Newbie, 1964 SI #260045 Need help figuring out what I have

[Fast Fred 46]

I have recently purchased an Elan titled as Elan #260045. The car is black with fairly large flares, a roll bar, fuel cell, header, Epsilon two piece wheels, adjustable tubular braces with spherical rod ends locating them to between the front suspension towers and the main chassis backbone on each side. It seems to be mostly intact, but the move from West Virginia at sea level to Colorado has not done its state of tune much good.

My question is, can anyone tell me about the engine? I cannot read the chassis / engine number plate. The engine number which I found on the back of the head seems to be 26E311 or 265311
Below this number seems to be W M (or N)
Below this number is LM 8W P

Could this be the original engine for this car?

Also, is anyone out there familiar with the history of this car? I know of two of the car's owners, the latest is Don Pogue and the other seems to be a Jeremiah Van Wood. In the grill area it has what appear to be British Registration type characters. The first character is broken off, but it appears to have been a C, 6 or G followed by 46 CGT

[1964 S1]

Is today Halloween or April Fool's?
Hello Fast Fred Hansen and welcome. The engine number is on the engine, not the head. Look beneath the carbs, or read our archives and you can find the location.
Also, West Virginia is not at sea level. Residents of Colorado may be high, but we're all above sea level.
Is it running rich in the Rockies?
Eric

[Frank Howard]

we're all above sea level.

Eric,

I believe there are some folks in New Orleans who would have a different opinion. Another group in Holland as well.

[Elanintheforest]

Hi Fred and welcome.
If it is 0045 then you have one of the earliest Elans made and a very interesting piece of history.

Built on 14th May 1963, the original engine was LP 051. If the car's been used for racing, it's unlikely to still have it's original engine, but you never know. The engine number is on the block, below the carburettors and just above where the engine mount bolts to the engine black (a horizontal bit of the casting).

We'd all be very interested to see some photos of this car. How much remains of the original....dash, intruments etc? Seats, centre console, door trims? Again, if raced then much of this may have gone, but most things are now available to put the car back to original, if you're interested.

Mark

[Fast Fred 46]

Gentlemen,
What a pleasure to check back on this site in less than 8 hours and find not only answers, but a sense of humor. I believe this group is going to be a great bunch to be a part of.

My friend Ross Robbins told me that this would be a great resource and you have proven him right. I also realize that there are some pretty high altitude places in West Virginia, but with a few climbs to tops of 14,000ft + peaks I guess my perspective is warped.
Mr. 1964 S1- The car is running poorly in the Rockies, Rich - ? The plugs aren't too fuzzy. Current symptoms - sounds like only 2 cylinders at idle seems to go on most of the four once I get it above 2000 RPM, but not alot of power. Source of comparision - my 93 Esprit SE.
Elanintheforest - There is no number I can see on the pad above the intake side motor mount. Only numbers I find on that side are 26-E-004 on the back of the cam drive cover casting, The distributor is marked 23 D4 41189E 4179 The distributor has been retrofitted with an Allison XR700 Electronic Ignition
On the left (Driver's) side of the block I have found the following numbers:
T10/ SP FV78/ 120E-6015 / A1/ 6J7

Thanks for the help

[1964 S1]

Greetings, were you able to drive it in West Virginia, or how was it running before it got to Colorado? I drove my 1973 Opel to Colorado in the seventies and on one trip it began to sound as if a rod was knocking. Turned out to be carbon buildup and it was gone halfway through Kansas on the return trip. It sounds like carbs when you describe the rough idle. Have you done a compression or leakdown test?
Good Luck, Eric

ps; Frank, you're right, I forgot about those folks.

[johnsimister]

646 CGT is a plausible reg number, 646 GGT would be more likely. The GT part is a London identifier, and I think London got as far as H or maybe J for the first of the three letters before abandoning the six-digit format for the seven-digit one sometime during 1964. 646 CGT sounds more like a 1961 or 62 number, 646 GGT sounds like a '63.

Hope that helps. Probably doesn't...

John

[Elanintheforest]

The casting numbers (120E 6015) that you've found on the exhaust side mean, I think, that it's had an engine change at some time. Not at all unusual for any Elan, and in fact, it's very rare to find an early Elan with it's original. The cast numbers for the earlyest Elan and Lotus Cortina was 122E 6015.

It's also not unusual to have the engine numbers ground off. I'm not sure why, but one explaination is that here in the UK at least, many stolen Lotus Cortina engines found their way into Elans...especially when raced, and / or exported. All adds to the interest!

Does it still retain an early cylinder head? See below, where the early head has the small half-moon projections in the spark plug well.

Mark

[Fast Fred 46]

Mark, I do seem to have the original head as it does have the semi-circular castings in the spark plug galley. The location above the right motor mount is still in rough cast condition with no indication that it has had a number there ever unless it is engraved very shallowly.

John, thanks for the input regarding the numbers in the grill. As you can see by the picture attached, the last numbers are definitely CGT. My thought is that someone here may have put them on to fake a British history as the car is a left hand drive model.

64 S1, the car was not driven to Colorado and I do not know what kind of running condition it was in before it came here. I have not yet done a leak-down or compression test, a little afraid of what I might find.

Elan S1 #260045

[1964 S1]

Hi, my engine number is very hard to read but it's there, shallow engraving.
Try spraying a spot of black paint on a little very fine steel wool and rubbing the spot while the paint is still wet, (not as easy as it sounds). With a little luck a number will appear. Does the block have surface rust on it?
Your Elan looks like a very fun car,,,,, rallying history???

[Fast Fred 46]

64 S1.

So it is possible that the number is just engraved into the block casting? They did not grind it smooth first and then stamp a number in?

So far what I have done is spray the block where I have been told the number should have been with paint remover and scrubbed it with steel wool. How big are the numbers supposed to be? 1/4"? 1/2"?

Fred

[1964 S1]

The surface where my 7/16 inch tall letters and numbers are appears to be machined, it's smoother than the side of the block. I think they're stamped, not engraved, and not necessarily in a straight line. The ledge with the engine number is between #2 and 3 cylinders, 8 inches below the top of the head.
Eric

[vintrace]

Regarding running rich.. we took 3 twincam powered race cars from California (Santa Brabara) to race at the last Steamboat Springs race.. they all ran rich but a size lower on the main.. 150 down to 145 curred the problem and they ran fine for the whole event.

[Fast Fred 46]

Eric,

Thanks for the details. I don't think I have the original block.

Vintrace, what year were you at steamboat? I was a charter Member of RMVR who put on the race and was there for quite a few of the races.

F

[vintrace]

Hi, we were there twice.. the last one we went to was the last time it was ran.. a few years back..will have to look through my old race notes... we took a Lotus Elan 26R (Brad Krause) and a couple of FB cars, one Brabham and one Tecno.
I was also there when I saw the most bizarre accident.. were you there when the girl driving a red Elan got pushed wide at the top of the hill by a Corvette and jumped over the corner workers station..? Took the top of his broom handle off but thank God luckily missed the two workers..
She got out OK though very shaken...
What a shame they stopped that event... just a great weekend if you could convince the drivers they were there for a good time and to stay at 80% on the track...
Cheers, Tony