Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

It's been a while since I last posted, I've been chipping away in the background and can now announce that as of the 19th Nov I will be officially 'in the gang' !!!
I shall be picking up my 1973 S4 Sprint DH, it's been in a few barns since 1992 and this weekend it will see the first bit of tarmac (on a trailer !) since it was incarcerated !
It was the 29th from last Elan to be sold and my quest is to get it roadworthy by next August for its 50th birthday - a more finite restoration will follow (funds permitting) thereafter. I will be back here for various snippets of advice as I go and hope i don't cheese you all off ???!
I'll post some pictures soon of NAF 707M

Cheers,
Brad.

Well done, Brad, I'm glad you shall have the car to hand very soon.

Not sure you should give yourself until Aug 23 to get it on the road, since it was invoiced in Jan 73. That gives you, what? Seven odd weeks! Better get your skates on!

Good luck!

Tim

Tim,
firstly, thanks for your detective prowess recently, very much appreciated.

Agreed, seven weeks is pushing it somewhat, I shan't be rushing any works. I'm working on the principal of NAF's birthday being the date of registration, hopefully giving me more time to sort out a road worthy car ???!

Cheers,
Brad.

Sounds like a great find, Brad.

I have recently completed the restoration of an S4 DHC that had been off the road since 1984, and the re-fresh of my old S3 Coupe, that had been little used since 2000. The refresh was pretty much the same amount of work as the restoration, so you could be in for a fair bit of work.

However, if you can do most of it yourself, it is not expensive to do, and most of the work is pretty straightforward.

To make things easy for yourself, I would start by giving the car a really good clean inside and outside, under the arches and in the engine bay. When dry, spray a liberal coat of ferrosol or a similar penetrating / lubricating oil on all the fasteners, and a bit down the bores.

I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of you car re-birth!

Mark

Mark,
my first task is taking out the engine & 'box and hoik it over the road from my workshop to a friendly Esprit specialist for and in-depth looksy !! Then I'll get my good old fashioned cheque book out !!

I'm aiming to have a rolling restoration project by next 'birthday', after that the 'fun' will start ???!

Brad.

Brad, with the engine and box out it is the ideal opportunity to do a few other bits and pieces whist you have the room.

I'd certainly get the master cylinders and servo overhauled as they are awkward sods to do with the engine in situ. It's also a good time to go through the wiring in the engine bay, cleaning and replacing connectors and cleaning up the earth points. It's a good time to paint the engine bay as well if it's gone a little tatty.
Before putting the car on the road do overhaul all the brake assemblies, and check, probably replace, the rotoflex couplings. Then you can roll and restore in relative safety!

Mark

Another "easy" one with the engine removed is to check the condition of the steering rack coupling. For the small cost it makes sense to replace it anyway.
And if you want the gearbox checked, and repaired if necessary, you can't go far wrong by using Promotor (he's a member on here).

Mike

Morning all.
Apologies for not updating you all on 'progress' - it's been a bit full on for me, not just with the Elan !!
My 'affair' has been sanctioned by my wife and she now calls the car Lola - I'll go along with her to save any arguments !!!
Lola is pretty well stripped bare, down to component form, I just hope I remember how everything goes back together ??! Engine and gearbox have been fully rebuilt and serviced by a local Lotus guy and boxes of 'stuff' are ready for re-assembly using new replacement / serviced parts.
I could go on for some time about what has happened and is going to happen, but I'll do that in snippet form in the near future.
The main reason I'm back is, who do you guys out there recommend for a full on respray ?????
I'm after a full strip back job, I'm prepared to travel to the right place and I'm based in Wiltshire.
I look forward to any recommendations and I'll try not to be a stranger anymore !!
Brad.

One of the first things you normally do when you’re having an affair is strip it back. I’m surprised you’ve waited this long and if you need advice well ……

2cams70
'Thanks' for your 'advice' - I bet you're great fun at a party ??!
I was expecting a bit more comradery, hopefully someone else will be a bit more polite ?
Good morning to you sir / madam.
Brad.

Hi Brad
My contribution to your enquiry is here:-

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=50124

Cheers
Baggy

I think the question most would ask is "How much did it cost?"

As few of us have bottomless pockets and so a price / quality balance needs to be derived.

I've just had my S4 painted locally. The results were a bit variable, blow holes and pin holes, so I asked it to be redone. Result is much better, still some pin holes but I can live with those. Cost about £4500 and was back to gelcoat, included some repairs and undercoating the wheelarches, plus the engine bay in black satin. I think considering the rather stunning overall appearance it is a fair price.

On the other end of the market you have the likes of Option One who would cost (so I hear) more than double what I paid. And they will keep the body for ages, so that they can be sure there are no nasties appearing in the undercoat before top coats are applied, make sure it is dry before painting, etc. I personally do not think it's worth paying that much for paint, unless the car was given to you (which in my case, it wasn't although I should have asked the seller; but then I can imagine his reply ). A cheap restoration candidate gives you so much more financial headroom.

My approach is, do the restoration but don't spend more than the car is worth when finished - that way you won't be out of pocket if you decide to sell. That's why I opted for a somewhat less than concours paint job (although, it will look amazing when it's all back together).

One more thing to consider. Your super duper paint job will not last long, if you start really using the car. It will collect scuffs, stonechips and other wear & tear so is it really worth paying 1/2 of your resto budget on a concours job?

Cheers
JonB

Hi Jon .. and Brad
Yep , totally agree about price / quality balance.. I'll just say I don't have bottomless pockets and though I was aware of Option One at the time I didn't even bother to ring them .
My post suggested interested parties should at least consider Pilgrim - it's up to supplier and customer to agree a price. It was more than yours (Its a bigger car) and a good deal less than I've heard Option One charge.
BTW Its over two years now since the job was done and no nasties have emerged. I do use the car almost daily and it's picked up the odd tiny stone chip on its low nose but that's life
Cheers
Baggy

At least you show signs of having a sense of humor which is more than I can say for those guys that drive those things with the engine in the wrong position. Sorry but I can never remember what make it is.

Welcome back Brad!