directordanw

Most of the trim can be found, a quick look on eBay throws up somebody selling a bundle of bits, all of us on here are always helpful when it comes to sourcing parts (probably because everyone on here has a stash of ‘just in case’ parts in the garage) and the usual suppliers will have access to some. The bits you will struggle to replace are the trims that run above and below the windscreen. These are hard to find, and because of their fragility, virtually impossible in good condition. Bottom line is everything is fixable, just depends on how deep your pockets are.

Nope. You just get Andy!

SJ used to have the clips for the top trim. Make sure you check the service manual when refitting them, there’s a wealth of instructions about refitting them with silicone as well as pop rivets so they don’t leak in behind the cant rail. And believe me, if you don’t follow the advice they will leak!

From memory...everything is easily accessible from inside the car apart from the retractor unit which is hidden in the interior B pillar. This is a bit awkward because the B pillar trim is part of one big piece that covers the entire side of the rear passenger compartment. In my experience you don't need to get the entire trim piece out to reach the retractor, just be able to lift it up enough to get a wrench in there - eminently feasible if you don't mind the odd grazed knuckle. However to move this at all you will have to remove the rear seat - two screws at the bottom, two by the headrest and then it should lift off its clips. That should give you enough flexibility to squeeze your hand in behind the panel. Others may disagree and recommend taking the entire interior side panel out but then you're into disconnecting the speakers and the courtesy lights.

Mine used to fit very similarly to that, I just assumed it was another of those Lotus idiosyncrasies. Like the headlights sitting just below level, and the door lines never quite lining up! If you look beneath the headlining there's a metal plate attached to the inside of the panel - clearly Lotus were aware of its tendency to bend too...

I would love to see a copy of that 1981 photo if anyone has one to post. I had a conversation with the widow of the first owner of my S2 Elite during my research and was told that when they first fell in love with the car while being wined and dined at Lotus (the purchaser was a long-standing Lotus customer) Colin Chapman, who was their host, told them that it was ‘one of the new JPS promotional cars’. I always thought this was unlikely to be anything other than salesmanship, it’s black over silver not gold, but you never know. When I asked Andy at the archives if he knew any more he could only shrug. Either way it would be great to ascertain this apocryphal provenance!

There may well be a better way but I used to bend the ‘springs’ on my Eclat periodically, it would give a little bit of extra lift.

Thanks, those are great reference, particularly for the grey carpet. But I still can't find any listing of this fabric for Esprits or Elites, every search I now do turns up the classic Esprit red & green tartan seats!

Getting to the point (or at least getting to the point of thinking about) the interior for my S2 which is half black leather/half fabric. The fabric is a very fine black and silver stripe which I have seen in a couple of other owner's photos but never managed to locate a name or manufacturer online. Lotus Archive just list it as black/silver cloth. And I'm hoping to get hold of some at some point in the future. Does anyone have any information about the fabric? Or the same in their car and maybe any more clarity from the archive? Thanks as always. Dan

When I did mine SJ Sportscars recommended poly for the ARB and rubber everywhere else - and they were selling them to me! Likewise I can't comment on drive quality, I'm a ways off that point yet...

There is a company in Birmingham that re-silvers the reflectors. Can’t remember the name (and it’s not cheap!) but if you run an appropriately worded search it’ll come up. They did a great job on my XJS.

SJ certainly have the rubber rings. I had a front pipe off them for my S2 Eclat which they had to have manufactured to order. But that was a few years back.

My Eclat had very similar symptoms, ran fine on the motorway but then (random) power loss once I was running it a bit slower - but only after the engine had had a good long run fully warmed up. I tried EVERYTHING - all of the suggestions above and more. In the end I discovered two tiny splits in the O rings that form part of the mounting between carbs and manifold. Clearly once the engine had warmed up something was expanding and then the reduced airflow running at lower speeds meant that there was a big vacuum leak generated in the manifold once off the motorway because of different heating/cooling times - hence starving the engine of fuel. It took me weeks to find this! Good luck!

I’m with John on this one. Mount the headlining on a suitable board - I used Proplex from Wickes - and then mount that on the ceiling. That way you can get a beautiful smooth finish without having to work upside down and you get a few mm of extra insulation to boot. I did that in the Eclat and it looked great.

Get someone to put some pressure on the bonnet over the catch that’s not behaving while you pull on the release lever. The extra compression on the spring is usually enough to ping it free.