Misc issues

General General Lotus Talk
1

Just wondering if others have the following issues…

  1. The three bolts the hold the rear clan and undertray on the sides of the vehicle have destroyed the holes in the clam (ripped through the holes).

  2. Paint “spidering” on the nose even though you’ve never hit anything.

Thanks

2

Which three?
I can count at least 9! But no, nothing wrong with any of 'em.

And no spidering here.
Mind you, there’s almost no paint left in the front from all the stone chips

Uldis

3

Uldis - the 3 bolts that are each side of the car holding the front of the rear clam and the undertray.

4

I’d recommend using large penny washers on these bolts - it will help spread the load when tightening up and thus avoid too much damage to the clam…also suggests that someone has been overtightening these bolts as other than stopping the clam from spreading out they don’t really do a great deal.

5

The 3 bolt holes on the u/s of the rear clam are ok on my passenger side but on the drivers side they are very close to te edge of the fibreglass and Im pretty sure they will break sooner or later!

Mine has got the rear clam proection kit (the 2 bits of black rubber ) and these seem to force the clam away from the body slighty and the holes dont line up very well underneath.

This might be the cause for them breaking

6

I fitted some protective rubber strips but not the Lotus ones - I had to sand down the lip on the edge of the lower part of the clam to get a better fit, and as a result, the clam fits quite closely, and the bolts line up…

7

Ahhh, Ok got you.
Went to check and they’re there, no probs at all, why?
Because the bolt heads don’t actually touch the fiberglass since it is behind an aluminum layer.

I remember whe I took that part off, there is a U shape aluminum runner, the fiberglass can be just mounted on top of it or like “in” it.
“In” is the correct position.

Maybe yours is mounted on top (actually closer to the ground?)

Uldis

8

Like Robbo indicates - all of my bolts have broken through the fiberglass.

Uldis - I believe that my clam as always been “outside”, but this makes sense to me on how it would cause a problem.

9

meat

just checked mine - no eating of fibreglass for two reasons…

  1. one side only has 1 bolt the other side has 2 bolts !!
  2. on both sides the aluminium undertray is betwixt bolt/washer and fibreglass thus protecting it from this damage.
10

Sorry I didn’t spot this before - yes, the undertray provides protection for the clam - in effect it is one giant washer…

Other things on my mind