1967 Elan Build: Lotus 26R X Honda
Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:33 am
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.