Recently acquired 67 coupe.

[OffyBronco]

Hello everyone. I live near Chicago IL and I recently acquired a 1967 Elan coupe from central Texas. The car is unrestored with just over 20,000 on the odometer. A member of the family I purchased the car from purchased it from Lotus SW Inc. in Dallas in 1975. The tag on the license plate is from 1987. The rubber doughnuts in back have been replaced by U joints and there is an oil cooler and a few stuart Warner guages incorporated into the dash so I'm not sure if the previous owner ever competed with the car. I am in the restoration business and would love to restore the car but I am only 25 and I'm not sure if I have the finacial means to complete this project. Before I make any decisions I would love to find out more information on the car and what little I know was difficult to find. I did not know if Lotus had a registry or anything like that, the tag reads Unit # 5938 Engine # LP63H and Chassis # 36/5938. Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

[gordont]

welcome aboard...

registry refer to:
http://elanregistry.org/index.php

36/5938
36 means Series 3
5938 is the build number

I am sure someone more knowledgeable will be along in a tick with more info but well done looks fairly original and complete.

You will find the forum a wealth of information.

Other links useful for all the bits you will need will be
rdent.com
dave bean
kelsport.net
tonythompsonracing.co.uk
http://www.cliveyboy.com/lotus.html

[garyeanderson]

Unit number: 5938
Chassis number: same as above
Engine number: LP6317
Invoice date: 18 July 1966
Body number: ?

Body numbers are on the engine bay firewall near the solenoid

see this post for body numbers on Coupes
elan-f14/elan-production-numbers-t14219-15.html

p-a

Coupe is a type 36/
DHC is a 45/
the S1 and S2 are Roadsters is a type 26/

[Elanintheforest]

It sounds like you have a really interesting car. The S3 Coupe is highly regarded in the Elan world, and most folks prefer the early model such as yours. An unrestored / 20k miles from new car is very rare indeed, and makes it stand out from the rest if it retains its originality. Most Elans have been restored and many have been mucked about by owners with more enthusiasm that skills or taste!

Could you post some pictures up? Engine bay, interior, that sort of stuff?

Thanks...Mark

[OffyBronco]

Thanks for the replies. You guys have given me a lot more info than I was able to find. I have a couple more pictures here but I will try to get out to the garage and take more on Saturday.

[gjz30075]

Good club in the Chi area:
http://www.lotuscorps.org/index.php

Zog on this forum lives in the area and is an afficiendo of early Elans and could help you out.

Good luck!

Greg Z

[twincamman]

Very pretty. Car.Elans are the most fun you can. Have in a car with. Your pants on. Ed

[OffyBronco]

Here is a couple more pictures. The car is covered in 20 years of barn filth inside and out, so I will post more as I get it cleaned up.

[DeanG]

Looks good and giving it a good cleaning is a great way to learn the car. What do you intend to do. Get it running and drive it? Restoration?

[OffyBronco]

Well I wasn't actually looking for an Elan, the opportunity king of fell into my lap. I have other projects and to be honest I bit off a little more than I can chew financially on this one. I was thinking I would get it running and sell it, however the more research I do on the motor the more reluctant I am to mess with it. I took out the plugs and put some Marvel in the cylinders and it turned over by hand with no issues. I haven't done a compression test yet but I figure that's the next step. Both the brake and clutch master cylinders are shot. Both Webers where froze up, so I shot the shafts with PB every time I was in the garage and the butterflies are free now. To be honest I'm not extremely familiar with the equipment on lotuses and the last thing I want is to foul something up.

[m750rider]

The good news is it looks like it's all there, the body looks sound and the interior looks surprisingly good. Bad news its got a lot of rust and dirt, without seeing it first hand I can't tell which is more prevalent. It looks like there is rust on the frame, depending how bad, that's not a good sign. If it has sat for 20 years, you'll have lots of work to do cleaning and deciding what can parts be used and what has to be replaced.

The cars are pretty simple, not impossible to mess up, but over all easy to work on. Everything is right in front of you, sometimes hard to reach but right there. There are good resources in the US - Dave Bean Engineering in CA and Ray Dent in PA, plus it sounds like Chicago has an active group that can help. It will be a great car once restored. I'd encourage you to fix it up. You'll love it when it's done.

Go to http://www.jaylenosgarage.com and search on elan. Also check out his video of his elan:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/196 ... an/984581/

These ought to help you see the appeal of the car.

If you decide it's too much for you, offer it up back here. I'd be interested in it as I'm sure others would be.

Bob

1969 S4 SE

[Elanintheforest]

It's probably best if you don't try and start it up as the oil can thicken up and set like tar in the crankshaft oilways after such a long layup....starting her up may only last 15 seconds or so!

I bought an XKE from Los Angeles a few years back which had been laid up for 25 years. I was strongly advised not to attempt to get her going for that reason, and sure enough on stripping the engine, the oilways were solid. It took 3 or 4 days of soaking in some horrible stuff, picking and running a sort of pipe cleaner through all the nooks and crannies of the crankshaft to clean it out!

Even if the oilways were clear, after 20 odd years the gaskets are going to be dried out, the water pump shot, the rings probably seized or semi-seized and the valves & seats may well have a bit of rust on them and not seat properly. In other words, the engine has to be stripped anyway....so little advantage in trying to get her to run.

Mark

[memini55]

Not sure how far from Chicago and in what direction. Lotus Corp is in the area and as was said Bob is best on Elans. If you are out west a ways I am in eastern Iowa and have a fair amount of working with Elans and could help with questions or mechanics.
Looks like a great canidate! Best of luck ahead.
Mark

[OffyBronco]

I will definitely take your advise Mark. That's kind of the feeling I had about starting it.

[Famous Frank]

Well things happen and I'm the new owner of this Elan Coupe. Brought it home from Chicago Saturday to Marietta, GA. Plans are to get it running, and leave it alone (for awhile anyway). It will make a good driver. My good friend Bob Herzog looked at the car and stated "the mice were living on one side and pooping on the other"! Yikes does it smell on the inside. There were also lots of wiring mods from the TX owner many years ago. It appears some of the wiring mods were headlight replays and fuses for the beautiful Marchal Headlights and more wiring mods for an electrical fuel pump (that also has its own fuse assembly) mounted in the engine compartment. Add to that more wirering for air horns and some regulator wiring changes makes for an intimidating engine compartment. Thankfully I'm not intimidated by any of it and I'm looking forward to making this a wonderful driver quality car.

It appears the latest year the car may have run was 1989. Michelin tires were made the 50th week of 1980. And the one Pirelli Cinturato is even older. For starters it will probably need a fuel tank, carb rebuilt, all fluids changed, and the rebuild of all brake and clutch hydraulics. And the torn headliner would need to be replaced as the foam sound deadner fell out all over the place on the trailer ride home. Also, although the trans is in neutral it won't go into gear. The more I think about it, I'll probably pull the engine and trans to clean and detail the engine compartment.

The body is straight and free of stress cracks, although it does have some damage. It has the weirdest hole right in the center of the hood (bonnet) I have ever seen. It's covered by and oval blanking plate about 8" by 10" that is made of a wood grain formica that was painted white and is riveted to the hood. It also has some damage to the left headlight pod that is covered in fiberglass resin but was never sanded smooth and never painted. Additionally, it has some damage around the nose probably from hitting a parking stop.

The interior (did I tell you how bad it smells?) has three extra gauges in the dash and four extra toggle switches. I have no idea what those are for. There is no room for a radio. The dash pad is badly damaged and the plastic under the dash has also been broken in the past and is now held together by fiberglass repairs to the back side. My gosh it stinks in there!!!

It looks like its been resprayed once in a slightly brighter white than what it left the factory.

But it's still a cool car and should compliment my 66 S2 SE Roadster very well. Additionally, it made the trip home with my engine for the Roadster. That engine just came off the dyno at PHP Racing in Wauconda, Illinois. It is running VERY WELL!!! Made 133 lb ft and 147 hp at 6800. That will be a fun car.

You may be wondering why I'm adding a pic of my 67 Low Windshield Datsun Roadster? Because it's now up for sale and the proceeds will go toward the white Elan Coupe. The Datsun is rust free from Phoenix, has a rebuilt motor, a new mini starter, beautiful Revolution wheels, new chrome, new rubber and a new interior. Runs great and very reliable. $7800. Either buy it for yourself or tell you friends that don't appreciate a Lotus! Oops, email me at [email protected] for pics. They're too big for this forum.

Famous Frank