S4 Duratec Project *The finishing Touch*

[StressCraxx]

Alan,

Well and beautifully done!

Regards,
Dan Wise

[Spyder fan]

Sean / Dan,
Thank you for the compliments, the car is a joy to drive even in the depths of a very wet and gloomy winter. I'm really looking forward to warmer drier weather so that I can have the top down more often, but a little bit of rain and cold won't stop me using it until then.

Sean,
The paint and bodywork was carried out by SMS, they used modern base colour with clear lacquer and cooked it to regulo 3 in their low bake oven. http://www.smsautospray.co.uk/ cellulose paint can look fantastic if applied with the incredible sort of skill and dedication that someone like the Late Mick Miller had, you only need to see Sue Millers car at her premises to appreciate how good he was, and that's a 20 + year old paint job. Unfortunately base and clearcoat is the finish of choice for any of the good guys out there these days, but it does have the advantage of being slightly tougher and easier to care for. Normally photo's flatter paintwork, but the ones I have posted here don't do the car or it's paint job any justice at all.

Happy New Year to all.

[alaric]

Hi Allan. Thanks for the reply. My car was sprayed at SMS also and as I said above I chose to go with cellulose after much debating - a surprisingly difficult decision to decide which colour to go for - how often can you choose whatever colour you like for a car... I'll get it redone at some point but the finish is very good and I do love the colour.

Regards.

Sean.

[Spyder fan]

Sean,
I didn't realise they still did cellulose at SMS I wouldn't have chosen it above the base & clearcoat if I had known, but I'm not well known for my originality

How long ago was your car painted, how is it holding up?

Regards

[alaric]

Hi. Too long ago. Actually about 4 years now. I've not managed to get the car on the road yet though - no excuses just not spending enough time on it. The paint still looks good. I've noticed a little bit of ageing in places. I wasn't completely happy with SMS though unfortunately.

Regards.

Sean.

[Mark B]

Hi Alan,
Splitter gives it a purposeful look, not to mention some welcome downforce at the front at high speed!

I remember the green car next to gordons, still have some pictures of it funnily enough. When sean told me that was the colour you were going for I remember thinking oh no not green!!

I put the elan on hold about 6 or 7 months ago as I bought myself an s2 elise for the summer, I had a great summer with it & now have all the suspension off it doing a full refresh with dampers, springs, balljoints, all wishbones repainted etc.
When I bought the elise it scuppered me really as it meant I could no longer remove the body from the elan as the elise was sat in the other half of the garage, so I finally got round to extending the garage (which I've been meaning to do for 4 years).

When the elise is done and ready for spring it can then live in the extended bit and I can continue with the elan properly. Seeing yours now is giving me motivation and I'd love to finish it by the end of this year, or at least have it painted by then. With most things being bespoke on it, it's not just a case of bolting it together, and I still have a few things to work out, but it should hopefully work out well when it's done. I'm also incorporating various safety items into it to try & make it as safe as an elan can be without going ott, so it'll have seats with headrests & harness slots, harnesses, full spyder safety system, reinforced floors with 6mm alloy plates under the seats bolted into the cars structure and a few other bits...

Could you either post or email me some more pictures please? wouldn't mind some of the boot layout, interior shots behind the seats and underbonnet shots if you don't mind.

Be nice to see it at donnington this year, should spur me on even more seeing it in the flesh!
Cheers,
Mark.

Hi Mark,
The splitter is a shortened Europa item, Spyder use them on the +2 as well. I wasn't sure that it would look good and wanted to leave it off, but I'm very pleased with the result that makes the front of the car look subtly aggressive without being naff.

Thanks for the thumbs up on the colour, those who have expressed an opinion say that it was a brave decision to go with pistachio and you would probably never choose it from a colour chart, in the flesh it looks just right and the photo's are quite a good representation of real life. You may remember that one of Gordon Lund's friends had his pistachio over white Sprint on his stand at 3 counties in 2010. My wife took one look and said ''I want that colour scheme'' ; She Who Must Be Obeyed had spoken and who was I to argue. SMS hadn't painted a car in pistachio for over 20 years, they checked at least twice to see if I had changed my mind, but even they were pleased with the colour and would now recommend it.

I was wondering how your build was going, have you hit a sort of a wall with getting time to work on it? I can't imagine where I would have found the time to do mine. I just kept working harder trying to sell more hinges and doorclosers so that I could pay Andy, Sean & Co to build my car and cure all the problems.

Regards

[Spyder fan]

Adam ( Patsta Pesto) popped around this afternoon to fit the sidewinder stripes, I think the positioning is spot on and I'm very pleased with the result.





Regards

[Jas]

Allan your car still looks smashing.

Is that Wilwood calipers that I can see through the front rims?
What size tires is it on and witch mirrors are those and where are they from?

[freddy22112211]

loverly,
Gordon

[Elanintheforest]

That's looking very good. I'd love to see the pics of the engine bay .....the main bit of the car. And how much fun is it to drive?? More info !!!

Or has your alcohol level not come down sufficiently yet from the season's festivities to try her out properly??!

Mark

[Spyder fan]

Allan your car still looks smashing.

Is that Wilwood calipers that I can see through the front rims?
What size tires is it on and witch mirrors are those and where are they from?

Hello Jannik,
Yes those are Willwood 4 pot calipers, they are bedded in nicely now, they are very smooth and powerful, I'm very pleased with them.

The tyres are 185x60xR14 82H Yokohama A Drive, the wheels are 14x6 Minotaur alloys colour matched to the bumpers. The mirrors are Tex M68990/1 these work really well and I have them fitted to my +2 as well http://www.texautomotive.com/classic_exterior_mirrors.html

[quote ="Elanintheforest"]That's looking very good. I'd love to see the pics of the engine bay .....the main bit of the car. And how much fun is it to drive?? More info !!!

Or has your alcohol level not come down sufficiently yet from the season's festivities to try her out properly??!

Mark[/quote]
Hi Mark,
My alcohol level has dropped nicely, but it appears that every time I want to get out in the car either the weather gets in the way or some family thing takes precedence, today it was Adam wanting to fit the stripes, yesterday it was a funeral, earlier in the the week it was really ropey weather, I still managed to do 250 miles over the last 10 days though.

How does it go?.... Fast as you might reasonably expect, but surprisingly refined which you might not expect. The engine is smooth and very tractable, the clutch engagement is extremely good, equal if not better than my modern BMW Mini. It's rock solid on the straight ahead with no wandering or tramlining, cornering is the best I have ever experienced on the road in any car and I have driven more than my fair share of modern and classic sports and supercars. I haven't really started to use full power in all gears, it's been too wet or busy on the roads for that, but I'm certain from my brief introduction that this is a very worthwile conversion. A warm Spring and early Summer will hopefully happen and allow me to test long distance with the top down

I nearly took some decent pictures of the engine today, but got seduced by the stripes! I will post some up soon.


Regards

[trw99]

Alan

Re stripes - Approved!

Not so sure about the wood/alu structure on top of the roof though, looks a bit Dali-esque to me!

Tim

[Spyder fan]

Alan

Re stripes - Approved!

Not so sure about the wood/alu structure on top of the roof though, looks a bit Dali-esque to me!

Tim

Approval from the Sprint Guru! I like it (the sculpture on the roof was the package the stripes came in)

Mark asked for some pictures of the engine installation, I finally got round to taking some today.

The bonnet prop is patent pending.


I'm not sure how it all fitted in under the standard bonnet, note the reflective heat shielding over sensitive components.

[elansprint71]

Looks good; hopefully I'll see it in the flesh some time this Summer.

[Spyder fan]

Hi Pete,
Looks like it will be the Silverstone Classic this year. I have heard an unconfirmed rumour that Donington won't be happening this year due to their ongoing renovations clashing with any dates that the club has enquired about.

I will be at Castle Combe with both cars for whatever date is confirmed and probably Goodwood for the revival if we can get some sort of club parking area.


regards