Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Thanks Henry

Whats the best way to contact Keith to buy his e tubes?

V

http://webstore.com/~DCOE_Tuner
This is Keith`s shop address
He is an engineer and retired research scientist and has been studying Weber carburettors for many years.
Most of his work seems to be on his Elan.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

Edit, Sorry Henry, I may have jumped in a bit too quick there, Eric

Additionally, you should join his groups.io group for ongoing email discussions as he develops and tests and as others ask questions and help each other. I've found it very useful.

https://vintagetechnologygarage.groups.io/g/sidedraft/

Today's testing was thwarted thanks to a leak in the swirlpot. It has obviously been repaired/brazed in the neck, and I thought some of the minor leaking I was seeing last week was due to gasket failure at the connection to the head (and probably was). But with the t-tstat removed, the gasket replaced and hylomar'd, and the heating and cooling cycles the last few weeks it seems that old repair has failed.



I had just gotten the lean setup (110 wet jets and 125 dry jets) installed, rolled it outside and gotten it started and idling. With any throttle, I was getting a nice spray of water/coolant from the neck of the swirlpot. On a positive note, it seems my water pump is working just fine!

So, on to other projects until I can repair this or source a new one.

Tony Ingram has new swirl pots at $295. While you are at it, a good idea would be to change the top radiator hose for one that has the "bubble". Reg Spit part so you know where to get one. The rocking of the engine puts some stress on the SP as the radiator is pretty well in a fixed position. In my experience this caused one of the bolts to shear. Wasn't a problem until the revs hit 4,000!

Thanks Joe.

You're experiencing al of the issues I had with mine, swirl pot rusted through, I had an aluminium one made... it cracked soon after fitting, ended up buying a new swirl pot from Xtra Special Sevens, well made and fitted perfectly. No affiliation, I've always had good service and quality from Mick.

You may find that Tony Ingram at Lotus 7.com is able to supply them locally.

Cheers

V

Thanks Vaughn. Yes, I actually sent a note to Mick a few weeks ago when I first removed the swirlpot and realized it had a bit of rust inside from sitting and had been modded a bit for the thermostat. He's wasn't able to work at the time, but we'll see if he's back.

For those who are interested in Keith Franck's discussion group, here are the instructions:

vintagetechnologygarage.groups.io/g/cars
This is the parent group. Join that first and then join the sidedraft subgroup:
https://vintagetechnologygarage.groups. ... aft/topics

The Cars group is to post about anything car related, The sidedraft is about learning about how to actually tune carburetors using Keith's custom jetting.

Thanks Henry

Mick Beveridge at XtraSpecialSevens has a replacement headed my way, which I hope to have in hand this week. Good guy, does very good work.

In the meantime, I got my draft tube and elbow installed - had to replace an oddly bent SS fuel pipe with a piece of cunifer to keep them from fouling, and the original breather in my engine isn't a perfect fit so probably not intended for the elbow, but with a little rtv I think it will work (will be better than spraying mist straight up, regardless, will see whether enough draft to pull air and gases out). I may change to a later Cortina/Capri breather "box" if this doesn't work as I hope.

Swirlpot received and installed but plans for a drive and some carburetor tweaking have been thwarted by a fuel leak at the mechanical pump. I have a bad feeling I crossthreaded the connection when replacing old steel pipe with cunifer last weekend. Dope!

Just as suspected, crossthreaded outlet. Needed to be removed and cleaned anyway, but now it is only good for parts.

I had a BCD pump that was likely original to the Elan, so cleaned it up for an install after inspecting the diaphragm and bits. Unfortunately don't have a replacement gasket for under the bowl. Gave it a try anyway but leaked as expected - so will begin the hunt for a gasket - and maybe another backup bid and rebuild kit.

A wasted day - to the extent any day in the garage is really a waste.

Got everything back together last weekend and had some nice testing and driving time - this Seven really puts a smile on my face!

Until this morning, went to do some more tuning on the Webers and it wouln't turn over. Starter was clearing running, but engine wouldn't turn.

Didn't require a lot of diagnostic tools to figure out why...

My 9 year old recently changed the starter in our S2 7 on his own, it was prompted by it refusing to start after a school drop off! He told me he was going to do and did, all I did was check tightness of bolt, made me a very very proud dad indeed.



Vaughan

vstibbard wrote:My 9 year old recently changed the starter in our S2 7 on his own, it was prompted by it refusing to start after a school drop off! He told me he was going to do and did, all I did was check tightness of bolt, made me a very very proud dad indeed.
Vaughan

Awesome, get them interested while they are young!