Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Glad it was helpful, it does sound like everything is in order with the throttle plate positions.

Geoffers71 wrote: I've fitted Accuspark electronic ignition and their sports coil, might this be a reason?

Quite possibly. You might need to have your rev counter modified for electronic ignition if you haven't already. If you search for RVI or RVC you should find lots of info on the forum.

Greg's suggestion for a cheap after market one is a good one to test if it is the rev counter.

Yes, I rang Accuspark this afternoon and they confirmed that in 95% of instances the electronic ignition is the cause of too high tacho readings. The guy gave me the number of Spiyda (this is the spelling) who make a module that fits in the circuit and solves the problem, but when I rang it turns out that the module is only suitable for negative earth systems. The solution is to either adjust the Tacho, ie by changing the number of loops and/or by twiddling an adjusting screw at the back, or change to a negative earth system. This latter may be the best option in the long term, but I can't contemplate that at the mo. Tach revs apart, I'm really pleased with how the engine starts and runs now.
My current problem though is the ignition warning light not going out. The Dynamo is OK, but the control box (RB160) is highly suspect. Testing as per the manual indicates it is not working as it should, max volts output when revs rise is only 2 volts. I've cleaned the points and checked the gaps but no change, so it looks like a new one is on the cards . I see there's plenty of Lucas replicas for sale, but I'm not sure I want to send for a cheap Chinese repro. Anyone with a genuine one they might be persuaded to part with for cash? Or has anyone any experience of the repro ones?

BTW I'm told there is an App for iPhone (or Android) that will tell you what the engine revs are, accurate to 1 rev/min apparently . It listens to the engine and counts the pulses or summat like that......b***y technology

Geoffers71 wrote:Thanks for the tips guys.
, but this has made me realise that I now believe that the rev counter is reading too high. With the engine only just keeping going the rev counter is still reading 1200 revs.. I estimate that this is probably double the actual revs. I've fitted Accuspark electronic ignition and their sports coil, might this be a reason?

Where have you powered the accuspark unit from. If you have powered it from the coil positive then you will potentially increase the tach reading as it can count both the pulses for the ignition as well as the pulses to the accuspark unit. Some people reduce the number of white wire loops on the external sensor on the tach to reduce its sensitivity to other smaller pulses so it only reads the main ignition coil pulse.

cheers
Rohan

Well I'm really chuffed. Thanks for all the advice and info found by searches on here I've fixed the Tacho Decided to give taking it out and apart a go. Sounds easy enough, but as usual accessibility is awful, it's taken me virtually all day Anyway I removed the insides and found the adjusting screw. Once I realised that I still needed to provide an earth it was easy enough to adjust. I didn't have any other means of checking engine speed, but I reckoned that it was reading double, so I halved the reading I know, I know, but I'm naturally impatient to get on Actually the tickover now, about 8-900 rev/min sounds, in my experience, just right to me, so it will do I'm sure.
I've ordered a new control box, RB 106, (not a genuine Lucas, but made in UK !!), so I hope that will fix the problem with the ignition light. I've also bought a really cheapy 9" electric fan which I will instal next.
I might then be just about ready to start on the interior trim. I'm aware that this next phase can make or break the final impression of the car, so I need to take extra care and TIME !

Geoff
Just reading that your about to start the interior trim take a look at Rod Littles thread on here about restoring his S1 there's a lot on the interior trim that I found quite inspirational and will be using on my S2 when I start restoring it along with other restoration threads like yours.

Cheers

Jerry

Jerry, Thanks for the link to Rod Little's thread, I've just read it all the way through. Terrific stuff, makes my pathetic efforts pale in comparison The posts on the interior and the door rebuilds and the cant rails will be particularly useful. Not far away now !

Hey Geoff hardly pathetic with what you've achieved and in such a short time as well if I could get a quarter of my car done in that timescale I would be well chuffed.

Jerry

Well Geoff, you're on the last lap now, and only 6 weeks to go until the 1st anniversary of you buying the car in hundreds of pieces! Fantastic to see it back together and running after 40 years of being apart, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the car on the road.

Allow yourself at least a day to complete the trimming . Apparently the frogskin rubber carpet is really well cut and goes in a treat.

I still have the spare wheel, but I'm sure we can meet up on the motorway one day.

Well done; truly inspiring work.

Mark

Thanks Mark, Bloomin' Hell you mean it's only been 46 weeks so far? Seems MUCH longer than that As for the bits, any idea what to do with all the bits left over ? Don't think I'll get the trimming done in a day, maybe the underlay, but there's the side trims to re manufacture and trim too. My experience with other projects is that it is easy to underestimate the time it takes and the potential for making a complete cock-up of it! Besides there's a load of little niggly things still outstanding
I'm looking forward too to showing you the car in a finished state (are they ever truly finished?). Hopefully at Combe, but certainly before the car's 50th in August. Roll on !
Looking at this post there's FAR too much laughing going on! (oops)

geoff.....you can never have too much laughter..
congratulations on your build - puts me to shame
maybe see you out and about in devon this summer!!

fred

Been fiddling around with lots of fiddly (?) things. The new control box has solved the issue with the ignition warning lamp which now goes out as it should, but a problem arose with the combined water temp/oil pressure gauge. To begin with it seemed to work OK, but I can't be sure as it was a while before I noticed that the needle on the temp bit was stuck at 70 degrees. It would not go higher or return to zero. I bought this new off ebay so I contacted the seller who suggested a few things to try to shift it, but agreed he would change it if needs be. Nothing he suggested worked so I took it out and have packed it up to return it tomorrow. B...... nuisance and a job I didn't need
I finally managed to get the clutch slave cylinder bled so that the clutch lever moves a bit more than an inch, but the pedal seems very very light, not much resistance at all. Is this normal? I'm worrying now that something's dropped off inside the bell housing Maybe I'm just comparing it with my other cars.
I've also connected up all of the vacuum system for the headlamps, but haven't tested it yet as I had to drain the coolant due to taking the pesky water temperature sender out and I also had a water leak at the bottom rad pipe.
Next I'll be connecting up the rotoflex couplings (left free until I'd got some weight in the car), bleeding the brakes and torqueing up the suspension. Even these seemingly simple jobs take an age to do. Is it an age thing ?

A bit of a diversion from mechanical issues in the way of a change. I had stripped the door mechanisms and examined the pieces to see a considerable amount of corrosion, Exterior and interior door handles have been sent for rechroming, The forward window channel consists of two parts joined by screws/rivets,



Looking at the longer piece the chrome on the inside is much better than that on the outside (all that abrasive polishing I expect ), I reckoned it was possible to swap sides, left to right, so that the better chrome is on the outside, but the two pieces need to be separated and the pieces swapped. As it happened the shorter pieces were very corroded, so I had some new ones made up from stainless steel



just need to rejoin the longer and shorter bits now and then start reassembling. However I need to replace the screws and sleeve nuts that hold the interior handles. These don't seem to be available at the moment, not even the 26 Register have them. Anyone have a source?

BTW, MEMO TO SELF When you have an unresolved issue, be sure to check on this forum for possible answers before getting mad and beating yourself up about it. I spent a whole day and over a litre of fluid trying to bleed the brakes to no discernible effect Checked on here for others' experiences to find that others had also had problems. One answer was to check that the calipers were on the correct side so the the bleed screw is above the feed pipe........

Still waiting for the replacement water/oil gauge to arrive, so got on with other things. Suspension is now torqued up, but the car is riding a bit high. Yes, I did do it with the suspension loaded I'm hoping it will settle once the car is moving. Meanwhile had another go at the window mechanisms. The window latch caused some head scratching, it wouldn't move at all, until I realised that a PO had replaced the window channel itself with a really poor substitute and had not provided a hole for the latch to move into !!.

I've corrected all that now using a much better channel. however I can't fathom out or find out what is fitted to the operating lever (arrowed above). I'm supposing it's a push/pull type button judging by the orientation of the threaded hole. Can anyone tell me or show a pic of what I need to do?
Looked quickly at the cant rails and they're in a very poor condition.

There's broken and missing fibreglass which will need to be replaced. ALL the metal screws anf fittings are severely rusted and will need to be replaced and the rubber seals too I expect. The aluminium drip rails are not good either. Has anyone successfully renovated these and if so how did you do it? I suppose I could flat them back with fine wet and dry, polish them up and clear laquer to finish? Will this work? Don't want to spoil ship for a 'apeth of tar There's pair of these on the hardtop too, which I'm assuming are the same. I know I can buy new, but they're pretty pricey.
Having a week off in the sun next week. I think I need to give it a bit of a break anyway

Geoff, there is a small packet in one of the boxed marked 'window lock', or something like that! They are the metal bit you seek I think. I never did source the black plastic bit which, I believe, is the same as the toggle switches on the car.

Here's a pic of the lock in situ.

Mark

More pics here:
lotus-chassis-f36/window-lock-t23964.html