blisters after being outside in -19 to +40 degC for over two years. Over that time, the car has been in a couple of tangles with other cars, but the repairs have been easy to make invisible, at cost to the other party's insurance. I have a few stone chips, and have damaged the car myself by dropping a large spanner on it, but the point is that the car still looks great. Even Mrs D is happy with the result.

It is not a museum piece, and I'm not afraid to use it. One of the reasons for this is that it now has decent paintwork that isn't going to blister or flake off, or be difficult to repair.

Plenty of people have done their own paint with brilliant results, but I have neither the time or resources. I have seen plenty of scabby blistered +2s, and that's OK because mine was like that for the first 8 years of my ownership, and it was great fun. But I wanted something that would give bit of a wow factor. Expensive? Yes, Worth it? Yes. The only way to go? No.

The total cost at 2009 prices was 6,500GBP, of which 500 was for the metalflake roof.

Jeremy

elan-photos-f18/plus-progress-t18051.html

[alexblack13]

Hi Guys,

I had to have my car painted as it was not very good at all. Just the usual Lotus Elan stuff. I have done over 5k mls with it now. It takes its chances with the rest of them, and it has won a few prizes. It was at lemans last year in all that heat (remember that??) and never missed a beat, merrily sailing past many a hissing and steaming example.

Option 1 or not it was done to be used and it is used. It was at Donington last year too, and will hopefully be at Silverstone this year.

It is superb I think but it is no show queen only..

I watched in amusement at a show once where I had the car and two of my Lambretta scoots. There was a guy cleaning the inside of his exhaust on his motorcycle because he saw the judge looking at one of mine during which he checked for soot in the exh' pipe. His bike had hardly been run at all and the inside of the pipe was shining. I rode both of mine there and back (not at the same time though ) He never got a prize and my series two got best bike! ... Heh! And the Elan got second place to a show queen Jag that arrived and left on a trailer. I gave him a wave as I passed him like a shower of sh1t on the way home... Very satisfying!!..

Al' .......

[72elan1304]

Alex, Where did you have yours done?

[alexblack13]

Sorry..

Option 1 did mine. Same charge as everyone else as every car gets the same process.. It withstood awesome heat at Le Mans last year. Its now three years since completion and still looks fab' I clobbered the front wing with the bonnet when I tripped and fell off my ramp whilst holding the bonnet. That cost me to fix the bonnet, and I almost landed up in A&E as I was not long on my feet after my heart bypass op... !! I looked at my car and almost cried .. But to my amazement it all polished off. I was astounded! But very very happy. I got off with it save for the bonnet damage & I saw stars for days afterwards.

Happy days....

I highly recommend Option 1.. Utter perfectionists.

[bcmc33]

Sorry..

Option 1 did mine. Same charge as everyone else as every car gets the same process.. It withstood awesome heat at Le Mans last year. Its now three years since completion and still looks fab' I clobbered the front wing with the bonnet when I tripped and fell off my ramp whilst holding the bonnet. That cost me to fix the bonnet, and I almost landed up in A&E as I was not long on my feet after my heart bypass op... !! I looked at my car and almost cried .. But to my amazement it all polished off. I was astounded! But very very happy. I got off with it save for the bonnet damage & I saw stars for days afterwards.

Happy days....

I highly recommend Option 1.. Utter perfectionists.

Alex,

Was it a body-off job?

[alexblack13]

Yes Brian... It was away 12 weeks. Drove it down and collected it myself in a good mate's Pick up truck..

Al' .........

[Hal]

...I am not questioning the quality of option1 etc but i do wonder if the perceived difficulties in painting our cars are somewhat overstated?


Ian.

[snip]I am really happy with the work. No cracking except at known stress points like the door handle mount , light pod hole, etc, and the usual self induced zingers.[/snip]


HTH

So there's a problem around the doorhandles?

Is this universal?

I'm thinking ahead....I'll be doing all the GRP and paint on my prospective plus 2, and I wonder if anyone has tried bonding some stainless sheet reinforcement in the problem area?

I've just done this, using black rubber mastic, on high stress areas on a butterfly door on a 1976 sidecar I restored this year.



It has a similar sized plate inside the body. Spreading the stresses into the repaired grp, with the rubber mastic allowing some cushioning and flex, should, I sincerely hope, prevent any more gelcoat cracking.

I've read some stuff on here about people 're-gelcoating' these Lotus bodies, but I've never heard of this being done before. In my experience gelcoat is not something I like to sand, as it doesn't go off or cure unless it's in a mould....and if you've rubbed right down to the bare glass strands you are going to have a big problem getting the surface correct by sanding anyway.....

Most problems with paint pimples caused by 'osmosis' actually seem to be caused by water from condensation creeping along fibres in the comparatively 'open pored' INNER surface of the GRP panel, then getting trapped under the gelcoat or sometimes under the paint itself, if there's a pore open in the gelcoat, so to cure the problem, very thorough drying is needed, followed by proper sealing of the inner surface....say a coat or two of sealer paint. if this isn't done, then the problem is likely to recur, given the same climatic conditions (wet, humid period followed by sub zero temps).

[stugilmour]

Hi Hal. Welcome to the forum.

I would suggest adding a layer or two of fibreglass matt on the inside of the doors where the handle attach's with two bolts. Access is a bit of an issue, but I think a small Dremel or similar could be used.

Other weak points to think about include the following. These are just from noticeable cracking on my car; others may have a few more. These are easy to fix when the body is stripped but difficult after paint.

• Where the door latch mechanism is mounted to the rear of the door; I had to use an Ali plate here due to breakage.
• The corners of the light pod openings.
• Inner fender lip particularly at the top of the curve.
• Any holes in the body interior used to mount the interior trim panels; the holes tend to be enlarged by the old self tappers.
• The roof panel. Mine is OK now with a sun roof installed, but if left solid I would consider a layer or two of matt.
• Pedal box mounting. Much about this in the archives when guys have removed the boosters and increased pedal effort.
• Mark any firewall holes that are not required prior to disassembly so you know which ones you want to fill. Come to think of it, take lots of photos, as difficult to remember where everything goes.
  

HTH Post some pics of the car when you get a chance.

[Hal]

Thanks Stu.

I do have some pix of the car in its less than glorious current state....bear in mind I haven't actually SEEN it yet, nor bought it!

The owner started to rub it down by hand (fortunately) so I can at least see exactly what's what, from my POV better than a just painted car which could be hiding nasty skimmed-over but not properly repaired areas.

All the bits are there except the Stromberg air box and filter box.



Paint is two layers of original white....so it's had a respray at some point, but under these two layers is the grey first primer, and under that the greenish original gelcoat.

Everything is visible. Looks good to me.

Chassis seems to be ok from the pix but I've asked for the front tower lower areas to prodded with a screwdriver just to be sure.



Wheels and tyres look ok.



Wing split at 12 o'clock and on a rear wing, but less severe. Simple GRP repair. I've just noticed the rectangular driving lights under the bumper....would these be aftermarket, or could they be original? I think they came in with the +2S, didn't they?



More chassis pix.

Any comments welcome! You guys know more about these chassis than I do....













Bad choice of jacking point, but it'll bend back!



I've seen much worse suspension corrosion on a 1999 Elise.

This is comparatively light corrosion, a short vinegar bath will have the wishbones looking like new.

It's just possible this car really has done only 38,000 miles...

[tcsoar]

Hi Hal,

Looking at your last picture and your comment about the wishbone the rust will be the least of your problems. The apparent bend in the bone where the car has been lifted could well have knackered it. You should never use a jack on the elans wishbones like this.

Sorry Hal, just seen the comment above the photo

Chris.

[alexblack13]

Carefully check the rust issue but it looks all fixable to me. The Sprint I bought I could bend the A frames (wishbones) over my knee. They were rotted out! The car had 10months MOT.

Get the body off and get stuck in.

Best of luck with it Hal'. It will make a great car mate. I wish I was close by. You could not stop me from err ... Giving you a hand!

Alex B.....