Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am lucky enough to have two engines for my Elan - one in standard spec and one uprated for sprints and hillclimbs. I am about to refit the standard engine but wondered what, if anything I should do before refitting it. This engine has sat under the bench for three years with me turning it over periodically by hand (I obviously drained the oil and water and loosened the plugs, but nothing else). My garage does gets cold and a bit damp. When the engine came out of the car it was in fine fettle with strong oil pressure, it had a new water pump about 2,000 miles before it came out. In particular I am wondering whether I should take off the head. Your views would be most welcome. Thanks, Steve

I don't think you have anything to worry about, it sounds like it was well stored.

It might be worthwhile to unbolt the clutch to check the plate is not stuck to the flywheel.

Before firing up I'd just take the plugs out, disconnect the power to the coil, and turn it on the starter until you get oil pressure.

Then warm up and check your compressions if you have any worries about the head.

Leave it alone! Just bolt it in. With new fluids of course

I'd agree with Foxie, only thing i'd add is remove the aux belt and turn the water pump by hand to make sure it's not stuck or bad. I'd be tempted to do the first couple of revolutions by hand once all assembled.

Assuming you will be swapping things like carbs and fuel pump from the current running motor (so no old fuel residue in the bowls, bad pump diaphragm or bad misab rings etc) and assuming your using fresh oil and filter.

Grizzly wrote:I'd agree with Foxie, only thing i'd add is remove the aux belt and turn the water pump by hand to make sure it's not stuck or bad. I'd be tempted to do the first couple of revolutions by hand once all assembled.

But make sure that you have filled the cooling system with coolant including anti-freeze/anti-corrosion first to make it slippery.

Turning the waterpump on a dry pump is likely to ruin the inner water seal.

I hope while it was stored you had lots of Oil down the Bores so the Piston Rings haven't left rusty lines across the Cylinders. I had this problem when i bought a +2S that had stood for 23 Years in a dry Garage.
It used to leave a puff of smoke sometimes when i drove it after standing
I would for sure remove the Clutch to be certain it's not stuck
Alan

Thanks for the helpful comments. I will certainly remove the clutch and carefully turn the engine. It was the bores, rather than the head I was worried about. I had squirted a small amount of oil into the plug holes, but I can't imagine that would have been very effective (I expect there will just be oily piston tops!)
The engine does have its own Webers, distributor and manifolds. I have cleaned the 40DCOEs so hopefully stale fuel etc won't be a problem.
I think get it in and carefully start it is the plan.

When I stored mine for a mere 18 months, and didn't adequately seal the inlet and exhaust manifolds, I had a couple of valves stick as the exposed stems had just enough rust on them to not close properly.
Fortunately I hadn't simply hooked a battery up and tried to start it as the pistons would have closed the valves......

From memory, ( this was a long time ago), I'd turned the engine over several times with a spanner and had come to a halt

Ralph.

So maybe a squirt of WD40 up the Exhaust Tracks and Inlet Tracks onto the Valves could do no harm
Alan

I think I'd remove the plugs and wind it over with a thumb over each plug hole in turn just to satisfy myself that the valves were closing.
I freed up the sticky valve on mine by putting a wooden dowel on the tappet, getting a hammer, and going "tap, tap, tap".

When storing the engine I should, ( of course....), have stuck oily rags up each port.

Thanks everyone.
I will update when the engine is back in.....
Steve