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14. SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE
BODYCARE
Body Features
Lotus is amongst the world leaders in the field of automotive
composite moulding design and manufacturing techniques. Com-
posite materials have major advantages for specialist car bodies,
and these brief notes introduce some features of the construction
and service properties of automotive composite bodies.
The manufacturing process enables the thickness of compos-
ite mouldings to be varied in order to provide efficient structures
of high strength and low weight. Composites will not corrode, so
the strength of composite components is retained regardless
of age, unless physical damage is sustained. On the Evora, the
body construction utilises several mouldings to form a single
unit incorporating the two front wing tops and front body panel.
A second unit for the rear body aft of the doors incorporates both
rear wings, the tailgate aperture and trunk structure. The nose
and tail of the car are capped by deformable 'bumper' mould-
ings designed to reduce damage to the main body and chassis
structure caused by minor knocks and parking incursions.
All body panels around the front and rear of the car are se-
cured using threaded fasteners to permit easy removal for access
to chassis or powertrain components, or to allow simple and
economic accident repair. Other composite mouldings include
the door shells, sills, front body access panel, tailgate, wind
screen frame and rear bulkhead, some panels being bonded to
the aluminium alloy chassis or to neighbouring mouldings with
an elastomeric adhesive.
Several different processes are used to manufacture the
various panels depending on the particular functional require-
ments, but all processes provide a high resistance to surface
damage from minor knocks, where a steel panel would become
dented. If severe damage is caused to a composite panel where
the underlying structure is broken, repairs may take the form of
panel replacement, or of panel repair using techniques where
new composite material is integrated with the old to result in
undiminished panel strength.
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