Heater cable stuck

[persiflage]

" Hurts like heck !

Then you can see and reach up to the instruments. "

That was twenty years ago .... Now it hurts twice as much and I can't get my head far enough away to actually focus on anything behind the dash

[The Veg]

Then lie on your back on the floor of the Elan face up with your legs outside or up against the rear screen (easier on an open car).

Hurts like heck !

Or get a Plus 2! I'm a big tall fella and I've got plenty of room to stretch out on the floor with the seats out.

[RogerFrench]

What I meant was if you mount the stabalizer on the tacho, you can reach through the speedo hole to do up the securing nut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To mount/fix things behind the dash later. Remove the knee trim and the seat. Open the door wide. Get a lamp which can sit on the floor shining upwards.

Then lie on your back on the floor of the Elan face up with your legs outside or up againt the rear screen (easier on an open car).

Hurts like heck !

Then you can see and reach up to the instruments.

Known as th Lotus position. Works for Elans, Europas, Elises, Etcetera....

[prezoom]

I found that I had to have a couple of different strength reader glasses in the garage for working under a dash or for other close up work. One pair is used on the welding bench when using the TIG welder. Now if I could just bend like used to............without getting a cramp..........

[Terry L]

I ended up using the "hurts like heck" position, leaving the seat in, and eventually got the speedo in. The comments on close vision are all appreciated.

Getting the grommets installed in the firewall round the cables looks challenging but I'll get it. The engine starts but I must have jostled something in the ignition switch because the red ignition light sometimes lights up and sometimes not.

Of more concern is the new choke cable. Without the twist to hold feature, the choke promptly closes from the pull of the spring load from the carburetors. Am I missing something? Did I get the wrong part?

The temp gauge, which seemed accurate before it was removed, now sits at 90 degrees when the engine is cold. There seems to be nothing mechanical or electrical to go wrong. Ideas?

Thanks all.

[richardcox_lotus]

The temp gauge relies on ether (?) gas as an internal element.

[billwill]

I hope you didn't twist the capilliary tube when removing the temperature gauge. There is very little leeway on that.

Excess twisting could cause a hairline crack in the solder or in the tube near the bulb, letting the ether gas/liquid out. It is then a very difficult self repair or take it all out and send to say Speedy Cables for a repair & renovate.

I haven't fully sorted mine out yet despite several years.

My trials & tribulations with the temperature gauge are detailed in my long topic, starting here:
lotus-elan-f19/getting-ogu-roadworthy-again-t26101-15.html#p172491

[Terry L]

I'm sure that the lost ether hypothesis is correct, because I fiddled with the connection before I decided that it was not separable. So now I need to remove the gauge again. Is there an electronic substitute in case there is no US shop to fix it?

[billwill]

I'm sure that the lost ether hypothesis is correct, because I fiddled with the connection before I decided that it was not separable. So now I need to remove the gauge again. Is there an electronic substitute in case there is no US shop to fix it?

No readily available substitute, but you could try fitting the equivalent from a Plus 2, which has an electric temperature guage.

In those messages on my long topic there is a link to a web page that describes fixing the ether bulb by buying a non-vintage one and transferring the bulb to your Elan gauge. It describes how to do it without losing the ether.

[Terry L]

I have read the description of how to adapt the bulb and tubing from a generic unit to the Lotus gauge. The odds on me getting that to work are so low that I want to consider all other alternatives first.

[nomad]

Plenty of US gauge rebuilders. Nisonger and Palo Alato probably the most known.

Kurt.

[Terry L]

Gauge is going to Nisonger tomorrow. Price is $179 plus shipping. He sounded like this is every day for him. Thanks, all.