Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi Oliver.

Your English is excellent, chapeau!

The following text however I dont understand, could you perhaps write it in French and I'm sure then it will make sense to me and I will be able to translate it for others. Although they probably already do understand it, I am losing my English

olivertwist wrote:
- event mod (previous owner added fawcetts at events'ends... it works... but i'd like to get rid of those tubes running in the roof...

-

You're right : i meant "fuel tank breather" (which is called "event" in french...)

Is it clearer ?

The Veg wrote:I am 6'4" with 34" inseam and I fit quite comfortably, no problems with my head or legs, which tells me that your seat may have been altered. Did you buy the car from a very small person?

The "previous previous" owner (neologism for the guy before the guy ) seemed to be a sailor : he designed an electrical driver seat with boat parts ! It works well (a bit noisy) but might be thicker than the regular system. But strangely, my passenger seat is higher (yes higher) with no electrical mod (distance between thigs and floor).... So i'am a little bit confused...

May be someone could mesure and share the distance between floor and "bottom place" ? (because seat angle may be different...).

Or may be it has to do with the RHD/LHD conversion ?

olivertwist wrote:You're right : i meant "fuel tank breather" (which is called "event" in french...)

Is it clearer ?

Yes clearer and you have improved my French vocabulary, what about "fawcetts" though?

I think the Americans call bathroom/kitchen taps (robinets) "faucets" is that what you meant?

oops I did it again...

Here is a Fawcett


Note that she is contemporary of the car


and here are the faucets on the car.

Hmm interesting mod...

In English they are called Lever Ball Valves, I guess Valve and Fawcett mean the same thing in English/French which would make sense; a fawcett being a tap basically.

Those valves you have are used in gas fittings.

Welcome Oliver

Robbie

I had forgotten the name of those in English!

Cant work out where the photo is taken but if I understand correctly a previous owner has fitted a valve to the end of the breather pipe?

Perhaps he didnt like the smell or was worried about fuel dripping into the car after a roll over accident.

Weird nonetheless.

Thats a drole looking dame

Correct Chancer !

this is a quick mod for petrol odor...

Pros : cheap, easy to do, easy to operate (just open when filling at the station)

Cons : the "stick" hits the road sometimes (parking lot)... which opens the valve !, easy to forget to close, dirty hands.

solution : rotate the "stick" by 90?... so that it's parallel to the floor when closed... dunno if possible...

Bienvenue Oliver et content d'avoir un compatriote de plus sur le forum.
The car looks great. You might want to relocate the registration plate though...

Bonjour Oliver, et bienvenue !

while you look into the steering column coupling, you may way to check on the electrical continuity that feeds the earth of your horn circuit : if you do have a rubber style coupling, a short piece of wire is needed around it to keep the ground on both sides (there is not a lot of room, one need to make sure the fittings do not get caught somewhere as the steering wheel is turned).

good luck on the road !

Merci les gars....

I will follow your advices (except for the reg plate because I really like the "mouth" of the car and don't want to hide hit....).

I'll keep you post of the work...

Merry xmas

A note of caution if you're looking to move your steering wheel up/left or right. It's very important to ensure that the column isn't under any sideways pressure (i.e. the column isn't bowed along it's length from the steering rack to the steering wheel). There is a weakness in the collapsable columns fitted to +2s that means they can fatigue/crack where the bottom and top halves join which can lead to them snapping - usually when turning the steering wheel at low speeds. Putting a sideways pressure on the column by not having it run in a straight line increases this risk.

Thanks Craig.

(we are lucky this happens at parking speeds !)

olivertwist wrote:- front suspension is new (bushes, spax dampers, and springs) but rear is "old" and too smooth => I find the car unbalanced... it "waves" on bad roads, and change "heading" when road changes brutally (for instance when passing from an old macadam to a brand new street and the "height" of the road is different - don't know the right word in english)

Oliver, what you're describing above may be what we call "bump steer". Has to do with steering rack mount, shims, height, etc. Google search this topic and you'll get detailed info.

Regards,

Randy
Surrey, BC, Canada

In addition to front end bump steer. If the rear suspension is "old" the rear suspension can bump and load steer also especially on a plus 2 with its longer suspension A frames. New inner rear bushes can make a big difference

My Plus 2 also seems more sensitive to road surfaces than my Elan especially when fitted with sticky modern tyres like Yokohama A048R 175/60 x 13

cheers
Rohan