Lotus Elise S1 engine cover

[Fabio81]

Hello everyone,
Does anybody know when Lotus switched from the aluminium engine cover to the fiberglass cover? Must have been in 1997 or 1998, does anybody have more accurate info?
Thanks!

[Megaflow]

IIRC all the Rover engine cars have a aluminium cover, but when they changed to the S2 in 2001 the spark plug cover grew to cover the whole top of the engine.

My 1999 S1 was an aluminium cover with a small central plastic plug cover.

[Altrezia]

I thought they changed in '98? Mine is a 99 and has not got an ally cover and doesn't have the plastic half-cover inside.

[Megaflow]

Curious. Mine was registered 1st July 1999. It was a facelift car so to speak, in that it had Rimstock wheels and the boot was part of the rear clam.

[davidf4]

Acording to this delightful little thread from 16 years ago, the fibreglass cover/boot lid was introduced in March 1999 to cater for the taller 111S VVC head, before becoming a standard item on all S1s thereafter.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.cars.l...

I can't verify this, but that conversation comes from close to that time and factory visits are mentioned, so they probably knew what they where on about.

[Megaflow]

Ah, when the OP said engine cover, I thought he meant the top cover of the engine, not what I would call the boot lid.

I believe mine was fibreglass.