Door Interchangeability

[Billiema]

Hi... 1973 Lotus Europa Special #2978R has large door gaps on the driver's side door. I suspect the door was replaced by an S1 or S2 door at some time before I owned it. Are the doors from an S1 or S2 Europa interchangeable with the doors on a 1973 Europa Special? The passenger side door fits perfectly. That's what makes me think the drivers side door on my car may be from an earlier model... Thanks... Billie

[jbcollier]

The door shells are basically the same.  Early ones (S1 and very early S2) use Renault hardware and later (most S2, TC, and TCS) use British hardware.  Ill fitting doors from the factory were the norm.  Sometimes you got lucky and one fit perfectly.  You can “fettle” the door and body to make the fit better, no problem, but they didn’t come that way.

[EuropaTC]

Are there wider gaps between the door and shell than the other side or is it just that the door is proud of the shell at one or more points ? 

If it's the latter then the problem might not be with the door but with the adjustment, they are notoriously difficult to adjust until you've done the job a couple of times and sort out a method that works for you. The first time round you usually get one part perfect only to find it's popped out at the other end/top/bottom and that might have happened with a previous owner.

You won't get Rolls Royce panel fit but IMO the Europa has a better panel fit than the Elans and smaller panel gaps than the modern Elise, or at least in my case it is.

Brian