Lotus Elan - what's that? Ah, I see, I need one.
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:49 pmHi folks - back at the end of last year I started seriously looking for my next classic car after getting my feet wet with a 66 Mustang 289 convertible that has been my daily driver for close to three years now. At first I had big block fever (it's real, I looked it up) and was looking at cars like 64 GTOs w/ 389 tri-power and 70 GTXs with 440 six-packs and pistol grip shifters. It was very, very tempting but then I came to my senses and decided to look for something smaller that would be great fun on the roads here in California and that I could actually fit into the parking space in the condo building where I live and where I'll be working on the car.
I looked a bit at TR4As and MGs, and then, yep, I saw a rerun of the Wheeler Dealers episode where they flipped a 60s Elan. I had never even heard of one before, let alone seen one in person. After seeing that episode I did a little research, watched the Harry Metcalfe video on Evo about his Sprint, watched the Jay Leno video about the ones he's worked on, read up a bit on the history of Lotus and Chapman - and decided that was what I had to have.
I looked for a few months and ended up buying a pretty nice 69 S4/SE DHC from a gentleman off eBay who had owned the car for the past 39 years, since Dec '74. He had done quite a bit of work to the car - engine rebuilt by PHP, original frame repaired and powder coated, new wiring, new paint, 26R suspension upgrades, CV conversion, custom exhaust, new dash, new carpet, etc.
As always, there are things to sort out, and this forum has been extremely helpful to me already on a number of things. Thanks! Also, I've already spent quality time on the phone with Ray from RD Enterprises and Ken at Dave Bean. Both have been very helpful and provided great advice - in particular Ken who has already stepped me through a few things on the phone that I wouldn't have figured out on my own. Also Dietsch Werks have been great to work with to get some initial items sorted and introduce me to some of the clubs and activities for Lotus owners in the Bay Area.
I've got a lot of questions, so bear with me as I learn about these great cars. I look forward to participating on the forums here and hope to eventually be helping out others. I've never rebuilt an engine or done body work, but I can unbolt things and bolt 'em back together generally without too many things leftover and it usually only takes 3 or 4 times as long to put it back together as it did to take it apart.
Right now I'm switching out the weber carbs that came on the car (a DCOE 2 and a DCOE 18) for a matched pair of DCOE 151's that I got from Dave Bean. I've swapped out the 4-barrel carb on my old Mustang before, but getting the new dual Webers on and synced should be interesting - the info on the forums here has been very helpful for me to set up my game plan (appreciate the references to Sidedraft Central and the Des Hammill book on tuning). But of course, now that I have the old carbs off, I've found some other things to address before putting things back together (isn't that always the case).
I posted once earlier describing my adventure when my exhaust decided to stop and have a drink without me on the way home one day - lotus-twincam-f39/exhaust-clamps-replaced-t31784.html#p212963.
Looking forward to getting through the initial sort of the Elan and getting it out on the road!
Rich
I looked a bit at TR4As and MGs, and then, yep, I saw a rerun of the Wheeler Dealers episode where they flipped a 60s Elan. I had never even heard of one before, let alone seen one in person. After seeing that episode I did a little research, watched the Harry Metcalfe video on Evo about his Sprint, watched the Jay Leno video about the ones he's worked on, read up a bit on the history of Lotus and Chapman - and decided that was what I had to have.
I looked for a few months and ended up buying a pretty nice 69 S4/SE DHC from a gentleman off eBay who had owned the car for the past 39 years, since Dec '74. He had done quite a bit of work to the car - engine rebuilt by PHP, original frame repaired and powder coated, new wiring, new paint, 26R suspension upgrades, CV conversion, custom exhaust, new dash, new carpet, etc.
As always, there are things to sort out, and this forum has been extremely helpful to me already on a number of things. Thanks! Also, I've already spent quality time on the phone with Ray from RD Enterprises and Ken at Dave Bean. Both have been very helpful and provided great advice - in particular Ken who has already stepped me through a few things on the phone that I wouldn't have figured out on my own. Also Dietsch Werks have been great to work with to get some initial items sorted and introduce me to some of the clubs and activities for Lotus owners in the Bay Area.
I've got a lot of questions, so bear with me as I learn about these great cars. I look forward to participating on the forums here and hope to eventually be helping out others. I've never rebuilt an engine or done body work, but I can unbolt things and bolt 'em back together generally without too many things leftover and it usually only takes 3 or 4 times as long to put it back together as it did to take it apart.
Right now I'm switching out the weber carbs that came on the car (a DCOE 2 and a DCOE 18) for a matched pair of DCOE 151's that I got from Dave Bean. I've swapped out the 4-barrel carb on my old Mustang before, but getting the new dual Webers on and synced should be interesting - the info on the forums here has been very helpful for me to set up my game plan (appreciate the references to Sidedraft Central and the Des Hammill book on tuning). But of course, now that I have the old carbs off, I've found some other things to address before putting things back together (isn't that always the case).
I posted once earlier describing my adventure when my exhaust decided to stop and have a drink without me on the way home one day - lotus-twincam-f39/exhaust-clamps-replaced-t31784.html#p212963.
Looking forward to getting through the initial sort of the Elan and getting it out on the road!
Rich
