The Lotus Grand Tourers

Nice one Tony. Might it need a spot of weld to stop it turning out of the nut plate when tightening the nyloc from under the car? Another one of your ideas I might steal!

Pete

. Might it need a spot of weld to stop it turning out of the nut plate when tightening the nyloc from under the car?

I've tapped the hole, then added some thread loctite before tightening the bolt in fully. It's proved tight enough to do the nyloc with no problems and when removal time comes around, it will only try to tighten further. However, I agree a dab of weld wouldn't hurt.

On a different matter, I've had the car nearly 1 year now, and the passenger door beam was always the highest priority job. Many jobs got in the way, but finally I made a start this evening by removing door card and spraying release agent around. Pleasantly surprised that most of the bolts look like they are free, with just the A post end top window frame bolt already sheared. Tomorrow we'll find out how much of a problem it will be.

Tony

What's the beam itself like?

Pete

Past it.
Much rot at hinge end. You can twist the beam easily just by holding top of window frame.
So bad you wouldn't dare try to close from inside the car.!!!
If all goes to plan I'll post some pictures in the next day or two.
Tony

yep - definitely past it's best.



Seen photographs of worse, but usually not from cars currently on the road
Still WIP ( work in progress), but did get car back to having 2 locking doors on it by tea time (including time out to watch the GP). Fingers crossed the window slides freely when i try to move it !

Learnt a bit about the wider door opening check strap known to be on post MY89 cars also. Will do a seperate thread on that.
See here.viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11987

Tony

I'd have to be repairing that! Luckily we don't get rust like you guys do, so mine only needed minor work. Was it fully painted in body colour?

Neil.

. I'd have to be repairing that!

You have to repair EVERYTHING. Never realised how lucky we are to have suppliers local.
Yes, the whole beam is in body colour - but not behind the washer positions on the hinge brackets or behind the latch position. Would appear the factory fitted the beam and door latch before painting, then later slid the door shell over - pretty much what I've learnt to do. I guess they had a few jigs though to ensure latch height and lateral beam position were correct.

Re the body colour paint on door beams. On both the Excels I've owned I made sure to coat the doorbeams with Dynax S50. Whilst doing so I found the O.E. body coloured paint on the beams could be lifted away in 4 inch sheets. I could see no evidence of any kind of primer having been applied by the factory. I may be wrong but I suspect the factory just gave the beams a blow over with body coloured paint without first applying a primer.

Fortunately for me under the paint the beams were clean with only slight surface rust here and there.

I also took out the big lumps of water absorbing foam rammed up against the door hinges which I imagine were there for sound deadening purposes but do a great job of permanently holding water against the beam .

Update on the beam change. I won’t detail everything as it’s been covered before, just the new things I found out as I went along. To bullet point the sequence I took though:
• Remove everything.
• Fit the new beam, with latch at B post and tighten front hinge bolts
• Remove Latch and fit door shell ( with Window and frame in my case – see below)
• Align door to body / Check frame is sealing on rubbers
• Rebuild the rest.
A repairable beam came from Lotus Bits. Aware of the potential differences on opening angle, I made sure I got a beam including hinges and strap. I now know a lot more about the differences ( See thread link in earlier post). If I did another one, I would modified the check strap location points to get the wider opening, - Too late now.
The ‘new’ beam was not without corrosion (find one without if you can – I know new ones can are available, but where’s the fun in that !). It was solid enough to cut out the rust and set in new metal. I prepared the replacement metal inserts, but entrusted to a professional to do the TIG welding. The beam still went a bit banana shape. I suspect it would be impossible for the heat not to introduce some bend, but it’s all gone together without much grief so slightly wonky isn’t the end of the world. Before rebuilding though, I did make sure the attachment points for the window frame were all on the same plane

Was fortunate that most bolts came undone as they are meant to ( with a spanner). Only two exceptions : -
• The two front bolts that hold the door skin to the beam (via the angle plate) – they just turned. Angle grinder with slitting disc took the heads off these bolts. Removing the check strap front bolt allows easier access.
• The top front window frame bolt that turned with a stripped thread. Reason : the bolt used was too long. It had bottomed out on the boss that holds the check strap on a wide opening door. Fortunately because it had bottomed before clamping the frame, there was room to get a hacksaw blade in – just.

Once all was loose, and most importantly removing every last possible item to get as much room as possible inside the door, try as I might, I just couldn’t get the drop window out of the frame, nor the frame with window out of the door. Tried all sorts bar really over stressing the frame legs to take the window out, then ended up with the frame (with glass still in ) really high at the rear, as in photo below:


Time for a coffee, and on return I begin to wonder if I can slide the Door shell (with window frame and window still in) off the beam whilst it sits this high. Pleased to report you can . The parts are a bit unwieldy once removed. Care needed not to over stress the fibreglass (supported the frame once laid down), but it worked. The window frame legs need to be high enough to clear the notch in the door beam end plate (where the internal door release lever sits over) but it can be done.

Beam change and rebuild was straight forward, but would have been MUCH harder without the “nut plate” I’d made for the front shell mounting (worth it’s weight in gold). You can see it in the photo below (black bar hanging under the angle plate).


Without this plate, I really don’t know how I would have got the top bolt in. With the plate, it was easy to offer up the plate to get the lower bolt started, then just swing until the top bolt was found and started. I put a second nut on the lower bolt after tightening to lock the thread, but no way could I have reached the top position to do the same. I’m sure it will all stay tight – Won’t it?
Body alignment and door striker setting all went without hitch, but I struggled with getting the window to slide smoothly. About half way down, it went very tight. A strip down and regrease of the operating arm improved things, but in the end, I went for completing the job, accepting that I’d revisit this problem later. It’s the window in the channel that is the problem and it was never good. I have a spare frame, and also the original glass for the car ( the U channel for the drive roller rotted out years ago apparently), so a job on the back burner for now.

Last item was to repair and fit properly the 3 removable panels from the inside door shell. Sorry, but I’m a bit pedantic about bodged work, using a mix of wood screws, tape, sealant, self tappers and glue. Further, the largest panel at the front covering the window motor was never fitted properly by the factory. It is profiled to fit into the shape of the door shell, but hadn’t been cut back far enough at the rear to clear the internal door lever, so sat too far forward. As a result it needed about 8mm of sealer between it and the door shell in places. Much better now, with M4 screws into a tapped Ali plate behind in most positions, and clips / stainless steel self tappers where this proved impossible. – The fully assembled door feels very solid and no rattles ( unlike the drivers door !). As my thread title, one job jobbed, another one found – rebuild the drivers door properly!
Final learning, next time I’d set the beam about 1mm high with reference to the striker when just the beam. Once all the weight is back in the door, it drops about 1-2mm.
Tony

Great write-up! The tip about setting the beam slightly high especially useful . Thanks.

Pete

All good stuff to know - thanks Tony! I went through the BMW plant here about 10 to 12years ago, and they did the same thing with the doors - set them up a bit higher expecting them to drop once all the extra bits went in - final fettling was done with a soft hammer of sorts filled with lead shot if I remember correctly

Neil.

Nice write up.

Out if interest you mention the front 2 bolts holding the skin to the bracket in the beam - on mine these were just ordinary nuts and bolts, so required a socket on a long extension bar from the inside and spanner on outside - is this how you tried, but bolts just shot, or was there some sort of captive bolt on inside of door originally which you’ve replaced with the threaded bar?

Nice hint about setting about 1mm too high - I was planning on weighing the frame, glass, window regulator and door interior panel and then hanging the equivalent weight on the beam while setting mine up.

I can see one other difference with your glass to mine. Mine has a square foam section glued to the glass to prevent drafts with the window raised.

Talking of foam - did you replace the foam around the front of the beam to block of the gap between the beam and front of the door skin?

on mine these were just ordinary nuts and bolts

Yes. This is how mine were held, well certainly the lower position, although I never did find the top bolt. From factory, there is a rectangular "washer" to spread the load on the inside. My lower one had a rounded nut so no go with the long extension. Top one is tucked up behind the Window frame, and really difficult to get to so I just went with tool most likely to win.

I've never seen foam glued to the glass. Mine just had a sheet of clear plastic gaffa taped to the inner door shell presumably to deflect water once it's inside the door.

I'm still in 2 minds about the foam at the front. Foam was there on the old beam. I'm nervous about refitting it for obvious reasons. I decided to use the car for a while without and see if I can hear wind noise or excess water gets in. Jury's out on this one for now. Other than the small area at the top for the check strap, there's no relating movement between the beam and the door shell, so an improvised rubber gasket bonded to both parts may be a decent alternative. - Uhhhmmm. There's a thought.

Tony

My TVR had a rubber "gasket" - more of a flap, really, in that space - seemed to work OK actually, so a good idea and non-absorbent!

Pete

On to the next job. Front bumper off for a repaint and general freshen up.
No big drama's... approx 3 hours for removal and 100% strip down of every last rusty fastener - 2 hours of that with the Dremell arguing with seized screws and bolts.
A few area's for repair of captive threads - not surprisingly one black over rider ( the other came off with the threads intact ), both side fixings ( M8) of the lower skirt to the bumper, and the main centre mounting bolt behind the number plate - the insert is turning in the body fibreglass, so the head was drilled off for strip down.

The front row of rivets holding the lower skirt were still as factory, but all but 2 had pulled through the bumper and were doing nothing. You would have thought Lotus would have at least put a washer behind for the rivets to pull on to - Bean counters I guess Thinking these may get replaced with button head allen bolts.

Sourced off Ebay a pair of new COBO lights, described as Massey Ferguson. I could see the lens was correct, but on receiving, turns out the rear casing is for an angled mount.


No problem though as all other items are identical, so can be transplanted. When I say identical, that's a slight lie - you need to add the two slots in the reflectors ( see photo above at 5 O'clock on the silvered reflector - Already modified ). The end results should be better than standard though, cos the reflectors are now full circles ( standard has a large notch out to access the mounting bolt head, and the earth wire is much more direct on the new bulb plate

Tony