S4 Duratec Project *The finishing Touch*

[freddy22112211]

The Lambo looked so good because the colour changed slightly at different angles and had an amazing depth and other effects that I'm not able to put into words.
Gordon

[Elanintheforest]

I think that it was a form of pearlescent paint Gordon. I only noticed it on an orange car a few years ago...up to then I was mesmerised only by the Miura's eyelashes!

Mark

[ardee_selby]

Alan Thomas "Driving The Flag"

50/1705 Elan +2S Royal Blue with 2.0 Zetec Soon to be joined by S4 DHC with 2.0 Zetec "

Eh? What? Zetec? Now I'm confused...

[Spyder fan]

Alan Thomas "Driving The Flag"

50/1705 Elan +2S Royal Blue with 2.0 Zetec Soon to be joined by S4 DHC with 2.0 Zetec "

Eh? What? Zetec? Now I'm confused...

Oops! I meant Duratec, good job someone is paying attention. I got bored with my old Elegance breeds elegance, especially since Don sold the type 14, I'm just waiting to get the S4 back home before making some new artwork with the 2 cars.

Regards

[Spyder fan]

Dear all,
here is my S4 Duratec completed. I look forward to seeing many of you throughout the following year at all the usual events.
Full credit for this car must go to my very indulgent wife Sue.


[img]http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af33/spyderfan/Elan%20S4%20Duratec%20Completed%20Photos/P1020248.jpghttp://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af33/spyderfan/Elan%20S4%20Duratec%20Completed%20Photos/P1020245.jpg[/img]

[Jas]

Hi Allan

It look fantastick I hope that you will have many wonderfull trips in it.
How did your cold weather test go, tell us how it drives.

[Spyder fan]

Hi Jannik,

It drives really well; on the motorway it feels solid and planted on the road without any wandering or busy feedback through the steering, I cruised at a genuine 80mph (satnav) and the car is better than my +2 zetec which feels a little fidgety at that speed. In town and traffic it's really easy to drive, it pulls away as smoothly as my modern Mini, the steering is nicely weighted and direct and the engine revs up very freely due to the lightweight flywheel. The gearchange is a little notchy just now and the gearbox chatter is transmitted through the gearlever reducing refinement, but there is an upgrade to the linkage which will be fitted when the car goes for it's 1000 mile service/safety check.

The engine and exhaust note sound superb and are definitely in keeping with the car and it's timeline, it sounds right. It reminds me very much of a Suzuki Swift Gti that I owned back in the 1990's in that the engine was a crossover between bike and car technology with a lumpy tickover but very free revving with a sweet exhaust note.

For performance testing I haven't gone over 4500rpm just yet due to the road conditions, wet on Saturday and icy yesterday. But the bhp at the wheels is 182 at 6400rpm and the torque is 173lb at 5100rpm with 80% of that torque available from 2000rpm and with the car being 740kilos all up it's going to be properly quick.

The cold weather testing went well, it was about minus 4 celcius overnight and she started first time.


Regards

[bcmc33]

I cruised at a genuine 80mph (satnav) and the car is better than my +2 zetec which feels a little fidgety at that speed.

Perhaps the sneaky little air dam works well at that speed.
My car at that speed makes the steering very, very light, and could be described as fidgety - but I call it sensitive.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Looking good Alan & just in time for Christmas.
The wait was surely worth it!

Yet another new milestone in Elan development I wonder what will come next?

Looking forward to a good sniff around it sometime in 2012

Cheers
John

[rgh0]

. But the bhp at the wheels is 182 at 6400rpm and the torque is 173lb at 5100rpm with 80% of that torque available from 2000rpm and with the car being 740kilos all up it's going to be properly quick.

182 bhp at the rear wheels .....740 kg ..... properly quick ....

now that is an under statement if i have ever seen one

cheers

Rohan

[garyeanderson]

I am so happy that this has been completed and that you are enjoying your Elan. Seems like we are missing out on all of the comments that were posted earlier in the thread. Great to see that this was not the project that ended in the back of a garage to be finished at some future point in time. I hope that you can get it out for others to see it on the street so that they can understand (or not) what it is. Thank you again for the entertainment that this Elan and you have provided. The Elan looks great and have fun!

Gary

[pharriso]

Congrats, enjoy it!

With 182 hp it will fly....

[Mark B]

Looking good Alan,
I must admit the colour would not be my first choice but it suits it really well, whats the splitter from on the front underside btw?

Looking forward to seeing it next year at the shows, I should hopefully complete mine towards the end of next year aswell....

All the best & merry xmas all,

Cheers,
Mark.

[Spyder fan]

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

[alaric]

Allan, great looking car and project. 183bhp at the rear wheels! Wow. I'm interested in what paint you used. I went for cellulose but will probably get it re-sprayed at some point as it just doesn't seem tough enough.

Regards.

Sean.