Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I'm sure everyone has had this experience, when you are about 4 hours into a project and it dawns on you that this was never going to work in the first place.

I wanted to take the 1 piece header (exhaust manifold) off my S4 in order to send it off for ceramic coating to reduce engine and lhd passenger compartment temperatures. I guess I should have asked someone if this was possible without removing the head.

I got the header and exhaust system off and apart (1 hour), it wouldn't come out the top or bottom. Well, maybe if take off the engine mount, it will come out the bottom (another 1 hour or so), no go. Maybe if I remove the alternator (maybe another 1/2 hour), not going to happen. I have an original frame with fixed cross member. Duh! The only way this header is coming out, is up and the head needs to come off first, which I am not prepared to do at this time. Another 4 hours later, its all back together. What a waste. Next time, I'll ask first.

Please feel free to share you own stories of wasted weekends, after which you promise, next time I'll ask first. (It may make me feel a little less stupid.)

Cheers, Dan

Yes as Christian says it's quite possible.

The key thing is engine mounts off so that you can push the engine across.

If you watch the UK Wheeler Dealers Elan video (4 parts) he actually demonstrates in not too much detail, how to do it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTS1pHPk_Uc

Dan says he has a 1 piece header. I think that means the 4 flanges are all connected. The ones I have seen have 2 pieces and they come off much easier, as far I as I know. I've never tried to remove a 1 piece . The car on Wheelers Dealers has 2 pieces.

The TTR manifolds are easy if you go from the bottom up with car off the ground ( remove ant-roll bar and cross brace)

top down and you are dealing with shifting the engine and it take awhile.

With the all in one unit my guess is same as TTR . only remove the motor mount and support the engine.

R&R on donuts is my example of where technique would have saved time .

George

BTW 4 into 1 ( 4 legs and a collector) are the easiest

Attached is a picture of a new version of the header on my car. My frame is original and the cross-brace is welded to the frame, so its not coming off. I'm not even sure if I removed the 2 engine mounts and the carbs that I could move the engine enough to get it out either the top or the bottom. Next time the head is off, I will pull the header and get it coated. Until then, I'm going to try adding insulation to the front of lhd driver's footwell, or switch the fans back to pushing, instead of a pulling. When the fans are on the pulling side, they blow a lot of air over the header right at the driver. Thanks, Dan

Dan,
That's not going to come out even if you move the engine over as far as it will go. Looks like you will get pretty good gas-flow through that thing but it is intended to go in and out with the engine.

Don't mean to hijack, but I'm about to re-install my engine/trans into the Spyder frame. I'd like to include the 4/2/1 header into the package as well, but don't want to mount it on the block unless I'm pretty sure it'll fit as a unit. I still have studs, and not bolts, which creates a clearance issue if I mount the header after the engine install.

I can remove the engine mounts if necessary, to swing the unit to the far side, but obviously would prefer not. If it matters, I've ditched the Lucas starter, and installed a gear reduction nippon denso, which will change the clearance on the right hand side.

My sense is it should work, but any FHE would be appreciated.

Having now spent quite a bit of time staring at it, my guess would be, if there is no cross brace and roll bar, that you can put the engine in, then put the 421 header in from the bottom onto the studs, then install the engine mounts, put nuts on studs, connect to exhaust, alternator... Dan