S2 grills

[Benjy]

Ahoy All,

Thought I'd share the grills I made for my S2. I really fancied something a bit nicer than the standard metal grills so made some in stainless. I am a boat builder by trade and metal is really not my thing but I am slowly learning to make it submit to my needs! I am most happy with the engine cover grills. I made a female wooden buck from a chunk of oak by routing out a nice shape. I then beat the stainless mesh in to the buck and hey presto! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. That is the last piece of a very big puzzle that I have been working on pretty much every day for over a year now. Just the exterior paint and interior to do...

Cheers

Benjy (540949) La Creuse, France

[Bainford]

Very nice work. They look great, especially the rear deck grills. Trimming out the rear grill is well done, too. A huge improvement over stock.

[dakazman]

  Benny, nice job on your fabrication.
  You have one really nice S2 . At first I thought it was an S1, no warts and smooth fenders over headlights. Then I saw the taillight assembly’s S2, for sure.
 So is this the S2 UK model? Please post more pics.
 Dakazman

[Benjy]

Yes, it is a very early S2 540949. It was originally a Canadian car in burnt sand. I bought it in Germany and soon it will be registered in France. It has its original chassis and body. It has needed a lot of work. I have had to do everything. The engine has been completely rebuilt, as have the electrics, suspension, dashboard and instruments and steering. The bulkhead was completely rotten so I rebuilt it with fibreglass sheet that I made and Nomex honeycomb for lightness!

[314159td]

Off topic, but what headlamp assemblies are those? They seem to be halogen or LED? The glass pattern looks better than most and more domed than the flat-faced Hella units.

[Benjy]

They are made by Wipac. They are plastic bodied and have a polycarbonate lens. They are extremely light. Unlike most headlights the lens is completely clear, only the body has the fluted pattern.

I thought they were great looking and much nicer and lighter than glass versions. Simplify and add lightness!

Cheers

Benjy

https://www.classicbulbs.co.uk/products/s6074-7-wipac-freeform-headlight-lens-euro

[BDA]

She’s coming along very nicely, Benjy! 

[Benjy]

Ha! Just the interior to make and fit and the exterior paint to do. Did I say 'just' I did didn't I? In the end it will have taken about 18 months. I reckon I work on the car about 5 hours a day on average 5 days a week so I am surely up to 1200 hours already. I won't be surprised if it takes 2000 hours in the end! I am loving it though. The Europa is a fabulous design and I have enjoyed working on it hugely... I look forward to actually driving it one day and meeting up with other equally obsessed owners...

[GavinT]

Interesting.
Your pic of the underside / floorpan shows a dome where the spare wheel locates and two square depressions near the pedals.

Both of those areas are plain on my '69 Type 54.

[Benjy]

That is interesting. Why do you suppose that is? As mine is an early S2 540949 maybe it carried over some S1 features in the mould? Seems unlikely though. My body is the original one and I found no evidence of damage or repair when I stripped the paint. Perhaps yours had some accident damage and got a replacement panel grafted in? Hard to imagine any other reason... Surely someone here would know.

[GavinT]

No idea why - I wouldn't be surprised if Lotus went through a few of iterations from S1 to S2. It's probably more that I haven't seen the underneath of an early S2.

Mine does have some previous altercation evidence but I'm guessing there was no new panels involved because that would usually show up as distinctly straight joint lines.

All the later Type 54's I've seen don't have the spare wheel hump.
The more intriguing question might be an explanation for the square depressions. I can't imagine why they are there.

[Dilkris]

A credit to you - well done! A couple of questions:-
You appear to have removable panels each side of the fire wall - is that correct? I assume you have these to access fuel tanks??
Also, in the photo's of the car body, is the body in high build primer and to what level did you take the body back to prior to applying this?  Did you sand back to the glass/gel coat removing all original paint?   

[Benjy]

Sorry Dilkris,

Only just seen your question. No access panels in the bulkhead. It was all glassed over.

When I bough the car it was in primer but had sat outdoors but undercover for years so had loads of blisters. I sanded off all the primer to get back to bare grp and let the body dry all summer before putting a few coats of epoxy primer over it. I also put very fine glass cloth over any crazed and cracked areas.

Cheers

Benjy 54/0949