Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello! I am new to the board but have had encouraging correspondence with Brian Buckland and others.

I?m restoring an S3 that currently has VDO gauges and the wrong switches. I wanted to see if any board members knew of a gauge cluster and switches I could purchase. I would need all of the gauges and switches.

I have been in communication with Speedy Cables to no avail. Quite frustrating really.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Wyndham

Welcome!

Gauges are scarce, they turn up on eBay from time to time, but sadly they are generally not inexpensive.

Thank you for the reply. My understanding is that I can source a smiths gauges from another vehicle more and have the dials redone. Any thoughts?

Speak to someone at Nisonger Instruments. They are near you in Mamaroneck.

thank you!

Actually, the smaller of the two Smiths gauges are standard on most British cars. The fuel gauge and the Oil/ temp gauge could be taken directly from an Austin-Healey Sprite. In fact, many years ago, I traded my original Elan gauge (called a safety gauge) for one from a Sprite in order to get an identical gauge but that the Elan gauge had a max of 60 psi oil pressure, and I had fitted the kit to the oil pump to boost pressure from 40 to 60 psi, so I wanted the 100psi scale on the Sprite gauge.

The tach and speedo will take a bit more search, as the tach scale is 8k while most common uses are for 7k. The speedo will be calibrated for the vehicles axle ratio, tire size etc. There is a number on the speedo face which is cable revs and you could probably find something very close. I have an old Nisonger catalog back in Ohio which lists cable revs for the cars listed.

Lucas switches, other than the window switches are pretty common. Other controls such as heater and choke will require some good searching. I do have some Lucas data sheets with me down here I'd be able to share.

Roger

I have a professionally refurbished tach from a 1969 elan. its a 100%
pm me, but it was quite expensive to return to uk for refurb.
James

I'm building an S2 and have sourced all original gauges through ebay and members here over the course of a year or so. They do come up. Get some pictures of an original dash from a car close to your build date and use that and the Buckland and the Robinshaw publications to check it's the right one. I saw an 'original' speedo on ebay that had a refurbed dial by speedycables and for the anal amongst us it was apparent the numbers were placed a minuscule out from where they should have been in relation to the speed indicator marks. It depends on how exacting you which to be.

I really like the look of your dashboard! (ducks head awaiting incoming)

There was a time when it would have been seen as a very desirable upgrade, I bet the guages work better, hope they were correctly calibrated.

I have learned, albeit may years too late that whenever I do "upgrades" which may well in the course of time be seen as downgrades, to keep and store the original parts, think how many Elan air filter housings have been binned when sports filters have been fitted and what they are worth today!!!

I have a complete dashboard, instruments and full wiring loom stored from my 1987 Caterham 7, its already very rare inasmuch as a complete assembly and will only become rarer, I might also use it to go back to original.

just spotted these! http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/0tis72/m.html ... 7675.l2562

hmm not sure that link worked. There is a seller on ebay.co.uk selling a bunch of gauges. seller name is otis72.

I have several gauges available for sale, not sure which ones you need or are specific to your application.
see here at this link: http://www.taylormadeclassiccars.com/parts.html
thanks for looking.
TED

Thanks for the leads, tips!

Ted,

Those gauges are for a S4 or later Elan or perhaps a +2S. He needs the earlier style gauges for a S3.

i assumed so, but what about the Speedometer and Rev counter? can you pin point what they go to?

Hi,
Although Smiths gauges the Speedo & Rev counter will be the most difficult to source if you want to have an original cluster.
Oil pressure (100psi) & Water temperature (110C) dual gauge are being reproduced and should not be problem. If a used gauge check the Water temp for operation.
Fuel gauge, S3 original gauge and tank unit/sender, especially the tank unit, will be a real problem, if you can find an original they are 50yrs old and very likely to need some serious refurbishment. My view would be to go for the later gauge and sender (S4) much easier to find.
Rev counter slightly unusual in FSD is 8000 and has red sector only, Original S3 will be for Positive earth car. Dial has indicator lamps for Light High/main beam (Blue) and Ignition warning (Red)
Speedo correct FSD is 140 MPH and has a single Turn signal indicator, (orange). Has both Total miles & Trip recorder. Calibration, 1000 revolution?s per mile.
Ron.
PS. Rev counter in Ad looks correct, Speedo wrong. 2nd pic of fuel gauges, centre bottom gauge looks correct.