Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Smart motorways have been in the press a lot recently. Most organizations (the AA, etc) have condemned them as death traps and totally unfit for purpose. It got me thinking that I wouldn't want to break down in my Elan on a stretch of smart motorway let alone a modern more crash resistant car. I was thinking that as the Elans don't have hazard flashers fitted (mine is an S4) has anyone incorporated this feature into their car and if so is it straightforward? At least this would help to warn other drivers that you have broken down.

My 1967 S3 coupe had hazard flashers installed when I bought it ( 1969).
I think the flashers were probably installed by the dealer. originally.

It's not difficult to do though I don't think the wiring is shown on the diagram. Basically a switch an emergency-flasher can and various wires.

Sorry, I don't have a circuit diagram on hand.

Unhelpful I realise but I do have hazards but I don't know how they were wired because I got an auto electrician to do it while we were making the loom.
I do recall that it wasn’t difficult and suspect that if you are prepared to run a separate mini loom for the hazard wiring until the dash is next out it shouldn’t be too challenging.
Gavin

Federal and some other market Elans had them factory fitted from around 1970 onwards. The wiring diagram must show them, I would have thought; unable to check at the moment.

They had the usual flat switch located centrally on the bottom row below the ashtray.

Tim

William,
The hazard circuit is shown on the S4 wiring diagram in the workshop manual. If your loom is original you should find the wiring is already present.. it was on my S4 anyway... so it's just a question of fitting a suitable flasher unit, switch and warning lamp (my loom already had the bulb holder attached). The switch on some cars was I believe just a simple slide type identical to the anti-theft item in the glove box and was located on the bonnet pull bracket below the dash.

trw99 wrote:Federal and some other market Elans had them factory fitted from around 1970 onwards. The wiring diagram must show them, I would have thought; unable to check at the moment.

They had the usual flat switch located centrally on the bottom row below the ashtray.

Tim

Yes we did, but we also have the rediculous DB10 Relay to stop the Brake Lights & indicators from cross powering each other.

My car has been modified back to "normal" seperate Brake & Indicator bulbs but retains hazard switch, but not sure how they achieved that

My 69 Federal S4 has hazard flashers. Several years ago I rewired the dash with a new harness from British Wiring and it had the all the extra wires.
Attached is a picture of part of the wiring diagram out of the S4 manual.

Avoid the motorways... better driving

LaikaTheDog wrote:Avoid the motorways... better driving

I agree, personally I very much avoid the highways here. An Elan/+2 basically has no crash protection versus a modern heavy car and any kind of highspeed impact puts you at serious risk. (Further increased here by vehicle size and the lack of any level of driving standards... )

pharriso wrote:

trw99 wrote:Federal and some other market Elans had them factory fitted from around 1970 onwards. The wiring diagram must show them, I would have thought; unable to check at the moment.

They had the usual flat switch located centrally on the bottom row below the ashtray.

Tim

Yes we did, but we also have the rediculous DB10 Relay to stop the Brake Lights & indicators from cross powering each other.

My car has been modified back to "normal" seperate Brake & Indicator bulbs but retains hazard switch, but not sure how they achieved that

My '70 Plus 2 has factory hazards but no DB10.

William2 wrote: I was thinking that as the Elans don't have hazard flashers fitted (mine is an S4) has anyone incorporated this feature into their car and if so is it straightforward? At least this would help to warn other drivers that you have broken down.

I retrofitted a hazard switch on my '68 Fed. s4se, iirc I just implemented that from seeing the manual (cf. below) and I don't recall much of it, must have gotten it to work rather quickly - the hardest being to source the switch ( was on some Europas as well, but I guess one could modify a double inverter)



https://lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=37156&start=

Only one thing : in order to have the hazard lights flashing on (i.e. both sides blinking) in my car one needs to engage the hazard switch and the turn indicator (one way or the other - in the center position nothing blinks) - so I probably did not do as per the manual (to save one flasher unit ? )... must have done more something like



but works good enough for me.

Smart everythings, cars, phones, motorways...the list goes on.

The unfortunate corollary to this is that the average motorist (most average moronists are actually well below average) has become dedumbed by all of the "systems" with all these smart things and no longer pays sufficient attention as they drive (see smart phone reference above) and since most of the drivers were actually just "steerers" to begin with...

My first Lotus was an Elan (S2) and while I have had many other Lotus over the years, I doubt that I will ever go back to an Elan, given that your average family living room disguised as an SUV and driven by some yakky distracted airbrain will never see me on the road in such a car.

Assuming that they actually "see" other cars around, these days that is handled by systems which beep and flash...and which will NEVER see such a small car.

I'd suggest looking at this catalogue. pdf download is available.
https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/CatalogueRequest p120 or there abouts.
The main problems can be whether your flasher relay is suitable or you need a second.. if you have LED bulbs is also a factor

Notice the cunning system for the turn-indicator warning light in this circuit, the current for the indicator light is actually grounded through the filaments of the 'other-side' indicator lamps.

Fiendish trickery

On ebay there are some really cheap options for led hazard flashing lights . probably more attention grabbing than the filament bulbs behind the rear lenses !
i imagine popping these on the rear parcel shelf in an emergency would do the trick without all the hassle of rewiring and at a fraction of the cost.
it's not like you'll be needing to use them very often