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Elan Anniversary

PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 1:01 pm
by martynbrown
January 3rd is a special occasion since we bought our Elan S4 on that day in 1981. The original intention was to experience Lotus drophead motoring for maybe just a couple of summers or so. I think I can say with some confidence 35 years later that the novelty just isn't going to wear off! As I drove the Elan home that day, ?970 lighter, I was driving an Elan with very tired paintwork, with a Ford 1600 crossflow instead of the original twin cam and with a chassis which (unbeknown to me at the time!) badly needed to be replaced. The car had 82,000 miles on the clock which seemed reasonable to me, until I got in touch with the original owner and discovered that he had covered around 140,000 miles in his seven years of ownership from 1969 to 1976. Apparently they had re-zeroed the mileometer when the twin cam was replaced by the crossflow at around 70,000 miles.

Happy New Year!

Martyn

Re: Elan Anniversary

PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 11:03 am
by rgh0
I think you have got your 970 pounds worth of enjoyment in the last 35 years - keep driving and keep enjoying in the new year :D

cheers
Rohan

Re: Elan Anniversary

PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 7:02 pm
by l10tus
Martyn,

Nice one!

Did you swap the non - standard parts out, back to OEM - or is it still as was?

Regards,

Phil.

Re: Elan Anniversary

PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:02 pm
by martynbrown
Phil

Very very(!) shortly after discovering the chassis problem I fitted a second hand chassis which lasted for about 8 years and then I fitted a new Lotus galvanised chassis. In 1983 I fitted a twin cam engine which was from a 1965 Lotus Cortina Mk 1 which was being sold off for spares (?150 for the engine). I had the cylinder head uprated to Sprint spec at that time. Sadly it has the 4-bolt crank with the rear end rope seal which doesn't seem to last very long and does need replacing again. In 1986 the car was re-sprayed by Fibreglass Services - excellent job, but after 30 years it is inevitably showing its age.

My projects for the coming year are to replace the rope seal, sort out a clutch judder problem and to fit a new dash (already in stock in case the prices go up!). But for any of these tasks the car will definitely not be off the road for long!

Best regards

Martyn

Re: Elan Anniversary

PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:52 pm
by 661
That's a fair price. I paid ?2000 in 1986 for a non working complete car in bits, including new lotus chassis.

Re: Elan Anniversary

PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 5:26 am
by LI-599
Hi Martyn,
Regarding your clutch judder issue, my S4 had a new 8" ford friction plate and all surfaces reground but it juddered( shuddered) still. I removed it twice trying to find a cause. At this time I was informed that a Mitsubishi 81/2" friction plate fits exactly and is a softer grey material, the result is a perfect clutch release now.
We are lucky here in Australia not to have salty grit on our roads so rusty chassis' are never an issue.
Ian