Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Regarding air and heir, it`s very important driving an English car to speak English with an appropriate accent. Try saying Air............Hair...........Lair...........There.....then join it all together to replicate the exact Jeeves greeting.
Jim

And then there's the accessory that no Australian Elan ever came with... an egg-nishna.

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint
Miami, Florida

Take what you want on the plane, check the jumpbox and whatever through baggage and tell the counter clerk what you're doing, reviving a British work of art.... screw the bad guys.
Why push start when you can jump start...

Stu, regarding jacking via rocker panels:

The Plus 2 relies on the internal triangular box section members made out of mild steel without any significant corrosion protection. Unless you have evidence of recent replacement and can satisfy yourself that this job has been completed properly, there is a high probability that the side members have disintegrated into rust. Get yourself a copy of Graham Lund's book as he goes into this subject in some detail. Without the box section members being in place, you will severly damage the fibreglass trying to jack the via the rocker panel.
For jacking options along the road, get yourself a cheap scissor jack and probably a long actuating bar. You should be able to get this under the front cross member. The rear is a lot more awkward but one possibility is a large flat piece of wood (at least 1" thick) to spread the load over the entire area of the rear A arm. Note there are bound to be howls on this one as even with the precaution of the wood there is a possibility of damage to the A arm. Note check my posting from around 9 months ago with jpgs of a replacement rocker panel style jack with pin, assuming your side members are in good shape. Note hydraulic bottle jacks generally are no use as they are too tall.

Regards

Gerry

gerrym wrote:Stu, regarding jacking via rocker panels:

The Plus 2 relies on the internal triangular box section members made out of mild steel without any significant corrosion protection. Unless you have evidence of recent replacement and can satisfy yourself that this job has been completed properly, there is a high probability that the side members have disintegrated into rust. Get yourself a copy of Graham Lund's book as he goes into this subject in some detail. Without the box section members being in place, you will severly damage the fibreglass trying to jack the via the rocker panel.
For jacking options along the road, get yourself a cheap scissor jack and probably a long actuating bar. You should be able to get this under the front cross member. The rear is a lot more awkward but one possibility is a large flat piece of wood (at least 1" thick) to spread the load over the entire area of the rear A arm. Note there are bound to be howls on this one as even with the precaution of the wood there is a possibility of damage to the A arm. Note check my posting from around 9 months ago with jpgs of a replacement rocker panel style jack with pin, assuming your side members are in good shape. Note hydraulic bottle jacks generally are no use as they are too tall.

Regards

Gerry

My Elan is lowered so that no jack will fit under it even with tires ful of air. what Ido is carry is a 4 x 4 block 16 inches long that is beveled at one end to form a ramp. If in the event of a flat tire I can drive it up onto the ramp (tire with the flat) and then get the jack under the chassis in front or under one of the rear struts to finish lifting the Elan. Then I can complete changing the tire.

Gary

p.s. my friend just bought a 65 Mustang fastback in California site unseen and jumped into it and drove it back to Massachusetts, some 3500 miles. The Ford 289 Mustang may be 43 years old but parts are common and he had no job to get back to on Monday morning, his credit cards were good and cell phone charged. There is a huge difference between a Mustang and a Lotus...

p.p.s. Ken Mason tried to sell me the Plus 2 when I bought an Elan Coupe from Brian Robinson 5 years ago. Brian was storing the Elan Coupe at Kens shop, small world, isn't it...

Thanks muchly for the details.

Ken did inspect the side beams and apparently in very good condition, but to be safe I will go the scissor jack route and dig up some wood blocks.

Perhaps I will call the airline on what I can take on the plane. Would really prefer to have the jump start box, but don't fancy buying a second one! Weight is a bit of a factor I suppose.

Truly is a small world., I have not met Ken yet, but he sure has been great to deal with over the phone. Really was worth it to give the car a thorough going over prior to pick-up. He mentioned he did a similar deal for someone who made it Orangeville to Halifax without incident. a considerably shorter distance but an adventure none the less.

Cheers!

Add three jubilee clips to compress a rotoflex and some spare bolts for the rotoflex doughnuts.

I had a bolt shear once and strangely though an elan can be driven (slowly) with broken rubber in the doughnuts, it cannot be driven with a broken bolt. I had to tour all the local hardware shops to find a vaguely suitable temporary bolt.

You won't be able to get a new bolt in without those jubilee clips.


Hop this tip is not too late as you are off tomorrow?