68 elan help

[younger]

I have a 68 elan believe an s4 s/e brg black interior and conv. top. The car has 6000 original miles. Some history on the car, my dad traded in his 63 xke for this car which he special order. He took dilivery in the late fall of 67. The car had a few miles put on that fall, then was on the road summer of 77 then summer of 87, all totalling 6000miles. I have all doc from new, even the extra castrol cardboard pints of oil. The car has always been inside and fired every so often. The car sits in my garage taking up space. So I have been thinking its time to go for a blast. From the experts what is the best approach to get this rolling. I live in Canada and need a good source of parts. I was thinking change all fluids, air filter, points, plugs, set-up carbs and timming. Is there anyting I should be looking for or doing when going through this car? The car still has the original air in the tires from england.

[trw99]

Hi Younger (than whom?!) and welcome. Sounds like an interesting Elan.

First off, change all the tyres (tires).

Secondly, sit down with your favourite tipple and have a good look through this wonderful site, using the search facility too, as you will glean a huge amount of first rate advice, answers to most of your queries and you will benefit and enjoy the experience.

Then get out to drive that Elan often, as it deserves; you won't regret it.

Tim

[bilcoh]

Before you replace the tires, bottle that English air. Lot's of nostalgia around. Maybe you can use it to refill the tires. Now that's Original!

Seriously, though, photos! We always need photos. And congrats. What a lovely time capsule to have sitting in the garage for so long. I daresay you'll wonder why you let all the intervening years go by without driving the little beastie.

Enjoy, and let us ride along. Especially those of us a ways off from having a running car again.

Cheers,

Dave

[UAB807F]

As well as changing the tyres I'd also check the brake system, in fact I think I'd replace all the rubber flexibles on principle. Like the tyres they may well look in excellent condition, and if stored correctly probably are, but the nagging doubt would be if the rubber has hardened over the years & lost some elasticity. You don't really want to find that out when you're heading for a stop light, do you

Brian

[Orsom Weels]

...& the rotoflex's, even if they look perfect, keep a close eye on them for the first few hundred miles, don't want them letting go
Infact closely inspect anything that can corrode, perish or seize Then check all your electrical connections, small problems here can soon lead to much bigger disasters

Tim

[younger]

Any idea of a reasonable, repritable place in Canada or the US to purchase parts?

[younger]

Car id 45/6429

[Ross Robbins]

Welcome Younger,

And I'm sure that you are younger than me

Nice car. I support the comments above plus changing all fluids before starting it up. Then drive the whee out of it as that is what these Elans are for. Have fun.

There are three main suppliers of Elan parts in the USA and while they all have most of the things we need, they will each have something the other doesn't so check with all three.

R D Enterprises in Pennsylvania Ray is the man http://www.rdent.com/
JAE in Goleta CA. Jeff is the man http://www.jaeparts.com/
And the daddy of 'em all, Dave Bean Engineering in San Andreas, CA, Ken (or Dave himself if he's there) is the man http://www.davebean.com/

[RotoFlexible]

My, that looks nice!

One thing you MUST be sure of is that the fuel hoses from the pump to the carburetors, and the T connector, are sound. A leak here can easily result in a burned-out car. Your best bet is to replace the lot. That's in addition to everything that has already been mentioned. Good luck and I look forward to reading that it's back on the road.

[jk952]

Younger,
Welcome to the site, lots of info available. Car looks great in the pict, nice treasure. There are a number of fellow cdns on the site, any chance you could say what part your in... I or others could drop by but you could be 3000 miles away!

Most Cdn's buy from either and both the US or UK, ... no great sources here that I have found except for common parts with Triumph etc.
- make sure you have them put on the documents "parts for vintage vehicle" it should then be duty free, but likely still pay prov./fed. taxes depending on your provinces rules. Ont. HST is payable on imported stuff but the old PST wasn't ..figures....
Cheers,
Jack

[collins_dan]

The car looks great. The lack of aging is amazing!

One note to the group, this is the same carpeting that is in my S4. There has been a lot of talk that these cars only came with loop carpeting. I question that. I'm sure this car hasn't had its carpeting replaced. I don't think mine has been replaced either, but I can't be sure as I don't know its history for the first 10 years of it's life.

Dan

[Elanintheforest]

What a great looking car!
Dan, the main carpet looks like tuft, but the bit of carpet on the door looks like loop....and faded just like the loop does!

Strange, eh?

Mark

[younger]

The pics don't do any justice. The interior is flawless all original even the stickers on the smith gauges. Located in Kingston,Ont.

[garyeanderson]

Looks like and S3 and invoiced on 23 March 1966, please take some real nice pictures outside photos once you get it going again and post them in the Elan Gallery.

looks real nice

Gary

[stugilmour]

Welcome Younger. Car looks great.

+1 on all three suppliers mentioned and suggestion regarding "Vintage Car Parts" on package.

Order a Dave Bean catalog as your first order by phone and get an account with your shipping address, preferences, etc. set up. Ray at RD has an on-line catalog and replies by email with price & availability so you can get set up pretty easily.

Jeff at JAE posts here and is great too. See the link below for a guy in Vancouver who also brings stuff in to Canada from JAE.

business-listings-f3/canadian-parts-supplier-richmond-auto-clinic-t21010.html

Definitely bleed brakes and check carefully, particularly if your car has a booster in the nose. Check transmission and diff oil levels for sure. Fresh fuel and pump thru the lines to a container.