New member from the UK with a car in bits!

[rich2302]

Hi Everyone,

I purchased my first ever Lotus, an Elan +2 (I think it's an S model), last Saturday. From what I can tell it was taken off the road in 1982 and was subject to some restoration work over the past 30 years or so. It's had a new chassis, suspension, brakes, engine refresh and a respray. We believe the original colour may have been some version of blue, but it's now red. The quality of the respray isn't the best and I suspect this is what stalled the restoration.

As mentioned, I purchased the car on Saturday just gone as a rolling chassis with the body placed on top and the steering column pushed in place to allow the steering to work and then many, many (many!) boxes of bits.

I'm slowly working my way through the boxes to try and catalogue what is there, so I can work out what isn't and then get those bits ordered.

The purpose of buying the car is for a project to do for my step-dad and I, as he's in his 70's now and recently had a health scare, so I want to do this car with him. He also owned 3 of these cars around 40 years ago and the project has given him a real lift mentally and got him excited about the prospect of it. He even dug through his garage and found the original workshop manual and also a secondary manual called service notes, which has some excellent exploded diagrams and additional information.

I think we're going to tackle the car in 2 waves, the first will be to get it back up and together with a few tasteful mods, so that he can start using it for the few years of driving he has left. Once he's finished with it, I'd be tempted to then pull it off the road for a nut and bolt resto, along with changing the colour back to the original, once I've confirmed with Lotus Heritage exactly what that was.

I think I'll probably start a facebook group dedicated just to this car, so feel free to let me know if you're interested in joining to track progress, as it will really help me if there are people on the group who can identify certain parts, as I have no clue what most of the bits are!

Anyway, great to be here, I'm based on the outskirts of London and I'll hopefully get to meet some of you in the months and years ahead.

Thanks,

Rich

[fatboyoz]

Hi Rich,
Welcome. I’m sure you and your Step-dad will have a great time with the car.
Cheers,
Colin.



quote="rich2302"]Hi Everyone,

I purchased my first ever Lotus, an Elan +2 (I think it's an S model), last Saturday. From what I can tell it was taken off the road in 1982 and was subject to some restoration work over the past 30 years or so. It's had a new chassis, suspension, brakes, engine refresh and a respray. We believe the original colour may have been some version of blue, but it's now red. The quality of the respray isn't the best and I suspect this is what stalled the restoration.

As mentioned, I purchased the car on Saturday just gone as a rolling chassis with the body placed on top and the steering column pushed in place to allow the steering to work and then many, many (many!) boxes of bits.

I'm slowly working my way through the boxes to try and catalogue what is there, so I can work out what isn't and then get those bits ordered.

The purpose of buying the car is for a project to do for my step-dad and I, as he's in his 70's now and recently had a health scare, so I want to do this car with him. He also owned 3 of these cars around 40 years ago and the project has given him a real lift mentally and got him excited about the prospect of it. He even dug through his garage and found the original workshop manual and also a secondary manual called service notes, which has some excellent exploded diagrams and additional information.

I think we're going to tackle the car in 2 waves, the first will be to get it back up and together with a few tasteful mods, so that he can start using it for the few years of driving he has left. Once he's finished with it, I'd be tempted to then pull it off the road for a nut and bolt resto, along with changing the colour back to the original, once I've confirmed with Lotus Heritage exactly what that was.

I think I'll probably start a facebook group dedicated just to this car, so feel free to let me know if you're interested in joining to track progress, as it will really help me if there are people on the group who can identify certain parts, as I have no clue what most of the bits are!

Anyway, great to be here, I'm based on the outskirts of London and I'll hopefully get to meet some of you in the months and years ahead.

Thanks,

Rich[/quote]

[alaric]

Hi Rich.

Welcome to the forum and the fun of the elan jigsaw. I also bought a +2 in boxes, about 20 yrs ago. The main issue I had - still do - is working out how the bits go together. You will find that a number of parts are called hen's teeth. My car is a +2 S130/5, manufactured in '73.

You'll find the forum members enthusiastic to pitch in. They are very patient.

Can you see what chassis it is? What engine? Carbs? Photos?

All the best.

Sean.

[mikealdren]

Hi Rich,
welcome to the forum, you'll find it a font of knowledge.

Which side of London do you live?

Cheers
Mike

[rich2302]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the warm welcome and apologies for the delay in responding.

I'm not sure how to identify which chassis it has, so I plan to quickly pop the body back off at some point soon, go through all of the various bolts to ensure they're tight, swap the lower rear A frame bolts round, as apparently they're in backwards, pull the engine out, as I want to ensure the clutch isn't frozen and the engine mounts are apparently upside down and fit a new fuel line.

In terms of the engine and carbs, I assume it's just an early twin cam engine, as mine is a pre S model and it has Stromberg carbs. I'll get a load of pictures soon, then I just need to figure out how to upload them.

I'm based in Guildford, Surrey by the way.

I've just sent a message through to Spyder to ask about all the rubber components on the car (windscreen, door seals, etc.), so if anyone has any leads in relation to other suppliers who can also supply these types of things, I'd really appreciate the pointers.

Thanks again,

Rich

[Andy8421]

Rich,

There are a few of us near you. I am in Haslemere just down the A3, and I see Elans around here on a regular basis.

Welcome onboard. This is a friendly forum, with an amazing stack of knowledge. I am embarking on a restoration of my own, and have found the information here to be invaluable.

Andy.