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Lotus Elise / Lotus Exige. Instruction - part 10

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Lotus Service Notes

Section BQ

9. To ﬁt a new dash bafﬂe:

- Ensure the heater feed and return pipes are ﬁtted.

- Dry ﬁt the panel and mark up the bonding surface on the chassis scuttle.

- Prepare and re-activate the surface of the old adhesive on the chassis using Betawipe 4000 (see

BQ.5).

- Clean and prime the upper and lower bonding faces on the new bafﬂe panel using Betaclean 3900 and

Betaprime 5404 (see sub-section BQ.5).

- Apply a bead of Betaseal/mate adhesive (see sub-section BQ.5) to the bafﬂe lower ﬂange.

- Position the panel and press along the length of the joint to ensure sufﬁcient spread of adhesive. Clamp

the panel in position until the adhesive cures.

- Apply self adhesive foam strip A082U6065V to each vertical end face of the bafﬂe panel, wrapping over

onto the top edge and along to the primed surface. Apply a second strip up each vertical face.

10. Prepare the old adhesive bead on the chassis for ﬁtment of the windscreen frame by removing excess

sealant from all the bonding areas on the chassis, sill panels and dash bafﬂe to leave a consistent and

level bonding surface for the new frame. It is not necessary to remove all traces of old adhesive, but a

uniform surface must be available for the new adhesive bead. The remaining adhesive must be securely

bonded and be cut with a scalpal blade to leave an even thickness of 1 - 2 mm.

11. Fit the wiper motor assembly and windscreen washer jets to the windscreen frame.

12. If necessary, ﬁt a new roof side rail latch plate to the windscreen header rail - it is not recommended to

reﬁt a bracket due to the requirement for high surface quality on the bracket.

- If applicable, completely remove any old adhesive from the header rail taking care not to damage the com-

posite substrate. Lightly abrade the bonding surface on the header rail but do

not abrade the bracket.

- Clean the bonding surfaces on the header rail and bracket with Betaclean 3900 (see sub-section

BQ.5).

- Prime the header rail with Betaprime 5404, but do not prime the bracket.

- Generously coat the bonding surface of the bracket, with a 50/50 mix of Betamate 7064S (A116B0159V)

and Betamate 7014 (A116B0158V). Fit the bracket to the header rail and wipe off extruded adhesive with

Betaclean 3900. Position the bracket using tool T000T1422F (RH) or T000T1423F (LH), which sould be

taped to the header rail for at least 30 minutes.

13. Before ﬁtting the windscreen frame, ensure that two setting rods are available for positioning the frame:

- Cut two 670mm lengths of locally sourced 10mm diameter steel rod.

14. - Prepare and re-activate the old adhesive bead on the chassis using Betawipe 4000 (see BQ.5).

- Clean and prime the bonding area on the new windscreen frame with Betaclean 3900 and Betaprime

5404 (see sub-section BQ.5).

- Apply a bead of Betaseal/mate adhesive (see sub-section BQ.5) to the whole of the bonding ﬂange on the

windscreen frame and butresses, including the mating face between frame underside and bafﬂe panel.

- Carefully ﬁt the windscreen frame onto the chassis and press into position to ensure adequate adhesive

compression. Ensure the frame is positioned correctly in relation to the roll-over bar by ﬁtting the two set-

ting rods in the roof siderail locating slots. The rods should locate snugly in the slots with no end play.

- Clamp the frame into position until the adhesive cures.

- Ensure good adhesion between the frame and bafﬂe panel.

- Use a spatula to smooth out or remove any excess or extruded adhesive.

15. Seal the frame panel to the top of the door hinge post at each side by extruding a bead of Betaseal, and

smoothing with a spatula to obtain a neat ﬁnish.

16. Examine the whole of the bonding jointline for sealing integrity, and if necessary apply additional adhesive

to seal any gaps. Use a spatula to smooth any visual areas to a neat ﬁnish.

17. Do not disturb the frame until the adhesive has fully cured (see sub-section BQ.5).

18. Fit the windscreen (see sub-section BR.14), dash panel and instrument pack (BR.13), front clamshell

(BR.5), and other components as necessary.

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Lotus Service Notes

Section BQ

Windscreen frame bonding (sills not shown)

Windscreen frame

Windsceen

frame

buttress

Dash

bafﬂe

panel

Bonding path

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Lotus Service Notes

Section BQ

BQ.9 - SILL PANELS

The sill panels incorporate the ‘A’ and ‘B’ posts, and are bonded to the chassis, windscreen frame and

rear bulkhead panel. The sill bottom ﬂange, and rear end of the will top ﬂange are bonded into grooves in the

chassis main side rails and it is necessary to cut the sills in the course of their removal: It is not practical to

attempt to remove a sill panel intact for later reﬁtment. If sill damage occurs which is not repairable ‘in situ’,

the sill panel should be renewed.

To Replace Sill Panel

A short section of sill ﬂange underlaps the windscreen frame buttress ﬂange in the front wheelarch area

and requires that some cutting and laminating of the new panel is required on assembly.

1. Remove front and rear clamshells (see sub-sections BR.5, BR.6), dash panel (BR.13) and door hinge

bracket (BR.8).

2. Remove the door latch striker pin and washers, noting the assembly sequence. Remove the door sill trim

panel from the chassis and the door ajar switch from the sill panel.

3. Use a sealant cutting knife to cut the adhesive bead between sill and chassis/body panels.

Note:

- In the front wheelarch area, a short section of the sill ﬂange underlaps the windscreen frame buttress

ﬂange. Unless the windscreen is also to be removed, it will be necessary to cut the sill around this ﬂange

in order to release the sill.

- The bottom edge of the sill, and the rear part of the top edge, locate in grooves in the chassis side frame,

and may not readily be cut out with the sill intact. Cut the sill as necessary to release the panel, and then

remove the remaining edges of the panel from the chassis using a suitable cutting knife.

- Cut the sealant around the door hinge post aperture.

- Cut the sealant between the panel and roll over bar.

Bonding path

Slots in chassis

Door hinge siderail

post

Cut ﬂange

top corner Sill panel

if necessary

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Lotus Service Notes

Section BQ

4. Remove excess sealant from all the bonding areas on the chassis and body panels. It is not necessary to

remove all traces of old adhesive, but any remaining adhesive must be securely bonded and be cut with

a scalpal blade to leave an even thickness of 1 - 2 mm.

5. If necessary, cut the top front corner of the sill ﬂange to allow mating of the panel around the windscreen

butress ﬂange. Dry ﬁt the sill and fettle as necessary to achieve a good ﬁt. Note that a new sill will require

an alloy right angle bracket (A120B0053F) riveting to the rear end of the sill panel to form a bonding surface.

Holes are pre-drilled, with two pairs of holes in the bracket to suit Rover and Toyota powertrain cars. For

Toyota powertrain cars, use the innermost holes in the bracket to pull the sill panel furthest inboard.

6. Before preparing the surfaces for bonding, ensure that the necessary pipes and cables are ﬁtted to the

chassis side rails:

RH side: - heater feed pipe

- brake pipe

- alloy spigot for side impact foam

LH side: - heater return pipe

- brake pipe

- clutch pipe

- servo vacuum hose

- main battery positive cable

- alloy spigot for side impact foam

Check that the following components are ﬁtted into the composite sill:

RH side: - 2 a.c. pipes (if applicable)

- oil cooler return hose (if applicable)

- side impact foam

- foam bafﬂe

LH side: - oil cooler feed hose (if applicable)

- side impact foam

- foam bafﬂe

7. Prepare the bonding surface of the new sill panel with Betaclean 3900 and Betaprime 5404 (see subsection

BQ.5). Prepare surface of the old adhesive bead on the chassis and body panels Using Betawipe 4000

(see sub-section BQ.5).

8. Apply a bead of Betaseal/mate adhesive (see sub-section BQ.5) to the bonding surface on the chassis and

body and ﬁt the sill panel into position, ﬁrst locating the sill bottom edge into its chassis slot, and press all

around the joint to ensure sufﬁcient spread of adhesive. If necessary, use a spatula to smooth or remove

any extruded adhesive, and to neaten any visual areas. If necessary, add adhesive to the joint around

the door hinge post, and to the windscreen frame, and smooth with a spatula.

9. Clamp the panel into position until the adhesive has cured (see sub-section BQ.5).

10. If the top front corner of the sill ﬂange has been cut to ﬁt around the windscreen butress ﬂange, this area

should be reinforced as follows: Roughen the surface of the windscreen buttress ﬂange and the adjacent

sill panel in the modiﬁed area, and lay up two pieces of chopped strand mat across the joint.

11. Reﬁt the dash panel, front and rear clamshells, doors, both wheelarch liners and other components as

necessary.

BQ.10 - REAR BULKHEAD

The rear bulkhead is a Polyurethane Structural Reaction Injection Moulding (PU SRIM), incorporates the

rear window surround, and is bonded to the roll over bar and chassis fuel tank bay. A heat formed polyester

ﬁbre heat/acoustic insulator panel is bonded to the rear side of the panel, and incorporates a glass ﬁbre alu-

minised cloth heat reﬂector shield in the vicinity of the exhaust manifold. The rear window is bonded directly

to the bulkhead using the same materials and procedure as is used for the windscreen.

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