She's 16 years old... what needs doing?

General General Lotus Talk
1

The S2 is now 16 years old with 32,000 miles.
Over the last 6 years of ownership, apart from servicing and a few tweeks, i have changed the rad to alloy, new cooling fans, tow post & header tank.

Early next year its due a service but with the car being 16 yrs old, my attention is drawn to what else should be done.
I have drawn this down to;
Rear tow links. MOT advised some play.
Full suspension strip, clean and new bushes… Is this needed?
Shocks, will these need to be replaced or serviced?
Brake pipes, will these need replacing/changing to braided?

Interested to know your thoughts and potentially anything else my wallet needs to be abused on.

2

Suspension refurb for most people is an aesthetic choice, but the bushes can start degrading and “walking out” of their tubes on even lower mileage cars, so you should inspect it all at least.

Assuming original Billy dampers, IME 50k miles is a bit of a milestone for them and I’ve seen a few sets start weeping around the 50k mark. Inspect, and slap some Nitrons on if they’re weeping.

Brake lines should be fine, the solid pipes running through the sills I’d say are more at risk than the rubber hoses. If you do swap for braided, be aware front clam will need to come off.

Generally just inspect everything. 30k miles is pretty low, but not so low that the car is in dangerous “under use” territory. I’ve had issues on two extremely low mileage cars now involving weeping seals on either end of the crank shaft. Mileage and regular running seems to keep that at bay.

Toe links I’d definitely lob in the bin.

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3

Exactly what @Fonzey said.

Stick on a set of spitfire rear toe links and have done with it

I have just had my suspension stripped , cleaned and rebuilt by seriously lotus. It feels so pointy and nimble compared to before its unreal.

Nitron recommend a rebuild/inspection every two years.

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4

Cheers.
Rear toe links is definitely happening.
The rest, I’ll get Gav at Unit4 to check all bushes and then change only what’s required. Then get a geo done.
She’s on standard Billies, for road use, is there a better upgrade or not worth it?

5

New toe links arrived last week.
Will order 8x new ball joints this weekend (no harm in changing them).
Service booked and fitting of the above for the end of March.

New dash top will arrive next week to replace the buckled black section.
Suede heater panel/air vent panel, with white stitching will be fitted tomorrow.

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6

I just use Dynax spray on the suspension, never done a refurb on my S1. As you are doing, Gavin changes suspension parts when need, which has been wheel bearings and roll bar drop links.