Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Only a small amount of time available this past weekend so no major progress, but I was able to get all the front light removed. As with everywhere else on this car, rust has done its thing. The Headlight Bucket flange on both headlights has rusted away, so more replacement parts on the list! Otherwise the headlight pods, pivots etc all seem OK. On of the pods has a hole where the stop bolt has worn through, but that not a big deal.



One of the small studs that hold the turn signals to the body torqued of on both light. This seems to be a recurring theme!



I’m going to try and find a way to replace these studs, perhaps a PEM type stud. If not then these will need to be replaced too.

Lastly, I started to remove some paint on the nose of the car. It’s thick and very dry; some of it flakes right off, some is quite tough. I worked down to the front bumper which had been faired-in. I don’t dislike the faired-in look, but this car is going back to original. There was a fiberglass strip almost holding the bumper on, a real mess. A good pull and chunks of the bumper came away and it just broke up. Eventually it all came off leaving the glass tie-strip that will need to be ground away and the nose re-profiled.



There seems to have been some localized damage on the lower valance, very badly repaired, that will need to be ground away and fixed properly once all the paint is removed to reveal the full horror of it all! I took a small area down to the glass just for exploration purposes; it actually looks OK! This car is mixed bag!



The dark patch is a remaining piece of the tie-strip that I didn’t get full removed. It’ll be good to get this all cleaned up and reveal the good, bad and ugly!

Hopefully a few more small jobs in the evening this week. Bad day at work today, with a major event fail in the UK.

Ian

One job, looks like it’ll be a pain, will be to remove the screen surround. It’s nut and bolted and access to the nuts is difficult. I’ll be putting fixed nuts on the rebuild to make this job easier, not that I ever plan to remove it again!

On thing I noticed is that my surround has been cut, a little right of the center line, and riveted back together with small metal plate. This is far too clean for a break, it definitely cut, but the question is why and by who. Compared to most of the other fixes on this car, this repair looks semi-professional. Could it be a factory adjustment? Has anyone else ever seen this? What could be the reason for cutting it? Could it be a width adjustment?



I think I’ll probably replace the repair plate with a proper fiberglass repair using the plate to set the position.

Ian

All early cars other than early S1 I’ve restored have had bottom of screen frame cut with the plate to join ends.
I think it was to ensure good fit for windscreen. Anyone know if that was the reason? Maybe the early parts manual has some information
Cheers
Vaughan

vstibbard wrote:All early cars other than early S1 I’ve restored have had bottom of screen frame cut with the plate to join ends.
I think it was to ensure good fit for windscreen. Anyone know if that was the reason? Maybe the early parts manual has some information
Cheers
Vaughan

Hi Vaughan

Thank you for confirming my suspicions. Did you repair the cut or leave it? I suppose leaving it would be the more correct thing to do, but my inclination is to re-glass the cut and remove the plate. I’m not sure how much is visible when everything is assembled but it’s a potential leak path at the very least.

Ian

I left them parted and after trial fitting screen found the plate position & gap was fine with the replacement screen I had. Fitted frame to body with sealant.
I always use the rubber bonded nutserts and for fitting ease mushroom Allen bolts to secure the frame, look neat easy to access with ball headed Allen key, don’t leak, don’t loosen and lifts the frame marginally for the body to screen lower seal to fit snugly as well.
Cheers
Vaughan

Hi Vaughan,

I have a stock of Mil Spec floating Nut Plates, either rivet on or bond on, and will be using these in a number of locations when I get to rebuilding.

I wonder if the split in the windscreen surround was to accommodate windscreen fit or the fit of the surround to the body.

I still have to get the surround off the body and will take a good look at it all when I do.

Ian

Windscreenframe- this little plate is correct. The only reason to me could be helping the glass screen and seal in. I have an original uncut, untrimmed frame - it does have exactly the same width like the cut and riveted one
Anna

Thank you for confirming this. It looks like a Lotus ‘fix’ so I guess it will survive this restoration and live on!

Ian

I noticed when I collected my car that the Cam Cover had no nuts holding it down, what didn’t notice was that it was not even sitting on the head fully. There was a gap, slightly more at the rear.

Imagine my surprise when I investigated to find the Cams are rusty on the lobes.


So the question is, can anything be done to rescue these, short of re-grinding. Is it worth the effort/cost etc? I have no idea what spec these might be although to my eye they do look a bit ‘high-lift’. The nose looks to be quite a small radius.

I’d appreciate the thoughts of those of you smarter then me!

Ian

The engine is probably a standard 105 hp with the standard B cam profile and 0.350inch lift. While regrinding to that profile on a smaller base circle to remove the rust is possible if you can find some who knows it, the cost will be similar for new cams to the later D / Sprint cam profile or equivalent which is what most cam grinders sell today for standard road cars.

Carb chokes and jetting need to be changed if you change the cams. What chokes and jets are in the carbs you have may help confirm the cam profile if it was changed from standard

cheers
Rohan

I’m not really getting in to the engine at the moment, I’m focusing on the body which is going to be a major amount of work with the lattice frames needing replacement etc, etc.

The Carbs are off, but Mike Pierce would like to receive them as-is so can he run some tests before tearing them down. I plan to upgrade the performance, so new cams were always in the plan, but it’s just a shame when parts like this are junked just from neglect.

I already have, spare, a very hot head from Bob Yarwood with what maybe a bit ‘over the top’ L1 Cams and then I could put the original head safely on the self. I’ll need to decide when I see the condition of the 40K mile, 45 year ‘resting’ head! With a new cross-flow crank, Carrillo rods, tall CP pistons I believe it works out to 1700+ cc, it could be a feisty donkey!

So many plans!

Ian

Just thought I’d post some pics of the Yarwood Head.








I just realized this head was built for 45’s! That means new carbs too! I think this head is a bit too much for this car.

Have think about this . . . .

Ian

The main goal today was to get the windscreen surround of the body. Once again my nemesis, rust, was going to make my day difficult! The surround was attached with nuts and bolts so access to both sides was needed, most of the nuts were rusty, some beyond the point where a spanner or socket would hold them. Eventually by using a variety of tools, including vice grips (Mole Grips), all but one was out. That one had to be drilled out and even that was a pain in the arse as the bolt started to spin! Finally brute force won out and the surround was off. No real surprises with the surround but one area looks like it may have been repaired and will need a closer look.



I decided to get the heater box out next and removing that was relatively simple. The fan space was pretty full of leaves, nuts and other debris.


Once that was vacuumed out the fan seemed free and other than fairly heave surface rust, the general condition seems OK. Some very bright pink fluid came out of the core and was quite clean so I have hope the cores might be good. I’ll pressure test and then ultrasonically clean the cores, and the box will be blasted and repainted, and the motor will be tested which I expect it’ll be fine. Overall I think all will be good with the heater.


Once that was done I tackled a small area for paint scraping. I have found that a 1/4” and 3/4” very sharp chisel are the best tools for scraping off the paint and then I go over the area with a DA and 80 grit paper. I’m aiming to just go down to the pink primer or grey gel-coat for now. This gets off the thick paint, and taking the last primer and gel-coat will be easy to sand off later. Leaving these layers on ensures that I’m not changing the underlying contours of the body. The stress cracking seems to be everywhere! Once it is taken down to bare glass I’ll assess the cracking and develop a plan of attack.



By doing a small area each time I work on the car it will eventually be completely removed.

A good few hours work on MLK day!

Ian

It’s your choice but at this point I’d consider about whether you really need a long stroke 1700cc engine. The crossflow crank was not designed to work in a Lotus Twin cam. An engine with standard stroke will be smoother and more free revving

One original frame
You can locate the cut in the full view