Restore Blog - '66 Elan S2 (26/4378)
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:36 amAs promised, here's the start of my restore blog, which I hope to write for my own posterity and recording of the rebuild. In the process, I'll try to make it interesting to the rest of you as well.
First, the backstory - It's my dad's fault. I was probably 6 years old when the first Lotus entered the household. I only remember it was BRG and an FHC that had the front end all broken up. Eventually, the car was running, though this one didn't make any impressions on me. But when I was 10, my current Elan made it's entrance, mostly in boxes. I wasn't much involved in the restoration, but was smitten during the next few years. In 1976, the family business became a wrecking yard (that's a "breaker" in the UK, right?). When I was 15, we bought a 74 Europa Big Valve Special at an insurance auction. Punched in the front quarter, it needed a lot of bodywork and replacement of the frame (just happened to have a spare from a burned Europa, so all needed parts were handy).
Had that done by 16, at which time I rescued the Elan from the back yard by fixing the broken diff output shaft. Dad had availed himself of a Ferrari 308GTB, Lamborghini Miura S and Lamborghini Silhouette through insurance auctions and performed bleeding miracles on all three cars to make them reputable and seemingly new versions of themselves. I was in the corner, piddling away on Loti, so it was a pretty good life for a kid. Eventually, I sold the Europa, paid back the purchase loan and bought the Elan with the remains. To be fair, the old man was very kind on pricing, I'm sure.
Having lusted for the Elan for years, and also had the good fortune to know Dave Vegher and watch him race his Elan, I had delusions of grandeur, and given free reign (time and tools as well), I did several modifications to the car, most notably the fender flares, Europa wheels and leather-covered dash (original veneer was all cracked to hell). The results have been seen before, but here they are again.
This was completed by the summer of 1981, and enjoyed thoroughly during my final year of high school until Valentine's Day, 1982. Blame it on the girlfriend, my mind distracted about the evening ahead. You'll note the car is RHD. I had it at the shop to bleed the brakes and do a couple other minor maintenance items. Not having remote reservoirs, I found that pesky fuel tree to be in the way. Loosening the main connectors into the Webers allowed me to swing it out of the way and get a fairly straight shot into the master cylinder for adding brake fluid. You see where I'm going, right?
Rush, rush, get it all done, buttoned up and out the door. I pull out of the shop, down the street, and praise the Lotus gods that I hit a red light. The car belches and dies, and I see smoke pouring out from the right front. Panic sets in and I do everything wrong. I forget that I've got an electric fuel pump, and don't shut off the key, thereby continually dumping fuel on the flames, which started, of course, because I forgot to tighten up the fuel tree once I was done with the brakes.
I honestly don't recall if I even had an extinguisher (stupid move #2), and even if I did, it wasn't going to get this blaze under control. As I said, the red light had me stopped within running distance of the shop, and within a couple minutes, Dad and I were back at the car with several extinguishers, with Grandpa bringing more in the truck. It's still hard to believe that the car wasn't burned to the ground already. In fact, we were able to get the blaze out before the fire department arrived, and I'm fairly sure they're only contribution was to ruin all the original gauges by flooding the interior with water.
In the end, there was a lot of smoke damage, but the bodywork required a new bonnet, and I had to rebuild the RF fender and precious flare. Most of the inner arch was still intact, as was the outer, so there were plenty of good lines to use to help get it right. New carbs, gauges and dash also resulted, plus a few other bits and bobs. Sadly, no photos survived that dark period.
It took the rest of the spring and summer to get it done....again, but the result looked pretty much the same except for the dash and gauge change. I got a happy 5 or so years from it in that condition before the engine began burning so much oil that a rebuild was inevitable. In 1988, I pulled the twink, disassembled it completely, and that's when time began to stand still for my beloved car, until this past July. In the interim, it was stored in 5 different locations (always under cover, thankfully), and from 1998 - 2002, I spent about $8,000 on parts, engine and tranny rebuild, etc. in anticipation of getting it going once again. More time went by, but now my needed budget is much smaller than it might have been if I'd done nothing at all.
And that brings us up to July, 2011. Frame mods and paint are next. Stay tuned.
Dave
First, the backstory - It's my dad's fault. I was probably 6 years old when the first Lotus entered the household. I only remember it was BRG and an FHC that had the front end all broken up. Eventually, the car was running, though this one didn't make any impressions on me. But when I was 10, my current Elan made it's entrance, mostly in boxes. I wasn't much involved in the restoration, but was smitten during the next few years. In 1976, the family business became a wrecking yard (that's a "breaker" in the UK, right?). When I was 15, we bought a 74 Europa Big Valve Special at an insurance auction. Punched in the front quarter, it needed a lot of bodywork and replacement of the frame (just happened to have a spare from a burned Europa, so all needed parts were handy).
Had that done by 16, at which time I rescued the Elan from the back yard by fixing the broken diff output shaft. Dad had availed himself of a Ferrari 308GTB, Lamborghini Miura S and Lamborghini Silhouette through insurance auctions and performed bleeding miracles on all three cars to make them reputable and seemingly new versions of themselves. I was in the corner, piddling away on Loti, so it was a pretty good life for a kid. Eventually, I sold the Europa, paid back the purchase loan and bought the Elan with the remains. To be fair, the old man was very kind on pricing, I'm sure.
Having lusted for the Elan for years, and also had the good fortune to know Dave Vegher and watch him race his Elan, I had delusions of grandeur, and given free reign (time and tools as well), I did several modifications to the car, most notably the fender flares, Europa wheels and leather-covered dash (original veneer was all cracked to hell). The results have been seen before, but here they are again.
This was completed by the summer of 1981, and enjoyed thoroughly during my final year of high school until Valentine's Day, 1982. Blame it on the girlfriend, my mind distracted about the evening ahead. You'll note the car is RHD. I had it at the shop to bleed the brakes and do a couple other minor maintenance items. Not having remote reservoirs, I found that pesky fuel tree to be in the way. Loosening the main connectors into the Webers allowed me to swing it out of the way and get a fairly straight shot into the master cylinder for adding brake fluid. You see where I'm going, right?
Rush, rush, get it all done, buttoned up and out the door. I pull out of the shop, down the street, and praise the Lotus gods that I hit a red light. The car belches and dies, and I see smoke pouring out from the right front. Panic sets in and I do everything wrong. I forget that I've got an electric fuel pump, and don't shut off the key, thereby continually dumping fuel on the flames, which started, of course, because I forgot to tighten up the fuel tree once I was done with the brakes.
I honestly don't recall if I even had an extinguisher (stupid move #2), and even if I did, it wasn't going to get this blaze under control. As I said, the red light had me stopped within running distance of the shop, and within a couple minutes, Dad and I were back at the car with several extinguishers, with Grandpa bringing more in the truck. It's still hard to believe that the car wasn't burned to the ground already. In fact, we were able to get the blaze out before the fire department arrived, and I'm fairly sure they're only contribution was to ruin all the original gauges by flooding the interior with water.
In the end, there was a lot of smoke damage, but the bodywork required a new bonnet, and I had to rebuild the RF fender and precious flare. Most of the inner arch was still intact, as was the outer, so there were plenty of good lines to use to help get it right. New carbs, gauges and dash also resulted, plus a few other bits and bobs. Sadly, no photos survived that dark period.
It took the rest of the spring and summer to get it done....again, but the result looked pretty much the same except for the dash and gauge change. I got a happy 5 or so years from it in that condition before the engine began burning so much oil that a rebuild was inevitable. In 1988, I pulled the twink, disassembled it completely, and that's when time began to stand still for my beloved car, until this past July. In the interim, it was stored in 5 different locations (always under cover, thankfully), and from 1998 - 2002, I spent about $8,000 on parts, engine and tranny rebuild, etc. in anticipation of getting it going once again. More time went by, but now my needed budget is much smaller than it might have been if I'd done nothing at all.
And that brings us up to July, 2011. Frame mods and paint are next. Stay tuned.
Dave
