Body Off Frame... Let The Fun Begin!

[Alpine_Ian]

Today was one of the first nice days of the year here in Dayton, Ohio. I spent the afternoon working on the Elan and successfully was able to get the body separated from the frame. The project is now well under way and it won't be long before I get to enjoy buying all those parts I'm going to need. I'm beginning to realize that just about everything on this car will need to be replaced. Although it's mostly complete many of the parts are broken and worn out. I was especially disappointed when I removed the gas tank to discover it had totally rusted away from below! Are new tanks available?

[ngiovas]

Wow - This sounds familiar!! I have a 64 S1 and with the weather being nice here as well (an hour north of Detroit) I also pulled the body from my Elan today. I had prevously removed the entire interior and all of the auxillary items from the engine. I also have a fairly complete car that has many parts that will need replacing due to age/wear.

You can get replacement tanks from most of the Lotus suppliers. My tank had rusted out as well. I saw them listed in Dave Bean's catalog in both steel and aluminum.

I built a dolly to roll the body around. It is just high enough that I can store the body above the chassis so that it only takes up one spot in the garage. This will also alow me to roll the body outside to work on the chassis or just work on the body while it is above the chassis.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Nick

[elancoupe]

Besides the factory tank, Spyder (at least used to) makes the tank in steel or alloy. Having had the steel version, I would describe it as much nicer than the Lotus unit.

Alloy fuel cells are also availble for Fuel Safe in Ca (for a hefty price).

[Alpine_Ian]

Thanks guys!

Nick,

You and I must be on the same wave length today... I spent most of the evening dismanteling the frame. The front upper and lower A-arms are giving me a little problem. Three of the bushing sleeves are stuck onto the shafts.

I also built a dolly for my body. I copied the one built by Jim Boone. It worked great!

<a href='http://www.unibrain.org/motorsports/elan/gallery/album01/Dolly' target='_blank'>Jim's dolly</a>

My bodyman has already started on the bonnet, boot lid and doors. After a little clean up on the body, I'll be ready to take it over to him. The frame will be going over to a local metal cleaners. Once it comes back I will be spending my time on the rebuild of the suspension, engine, tranny, and rear end.

[terryrds]

Hi guys- Just received the alu tank from Dave Bean's (steel tank is NLA, at least from them). Looks good, although I'm a little concerned that both the sender and the tank itself are held in place by alu nuts welded into the tank. Using steel bolts will set up a potential (no pun intended) for galvanic corrosion. I guess using Loctite will adequately insulate them, or I've also seen plastic bolts are available, though I don't know if they would be strong enough for this application.
Spring is in the air. Keep up the good work on your projects! -Terry

[brassringfarm]

Ian - I just finished a body-off restoration a few months ago and live just SE of Cincinnati - in New Richmond. There's also a beautiful Elan in Piqua. I've kept a list of everything I replaced or rebuilt on my car and it now fills over two pages of small print. Everything's pretty easy - just a lot of attention to detail. I'd be glad to stop up some time, give advice or lend a hand if necessary. I'll send a few pics of my car in progress and final condition separately.
Paul Zimmerman
26/4600 65 S2.

[brassringfarm]

Ian - my email is [email protected] If you send me your email, I'll forward the pictures of my Elan.
Paul

[Unibrain]

Ian,

Glad the dolly is working out for you. I stole the design from <a href='http://www.vistagrande.com/lotus/photo.asp?indx=4' target='_blank'>Bill Kanne</a>

When you get the chassis back from the metal cleaner, be sure to look over the chassis carefully. There are several known weak spots and from reading the list they almost always need to be repaired.

Today I'm in the garage doing more of the interior work. I think I'll finish with the carpet and temporarily install the headliner.

- Jim

[1964 S1]

Hello, I'm in Cincy and have a few boxes of spare parts, but frozen bushings are not in my inventory. Let me know if you run into anything impossble to find. It seems as though we've got at least 6 guys around the Dayton Cincinnati New Richmond area chatting it up here on elan.net, time to form a club?

[sotul86]

Hi All

Lots of fun work to do on a elan, after doing it myself I sure know it worth it.
Did some small criusing just before winter.
Here it?s still winter so I?m waiting for the sun to come and snow to go away.

My own experience are that it always take much longer time than expected and it cost twice as much.... mostly beacuse parts are in much worse condition than expected.

Regarding alu tank You should use stainless nuts and screws.
I bought a new tank for 11 years for my car it came from LOTUS and are in steel.

Bill Kane:s was one of the first sites I found on Internet with pictures showing a renovation of a Elan. Does Anyone know if renovation still in progress or?

And as Jims says " When you get the chassis back from the metal cleaner, be sure to look over the chassis carefully. There are several known weak spots and from reading the list they almost always need to be repaired. " It?s not always so obvious as in my case with hole in turrets and cracks. It can also be neccesary to replace because of fatigue reasons.



Good luck Everyone

[Alpine_Ian]

My frame appears to be pretty good. It's not rusty and the only damage I can see at this time is from what appears to have been a blown out u-joint in the drive shaft. I should be able to repair that damage easily. I will be inspecting it closely. I'll report when I get it back.