Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Pretty excited about this latest weekend project. When I began the restoration of my car, I thought it was cool to keep my Lotus positive ground and running with a generator. How novel. However I never restored the generator, and as a result, it never really charged the battery well.

At idle the car would eventually drain the battery.

But, not anymore, because I've installed an alternator! And I got to solder the tachometer to negative ground, as well. Fun weekend job.

Nice job Ian. You could go this route also:
https://classicmotorsports.com/project- ... generator/

Greg - you need very deep pockets!! Dynalite is £406....................D

I bought a different brand for considerably less, albeit several years ago. They are about US$320 today
and I wanted the OEM look. Ethan's conversion is far less expensive

Well done Ethan. That tachometer mod can be a tricky one.

Did you route the output cable all the way to the battery with a big fuse?

One of these will make the connections easier.

gjz30075 wrote:I bought a different brand for considerably less, albeit several years ago. They are about US$320 today
and I wanted the OEM look. Ethan's conversion is far less expensive

I agree, the OEM alternators look better. That's one reason I kept the generator all these years.

lance54 wrote:Well done Ethan. That tachometer mod can be a tricky one.

Did you route the output cable all the way to the battery with a big fuse?

One of these will make the connections easier.

C344C156-D1D9-4E9A-A83C-29299A496D54.jpeg

Hi Clark, no I did not know to do this. Is that the output from the alternator that would go back to the battery? Or do you mean the output from the tach?

I have the output going to the A terminal on the regulator. And also disconnected some of the wires that used to go to the regulator as per the instructions that came with the RD alternator.

The RD instructions are suitable for sure. I installed without the original regulator so the output cable went directly to the battery. The battery side of the starter solenoid would have been and alternative as well.

Hi Ethan,

Do you have any info on the chain drive sack trolleys you used to lift the body onto the chassis? (Brand/model/what they are for originally...) I could use a pair!

Many thanks,

Will

ill_will wrote:Hi Ethan,

Do you have any info on the chain drive sack trolleys you used to lift the body onto the chassis? (Brand/model/what they are for originally...) I could use a pair!

Many thanks,

Will

Will, no I don't have information on those. I borrowed them from a local lotus mechanic here in California.

If you can get your hands on a pair, I recommend. I was able to put the body on chassis by myself and in just a few minutes.