1965 Elan build

[Roadhouse]

Howdy all, after many decades I am restoring/building my Elan. I purchased it in 1971 at the tender young age of 17. I spent most of my life as a mechanical designer and engineering technician.
I am working with John McCoy on building a new tall block 1950cc motor. My plan is to go with the TTR 26R wheel arches and a set of magnesium wheels.
I am from California but find myself in the Texas gulf coast. Not a great place for a Lotus and very little knowledge of these cars and motors here. But I shall persevere.
I'll be doing a ground up restoration and I imagine I'll be seeking advice.

[Ianashdown]

Please keep us posted with your progress, pictures are appreciated, and ask whatever questions you need. This is a very knowledgeable bunch here and there’s a good chance that what ever problem you’re having, someone on here will had had the same, or similar, problem before.

I too am restoring a ‘65 built (US MY ‘66) from the ground up so will be happy to share tall tales, minor victories or just sob stories!

Good luck!

Ian
SoCal

[The Veg]

Welcome Roadhouse!

[cliveyboy]

Welcome Roadhouse
Buying your Elan at the age of 17. That's impressive.

[innesw]

Welcome Roadhouse!

I also have a 1965 Elan that requires a full restoration, please use the forum for a source of information and if you can't find it here, there are plenty of members to help.

Cheers,
Innes

[Roadhouse]

Thanks for the welcoming. I don't have any photos yet that fit this site. Too large. The only shot I have at the moment is of the stroker crank I bought. I bought it along with the crossflow block bored to 85 mm that housed it for a displacement of 1950cc. They came out of a freakishly fast 7. After 5 races Officials made him downsize to a standard size crossflow engine. I mentioned it in a post titled "Frankenmotor".
I had contacted John McCoy of Omnitech engineering about putting together a motor with a new block and he told me about this crank for sale. At this point it's literally the only one available anywhere. He had them custom made and is looking at a new crankshaft vendor to have more made. I also ordered a set of Carillo rods and pistons. I'm waiting to receive to block and crank. The Carillo parts are 10 weeks out. When I get the parts I can do the dry assembly and measurement checks. I'll be consulting with John to determine the piston crown to deck height for pump gas after he reworks the head. I'm ordering an ARP rod bolt stretch gauge for the final assembly. In the meantime I'm stripping the head to soda blast it. I'll send the head and webers off to John to be opened up to 45mm carb bores and intake runners. Then a cnc port job and big valves topped off with a set of his .460 lift cams. It should put out around 180 to190 hp at 7500 rpm with 170 to 180 ft/lbs of peak torque.
I'm upgrading the transmission to a Rocket box with straight cut gears and dog leg shift mechanism. I'll be keeping the 3.9 rear axle ratio for blistering acceleration. Lots of billet parts in drive train with CV axles. Beefing up the frame and all mounting points for the drive train and suspension.
Other plans include TTR 26R wheel arches, bumpers and lights. Wheels will be the 6 x 13 inch magnesium wheels painted gold against the car in BRG with a yellow racing stripe as in 60's Team Lotus.


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