Perhaps the smallest (not entirely useless) modification

PostPost by: 1owner69Elan » Sat Dec 12, 2020 12:46 am

An occasional annoyance for me on the Elan has been the raw, unfinished ends of the throttle, choke, and heater cable ends. When working on the car, invariably I manage to poke myself with the stiff (and sharp) heater cable end. Meanwhile, the end of the braided throttle cable has a tendency to unravel, making it difficult, if removed, to later reinsert it in the small hole where it is secured (without resorting to retrimming the cable each time, which has a limit) .

I found that bicycle cable cap ends, that slip over the ends of the above cables protect against the sharp or unraveling ends. It is still easy to remove these cable ends when having to remove the cables as well. Just pull off.

Throttle cable:
IMG_6427.jpeg and

Heater cable:
IMG_6423.jpeg and
IMG_6428.jpeg and


Not the biggest issue but still a nice (cheap and easy) improvement. Attention to details!
'69 Elan S4 SE
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PostPost by: bitsobrits » Sat Dec 12, 2020 1:00 am

I get it!

And much more elegant than the blobs of silicone I use to 'finish' cable ends.
Steve

Elan S1 1963-Bourne bodied
Elan S3 1967 FHC pre airflow

Formerly:
Elan S1 1964
Elan S3 1966 FHC pre airflow
Elan S3 1967 FHC airflow
Elan S4 1969 FHC
Europa S2 1970
Esprit S2 1979
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PostPost by: elanfan1 » Sat Dec 12, 2020 4:15 am

Even cheaper and simple I did to my cars strip a piece of black household wiring cable. Pull the wire out and trim to size. Little bit of glue on the cable and job done
Steve

Silence is Golden; Duct Tape is Silver
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PostPost by: 1owner69Elan » Sat Dec 12, 2020 6:01 am

[
elanfan1 wrote:Even cheaper and simple I did to my cars strip a piece of black household wiring cable. Pull the wire out and trim to size. Little bit of glue on the cable and job done


I’ve also used heat shrink tubing, similar to your solution.
'69 Elan S4 SE
Street 181 BHP
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PostPost by: pharriso » Sat Dec 12, 2020 12:31 pm

Great idea, thanks for the suggestion!

I spent an hour silver soldering the end of the choke cable, this is much easier! :D
Phil Harrison
1972 Elan Sprint 0260K
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PostPost by: denicholls2 » Mon Dec 14, 2020 6:15 pm

I suspect the bicycle cable ends are the most appropriate as the heater cable was likely sourced from the Raleigh bin along with the spoke for the windshield. :wink:
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