A door beam question.

[Alan_M]

So having removed both my beams and comparing them I noticed one major difference.
The driver’s, which appears to have been replaced, has the beam closed in by metal at the hinge end, but the passenger’s beam has the front hinge end of the beam open and has been closed off with a lump of polystyrene covered in black mastic.

I’d be interested if anyone can shed some light on this?

I intend to weld in a piece to close the beam off.

[Excel SA]

I had exactly the same thing on my car - did what you're planning to do - lost the foam and welded a piece of steel in.

Neil.

[Alan_M]

I had exactly the same thing on my car - did what you're planning to do - lost the foam and welded a piece of steel in.

Neil.

Strange one - I wonder if they changed during production, or if it’s a difference between genuine and remanufactured?

[Excel SA]

Think it's probably just an age thing, one of mine was definitely not original to the the car. Had some minor rust bits to patch as well. Also had differences with the check straps...

Neil

[Hawaiis0]

Seen the open foam end before. Possibly Mk1.

[Excel SA]

The open foam one was on my "good" door, so possibly/probably the original from '87...

Neil

[Jason.goad]

Mine had the polystyrene filler piece. I belive mine to be original as the vehicle has only done 50,000. It's an '85 model so it might be Lotus saving money.
The new remanufactured ones have a closed end, so it's definitely worth doing that. Also loose the foam padding around the door shell aperture. It just harbours water.

[MetBlue]

I've just replaced the beam on my MY91 and the beam removed had a closed end. As sure as I can be it was the original.
So I believe they started to close the end sometime during the 80's. With the earliest cars being 15 years old by the end of the 80's, that's enough time for beams to have started failing so I believe Lotus reacted.
Tony

[Alan_M]

That all makes sense. The one with the polystyrene end is the rustiest and possibly the original and mine is from 85.
The driver’s beam with the closed end is solid and there is definitely evidence of someone being in there before and I suspect replacing the original beam with a rust free later beam.