45/6994 Elan S3 Rebuild

[ethanlance]

Thanks Clark for the photo. Great memory! My blonde's gone grey and I have kids older than I was in that photo now. Time flies...

And what a great looking 6 year old he was back in 1977. He's the blonde headed young man seen here in my SCCA Elan at Lime Rock Park.

Lime Rock September 1977.jpg

Clark Lance

[ethanlance]

Thanks everyone for the comments above and for sharing your own stories.

So I come from a family of car nuts. It all started with my grandfather, Harold Lance, who got his sons into cars and racing -- my uncle, Clark Lance, being our most prolific racer in the family. My Dad did his fair share of racing in the 60s too. Even my Grandfather and Uncle on my mother's side of the family -- the Carlsons -- got affected by the Lance obsession. My other grandfather, Hugo Carlson, raced 17 years at Waterford Hills in Michigan in a Midget, with my uncle Kirk Carlson.

So I never got into racing, though I'd love to, but I've always loved cars. So back to the lotus.

We took the body off after realizing the frame had a severe crack near the motor mount that was getting worse. I probably made it worse by trying to slide it sideways around empty parking lots. And to be honest, the frame was already 'knackered' when it was shipped out in '77.

So in the fall of 2014 I stripped the interior out with my trusty 6 year old daughter -- who helped me bag and tag all the parts.

Photos courtesy of Jerry Bassler, who some of you may know, and who was introduced to me by my uncle, Clark Lance. I've made alot of knew friends because of this project!

[1963 S1]

Great post! Looking forward to following this thread. Good luck Ethan with the rebuild.

[ethanlance]

I made this gantry crane. Mainly because I thought it would be cool to make one.

Also, because I wanted to impress Jerry with my carpentry skills. He took all of these pics. I think he assumed my gantry would fail, so got me to test it...

Then we used the kids skateboards as rolling table for the twink.

[ethanlance]

So Jerry and I hauled the elan body over to Mike Osterov's workshop where I met alot of great guys. We worked on sanding down the parts of the body that looked suspicious. This is the stage where you learn all the secrets of your Elan. Like that mine had certainly been in a serious accident before it was brought to the U.S.

Mike Osterov and me inspecting the body

Oh look at this tiny crack in the fender...

Look at that crack! It all needed to be ground out and fixed properly

At the same time I was introduced to Andy Schank who, in my area, is the guy to go to for Lotus Elan paint. After spending a few weekends at getting sanding down, we hauled the Elan over to Andy's shop for final body work and paint.

And then in primer.

[ethanlance]

My Elan was originally green, then yellow, and then black before it was brought over from the U.K. Three 'colours' in it's first 10 years of life. Then my Dad had it painted black again in '78.

It did look natural in black. But one thing I noticed driving canyons here in California, is that the black color get's lost in the shadows and I was basically invisible to many SUVs coming the opposite way. I wanted a color that I'd be seen in, but also a color that was at least close to an original.

Andy was super worried about us wrecking his master piece by hauling it back on the back of Jerry's truck!

And that's where the project is today. I'm about to order a new chassis from TTR next.

[dgym]

that Jerry looks familiar, and in the same location as this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weGSN_OZDbs

[Certified Lotus]

Very nicely done body work and great color! Your making great progress! The mechanical assembly is the easy part

[ethanlance]

that Jerry looks familiar, and in the same location as this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weGSN_OZDbs

Yes same location. That's Mike Osterov in my photo above and the link you provided. Jerry is another of my photos from further up the thread.

[ethanlance]

Very nicely done body work and great color! Your making great progress! The mechanical assembly is the easy part

That's part I'm looking forward to.

[CBUEB1771]

Ethan-
I am now reminded to add one more from the Harold Lance collection, a wonderful MG, brought by your uncle to Lime Rock for the vintage festival in 2015. Clark has a wonderful story about his first ride in this car as in utero, given he was not quite yet born when your grandmother was also riding in the MG! For better or worse the Lime Rock paddock has gone a bit upscale.

[ethanlance]

Ethan-
I am now reminded to add one more from the Harold Lance collection, a wonderful MG, brought by your uncle to Lime Rock for the vintage festival in 2015. Clark has a wonderful story about his first ride in this car as in utero, given he was not quite yet born when your grandmother was also riding in the MG! For better or worse the Lime Rock paddock has gone a bit upscale.

Yep, she's a beauty! My first time seeing that car, I believe was about 20 years ago in his my grandfather's crushed gravel driveway. I love the sound of wheels on gravel drives!

[ethanlance]

Updates.

I should have everything I need now to rebuild the running gear.

- A new replacement chassis from TTR.
- Adjustable front and rear suspension.
- CV axles
- Brake rotors, brake lines.
- Engine is with Kampena Motors for a rebuild. Rich Kamp has been invaluable.
- And having fun ordering nuts and bolts from mcmaster.com

This weekend I'll be turning this project into a roller. Excuse the messy garage. I've been laying parts out on the floor to dry fit them.

[lotusfan]

A carpet on a painted garage floor, I doff my hat to you sir!!

[rcombs]

Coming along very nicely. The blue is very close to mine. Should be a great one when you are done.

Rick