S1 Elan Rebuild - My Story

[Evante]

Nice work on your car!

Do your Yoko's from England have DOT numbers on them?

Jay S.
1972 Federal Sprint
2005 CO Elise - Sold
1988 140TC Evante - Sold

[Certified Lotus]

No DOT codes, but it does have info on the tire for US & Canada. Not sure if you can read the photo well enough.

[Evante]

Does this mean that they are legal for US roads? And, if so, from where did you order them?

Thanks,

Jay S.

[Certified Lotus]

Jay, I don?t know if the tires are DOT approved. The UK tire company I bought from wouldn?t ship over seas so I had a friend of mine in London buy them and ship them to me. I would just do an internet search for someone that ships to US.

[Evante]

Thanks Glen!

[Barney]

Glen,
Thank you for a riveting read, I have enjoyed all 16 pages! One question however.
Where do you get a knowledgeable friend such as Drew, willing to help for long hours and with great integrity?

[Certified Lotus]

Barney, all I can say is it?s good to have friends. Glad you enjoyed the documentation of the rebuild!

[nomad]

You know it's a shame some enterprising chap doesn't bring in a container full of decent 13" tires and sell them on flea bay. There is definitely a demand.

Kurt
26/3754

[Certified Lotus]

When I had my TC engine built by Quicksilver Racing I had them install new weber's which are the ones built in Spain. It always bothered me that I didn't have the original 40 DCOE 18 Italian weber's on the TC so I recently bit the bullet to have the OEM weber's rebuilt by Pierce Manifold in CA. After a conversation with Mike Pierce on the phone I sent my weber's to him along with my dyno sheet and let him do his magic.

They came back looking like new. This Friday my friend Chris came over to help with the removal of the Spanish weber's and install of the rebuilt Italian weber's. The only thing I needed to change was part of the throttle linage for my current throttle cable set up. Everything else went without fail. Turned the key, let the electric fuel pump fill the bowls and it started right up. The next hour was spent making the fine tuning adjustments of the jets and idle.

One of the issues I had with the Spanish weber's was a low rpm stumble when accelerating. Usually around 1800 to 2000 rpms. I don't know what Mike did, but there is no longer a stumble. Nice linear acceleration from low rpm all the way to the redline.

A few photos (I also had Mike rebuild the weber's for my 65' S2 so the bench in my shop was having a weber party)

[Certified Lotus]

Won second place in the Lotus category at the Hope Lodge British Car Show.

[gjz30075]

Congratulation Glen! Nice work.

[el-saturn]

now that's a REAL contribution glen, congrats and thanks! ..........................but just to slow you down a bit: it took me three weeks to get the A) body, B) chassis and C) rollcage together - 3 different "holes" to align BY 18 (a few less and loads of cussing) sandy

[disquek]

Nice to meet you Glen!

Turns out my headlight issue was that I had reversed the vacuum lines at the switch. An easy fix. Vacuum polarity. Who knew. lol.

-Kyle Disque (the guy with the red S4 in the parking lot)

[Certified Lotus]

Took me a couple of years to find and acquire an OEM hardtop for an Elan S1. Then I had it repainted to match the silver color of the bumpers. Next I had my local interior shop make new interior panels and install a new headliner. Replaced all the rubber gaskets.

Turned out nice and it completes the car (although I'm not sure how much I will really use it.......).

[seniorchristo]

That's one sweet Elan ride you've got there Glen! Looks kike a "Keeper"