11 replies to this topic

[adamdavi3s]

Ok so I plead complete ignorance in all matters VX220 but I'm surprised this hadn't sold? I know it's a pretty a beat up project but isn't the price fairly reflected? I guess it's missing the hard top and the LY dash plate assuming it's genuine? I http://bit.ly/1f4ytWk

[Rusty789]

Hasn't there already been a thread on this? Pretty sure somebody has already said it should put really see the road again, then if that's the case it's probably not ideal for track either...

[fezzasus]

Bent wishbone could indicate damaged wishbone mounts = unrepairable.

 

Plus a headlight is £1200 new, and a clam is £3300

 

So repair is a minimum of £6000 without paint, and assuming the chassis is straight.

[badgerade]

Discussed here:  http://www.vx220.org...roject-on-ebay/

 

and here: http://www.vx220.org...ay-damaged-nsf/

 

[christhegasman]

Its cat b so can never legally be out back on the road

[anz3001]

Bent wishbone could indicate damaged wishbone mounts = unrepairable.

 

 I know that is the official word from lotus and can understand the argument about dodgy repairs being sold back to unsuspecting future buyers but actually for a track car, why cant it be repaired? im certain an ally welder/fabricator could do something up to the job

[adamdavi3s]

My apologies, didn't realise it had been discussed before

[fezzasus]

 

Bent wishbone could indicate damaged wishbone mounts = unrepairable.

 

 I know that is the official word from lotus and can understand the argument about dodgy repairs being sold back to unsuspecting future buyers but actually for a track car, why cant it be repaired? im certain an ally welder/fabricator could do something up to the job

 

 

Do you know what welding will do to the bonded joints? I don't, but my chemistry knowledge says it will go something like this:

 

heat transmitted through aluminium to bonded edge, melts bond at metal-glue interface, weakens joint.

[Arno]

Do you know what welding will do to the bonded joints? I don't, but my chemistry knowledge says it will go something like this:

 

heat transmitted through aluminium to bonded edge, melts bond at metal-glue interface, weakens joint.

 

 

Correct. This could be somewhat mitigated with cold-packs to stop heat being transferred to the glue joints. But a more troubling problem with welding the chassis in various places is that the aluminium wall thickness of the chassis extrusions was not dimensioned to support welding.

 

The area next to a weld (the 'heat affected zone') in most aluminium alloys weakens significantly compared to the original metal, so most aluminium structures that are designed to be welded are often (much) thicker around the areas to be welded to compensate for this.

 

As the VX/Elise chassis was designed to be bonded from the onset they could (and have) used much thinner wall thickness aluminium than would be required for a welded construction. A good comparison is to look at the Renault Spider chassis that is designed in the same era, but IS welded. This is much thicker.

 

I'm NOT saying that the Elise chassis can not be repaired, but that it takes thought and planning and not just pointin your TIG or MIG at it and slapping on a big weld bead.

 

Actually I suspect that we'll see more decent repairs around the front suspension parts as the current construction already allows the use of (for instance) riveted and bonded repairs with new tubes/extrusions inserted into the (remains of) the square chassis tubes that make up the current upper suspension pickup points. (lower points are often not as affected as they are more 'beefy' to start with)

 

Lotus is actually already working on a repair process there as various Elises (and probably VX'es too) have suffered corrosion pitting/puncturing of the aluminium around the steel bobbins that are bonded into the upper suspension points where the aluminium wall thickness is really small and galvanic corrosion can really take it's toll. As this can  happen to quite new cars it's a chassis corrosion warranty issue and they are looking into it.

 

Bye, Arno.

[TazN]

 

Lotus is actually already working on a repair process there as various Elises (and probably VX'es too) have suffered corrosion pitting/puncturing of the aluminium around the steel bobbins that are bonded into the upper suspension points where the aluminium wall thickness is really small and galvanic corrosion can really take it's toll. As this can  happen to quite new cars it's a chassis corrosion warranty issue and they are looking into it.

 

Bye, Arno.

 

 

Arno, where have you heard/read this (regarding repair process)? Interested in keeping track of it just for info purposes.

[Arno]

They don't give out much info, but on SELOC there was one owner of a pretty recent Elise who suffered this corrosion issue and Lotus were working on a method to repair/replace the damaged section instead of a complete chassis-swap (like would be the 'normal' procedure). As far as I know it was fixed and it's now basically under test to see how well the repair works in real life.

 

I suppose they want to make sure it's OK and perhaps go through an in-house test and training process before releasing the method to dealers or repairers. Apart from the technical issues there are probably a whole boatload of legal and liability issues that need to be worked out as well..

 

Last was this so far: http://forums.seloc....ge=7#pid6314264

 

Would be a 'first' if there's a Lotus-approved repair on an elise-platform chassis. Other repairs have been done and several very profesionally and probably 100% OK (eg. currently there are stronger room-termperature curing epoxies than the original thermal-activated chassis glue used since 1995/6..), but they are none of them 'factory approved'..

 

Bye, Arno.

[A-F_20]

Whilst it maybe shouldn't be put back on the road - I think these chassis can be repaired in the correct way, definitely not by welding but by bonding and riveting new sections in place. It's seen as a major benefit on the Aston Martin race cars at work that a car can be repaired much more easily after a crash than a traditional steel chassis - we have sections machined and bonded in and can be back running very quickly.