1967 Elan Build: Lotus 26R X Honda

[BrendantheSaviour]

Hi All,

My father and I are building up a 26R bastardization, and I thought I would keep a thread for anyone interested in the build progress. Rough plan is to fit her with as many 26R bits as possible, and have the Honda S2000 f20c drivetrain provide the power. If you have any questions of comments, feel free to share!

The Car

First a little history. This baby was a 'field' find outside of Ottawa, Ontario and was in pretty rough shape. No engine, completely rusty frame etc. etc., the whole nine yards.




The first order of business was to get the frame off of the body.



Once off, the car was stripped of all bits. At this point work on the car stalled, as my father took a contract away from home.

The Build Continues

This summer I decided to continue working on the car, with my fathers help when he is home for a week or two at a time. Shoutout's to JohnnyPlus2!

It quickly became apparent that the frame was too rusty to repair, so we bought 'slightly' bent one from a friend and built up a jig to bend it back to specifications. This was easier said then done, but with the help of a torch, eventually things were straight and to spec.



In the process of frame straightening, the tower was weakened from the heat of the torch, so I welded in some front tower supports



Strengthening using 26R and TTR inspired gusseting





Body is progressing, fiberglass repaired and finished to a reasonable degree before the fenders go in.



Will take more current pictures later, waiting for the wheels to arrive before I can measure up the 26R fenders and glass them in.

I am also not giving up on the original frame, and plan to tube it up sometime this summer. To remove the rot and rust I built a little electrolysis tank and let the frame simmer for a few (5) days. That took car of the rust and rot, but also illuminated a significant amount of damage, which lead to the decision to just use it as a starting point for an Elan tube frame in the essence of spyder



Part de-rusting is taking place concurrently via an electrolysis tank I built, it's a little 'rustic'', but works great. 5 hours at 8 amps and the parts come out warm to the touch and completely rust free!





I will be updating frequently as the build progresses. Plan for next week is to finish re-enforcing the frame and continue cleaning parts for powdering coating.

[BrendantheSaviour]

Cleaned up the parts from yesterdays rust removal, here is the brake rotor after


More triangulation on the frame, damn difficult o get the mig gun in there.

[elansprint71]

Crush it.

[BrendantheSaviour]

Little update

Couple boxes of parts arrived from across the pond.






Started in on rebuilding the brakes. Callipers before:

Will post more pics of the rebuild process in a few days when the rust removal is complete
Cheers!

[CBUEB1771]

Hmm, weld repairs to one of the brake calipers. I would be looking for a replacement.

[BrendantheSaviour]

Yup, currently sourcing a caliper. Cleaned up the rears, pulled out the parking brake pin with a 10-32 bolt.



Welded on the adjustable spring perches for the rears


Built a little shop press to push in the bushes




I'm pretty sure it is impossible to resist mocking up your suspension at the earliest possible point, gratifying non the less.



Cheers

[stevebroad]

Looking at this build, is your Dad's name Jon by any chance?

[ianjrduncan]

Hi Brendan (and Jon)
great pics and impressed by the progress It is surprising the amount of 'infrastructure' that is needed to support such a project V good to see bits of kit I recognise as an 'exporter'!
keep up the good work and the pics and info
best regards
Ian D

[BrendantheSaviour]

Well, I guess it is time for an update. Work has been progressing, even if this log has not. Let's get into it.

Rear hub carriers were cracked on the bearing race. Got them TIG welded for 50 bucks and then machined them down.





Machined with bearings and billets drive shafts


Brake rebuild and paint




Drive shaft and rear hub fitting, TTR drive shafts had great interference coverage out of the box





Driveshafts on hubs with 200ft/lbs of torque. TTR said 175, so I gave her a few extra for good luck. Assembled with Locktite green for fit assurance as well as ease of disassembly (heat from a torch should pop them off).


Quick trunion rebuild



How not to compress new spring onto front shock


Front suspension coming together




Local tire shop completely bricked our wheels when putting on new tires. Pulled off the old weights and took large pieces of the lip with them. These rims are going to need some serious repair, but miraculously they hold air. I just don't understand why they continued to damaged the wheels after they removed the first wheel weight.




After aligning the bolt on the rear A-arms with a little heat, the rear sus came along nicely





Steering rack cleanup


And we have a roller !!






Next up -->
26R fenders have to be glasses in. Hopefully getting to the over the next week, first have to hit the hardware store for 500lbs of concrete ballast.

A little something to tide you over till the next update. Monterey motorsports reunion 2015.


Also, If you happen to have Instagram, I am much more active posting pics of the build on my page
https://instagram.com/jgbmotorworks/

[Certified Lotus]

Your moving along rather nicely. What size tires are those?

[BrendantheSaviour]

Thanks. The tires are 205/60s. The bobbins are about a 1/4" out, so unfortunately I have to re-glass 6 or 8 of them. That is not going to be much fun.

[bigvalvehead]

Hi Guys
Have you dropped the engine and box in yet?
You will need to get the grinder out for it to fit.

Cheers
Dave