elan pics and re-birth of a friendship

PostPost by: jmp » Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:12 pm

Well second day of elan ownership after decades without one and I am hooked again. A totally different drivng experience to the morgans but both put a smile on my face. No real problems shown as yet. One that I will have to attend to is the passenger door closing needs attention as it is scrubbing on the door closing pillar. There doesn't seem to be play in the hinges so I'll take advice and suggestions on how best to tackle it. A new dash may go on the Christmas present list and it does seem to sit a little high on it's suspension but not had time to look at that yet. It started well this morning despite there being a thick frost last night. I'll be running this for a while before doing anywork to it I hope, but I will definitely be looking to do a restoration of one.
A few pics attached of it below. I've spoken to the previous owner who is going to pass on his history file on the elan which he had owned since the early 1980's. It is mot'd till December with only a couple of advisories of slight play in the wheel bearings which hopefully will adjust out.
Remnants of frost still showing on the body this afternoon when the pictures were taken.
John
Attachments
elan front wheelarch.JPG and
elan rear wheel arch.JPG and
elan seats.JPG and
elan dash drivers seat.JPG and
elan front.JPG and
elan interior.JPG and
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PostPost by: reb53 » Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:49 am

Welcome back !

Looks nice, but as you say looks a little high.

Don't tighten up the wheel bearings, ( I assume front), until you've done a bit of searching and reading here because there should be a little play.
Young mechanics in testing stations can't get their heads around this and usually need a bit of a talking to about old cars and tapered roller bearings.

Cheers
Ralph.
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PostPost by: UAB807F » Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:53 am

Now that looks great, hood down and sunshine, the best way back into Lotus-ing.

As Ralph says, the front bearings should have a touch of play but if the advisory was on the rear bearings, well, they aren't adjustable and will need replacement at some point. On the suspension height, I can't tell from the photos. It might just be the way the wider arches have been blended in to the body, it would be better to take measurements underneath the chassis at the front & rear to check what it's actually running at. I can't remember what they should be off hand but it's easy enough to measure if the info isn't in the manual.

Brian
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