Aussie ELAN recommission

[europatek]

Well it?s finally finished. Obtained RWC and full road registration last week. There have been a few settling in issues
which are now resolved and overall the car feels great. Really tight and well sorted. The engine is great. Smooth, flexible and with plenty of power and torque. Those cams make it really rev and when it see?s 4000rpm on the tacho it takes off.
Prior to taking the car for the RWC I decided to remove the booster and straight away I achieved a good consistent pedal.
I also added a ?Speedy Sleeve? to the prop shaft yolk to try and eliminate the oil leak at the back of the gearbox even though the yolk looked good. A fiddly job but achievable without removing engine and box. I now plan to drive it as much as possible. I've attached a few shots of our most recent drive. Took the car to the Dandenong ranges east of Melbourne.

[RedS4]

Well done! I hope our cars can "cross paths" one day - both being red S4 FHC's and all... What is your chassis number? did you get the steering wheel recovered? It looks like a very good job - a little thicker which the direction I'm thinking of taking...

[europatek]

MARCH-2011 - Unfortunatley it didn't take long and I had to take the car apart again. I had been having trouble with the clutch - intermittant problem of not disengaging. I finally got fed up with it and decided to extract the engine and gearbox and fit a new clutch. Whilst at it I decided upon a gearbox rebuild as it had a tendancy to drop out of top gear on overrun and also try and cure the leak from the rear once and for all.
Well it's all done and the results are good. Summary - it's alot of work and a pain to refit the engine but the results are good thus far:-
- new pressure plate, clutch plate, release bearing and machined flywheel
- gearbox rebuild - replaced 3rd/4th synchro hub from my spares collection, bearings seals etc...
- discovered the source of the leak - broken tail housing - the piece had been glued in and wasn't working
- removed sump and inspected all bearings. All good but decided on new bigend shells
- painted engine and associated parts
- discovered leaking rear shocker - remove and rebuild
- discovered leaking diff output shaft seal - replaced both and one bearing
As I've been messing about with MK1 Cortina's for 20 years finding spares for the Elan has been fairly easy. So now it's time to drive it some more.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

I wonder how often that bit of the tail housing gets damaged like that; seems a regular thing!

Left & right handed hammers I note; very useful

Hope you have fun now that it's all done.
John

[gordont]

I noted teh vital bit of kit on the workbench - the beer bottle!

well done

[elansprint71]

I hate you folks with tidy garages! Mine is an absolute disgrace; however I have discovered someone even worse than me- my Son! Unfortunately he shares MY garage so it is now a complete shit-tip. At least I know where all the tools belong and never put them away covered in oil.

[paddy]

MY garage so it is now a complete shit-tip. At least I know where all the tools belong and never put them away covered in oil.

A couple of weeks ago I was away on business and we had a power cut at home. Wife enters garage to find consumer unit in dark --> knocks can of WD40 off shelf --> falls onto sharp object on bench and punctures --> flies all around the place pissing oil out until empty. Imagine my delight coming home to find absolutely everything covered in WD40; tools, walls, car, ... I think the smell will be there for ever.

Paddy

PS at least that's her version of events ...

PPS off topic, sorry

[Famous Frank]

What a wonderful job, my hat is off to you!!! I read a thread like this and I go out to the garage, if even for an hour! And those doors, magnificent! They look almost as good as an S1 or S2 door! .........Oh, sorry. Just kidding.