Servicing & Maintenance Bodycare; Body Features - Lotus ELISE 2007 Owner's Handbook Manual

SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE
BODYCARE

Body Features

Lotus are among 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 Elise/Exige, the
body construction utilises several mouldings to form a single unit
for the whole of the nose and front wings, and a second unit for
the whole of the rear body aft of the doors. These two moulded
assemblies are fixed 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 access panels,
windscreen frame and rear bulkhead, some panels being bonded
to the aluminium alloy chassis with an elastomeric adhesive.
Several different processes are used to manufacture the
various panels depending on the functional requirements, with
the main outer panels using an injection compression mould-
ing technique which eliminates the 'gelcoat' used on the outer
surface of conventionally manufactured composite panels. This
process provides considerably increased 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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