Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Its time for another one;-

I have the usual eclectic mix of tools, some good some bad and not as many AF as I thought!! I'm going to invest in some new ones, (snap on ;- I wish). Bob my neighbour has just restored a TR2 and reckoned that a tap and die set was the best thing he bought, would not bother with a sand blasting cabinet, a pillar drill would be useful, whereas the Gordon Lund book also recommends carpet on the floor

So the question is what do I really need aside fropm a copper/hide hammer ??

Collecting the Plus 2 next weekend

This thread, on what others have invested in, may help to kick off with:

elan-plus-f13/machine-tools-for-maintaining-your-cars-t23656.html

Cheers - Richard

I have a carpet on my garage floor. It's a hessian backed, short pile, 50/50 wool twist in light brown. My neighbour's wife came round with it and virtually brow beat me into taking it to cover my cold, hard, grey and uncomfortable concrete floor. It's a double garage and it was a large carpet. Oh, but those melting, upturned pleading eyes so I did what any man in his right mind would do in this situation and negotiated future goodwill by saying yes.

Best thing I did. Not only does it keep the car tyres from getting trench foot but I now have something to sweep all the dirt under.

Next to the carpet in best things to buy for your car restoration is a right angled electric drill. It's able to get everywhere.

Car ramps are also good and it took me a whole year to realise that it was possible to drive the elan +2 on to them.

Colin.

Salut

I keep and scrounge large cardboard boxes - the types for furniture and electrical appliances. Keeps the cold of your back and the garage floor is protected.

Another essential tool that I don't regret buying is a high-lift jack - the floor type on rollers. The one I bought off eBay lifts almost a metre (a yard for nthose back home) and cost a measly ?100. For that price, or any for that matter, axle stands are a must.

Some longer handled spanners in the most useful sizes make Lotus life more comfortable, too. Unfortunately ratchets are often to bulky in many areas.

@+

Vernon

Have a piece of carpet to lay on under the car but do not leave it there overnight etc. It's a fire hazard. Any slight petrol leak floods the carpet and next time you start the car it goes up in smoke. A friend lost his Elan and half his house because of this.
Buy a four post lift then you never have to lay under your car again.
Cheers
John

mr fixit wrote:So the question is what do I really need aside fropm a copper/hide hammer ??

A digital camera, notepad and pencil.....notes and pictures taken as you dismantle the car will prove invaluable when you come to reassemble it....possibly some years later !

Besides a decent kit of hand tools

If you are solidly in middle age such as I am then #1 with a bullet is lots of light - 8' florescent fixtures are great (130w bulbs are available) white walls, painted floor
Heater - A/C - fan depending on your climate

I use my digital camera more and more and fill up lots of zip lock bags
Storage space these things expand to fill all available space
Gloves, mask, safety glasses - No sense hurting yourself with chemicals, mold, dust, flying objects...
A small tap & die set is nice. It helps to clean up the many captured nuts...
Forceps & magnet - my fingerers can't get to many locations but these can

Cleaning things up is what costs time so lots of cleaning supplies, rags, wire brushes, degrease, lacquer thinner...
A parts tumbler, Wow these clean up those odd small parts nicely and with almost no work
I get to borrow bead blasting time at a local shop by supplying the beads.

An air compressor with an air impact, an air ratchet and a blow nozzle are great if expensive additions

A supply of nuts & bolts. I now mostly buy entire boxes as it works out much cheaper.

Good luck

A good solid workbench with a large engineering vice ? Mine is a hefty lump and something Brunel would have been proud of but as far as I'm concerned it's worth it's weight in gold.

Other than that, yes a tap & die set is something that I use a lot for cleaning up threads, making small components, etc. It's one of those things that I bought on a whim because I thought I'd rarely use it, but I've been surprised how handy it's been. I've also found a set of the smaller stubby ring/open end spanners to be very useful for tight spots. And of course sacrificial screwdrivers.....

Brian

Carpet on the floor is a real pain with the trolley jack, my garage floor has a smooth coating of grey floor paint with underfloor heating. Working under car on your back is now a luxury, a good place to to get away from the wife.
But seriously I would start with good set of 3/8 drive sockets and spanners the Halford stuff is great in my opinion as good as britool snap on

If you haven't got them already an absolute must is a set of good quality AF ratchet ring spanners (i.e. the ones that have a ring spanner on one end that works like a socket set ratchet)...

But seriously I would start with good set of 3/8 drive sockets and spanners the Halford stuff is great in my opinion as good as britool snap on

I work in a car main dealership (not Lotus) and some of the mechs here love their tools more than their wives. Several of them speak very highly of the Halfords professional range. Not cheap, but cheaper than SnapOn for sure. I myself have some of their spanners and they look, feel and perform very well indeed.

And some of the Silverline Pro range is also good for the money.

Any good classic car show will have numerous stalls with dealers selling a comprehensive range of decent tools for reasonable prices, usually far less than a shop. There is plenty of cr*p too, so it pays to be selective.

Hi

I'd book an appointment to have extra fingers grafted on, alter my vision so I can see around corners and have some sort of blow-by valve fitted to my head for when things go wrong!

John

Perhaps the Victorians use of small, nimble children to perform awkward jobs where adults couldn't fit, was in farsighted expectation of Elans to come.

worzel wrote:Hi

I'd book an appointment to have extra fingers grafted on, alter my vision so I can see around corners and have some sort of blow-by valve fitted to my head for when things go wrong!

John

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Richard