What did you do to your Lotus today...

[berni29]

Hi

Love the wheels and the yellow colour, car looks great!

Are they standard tyres and did you use any spacers on the wheels? The offsets look pretty much correct.

Edit, of course they are knock on, so spacers unlikely!

Berni

[The Veg]

Thanks Berni!

Correct, no spacers. The tyres are the correct 165/80 (although aodern design), and as near as I can tell the offset is the same as the original. But the centre and spokes being mostly closer to the plane of the outer rim than most of the centres of the originao.steel wheels gives the illusion of a more 'muscular' look.

[Quart Meg Miles]

Loaded the boot with the dismantled and wrapped Engine Stand I'd borrowed from Baggy2 and drove to his country cottage some 20 miles away. Missed a turning and was redirected through a ford and on the way out the car spluttered and stalled, unknown, blocking the path of a country bus behind me! The lady driver helped me push clear but there was hardly any water on the electrics though the HT lead seemed loose in the coil and we were soon running again. Had a good chat with Baggy and pleasant return with some sun, completing 1000 miles since my rebuild without engine problems (after sorting a clutch fluid leakage).

Had only taken one bite of lunch when a knock on the door announced not a parcel delivery but a man with a Marcos 1800! He's a taxi driver who had carried me when a bus failed to turn up. He's been promising to bring it round for years and is only in the next village. Having seen a Marcos at the Earls Court exhibition in 1965, aged 13, and set his heart on one he bought his in 1976 and It turned out to be the 1965 show car! The Marcos works refurbished it very nicely some years ago (for half the price that St Wilkins had asked) and it is immaculate. It was fairly lively but was not as comfortable as an Elan and crashed the exhaust frequently (Marcos weld skids onto the silencer to protect it)! As a visual impact it rates 11 and the 3 litre version must be phenomenal!

[Baggy2]

Loaded the boot with the dismantled and wrapped Engine Stand I'd borrowed from Baggy2 and drove to his country cottage some 20 miles away

Thanks Meg for returning the engine stand in such pristine condition - I'm sure its better than when I lent it to you.
Glad your return journey was better than out-going . Your S1.5 looked and sounded great as you drove off.
Cheers
Baggy

[Barney]

I started to remove instruments from the dash starting from the driver's side prior to accessing the heater and making an assessment of water damage to the dashboard bottom.

The thumbwheels of the tachometer were held by rust on the studs. Trying to remove the first one sheared the stud off at mid-length, the second one was less rusty and therefore a little easier, but still bent the stud a little.
An inspection of the tacho shows previous damage repaired by a blob of a hard glue-type blob on the sensor and not having a coil.
Tomorrow Fuel gauge, bonnet releases and remaining switchgear. Choke is not there and never has been.

[rgh0]

Swapped from 38mm chokes to 36mm chokes in my Elan in prepration for my next race meeting. The 38mm chokes gave about 7+ top end HP on the dyno at 7000 to 8000 rpm but on the track they lost torque in the 4000 rpm range. Even with a close ratio box it was hard to avoid bogging down in slower corners so after a few covid interrupted years I decide to go back to 36mm chokes. When I dynoed my current engine setup I did it with both 36 and 38mm chokes so I had a complete dynoed set of jets and chokes so swapping them in was easy.

I went a got myself a 1/4 drive 1/2 AF socket (my 1/4 inch drive sockets only went to 3/8) as advised recently for accessing the bottom carb mounting bolts. For 40+ years I have used a cut off open ended spanner to do that and the 1/4 inch drive socket fits and is much easier and quicker than funbling under the carbs by feel. Should have done it years ago but you are never to old to learn a new trick.

cheers
Rohan

[alan.barker]

Yep,
1/4" drive and 1/2" AF or 13mm socket Carbs off in 10 minutes. Easier on the old back too, not getting younger mon ami.
Alan

[rgh0]

Hi Alan
My back is needing any new trick I can find to ease it when working on my Elan
I constantly adjust my MaxJax to keep the car at the perfect working height for the job on hand

cheers
Rohan

[lotusfan]

I went a got myself a 1/4 drive 1/2 AF socket

cheers
Rohan

A very useful addition is a 1/4 square drive flexible extension shaft. Then you really will wonder how you managed without it!!

[richardcox_lotus]

Hi Alan
My back is needing any new trick I can find to ease it when working on my Elan
I constantly adjust my MaxJax to keep the car at the perfect working height for the job on hand

cheers
Rohan

[rgh0]

I went a got myself a 1/4 drive 1/2 AF socket

cheers
Rohan

A very useful addition is a 1/4 square drive flexible extension shaft. Then you really will wonder how you managed without it!!

Thanks for the advice. I have a 1/4 drive universal joint but a flex shaft will be even better. I always enjoy an excuse for a trip to my local tool shop

[661]

Swapped from 38mm chokes to 36mm chokes in my Elan in prepration for my next race meeting. The 38mm chokes gave about 7+ top end HP on the dyno at 7000 to 8000 rpm but on the track they lost torque in the 4000 rpm range. Even with a close ratio box it was hard to avoid bogging down in slower corners so after a few covid interrupted years I decide to go back to 36mm chokes. When I dynoed my current engine setup I did it with both 36 and 38mm chokes so I had a complete dynoed set of jets and chokes so swapping them in was easy.

I went a got myself a 1/4 drive 1/2 AF socket (my 1/4 inch drive sockets only went to 3/8) as advised recently for accessing the bottom carb mounting bolts. For 40+ years I have used a cut off open ended spanner to do that and the 1/4 inch drive socket fits and is much easier and quicker than funbling under the carbs by feel. Should have done it years ago but you are never to old to learn a new trick.

cheers
Rohan

I moved down to 37mm and on the dyno the power does come in slightly lower. ( and no loss of power ) Sadly the dyno was done with the old TTR exhaust and the engine in the car uses the new TTR slip joint exhaust ( brilliant for getting out with the engine still in situ) narrower primaries, more equal length primaries and the longer secondaries. All of which will probably help torque a bit more.

[TBG]

I have suffered greatly for being an idle sod. Using the Elan all year round has its drawbacks and one of them is driving when there is salt on the roads.Anyway I ignored the build up for far too long and today have had to take all the wheels off - remove the trims and spinners and spend hours cleaning them on the kitchen worktop. Popular? Nah! D

Oh and wash off the rest of the car.........................

[h20hamelan]

I have suffered greatly for being an idle sod. Using the Elan all year round has its drawbacks and one of them is driving when there is salt on the roads.Anyway I ignored the build up for far too long and today have had to take all the wheels off - remove the trims and spinners and spend hours cleaning them on the kitchen worktop. Popular? Nah! D

Oh and wash off the rest of the car.........................

ouch, I park over a sprinkler for fun salt removal

[Barney]

I park over a sprinkler for fun salt removal

But what do you do about the car?