New car arriving

[alexblack13]

Hi,
Hopefully the car!.... I had a +2 std wheel with chapmans sig' on it hanging in my workshop for a few years. In walked a lotus owning person and said ''I could do with that'' so I handed it to him!

Fool that I am...

Tomorrow is another day

[types26/36]

In walked a lotus owning person and said ''I could do with that'' so I handed it to him!

So............If I came to your place, saw your Sprint....and said ''I could do with that''........what do you think my chances are?

[hatman]

Alex, is this the car that's listed in the classifieds in the current Lotus Club magazine in Glen Isla? (Just curious.)

[alexblack13]

Answers not on a postcard..


Brian.... Not a lot !

Hatman... Yes it is. I thought it had been withdrawn though. V def' now sold.

progress report..

Fixed the few lec'y problems. Bad earths everywhere. Diagnosed the fault in the fuel guage to a faulty sender . Removed the firmly stuck drivers seat and found one of the small pads had broken off the seat frame. Removed both runners for now and replaced with home made stainless 'runners' for the seat to rest on. Welded the broken 'pad' back onto the seat frame and glued on a pc of rubber 'cushion' which rests nicely on the stainless strips. This allows better accesss to the rear of the seats ... for now. I am going to refurb the runners and refit them when I retrim the car.

Cleaned out the boot..

Other seat out tomorrow for same treatment clean etc. And I might just open the bonnet.

Question.. I take it these engines do not like unleaded as there were lots of additive bottles (some full) in the boot. 1 bottle per (40ltr) tankfull? The car has a nice ally tank. Any ideas about its capacity? Do I need to use the addtive??

Cheers guys...

[robcall]

Thanks again guys. I can't believe the help and advice I am getting here,
It truly is brilliant. Please keep it coming.

Roof... struth! I will bring it home with me then. But How does it fit on?? Anyone ?? Looks like rain am friday (when I collect the car) and the hardtop could be a godsend.

This is from a Lenham hardtop brochure and may give some clues:

"The Lotus Elan hardtop is craftsman made from strong but light glass fibre and is painted black or to match your car.The inside is finished in grey cloth.There are rubber seals to all surfaces.The top hooks over the alloy strip across the screen and is held at either side with bolts that hook into the hood frame pivots"

[alexblack13]

Thanks Nigel,
I have now had a good look at this hardtop and I think it is a Lenham. It does have the grey cloth and the fixings on both sides to take the bolts/hooks. I am going to give it a quick refurb of the cloth liner which is a bit perished (pervious owner had the car 20+yrs and never ever fitted the hardtop) and fit it to protect the car over the winter and to improve security a bit.

The instructions make perfect sense.

Many thanks....

Brilliant forum by the way.

[alexblack13]

Anyone any answers as to whether I need to add the lead replacement additive? Anyone ??

The car is going on the ramp Friday for a look under ..

And The painter is having a look at it also.

Question... The original colour was Lagoon blue. Would this have been over white or just blue all over .. so to speak. Would it have had a gold strip with lettering?? and would the bumpers have been gold or silver. I understand all sprints had gold bumpers? True?
With me being about to paint it would it be best to return it to lagoon(esp' as I dont like the gold leaf colours) or leave it red/white/gold?

What would you do?

Alex B

[dougweall]

Alex,

Have a look at my Elan, maybe it will help you make up your mind.

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15352

I decided to have it painted all lagoon blue then decide about the bumpers, I have had favourable comments about leaving it the way it is now.

If I do paint the bumpers they would be silver, my car is an S4 SE by the way, not a sprint.

Doug.

[alexblack13]

hi Doug,
Could not get the pic's to open up for me so none the wiser.

My e addy is .. [email protected]

If you fancy e ing a few pics to me that would be great!

What year is your car? I understand that all cars reg'd after sometime in
71 were sprints?

I am tempted to go laagoon over white. Do I leave the gold stripe /
lettering?

Cheers.. Alex B

[cliveyboy]

Alex
Fuel additives.
Before I had the unleaded seat conversion on the engine I just use to use an additive. However a lot of guys use nothing and no horror stories so far. So use an additive if it gives you piece of mind and if you forget to fill the odd tank its no big deal.
The Lotus engine needs major servicing a lot more than modern engines as the timing chain and water pump are usually upto 30,000 miles and so chances are the engine will be worked on before the seats have worn through.
Keeping regular checks on the valve clearances will give you a good indication of what is happening wear wise.

Clive

[trw99]

Question... The original colour was Lagoon blue. Would this have been over white or just blue all over .. so to speak. Would it have had a gold strip with lettering?? and would the bumpers have been gold or silver. I understand all sprints had gold bumpers? True?
With me being about to paint it would it be best to return it to lagoon(esp' as I dont like the gold leaf colours) or leave it red/white/gold?

Alex

The only way to tell if your car was originally blue over white is to strip back the paint to the gel coat at a discreet part of the lower body. If it was a mono colour, then it would not have had the gold decals strip. The correct bumper colour was gold.

Lagoon blue is my favourite, so you know what I would do! If you want blue over white, it would be correct to have the gold decal strip.

Most small Elans registered after Jan 71 will be Sprints. Please note that date will be quite different from when the car was produced at the factory though.

Tim

[Jolly Jumper]

Your car could have been monotone lagoon blue with golden bumpers or lagoon blue over white with golden stripe and bumpers. Both options look very nice! Lagoon Blue is one of the best colours:

[richardcox_lotus]

S4s were not two-tone orginally. Only the Sprints. However, if you were buying a Sprint, you could have specified (for an extra cost !) a single-colour paint job. Sprints had gold bumpers/black wheels; S4s had silver bumpers / silver wheels (although there are the occasional exceptions, based upon which wheels were in stock)

[Jolly Jumper]

S4s were not two-tone orginally. Only the Sprints. However, if you were buying a Sprint, you could have specified (for an extra cost !) a single-colour paint job. Sprints had gold bumpers/black wheels; S4s had silver bumpers / silver wheels (although there are the occasional exceptions, based upon which wheels were in stock)

Correct!
I think Alex mentioned his is a Sprint.

[hatman]

S4s were not two-tone orginally. Only the Sprints.

My 1970 S4 has been two-tone yellow over white from day one, according to Peter Day who did all the early years servicing on it so I imagine that Lotus were happy to paint 'em any colour you wanted (provided you were willing/able to pay!)