S1 Hard top conversion

[eamsie]

Hi all, I am buying an awesome looking S1 Elise (2000) and am keen to get a hard top for it. Any ideas on where I should go for one and the costs involved?

cheers

eamsie

[Scuffers]

either scan Ebay or the like for a second hand Lotus one or go to Eliseparts or the like...

eg.
http://www.eliseparts.com/shop/index.php?main_page...

[RobM77]

Regarding your thread title, which seems to suggest that a car would need to be "converted", it's worth pointing out that a fully functioning and fitted hard top top was available for the Elise S1 as standard from Lotus. Therefore there won't be any work to do etc. They were rather noisy though, be warned!

[eamsie]

Thanks for comments. Sounds like I can get a standard Lotus hard top which will literally just clip on. My insurance company has given me a much higher quote if I use a hard top as it was not factory fitted. If Lotus produce a hard top option for the S1 then I may be able to argue the that the car has not been modified?

[RobM77]

eamsie said:

Thanks for comments. Sounds like I can get a standard Lotus hard top which will literally just clip on. My insurance company has given me a much higher quote if I use a hard top as it was not factory fitted. If Lotus produce a hard top option for the S1 then I may be able to argue the that the car has not been modified?

Yes, it's just an option, so I doubt it'd affect your insurance. A friend of mine had one on his 1998 S1 (from new I think). It was noticeably noisier than the soft top though from memory. If you buy from Lotus at least you should be able to try one at the dealers first if they've got a used car in with one.

Just so you know if you take advice from any S2 owners, the S2 hard top is a different matter altogether - it had proper padding on it and is actually marginally quieter than the soft top. I use mine every winter in my S2.

You may experience issues with window closure. Some people find that they need to adjust the windows once they've put the hard top on to make them close properly.

[eamsie]

Great - thanks Rob!