45/6988 Alive

[Arno Church]

Just to report that, after an accident in 1991, stored in a warehouse , two owner changes ( the last in August 2000 to me) that 45/6988 is once again alive.
After a full restoration which included a new vacuum tank/crossmember and r/h front suspension turret as well as a new midfront , last Saturday I towed the car around the block with plugs out to get oil temp up and oil circulated. Then plugs in and she fired up first swing. Carbs way out of course and after some adjustment , took her under own steam around the block slowly. Everything worked !!!
Spent the rest of the week- nights only - sorting some niggling things, least of which a leak at the T piece at the vacuum tank. Last night drove around again in the neighbourhood to make sure the new CV jointed half shafts etc were working OK.
Now to fit the windscreen , some more test drives and then for road registration
Arno
67 Elan DHC

["Ian Hebblethwaite&q]

Arno,
Congratulations,a job well done.
How about a test drive up Chapmans Peak next time i am in Cape Town !!
Ian

[paul_adamson]

Sais it all

Brian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Arno Church" <***@***.***>

Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 3:32 AM
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] 45/6988 Alive


Just to report that, after an accident in 1991, stored in a warehouse ,
two owner changes ( the last in August 2000 to me) that 45/6988 is once
again alive.
After a full restoration which included a new vacuum tank/crossmember and
r/h front suspension turret as well as a new midfront , last Saturday I
towed the car around the block with plugs out to get oil temp up and oil
circulated. Then plugs in and she fired up first swing. Carbs way out of
course and after some adjustment , took her under own steam around the block
slowly. Everything worked !!!
Spent the rest of the week- nights only - sorting some niggling things,
least of which a leak at the T piece at the vacuum tank. Last night drove
around again in the neighbourhood to make sure the new CV jointed half
shafts etc were working OK.
Now to fit the windscreen , some more test drives and then for road
registration
Arno
67 Elan DHC










reserved.

[saarhus]

Arno,

Congratulations on your success!



I was given to understand that individual frame replacement parts were not
to be had. Were these new replacements or salvaged from a donor frame?

Stan Aarhus
66 S3 FHC (The original owner)
???

[Arno Church]

I was given to understand that individual frame replacement parts were not
to be had. Were these new replacements or salvaged from a donor frame?

Stan Aarhus
66 S3 FHC (The original owner)
???


Thanks Stan,
No individual replacement parts are not available and Miles Wilkins will shoot me but we out in the colonies have to fabricate these parts mainly due to exchange rate and shipping costs
So far so good though, haven't encountered problems yet
Arno

[Arno Church]

Thanks Ian
Most welcome but unfortunately Chappies remains closed. What about Bains Kloof or Du Toits Kloof ?
Arno
----- Original Message -----
From: Ian Hebblethwaite
To: ***@***.***
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 11:22 AM
Subject: RE: [LotusElan.net] 45/6988 Alive


Arno,
Congratulations,a job well done.
How about a test drive up Chapmans Peak next time i am in Cape Town !!
Ian

[saarhus]

Arno,

Good Job! A sturdy sheet metal brake and a good welder and anything is
possible.

Stan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Arno Church" <***@***.***>

Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 11:19 AM
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] 45/6988 Alive


I was given to understand that individual frame replacement parts were not
to be had. Were these new replacements or salvaged from a donor frame?

Stan Aarhus
66 S3 FHC (The original owner)
???


Thanks Stan,
No individual replacement parts are not available and Miles Wilkins will
shoot me but we out in the colonies have to fabricate these parts mainly due
to exchange rate and shipping costs
So far so good though, haven't encountered problems yet
Arno

[Arno Church]

Good Job! A sturdy sheet metal brake and a good welder and anything is
possible.

Stan

That's how it was done!
Arno

[Arno Church]

Further feedback on the above
Sorted out the carbs during the week, sealed the leak on the exhaust manifold and attended to some of the other nigglies on Saturday. Also fitted the widscreen, despite all the worries this turned out an easier task than imagined. Thanks to Ron Liddiard who had a batch of screens made up in South Africa for letting me have one. I opened his parcel after it being preciously stored till the rifght moment and it even had the top section tinted!!!
Sunday dawned typical English weather , drizzling basically all day. Took the car out ( no soft top yet! ) and venturing further and further till I eventually clocked up some 35 miles - then the speedo stopped speedoing, something else to resolve-
So far I found no real vices except for a few rattles
1- the rear adjustable springs seem to work fine -2.25inches , 150 lb springs - just need to adjsut the rear 3/4 inch higher no that it starts to settle - ride very predictable.
2. The homebrew VW Golf/Rabbt CV joints are working fine , no binding, no vibration - at modest running in speeds I might add
3 Temp running fine , steady at 85deg although fan switch coming in a bit early
4. Oil pressure running a steady 45 lbs
5. Front alignment being set without instruments, only as per the manual , seems good , no pulling or tracking when letting go of steering wheel at a steady 45 mph
6. lights come up on demand but goes down 5 mins after engine switch off .Something wrong somewhere maybe the panel valve/switch

Arno

[stelz]

Arno,

Great to here it is ALIVE.

Just one question. You have got the small diameter rear springs at
150lb. Did you change the dampers for this and what about the front
springs ? I would have thought the front would need to be uprated to
about 180lb and all the dampers upgraded to suit the higher spring
rates.

I am asking because I am thinking of going this route. The overall
handling sounds like an improvement. Are you happy that you have made
the changes ?

Thanks,

Ben

--- In lotuselan@y..., "Arno Church" <stuckect@i...> wrote:

Saturday. Also fitted the widscreen, despite all the worries this
turned out an easier task than imagined. Thanks to Ron Liddiard who
had a batch of screens made up in South Africa for letting me have
one. I opened his parcel after it being preciously stored till the
rifght moment and it even had the top section tinted!!!

further till I eventually clocked up some 35 miles - then the speedo
stopped speedoing, something else to resolve-

starts to settle - ride very predictable.



steering wheel at a steady 45 mph

[Arno Church]

Ben ,
I am no expert on this but FWIW
1. I have changed the dampers. Had a set made up by a local expert. We have shortened the "throw" by about 1 inch to reduce
droop mainly to ensure no binding in the CV joint rear driveshaft setup I made up. I do not think this was necessary but was just in case. The rear springs are shorter than the original so they have less preload
2. I am using the standard setup up front as the springs as installed are preloaded about 40 % ( at a guess) and are much stiffer than the free spring rating. My car was running a bit high up front after the rebuild but it has settled a little bit
3. I think I will adjust the rear up a bit now that everything is settling but will do a flat floor setup in the near future
4. I have not driven the car in anger yet as it is still being run in and I am still getting used to and comfortable with it but so far I have not experienced any vices. As soon as it is run in I will take it to our local race track ( alone ! ) to see what the handling characteristics (sp?) I am quite on the heavy side (understatement) and maybe I need a bit of stiffness at the back.
Arno

----- Original Message -----
From: ***@***.***
To: ***@***.***
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 2:22 AM
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net]45/6988 more than alive


Arno,

Great to here it is ALIVE.

Just one question. You have got the small diameter rear springs at
150lb. Did you change the dampers for this and what about the front
springs ? I would have thought the front would need to be uprated to
about 180lb and all the dampers upgraded to suit the higher spring
rates.

I am asking because I am thinking of going this route. The overall
handling sounds like an improvement. Are you happy that you have made
the changes ?

Thanks,

Ben