Elan S4 being awakened after 35 year slumber.

[Pastapesto]

Do you know what Mark? I'm starting to think along those lines too.......if you have it too perfect, you worry about what can or cannot happen if you use it........a well used but mechanically perfect car just might actually b the ideal Elan to have.......good luck with solving the problem.....A

[Elanintheforest]

Well, the old S4 is now pretty much back together, with just a few small jobs to complete.

The callipers were overhauled and bleed very easily, and that was the last set of parts required to take the car out for a drive. Well, a couple of times around the paddock, but she went up to third on the small round trip and it really was a thrill to drive the car after she had been stood for 35 or so years.

I need to find a hefty / racing battery now that will fit in the boot and crank the engine over! The compression tester shows 210 psi on all cylinders, due to the Accralite ‘intruder’ pistons, so the standard battery just won’t turn it over, especially as it is also newly built and tight. I use a battery from my old Daihatsu Rocky and once the engine goes over the first compression it fires up straight away, and settles down to a very smooth tickover. That battery cranks the engine over very quickly for pumping up the petrol, so no issues with the starter or solenoid, which are both standard. The engine is essentially sprint specification, but has been ported and polished at some time. If the cams were to be changed for something a little more hairy, I’m sure it would be a flying machine.

The old tonneau cover cleaned up very well, and I probably won’t bother with a hood now. I doubt the car will be used much in the pouring rain in November.

The paintwork repairs have been limited to the areas under the front and rear bumpers, which had a fair few bumps and scrapes. I’ve done those now and they are looking good, especially with the front bumper now re-painted as well. The rear bumper is going to be painted next, and the wheels blasted / repainted silver and a new set of tyres fitted, but that will probably be next spring.

Whist the front was up in the air, I have been cleaning out the arches and spraying a thin layer of black underseal under there. It was stone-chipped a long time ago, then over painted in white, and the paint had cracked as it nearly always does with stone-chip. It looked messy, and I prefer the arches in black so they can’t be seen with the wheels on.

It has been a really interesting project, and I’ve learnt more about Elan electrics on this car than any other car. Overall, it was in superb, original condition when it was laid up, but pretty tired! The original paint is responding well to a bit of touch-up, and the stress cracks and some micro blisters just add to the patina of the car.

This week I received 4 parcels from Sue Miller which is the start of the next project….refreshing my old S3 Coupe. I replaced the chassis on that car in 1978, Miles Wilkins re-built the engine in 1989. and since then it’s had a few more bits and pieces done. It now needs the rear suspension, differential, driveshafts, front suspension, steering and brakes restoring properly after all this time. I’ll start a new topic for this one!
Mark

[trw99]

Well done, Mark!

It must have been glorious driving the car for the first time in so long; a great feeling, I'm sure.

I note you used Jubilee clips on the water hoses! Seriously, the engine compartment looks splendid, a real credit to you.

Tim

[Mazzini]

Well done indeed!

[Geoffers71]

Well done Mark, really nice work. Is the S3 your last project or is there more after that one ?

[pharriso]

Looks great, well done. Now get it on the road & enjoy the late summer

[Elanintheforest]

Thanks for the comments guys. One of the main things I've learnt from doing the Elan is that original parts are now pretty scarce, and getting the right parts from the classic Lotus specialists isn't a given any more. The exception to this is getting stuff from Sue Miller, who really knows the Elan inside out and if the part or parts are in stock they generally arrive the next day. I don't see the point in going anywhere else now.

As for another project Geoff, I have been after an early S1 for restoration / re-commissioning for a couple of years now. I did bid on one a couple of weeks back at Mathewsons (Bangers and Cash) auction house which was a superb, very original car that had been parked up in 1976 ! But at just over £25k I backed off, and the car was bought by the Bangers and Cash restoration team and will be the subject of a television program next year. I'll find a nice early car one day though!

After the S3 I still have a Mk2 Lotus Cortina to finish off. I bought that as a non-runner 12 years ago, and have since built a new engine and ancillaries for it, re-built the brakes and completed a few other jobs. I now need to do the rest of the work and get it back on the road.

A chap came onto a Lotus Cortina Facebook group just 2 weeks ago asking if anybody knew where his old Lotus Cortina had ended up, and it was the one I have. A few chats with him have filled in a fair bit of history of the car. It was a show car in the late 1980s / early 1990s, still in it's original paint and with very little rust. It was stolen by joy-riders some time in the 1990s, and when it turned up a day later it had a bent front end and a very tired engine.

it was repaired, some good and some bad, but it then went though a couple of hands with the engine being very unwell in the end. I rescued the old thing from a bus depot near Aberystwyth. It's the right colour, the shell is superb, and the main mechanical assemblies are now healthy, and it just needs a few hundred hours spending on getting the detail bits right.

So the short answer to your question Geoff is...at least one more after he S3, probably 2 !

Mark

[SENC]

Well done Mark, looks great!

[Elanintheforest]

A small but significant note on the last bits of the S4 restoration.

I built the engine with high-compression 'intruder' Accralite pistons as they were recommended by the machine shop and I fancied seeing what they were like.

It needed a very large battery from my diesel SUV to get the engine cranking, and with that in place, I couldn't close the boot!

With 210 psi on the compression test, and a new, tight engine, it really wasn't a surprise that I needed a lot of cranking oomph. I had seen on here folks using the Odyssey PC680 with good effect, so I went over to my friendly local battery supplier and asked for his suggestions.

I came back with a slightly bigger Odyssey AGM28L, and it really is an impressive bit of kit. I primed the carbs, and the car fired up on the first piston getting over compression! I left the car for a week to empty the carbs a bit, and it cranked over for 2 or 3 seconds very quickly to fill the float chamber, and it started up. When cranking over to fill the carbs it is faster that a standard , old engine being cranked with an 038 battery.

I'm using the standard starter motor with standard solenoid and cables. Not sure why I haven't used one of these before, especially in my Escort Twincam which doesn't like cranking in cold weather due to high compression. With the Odyssey on it, like the Elan, it started up instantly.

Enough of batteries. I've finished the small fibreglass repairs and paintwork under the bumpers, and re-painted the front bumper as well to look smart! Rear bumper to be done. Repainting the grilles and number plate digits makes a huge difference as well, and the car is starting to look quite smart.

It is now sitting in the workshop with it's rear towards the door so I can run it up a couple of times a week to bed the engine in. For 2 years, the old S3 Coupe has had to look on whilst the S4 gets all the attention. Now the S3 is being worked on for the first time in many years, and it needed it. I'll start a topic on the S3 soon, when I have made some good progress. Currently the number of steps forward are just about balanced out by the number backwards......but it is an Elan.

[trw99]

Clearly feeling very positive about this, Mark!

Good stuff and it’ll be interesting to follow the Series 3 restoration.

Tim

[Pjr]

I’ve read this thread through a couple of times and can’t get enough of it. Great work Mark, a lovely sensitive reawakening. Role on the next restoration!

[Elanintheforest]

The renovation of the S3 has started, although a bad back has temporarily stopped play!

The rear suspension and differential have been stripped out and overhauled, including my original differential that I replaced in 1987 as it was a bit noisy.

The differential was a struggle to re-fit, especially when it came to bolting up the propshaft....different flange sizes! So the differential just taken out was refurbished instead, and now that's waiting to go back in....it's complicated!

But it wasn't carrying the differentials around or any heavy lifting that did my back in. It was putting the bonnet retaining spring back onto the bonnet of the S4....a pig of a job with the electric fan in the way.

Maybe in Friday the back end of the S3 will start to come back together.

[elansprint71]

Nice one Mark; thanks for taking the trouble to record all of this in such great detail.

[Elanintheforest]

Thanks Pete, it has genuinely been great fun getting the S4 all working again after 35 years being laid up. Every time I start it up I have to pull the headlamp vacuum switch out to watch the lights pop up flashing! My S3 has never done that in the 45 years I've had the car, but it will one day soon.

Mark

[slowsprinter]

Mark

I am in the last 6 months, hopefully, of my Sprint restoration. Your thread has been a bit of an inspiration and education for me. Though we have diverged in a couple of places, your car being much more original than mine. I have few modifications, mine not being a perfect copy of Chapman's genius. I have CV driveshafts, electric headlamp lifters, electric fuel pump and I have gone from dynamo to alternator....heresy!! Furthermore, my car was originally a FHC but it was crashed in the 80's and is a bit like Trigger's broom with a new chassis and a new body (now a DHC)

Therefore some of the bits I have for the car are not required and there are some bits missing. I have a hood frame (purchased by previous owner) but no hood and no hood tray that it would fold into. Therefore I need to buy these two items and fit it to my car. Your photos have been really helpful to see what I need to do. I have a few questions for you and would be grateful for a bit more help. How does the hood tray fit onto the DHC body? How does the hood fit to the top of the windscreen frame, is there some kind of metal facing for the top of the windscreen that the hood clips into? I think there are ears on each end of the front face of the hood that press stud onto the A-post. I need to fit these press studs into my A-posts too, which will scare me!

Also, I have ordered new (black and silver) number plates for my 72 car. I don't have a grille yet but have bought the digits that should fix to the grille. I take it the grille can be sourced at (for example) Mick Miller Lotus? Does it just fit with self tappers drilled into the body?

Thank you
Ian