S1 Elan Rebuild - My Story

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 3:00 am

Stop over anytime! The beer is always cold :mrgreen:

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Tue May 03, 2016 1:24 pm

I'm back working on my S1

My other Elan rebuild project, a 1969 Elan S4 has had me distracted all winter and not finishing up the balance of the work I had intended to do on the S1. This past weekend I found some time to pay attention to my S1 and get the long overdue front coil spring replacement and front brake rotor replacement.

: 26R Chassis with new adjustable coil overs

I drove my S1 last summer with 8 inch 140lbs coil springs on the front shocks. Although I really liked the stance of the car and the handling was very good, there was not much room in the wheel wells for the tires and the bottom edge of the front fenders were very close to the top of the tire, just waiting for a hard bump to make a nice big crack in the fiberglass. I had made several adjustments to the springs and got the stance higher, but the handling suffered a bit as the springs were now too compressed.

: 8 inch 140 lbs springs mounted on AVO shocks

I ordered new 10 inch 150 lbs coil springs from Dave Bean (where I got the first set of front shock and springs) and had them sitting in my garage all winter. I also had new front rotors from TTR sitting in my garage since last summer and figured I would tackle the springs and rotors all at the same time. And while I had everything apart, media blast the parts I took off and repaint everything.

: 8 inch 140 lbs springs and 10 inch 150 lbs springs

The new 10 inch springs provided a lot more adjustment options.

: 10 inch 150 lbs springs mounted on AVO shocks

Took apart the front hub and rotor assembly and found that 50 years of being bolted together took some effort to get apart. On the hydraulic press it went and came apart without issue.

: removing hub from rotor

Media blasted all the parts removed and painted with a couple of coats of flat back primer with black semi gloss as the final coat. Reassembled both sides.

: Finished install with detail paint to be completed

The rotor's need some finish painting to get the black circles on the inside of the rotor just right, which I will do next week as painting it while turning the hub and rotor mounted will be the solution. Just need an extra hand to spin while I paint

Next is a road test to settle the springs in and then back on the lift to make adjustments to the right height.

Post by: **elanner** » Tue May 03, 2016 1:47 pm

Glen,

It looks very good, but isn't the general advice to always align the front suspension bolts so that the heads are to the front of the car and the threads/nuts to the rear? The idea being to protect the threads as much as possible from road crud and associated corrosion. I'm pretty sure that Brian Buckland advises this, although I can't find the reference right now.

Of course, if the car is only for use in fine weather it's obviously not an issue.

Nick

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Tue May 03, 2016 2:01 pm

Nick, your absolutely right! You will notice that the bolts have too much thread on them. I ran out of the right size when assembling the suspension so used longer than necessary and mounted them backwards to insure I would remember to replace them. Just haven't gotten around to it yet........and to be honest had forgotten about it until you pointed it out. Thanks!

Post by: **elanner** » Tue May 03, 2016 11:50 pm

Yup, when I reassembled my front suspension a while ago I reused the old bolts because they were in good shape and I figured at least as trustworthy as anything new. I did renew the Nyloc nuts, though.

Talking of Nyloc nuts, Sue Miller supplied me with a set for the wishbone chassis studs. They are not full height, which is what was on my car (and yours). They seem a little bigger than 1/2" height, so could they be 3/4 height? Anyway, they leave a couple of threads of the stud exposed, which seems preferable to full height nuts, which barely fit. Somebody told me a while ago that this was the correct/original size, and I figure Sue knows what she's doing.

An ideal issue for those of us with nothing better to obsess about.

Nick

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Wed May 04, 2016 11:01 am

Thanks Nick. New insight to something I did not know!

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Thu May 25, 2017 8:52 pm

Time for new tires. Of course you can't get anything in the US that is close to a performance tire for the Elan so I was forced to order tires from the UK. Stupid expensive due to shipping, but now I have what I want for at least a couple of years.

Post by: **Pastapesto** » Thu May 25, 2017 9:45 pm

Nick

Should there not be a large (thick) washer between the nut & the metallastic bush (inner)? I may be wrong but I think that's how they should look. Most restorers use a washer that is large enough to hold the wishbone in place in case the bush/bushes were to fail & thus stop the wishbone from moving sideways. I think that Susan is correct with the nut size but if that is wrong then I would love to know & be put right!

All the best

Adam

Post by: **el-saturn** » Fri May 26, 2017 4:40 pm

glen - a good choice and a modern tyre as i've been advocating here for quite a while - 185s don't fit without finding a few mms of bodywork! sandy - here i get these for 65$ a piece

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Mon May 29, 2017 4:57 pm

Finally! I found a 26R type airbox that fits the S1. Thanks to Dave Vegher at Veloce Motors who customs makes these. Only took me more than 2 years and test fitting 6 other larger airboxes.

Also added a large capacity airfilter in the nose made by Airaid as they provide a mounting bracket to bolt down the filter.

Ready for a summer of driving!

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Tue May 30, 2017 10:18 am

el-saturn wrote:glen - a good choice and a modern tyre as i've been advocating here for quite a while - 185s don't fit without finding a few mms of bodywork! sandy - here i get these for 65$ a piece

Sandy, new tire technology make an amazing difference to older car handling. Particularly if you have adjustable suspension. These tires are mounted on 13 x 4.5 steel wheels and have no problems with wheel well clearance (I also have smaller springs on adjustable shocks so the side wall does not rub). A friend of mine has 185's on aluminum wheels with off-set and they fit fine on his S2.

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Sun Jun 18, 2017 11:50 am

Even though I have been actively driving my Elan S1 for the last 2 years, there are a bunch of little detail things I still need to finish on my car. The major mechanical work has been done, now I'm getting around to the odds and ends.

My tonneau cover does not have the tenax receivers installed for the Middle of the dash. But I also didn't have the tenax pins installed on the crash pad vent. So I took everything apart, bolted in the pins and drilled new holes to screw the vent securely to the fiberglass vent area.

Post by: **Certified Lotus** » Sun Jun 18, 2017 12:03 pm

I also never installed the new soft top that came with the car when I bought it. Figured one day I would get caught in the rain and really should carry it with me. So out came the cant rails, the cross bars, the curved metal flat iron for the soft top hold down and of course the soft top with no tenax receivers or snaps installed. Test fitted everything and confirmed this is a very tight fit. I think I'll take the car and my soft top to the local upholstery shop and have them install everything.

Post by: **seniorchristo** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:27 am

Glen
I have a similar issue with my tonneau. There are longer tenax studs available that I assumed were for the purpose of fastening the vent cover through the dash. Your solution looks effective and simple other than the removal of the front screws.