Elan S4 being awakened after 35 year slumber.

[Elanintheforest]

Thanks guys. I would definitely urge you to to find a project Alan as they are a lot of fun to restore and unlike most cars can be done in phases. Restoring everything on a rolling chassis is very satisfying and completes 90% of the mechanical restoration. With the body off and a copy of Brian's book, the workshop manual and the parts manual it's all pretty straightforward as well. Apart from those bloody flashing headlamps!!

[elanfan1]

Mark,

What are you doing about tyres? The rears appear to have good tread (but mismatched?) are they new enough to use or have they been on the car for years?

[Elanintheforest]

The car has a set of Cinturatos fitted Steve, but one kept deflating so I put a spare on. Loads of tread, but unfortunately they are dated 1981 or 1982 from memory!

I don't know what I'll fit, but it won't be the excellent and sticky XAS at £180 a corner. I rather like the Elan to be a little playful on the back end for a bit of fun. And the wheels will be blasted and painted silver of course.

[elanfan1]

How about these then:

Cheap as chips too

https://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/ ... gJmBPD_BwE

[trw99]

Surely Shirley Steve, you meant to recommend our friend TBG's tyre of choice, the Nokian iLine 165/70/13.

https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/ ... K8QAvD_BwE

In another recent thread he was saying how marvellous they were, not expensive and allowed him to have a bit of fun too. They would seem to fit the bill for Mark.

Tim

[Elanintheforest]

I've never heard of those! I bought a set of 5 Cinturatos for a Cortina earlier this year discounted from £85 to £45 each. They are just right for the 60s cars, although I wouldn't like to push them in the wet....although that situation almost certainly wouldn't arise.

[elansprint71]

It's gone a bit quiet.... you OK?

[Elanintheforest]

Still pottering on Pete. Just doing the trimming out now whilst waiting for the dash to be refurbished...that should be another 3 weeks or so. Also waiting for a tank to be built by Axminster, then I can get to see if my rebuilt engine works!

Also finding a lot of little jobs to do whilst waiting on the dash, like cleaning up the window motors and wiring, and tidying up the door trims, handles and speakers. I had a pair of NOS internal door handles that replaced the rather rusty originals, and a pair of speakers from an old XJS to replace the rusty covers that sat on the door. Amazing the difference a couple of small bits like that makes.

[alan.barker]

Don't forget to glue a bit of "basket weave" under the door handle flap.
Alan

[Elanintheforest]

Is that what's supposed to be there?!! I thought it looked a bit naked.

I shall hunt out a bit of basket weave, or at least some black leathercloth.

Ta very much!

[elanfan1]

You may well find there’ll be a small bit of basket weave you can liberate from under your seats if you’re lucky. You can also get like a carpet paint if you wanted to refresh the carpet around the speakers. Those speakers really do look nice.

[Elanintheforest]

Those speakers look superb on the back shelf of a Coupe or Plus 2 as well Steve. I haven't seen any better ones for Elans.

[elansprint71]

If you feel the need for "speakers" you are not accelerating hard enough.

[elancoupe]

If you feel the need for "speakers" you are not accelerating hard enough.

Truth

[Elanintheforest]

I put those speakers in place to fill the holes left by the old ones until I can get a good bit of loop-pile carpet to repair the door trims! I've never been able to listen to a radio in an Elan due to spark interference, and the quality is awful compared with even the cheapest modern car system. The dash is being refurbished with a radio blank in place, and that's probably how it will stay.