Roof

[robsrocket]

Well im starting to look at the market now with the view to buying in a month or so. I know the S2 has the short roof and the long roof variations. My question is does anyone know of a website showing how the 2 are fitted etc. if no1 knows anychance you could post pics showing step by step, as to how easy it is to fit and remove.

cheers

Rob

[theRossatron]

I don't know of any websites that detail this but I was taking it into consideration when looking at buying my S2.

In my head I wanted a short roof as I saw JC take one of the VX220 on Top Gear and it looked ridiculously easy given all the stories. But the long roof S2 only has an extra 2 levers to be flipped and isn't a big deal at all. It just rolls off sideways, and the support bars in the middle are pulled out.

[carsarecool]

My roof is the short one and IMHO is much easier to put on the car.

A few people at an MLOC meet with S1's thought it was much better than the long version.

Still, it doesn't really matter unless you get caught in a downpour, which has happened only once for me in 2 1/2 years.

[S Works]

Don't have experience of short vs. long on the S2's but the S1 longtail roof is fine. Even at a push I can get mine up from stowed in the boot in under 2 mins.

Really not an issue that I'd walk away from a good car for.

[theRossatron]

[quote=carsarecool]
A few people at an MLOC meet with S1's thought it was much better than the long version.
quote]

Though the S2 long roof is different from the S1 roof as it doesn't need to be tension with allen keys.

[nobbles]

The S1 and S2 long roof's are different, the S2 being much easier - two front to rear bars to fit and then roll the roof from the centre.

Not sure on the S2 short roof (probably the same)- but I think the long roof looks much better than the short roof. The short roof (roof on) especially dark fabric with light colour car looks a touch 'pick-up'.

I think the short roof has some link with fitting the hard top?

[Arno]

nobbles said:

I think the short roof has some link with fitting the hard top?

Yup.

If you want to fit the lotus hardtop then you can only use the short softtop as the fixings on the rollbar are in a slightly different spot.

Converting a 'long tail' roof to a 'short' not only means you have to buy a new softtop, but also a new rollbar cover and a modification set from Lotus where new brackets are welded to the rollbar and the old ones ground off.

Aftermarket hardtops often do not have this requirement as they are like the S1 hardtop, so extend all the way from the windscreen and over the rollbar.

Bye, Arno.

>> Edited by Arno on Wednesday 26th January 11:41

[theRossatron]

Arno said:

Converting a 'long tail' roof to a 'short' not only means you have to buy a new softtop, but also a new rollbar cover and a modification set from Lotus where new brackets are welded to the rollbar and the old ones ground off.

bit of a joke really considering the hard top wasin the brochure for the early S2's and then they go and redesign the whole thing and charge you for their lack of forward thinking.

>> Edited by theRossatron on Wednesday 26th January 22:41

[theRossatron]

why cant i quote properly?


ah figured it out.

>> Edited by theRossatron on Wednesday 26th January 22:41

[robsrocket]

so if i get a long roof version i cant get a hardtop unless i convert it to the short roof version? how much will that cost?

[gfun]

robsrocket said:

so if i get a long roof version i cant get a hardtop unless i convert it to the short roof version? how much will that cost?

Yes you can you just dont buy it from Lotus - there are a few people around who make them - including a very nice gull wing version from what I remember is cheeper than the aftermarket lotus version.

[robsrocket]

hum sounds tempting. who makes this gull wing roof? how much would the long to short conversion cost?