S1 Rocker SNAFU

[My S1]

Please allow me to cry on your shoulders and hopefully get some advice.  I have been bothered by the left rocker's factory created side view swale from day one and am debating whether I should tackle the problem or lower the car four inches and throw my glasses away.  In checking the direct side view pictures of the S1s on the now defunct Europa Registry website, I see that most all cars have the same damn problem.  In fact, the only S1 that I can find with a straight rocker bottom is SAR857D.  I'm wondering if any of you guys have attempted to resculpt the driver's side rocker?  The belt mount on the left rocker is mounted about 3/8" higher than the right which has caused the problem.  Are the belt mount/jacking braces adjustable or are they permanently bonded in with resin?

[jbcollier]

The seat belt anchor/jacking point bolts in.  It comes out via a cut out inside the sill, covered by the seat cushion.

I've never noticed the issue that is driving you crazy.  Have you considered increasing your meds!  All joking aside, I wouldn't worry about it.  It's still way better looking than an S2 sill.

[My S1]

John,  there is no cut out or access panel in the interior of my car.  If the engine were not installed I could crawl into the engine compartment and try to reach through the firewall.  All four bolts on the bracket system seem to spin snugly suggesting that there are unseen securing nuts that have rusted together.  Hopefully they are not stripped. Do you have a photograph or drawing of the bracket by chance?

[SwiftDB4]

I've never noticed this issue either on my S1B. My S1 didn't come with an access cutout to the belt anchors, but a previous owner cut an opening in the fiberglass behind the seat that does give access to anchors and front pivot of radius arms.

[314159td]

I have no idea what this sentence means: "I have been bothered by the left rocker's factory created side view swale"

Will +1 that my S1B belt mounts can only be accessed though the engine bay.

[My S1]

Thank you Mr. Fehr for bringing this to my attention;  46/0324 has a factory installed access panel.  It would be interesting to learn when this solution to an obvious problem came about.

[jbcollier]

Mine isn't as big as that but the same idea.

[Nockenwelle]

Below you'll find a picture of the LH seat belt/jacking thing as seen from the engine compartment of my car. The nuts are of course not fixed so you need to get a tool in there to lock them when undoing the bolts. I think Chapman's idea was to get the tool in through the tiny access hole above the seat belt bolt. Again a brilliant solution which is cheap and adds lightness :-)

The plate used on 460324 doesn't looks original to me and I don't think it is even intended as an access cover. Its purpose is most probably to reinforce or fix the rocker sill because someone thought the jacking point may be used to jack the car. In addition a body seam runs through that area which typically is cracked anyway.

On very early cars the seat belt anchor looked completely different and was bonded into the body shell giving much more strength. Unfortunately there was a cheaper solution available which replaced it. Pictures show the parts from an early french car.

Last point is that early cars had a big access hole under the lower seat cushion to access the whole area. That hole disappeared at some point during the production of the first 100 cars or so.

[My S1]

Very interesting.  Though I can not see mine, it does "feel" like the one in your top photo.  If so, it is understandable that my four bolts are snugly spinning with their respective nuts due to rust. 

My assumption is that the factory inaccurately jigged up the belt mounts first then assembled the seat bucket/inner rocker section to the outer rocker/body section. They then cinched up the jack bolts to the brace which created the swale.  The right side was jigged correctly and has no swale.  It is difficult to grasp why the engineers felt those .090" brackets could support the weight of jacking up the car in the first place. 

If and when I ever pull the engine/transaxle I'll get in there and resolve the problem properly and be sure to tack weld the nuts onto the new brackets. 

Sorry to bore you all with this issue, but I find these obscure idiosyncrasies of Lotus cars to be fascinating.  These oddities are part and parcel of the joy of owning a limited production hand built car, despite the accompanying frustrations.

[Hachille]

Hello
It's a surprise I imagined that all the S1 had this belt attachment on the part that lifts the car

[My S1]

Now that appears to be far more substantial...and time consuming to fabricate.  Here are some pictures from the old Europa Registry to illustrate the source of my angst.  The baffling thing is that the right side rockers, like mine, are smoothly shaped sans swale.

[TurboFource]

The perfectionist in me agrees with you, that would drive me crazy …. kind of like the non centered license plate lights on a Twin Cam

[My S1]

Thank you for your sympathies.  If it makes you feel better, my plate light is off center as well.  About 1" to the right.

[AC460234]

for more data points, 0234 has those plates riveted in, no holes, and cracks across the sill(both sides)as Klaus mentioned ... 0576 has no holes and no plates, and no cracks... both have the "swales" My S1 is talking about

[Nockenwelle]

I checked the car of my brother (#460161) and to my surprise it had the same kind of reinforcement plate installed as #460234. The Europa S1 never fails to surprise me.
From the picture it is obvious that the plate acts as a reinforcement and not to cover an access hole. The body seam is also clearly visible. Could be that the plate has been fitted by the dealer or importer. My car #460230 has no traces of that plate.