1964 Elan back from a 20 year sleep

[GordonM]

Pictures show the uncovering of my S1 Chassis 260671 after a 20 year sleep in my garage just gone over with a sponge bath.

I originally bought the car in 1982 and performed a 3 year body off restoration. Car was originally a C production race car that was very rough and apart in boxes, but it had alot of the good bits to make a pretty fast good handling car. I did all the body work and paint myself, along with the motor assembly and mechanical work. This was before the internet was flowing with information.

In 1987 while driving up through the mountains, I shot the #4 connecting rod thru the side of the block and pretty much destroyed the bottom end of the motor and cracked the clutch housing. I blame the mishap on using used con rods. I was totally bummed out about finding the parts to fix it and the costs involved.

And it sat there covered in my garage acting as a Lotus workbench with 3 feet of stuff piled on it all this time. Well I finally got in gear and ordered up the parts to build up a 711M motor with the big valve weber head, and started to uncover the beast and go thru it to see what else I needed.

I was surprised how well it survived, after sitting there silently for 20 years. I imagine My S1 has not been the only other elan patiently waiting in garages.

One question: Who made these wheels? They came with the car and I never knew the manufacturer.

Sure was a fun car to drive.

More pictures to follow

[GordonM]

The back view. Supertrapp muffler, CV joint conversion, 205 60 13 old Comp TA radials.

[GordonM]

Interior. Did not have much to start with as it was a stripped out race car. But it does the job very nicely.

[GordonM]

I guess in these times the new term is Resto Mod.

[AlfaLofa]

Gordon,

Good to see another S1 making a come back.

My car was also stuck unused in my garage for 20 years before I gathered the will power to put it back on the road.

Attached are a couple of pictures of the car shortly after I dragged it out into the daylight back in '98.

I originally abandoned the elan because the steering packed up - this was perhaps the best thing that ever to happen to the car because it probably would have never survived the intervening years on the road!!!

Steve

[elans3]

Hi, these wheels look like Paddy Hopkirk branded make, available in the late 60's, early 70's in the UK. They were very popular over here, and I still see them about at shows, and on Ebay from time to time
Regards

[GordonM]

I thought I would update this project. As usual there is alot of waiting time for Lotus type things. But today I actually drove the car under its own power out of the garage to take pictures to get car insurance.

It took quite a bit of waiting to get the 711 conversion completed by the machinist and he botched the cam timing which I had to get some vernier cam gears and redo the cam timing myself, one cam was off 4 degrees and the other was off 13 degrees (1 tooth off on the sprocket and then 3), glad I checked it while I was installing the distributor and luckily did not bend any valves.

Block was bored to 83.5mm, I used Dave Bean forged aluminum pistons and Carillo rods, no decking of the block was required. 1700cc, Compression ratio 10.5:1, .413 lift cams, 1.625" dia intake valves, 1.358" dia exhaust valves.

Everything fits under the bonnet which surprised me.

[GordonM]

Things in the engine bay may look a little odd to the Lotus purist, but it is very functional and very little Lucas.

The aluminum radiator hose filler is a Moroso part I bought at Summit Racing which is only about 3 miles away.

Next step is to screw in the oxygen sensor and exhaust gas analyzer and start dialing in the carbs which are close but need a little tweaking here and there.

Gordon

[GordonM]

This is how the trunk setup wound up. Had to replace the fuel pump and pressure regulator and I still have to tidy up the wiring.

[GordonM]

And one last exterior shot in the sun.

I have to say this forum has loads of good Lotus people and information that has helped me a lot in getting this Elan back on the road.

Thanks

Gordon

[RotoFlexible]

Things in the engine bay may look a little odd to the Lotus purist, but it is very functional and very little Lucas.

Odd or not, it looks like it's ready to rock! "Businesslike" comes to mind, and I think that's the essence of the Elan - whether or not the details are original.

Hope you get the car back up into the mountains soon, with better results.

[Frank Howard]

The part I don't get is that while the doors appear to be S1 or S2, the cut out for them seems to be S3 or S4 at the front because it starts at the bottom of the windshield pillar rather than a few inches in front of it and the top front corner of the door is a gentle radius curve, rather than a sharp 90 degree angle as on the S1 and S2 doors. I'm not criticizing the car. It think it's a stunning looking car. I'm just curious.

[garyeanderson]

Frank, you have a great eye for detail. The windscreen and screen frame and front clip apear to be S3 or S4 and the doors and rear clip S1 or S2. Fiberglass is a wonderful media, you can make a pretty nice car from parts and pieces in your backyard or where ever you have a little space, all it takes is a lot of time and perseverance

Gary

[GordonM]

I knew you guys would be pretty sharp at picking out the differences. When I originally bought the car in 1982 it had been a C production race car that had been gutted including windscreen and window frame, interior, wiring, wheel wells had been gouged out and metal flairs had been added around the wheel openings. Anything not needed to race was removed and tossed out. The entire body looked like it had been gone over with a 60 grit disc sander and painted BRG. The roll bar looked like a farmers special must of weighed 200 pounds.

Well, when I got it, it had been sitting in a barn as a chicken habitat and many parts in boxes for $3500. So many key parts were missing and it was very hard to find alot of them (pre EBay days). In 1982 I was 29 and had to save and spend as I went along. I decided the best route was to only do the things necessary to legally drive it on the street again. The windshield frame was a clip from Sports Car World which I had to graft onto the body, along with the fender flares. The rest of the body was pretty much original S1 except for my 2 year interpretation while rebuilding the body surfaces. The other glaring difference is the brow around the tail light surface is not rounded but squared off. The passenger foot well lost 9" for the dry sump reservoir. By the end of the 3 year build up I was up to $9500(labor not included) including the original price of the car. I used to kid people that the car was really a 1964 Lotus Elan Dave Bean Edition. I drove the car for three years until I destroyed the bottom end of the motor.

Now this rebuild added another $13000 in exspenses for the 711 motor conversion, 26R aluminum Radiator, new alternator conversion, gear reduction starter, cartridge water pump, aluminum gas tank, Titan 5 port oil pump(dri sump), etc, etc.

All this because I fell in love with the elan back in my autocross days in the 70s, by a brite yellow Elan that used to beat everybody and take home the trophies.

I guess the moral to the story is: Be very careful when you buy an ex race car, as there are no rules when it comes to alterations in the name of speed. Probably why the values of Elans have taken so many years to increase. There are very few unaltered Elans left.

Gordon