S1 Elan Rebuild - My Story

[Certified Lotus]

I think you mean 85 C in your last sentence.

85F would be rather cool for your oil and I don't see how an ambient of 92 F could ever cool the rad lower than ambient.

Yes, 85 C. Sorry about that.

[Certified Lotus]

Went for a quick drive on the back roads with my wife so no silly fast cornering or accelerating but you get the idea of how fun this car is to drive by watching the short video clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhCYLEToLw

[seniorchristo]

Glen
Thanks for the ride yesterday. Those roads really suit the Elan. Can't wait to get my S3 over and try to keep up.
Chris

[Certified Lotus]

Chris, great to see and drive your car today! Next time a back roads run

[Certified Lotus]

The weather is starting to turn here in the North Eastern part of the United States. Only a couple more weeks of open air driving left before the wet fall weather arrives and winter takes over. But these weeks in October are glorious with crisp clear blue sky days and the leaves turning all shades of red and orange. A mid afternoon drive thru the back country roads is a spectacle of color.

One last car show to attend with a short 45 minute drive along the Delaware River, past Washington Crossing State Park, thru the river towns of Lambertville and New Hope and on to Peddlers Village for the "Brits at the Village" Car Show.

The Philadelphia MG Club does a great job of organizing this event and the weather was spectacular. I really enjoy looking at the other marques and always learn something about a series of cars that I thought are familiar. A perfect example is the 1959 MGA Magnett. It has a twin cam engine in it! Only 2111 were made and I had never seen one before.

This year Lotus was the Featured Marque and we had seven cars turn out. A nice range of models that clearly showed the diversification of Lotus.

At the end of the show the awards were handed out and our Lotus Group did quite well in the categories. I think just about everyone won something but to be honest after I won first place in the Lotus Pre-1975 I wasn't watching carefully as I was taken by surprise (my first award after rebuilding the car).

In the Pre-1975 category the winners are:

Bruce Allen, 1965 Elan S2, Third Place

Bryan Boyle, 1971 Europa S2, Second Place

Glen Schostak, 1964 Elan S1, First Place

A great way to end the year with just a few more weeks left to enjoy driving the back country roads before winter storage.

Lots of British Cars at this show

The Lotus Area of the Car Show

First Place !

[gjz30075]

Congratulations! Well deserved after all your work.

[Certified Lotus]

Another Great driving weekend in Bucks County PA with some of my Lotus Friends. Touring the covered bridge route.

[Certified Lotus]

Congratulations! Well deserved after all your work.

Thanks Greg! A good way to end the season

[MartinH]

I still need to make a few modifications. One of the collector nuts hits the gear box and one of the header pipes hits the motor mount. Both need bending to provide clearance.

DSC06619.jpg and
Collector tube nut hitting gear box

DSC06618_edited-1.jpg and
Header pipe hitting motor mount


Will figure those things out tomorrow.



Glen I have really enjoyed your 2 rebuild stories and am so impressed with the speed you get things done. A quick question referring back to the S1 rebuild when you had clearance issues with your TTR exhaust at the gearbox. How did you resolve this, I have a similar problem with my S3 DHC, it would make sense to try to copy your fix rather than re-invent the wheel.Was it a simple/or not simple bend?
Thanks
martin

[Certified Lotus]

Martin, glad to hear your following my posts and picking up a few ideas. I was able to move the header away from the motor mount by carefully bending the header with a long pipe. The collector nut I couldn't move.

[MartinH]

So Glen are you living with a vibration from the collector nut to gearbox contact? Or is it just clearing? I have tried all kinds of adjustments and only taken out some of the noise. It was suggested earlier that using 2 manifold gaskets might give that minimum extra spacing I need. I am loathe to do this and think some bending is inevitable.
Martin

[Certified Lotus]

Martin, the collector nut just clears, no touching and no noise. That being said I don't like the location and will probably modify it over the winter with some solution I can come up with. If I find a solution I'll drop you a note.

[Davidb]

Well, I just read all fourteen pages of this and it has inspired me! I am in the middle of doing about the same amount of work and it has to be ready by the third week of April-wish me luck!

[Certified Lotus]

David, glad to be an inspiration! After every day of working on my car I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish next time. It keeps you focused and on top of the parts you need to order. That is what slowed me down the most, finding out I needed some obscure part that I had to wait for or find somewhere in the world.

Good luck and create a post of your progress (I see you have a number of different posts, maybe start a main one on your build?) As you know, the guys on this forum are a huge help in getting answers to the unknown.

[Davidb]

Well, you two guys are only just down the road-and I have a cooler of beer...

Seriously though, that is good advice, I am tending to be rather scattered in my approach at the moment-and it isn't as though I don't know better-I have been down this path so many times in the past forty years...