New Lotus car frame - Aluminum - $420 (Dorr)
Date: 2009-08-30, 11:36AM EDT Reply to: sale-umz6d-1349837408@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
New Lotus car frame made in Europe.
Is it real? Is it an Elise?
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Sept. 2, 2009 1:54 p.m. RossD HalfDork
Date: 2009-08-30, 11:36AM EDT Reply to: sale-umz6d-1349837408@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
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Sept. 2, 2009 1:55 p.m. DILYSI Dave UltimaDork
"This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl... "
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Sept. 2, 2009 1:57 p.m. tjthom New Reader
In reply to DILYSI Dave:
Dang, beat me to it....
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Sept. 2, 2009 2:11 p.m. RossD HalfDork
Airplane?
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Sept. 2, 2009 2:11 p.m. Dr. Hess PowerDork
Not an Elise. Not a 7. Not a Europa. Not an Elan. Not a 2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11...
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Sept. 2, 2009 2:58 p.m. Grtechguy UltraDork
all I know....is it's about 20minutes from my office.
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Sept. 2, 2009 3:12 p.m. Keith PowerDork
Not an Evora or an Esprit either. Maybe it's an aftermarket replacement chassis for the Elise. Not as stiff or as light, but 75% cheaper!
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Sept. 2, 2009 3:19 p.m. Hal HalfDork
This posting has been deleted by its author. (The title on the listings page will be removed in just a few minutes.)
OOPS, looks like someone came to the same conclusion as you all did!
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Sept. 2, 2009 3:28 p.m. Tim Baxter Online Editor
Hal wrote:
OOPS, looks like someone came to the same conclusion as you all did!
That it would make a good basis for some sort of locost build?
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Sept. 2, 2009 3:40 p.m. 4eyes New Reader
It looks like it is made from Al you mini um ; )
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Sept. 2, 2009 3:45 p.m. benzbaron Reader
In an advert in the new GRM mag they have a mention of the aluminum chassis and says something about "epoxy bonded?" Does this mean the chassis is glued together or do they also tig it? Just curious, my pops works at a large defense contractor and they do tons of epoxy, honeycomb, composites, etc, and my dad has to make sure the components measure up. It would be pretty wild if the chassis was just epoxied.
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Sept. 2, 2009 10:45 p.m. HappyAndy Reader
I can't speak for the frame in that picture, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the new lotus frame was assembled with just adhesives. Those Brits love their glues. I remember reading in some mag that the newer Aston-Martins have some epoxy bonded sections of their structures, and going all the way back to as early as WW-II the Brits used adhesives heavily in their aircraft construction. The dehaviland mosquito was made mostly of ply-wood and glue (fastest prop driven aircraft to be deployed in combat in WW-II, IIRC)
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Sept. 2, 2009 11:09 p.m. Carson Dork
Yes, the Lotus chassis is epoxied. That's what had Renault scratching their heads when the Elise came out shortly after the Sport Spider. The Lotus was significantly lighter than the welded Renault's aluminum chassis. If my memory serves, those details may not be exact, but you get the idea.
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Sept. 2, 2009 11:11 p.m. benzbaron Reader
My pops told me that the frame is likely an extrusion of boxed aluminum which fits together like puzzle pieces. It must be like plumbing where you butter up each with pvc/abs adhesive then slide the pieces together and it bonds permantently. I don't know if they TIG it though.
Neato Carson!
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Sept. 3, 2009 1:05 a.m. BoxheadTim New Reader
IIRC they don't use TIG on it - you can see the exposed adhesive on the chassis of my Elise where you'd normally expect welds.
The chassis above is definitely not an Elise S1 chassis - the chassis legs around the passenger compartment are straight on this one but on the Elise they widen towards the front. The sills are also much higher on an S1 and aren't wide enough for an S2. Not to mention that the firewall on an Elise goes up to about shoulder height as you sit in the car...
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Sept. 3, 2009 1:41 a.m. 1slowcrx Reader
Interesting....
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Sept. 3, 2009 2:29 a.m. RedS13Coupe Reader
Elise is no tigging, Adhesives re-enforced with rivets. Here is a very long, very dry video on the production of the elise: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7072924456318931568&hl=en#
I feel bad for the company who CNCed the clay model. :D
