1Spyder's replacement Elan chassis is made by the firm from thick steel and powder coated. It's a direct replacement for the Lotus item and requires no bodywork modifications to fit.

4This is the differential we'll be using. It's from a Ford Scorpio and comes complete with LSD. Elans originally used a Ford English diff mounted in Lotus' own casing.

2The chassis comes with these shims attached. Spyder checks the steering rack alignment before supplying each chassis and delivers them with the appropriate shims.

5The Scorpio LSD mounts in the chassis on rubber bushes. It's far tougher than the original item and in a car that weighs as little as the Lotus Elan, should last forever.

3The first stage in fitting up the chassis is to fit all the solid brake pipes. Kits are available but you can make your own from cupro-nickel pipe and a big bag of brake pipe fittings.

6The Elan's original handbrake was an umbrella type noted for its lack of grip. Spyder replaces this with a normal tunnel mounted Fiesta lever and modified Sierra cable.