Hardtop Headache requires forum Paracetamol

[MrWill]

Morning !

The 'long tail' hardtop which came with the S2 has turned to be a bit of a lemon. Not only did it hide a rattly passenger door on the pre-purchase test drive (now fixed), all manner of bits fell out of the internal threads when I look it off. 

It's genuine Lotus item but one of the previous owners appears to have stripped two of the three internal threads along the front edge.

Whatever was bonded in there previously to act as a female thread is no longer there and in one of the holes it looks like an bodged attempt at heli-coiling into the GRP has been made.

I've not stripped the liner back yet but before I do anything I can't undo, I'd appreciate it if anyone has had a similar challenge and can share their method & materials of doing a the repair.  Any photos of what it should look like would be good too.  Alternatively is there anyone out there who does hardtop repairs such as this who I could get in touch with?

Many thanks

MrWill

  

[stockhome]

Hi Mr Will

IIRC Lotus did not produce a long tail hard top for the S2

Eliseparts sell a longtail roof https://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/15/79/s2-elise-longtail-hardtop/

If you want help http://www.lotushardtops.com/ produce their own, but not a s2 long tail. They are a little closer than Manchester

 

[MrWill]

Thanks stockhome - that's really interesting and helpful.

I'll give the guys a lotus hard tops a call in a few days to see if they fancy a repair job - depending on their enthusiasm and cost I may still give it a go myself.

Not sure where my roof was born then, if not at Hethel?   It seems really solid and is fully lined in matching suede to the dash and has all the weather proof seals etc.  If it is aftermarket it's been well done....apart from the bolt holes obviously!

Thanks again

Mr Will

[Dr H]

Is it possible to fit rivnuts into the holes that should be threaded?

Other option might be to use some fibrleglass and set some new threads in? You might have to remove the lining to do this.

Got any pictures of the offending article?

[MrWill]

Ooooh Rivnuts!   That will be genius Dr H if there's something for them to pop through & crush back on, but I don't know if there is...yet.   I've just been peering through some small holes in the lining up to now so no pictures.  I was hoping someone might have some pics of the bare fitting before I started pulling the lining off but I suspect I need to just Peel the lining away and see what I've got to play with.  

If  bonding a female thread turns out to be the way to go do you recommend fibreglass as the way to go?  There's some small but significant (15-20nm perhaps) turning forces on the female thread when tightening the hardtop on so will fibreglass / resin work or is there another go-to bonding product where which people have used in the past?

I'll speak to Lotus hard tops tomorrow and if it seems like it's DIY time, I'll get some photos posted up.

Thanks and Best wishes

MrWill

[Dr H]

Rivnuts need a decent amount of material to work but you might be OK. I was going to suggest aluminium ones as they would be easier to fit (softer so easier to set without lots of force) but not sure if they would be up to the required torque of the bolts. What diameter are they?

[richbk]

have you got any pics of the problem area.

 

I had a long tail roof on my 52 plate  S2 elise, changed on 2003 iirc 

 

richbk

[Martin 111S]

4 hours ago, richbk said:

have you got any pics of the problem area.

 

I had a long tail roof on my 52 plate  S2 elise, changed on 2003 iirc 

 

richbk

Not always, my old  S2 elise 52 plate was short roof.

[amoss]

S2 first appeared with the long tail hardtop. The now familiar short roof was announced in March 2002.

[MrWill]

Hi there

Sorry for the delay i responding with photos

Here's a few pictures of the hardtop.  This afternoon I cut away the lining around the threads.  They all seem to be just a heli-coil inserted direct into the GRP.   Two were standing proud and the other was knackered.  

I've tided up the two end heli-coils - now flush fitting and some araldite to finish.  The thread of the middle one had separated as the hole is just too big for the heli-coil.

So I've taken it out and, (after plugging the hole with some cardboard glued to the inside), I plan to fill in the hole with some (as yet to be decided) 'stuff'.  The aim being to drill it out, re-tap and insert a better fitting thread.

That's it for now...until next weekend.

 

 

[MrWill]

The headache has gone!

Just for my own closure but also for a future resource; here's what happened next. 

Took out all three helicoils; drilled out, tapped to a larger M8 size.  The last picture in the post showed the middle hole ready to be filled with a powdered plastic called APX4 'Supa Fix'.  Just pour in Powder and saturate with the magic superglue (98% proof) and it turns to plastic in 7 seconds.  Drilled this out, tapped and helicoiled.  Seems good stuff.

...and it still wouldn't fit!  

There wasn't enough wiggle room to line up the cap head bolts through the clamping plate with the new threads.

So drilled out the clamping plate to 12.5mm - it's just GRP with a small fixing plate so very easy. This has allowed enough room to catch the threads.

Back in the game!  Got the 'coupe' look back for when I fancy a change of style. 

The only downside is that getting in an out requires that you have to pretend to be an envelope and literally post yourself in or out. 

The end

Cheers

MrWill