Ways to remove S1 chassis

[lotusfanatic]

Hello Tom,

I have 460384 back in the UK now and it’s my intention to remove the chassis out through the underside of the car once the car is totally stripped of all parts to reduce the weight/stress on the body.
My logic being that it was assembled in a similar way (although the bodyshell was assembled in two moulded sections around the chassis)
(I hope you post as many photographs as possible!)

Mark

[Tom Bartlett]

Mark,
Unfortunately, I did not take pictures from underneath the car while I was cutting, but I discovered one neat trick. I wanted to cut the fiberglass as close to the frame as possible, so I placed a bright shop light on the floor of the cockpit (all the carpet was removed).  From underneath, one can see the outline of the frame through the translucent glass.  I followed the outline as a pattern to cut.
Tom
S1 460468

[lotusfanatic]

Tom, I’m some way from starting the restoration of my car, so cutting the chassis out will have to wait but I’ll remember that trick!
Mark

[jbcollier]

Photos of the section(s) you cut out and what it looks like now from underneath would be great!

[Nockenwelle]

I removed the chassis of my first Europa through the bottom too. It's a long time ago and I don't have many photos of it. Just like Mark I did cut as close as possible to the chassis.

The big plus of removing the chassis to the bottom is that the black surfaces of interior remain undamaged. I think it is easier to laminate the non visible bottom surfaces than to recreate a nice interior.


That's how it looked after cutting the bottom:




And the yellow parts indicates were I laminated it back in:




The engine bay after laminating the floor back in (already painted):