New owner S4 Elan sprint

[kristelvdr]

Hello Lotus Elan Forum members. I am new to the forum and new to the Elan ownership. In november 2016 we bought our Lotus Elan S4 sprint conversion DHC at Paul Matty?s Sports Cars. It used to be registered in UK as GVB 813J. As I read on the forum that one never really owns it, but rather is allowed to care for it for a period of time, we would like to thank the previous owners for their care

On the surface it was in good condition, the testdrive showed some hick-ups at low rev accelerating. We believed a carb overhaul and some adjustments would keep it running through our first summer together. There were more small items on the checklist, for next winter. But nothing urgent.
We took it home (Belgium) on a trailer and drove it to MOT without troubles ( light adjustment had to be done twice=> green card;-). The new Belgian numberplate arrived and Paul Matty helped us to get the correct white letters for the grille. Ready for action after the winter.

I took off the air filter and airbox to clean them (surface rust, dirt) , charged the battery and when the sun came out in March, took it out of the garage for a maidentrip.

Then the wheel of fortune turned the wrong way up... I could not push it out of the garage because of a small ridge (and my husband was not at home). So against my natural aversion, I tried to start the car in the garage. No luck, so I used jump leads and insisted a bit longer.
The engine started and rather quickly had a stable idle rpm. I got out to check for leaks, the fire extinguisher in my hands. (Yes, my previous job had learned me how easy it is for a car to catch fire). No leaks, no fumes,...
So I drove the Elan onto the driveway. Cleaned some oily bits and left the engine idling. The idea was to take it for a short testdrive and then measure the airflow per cilinder at the Weber carbs.

A neighbour walking his dog stopped for a look and while we were talking the engine bay cought fire!
The fire extinguisher was still on the ground next to me, and two blows of powder stopped the fire. The engine stalled and I turned off the ignition. Still with a 170bpm heartbeat, I started assessing the damage. It could have been so much worse, but still....
A few deep breaths later, I sealed the carbs and started rinsing the powder away.

When inspecting the car afterwards, I found several things NOK. Most of them are unclear whether they were a cause or an effect of the fire. Almost 3 months later, we are close to finishing the repairs and improvements. A non-power, CO2 fire extinguisher has been bought and is at hand should it happen again. But we hope for the best

Kristel

[The Veg]

Hi from USA!

Sounds like too much excitement for a car you've just bought! Glad to hear that damage was minimal, and the work done as a result sounds like an upside.

Looking forward to seeing more of your car!

[jimj]

No airbox = petrol spit back = FIRE
Jim

[Europatc]

Welcome Kristel

[Yadgi]

Hi there,

For your information I owned this Elan from 1974 until 1998. When I sold it the car was in concours condition. I had many hours of fun driving the Elan through leafy lanes in Berkshire and was very sad to see it go, alas due to the need to buy a new house. I originally purchased it from Mike Spence Reading, a Lotus car dealer and rebuilt it in 1994/5. The car was the SE version of the Elan Sprint and was orginally bought from new as a kit in order to avoid paying purchase tax. This was quite common with Elan owners at the time. Original colour scheme was Carnival red with silver bumpers and silver wheels. I changed it to the Players Gold Leaf scheme in the late eighties. It was one of the first Sprint conversions (I believe number 47) that Lotus did to standard S4 Elans coming down the production line. Please see some pictures I kept during and after the rebuild. Hope you find this of some interest.

[kristelvdr]

Hello!

How good to hear from you. I always hoped to find a previous owner via a forum. I am happy to tell you the car is still in good shape. After the small engine bay fire I renewed the engine bay wire harness. It was actually a fun job to do. In the end it is a good way to learn how the car fits together and where everything is. It took a base wiring harness from Paul Matty and a good look at the wiring diagram in the manual, and hours of measuring and fitting connectors. We replaced the fuel lines in the front and the coil. To avoid the oil built-up below the carburettors that initially caught fire, we added an oil catch can.
The carburettors were tuned by a professional, as I did not dare to give it a second try. It runs smoothly ever since. It passed MOT with a green card again. Earlier this year we replaced the clutch slave cylinder. We only drive it when the weather is good, so the last year was a quiet one. But the car turns heads wherever we pass by.

I am so happy with the pictures you posted. Here is how it looks now.

best regards,
Kristel and Charles

[trw99]

Nice story. Always good to see some provenance come together!

Tim

[Yadgi]

Nice to know the car is in good and safe hands.

Has the car been resprayed in recent years?

A bit more about the car under my ownership.
As part of the restoration my farther and I did a complete body restoration and paint job (in my garage at home) which included 6 coats of of cellulose paint, Carnaval Red over Sirius white with Astec gold bumpers, super black wheels and wheel trims added. The engine was completely stripped, (over sized piston fitted to No 4), crank and flywheel balanced and a pre-enganged starter motor fitted for best starting reliability.
It was a stunning example then and At one of the Lotus meets in Birmingham UK I was approached by a representitive from Mazda who wanted to purchase the car to take back the Japan to use as a model guide for the forthcoming Mazda MX3/5 sports car design. The car was at that time one of the most original (as straight off the Lotus production line) Elans around. I hope you get many more hours of pleasure from the car. Kind regards, Ian Harley

[trw99]

Ian, I was interested to read your old Elan was apparently an early S4/Sprint (See my website: https://www.lotuselansprint.com/index.asp?pageid=41810)

I have tracked down almost all of the 79 S4 Elans converted by the factory but do not have a record of this one - I should call it Kristel & Charles' Elan! You may be able to help on one thing. The registration number was first issued on 6 June 1970, well before the announcement of the Sprint at the October London Motor Show that year. Furthermore, it was issued from the Croydon licensing office, when all the Spence Elans tended to be Reading office registered. I wondered if you knew if the car had been re-registered sometime before it came into your ownership?

Kristel, I would be most interested to know the VIN and Engine No so that I can add this car to my private Sprint register. Would you be willing to send it to me via private message on here, please? Or via my web site, if you wish.

Thanks both, great story behind this car.

Tim

[Yadgi]

Hi all,

Further info on GVB 813J
I bought it from Mike Spence, Reading. It was at that time pre owned. It was a Sprint SE which came off the production line as a kit. It didn’t have the Sprint badges along the front wings, it also had the Elan S4 exhaust silencer (twin tail pipes out of the box) It had silver painted wheels and no wheel trims, the body was red with a chrome strip running along the sides (basically where the gold Sprint decals are now). I gave away all my documents to the next owner but I'm sure at one point I contacted Lotus who confirmed it was the 47th Sprint made in production. The bonnet was destined to fit an Elan that had Dellorto carburettors hence the bulge but this car was fitted with the Big Valve engine that had twin choke Weber Carbs fitted. The other thing worth mentioning it didn’t have sun visors (as per the later Sprints). It was registered as a Sprint SE. This car had the high ratio rear axle fitted as standard (Elan S4 SE spec). The bonnet pull was originally on a flimsy bracket just to the right of the steering column below the dash. When I did the refurb I fitted a stainless steel fuel tank and a stainless steel exhaust system with the larger, later Sprint silencer box. I never got around to fitting the front wing side badges but added the wheel trims to make it look as close to the later Sprint model. I had a lot of trouble with the starter always engaging the starter ring gear at the same point (engine would stop the same way each time) This led to excessive wear at one place on the ring gear teeth. The standard starter motor was designed with a two x fixing bolt flange which consistently slackened off and eventually would misalign with the ring gear and from time to time the flange would break. My solution to this was to fit a pre engaged starter motor with a three-pronged flange that was originally used on an Austin Maxi. Never had starter problems again.
Hope you find this useful and interesting.
Best regards,
Ian