Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

steve lyle wrote:We got passed by an Evora on a small road in KS headed where we’re going. He’ll likely get there before we do.

A red one with a Georgia plate? He's a friend of mine, posted a pic of a red Elan with an OK plate on his Facebook and I figured it was you!

The Veg wrote:

steve lyle wrote:We got passed by an Evora on a small road in KS headed where we’re going. He’ll likely get there before we do.

A red one with a Georgia plate? He's a friend of mine, posted a pic of a red Elan with an OK plate on his Facebook and I figured it was you!

Yep, that was him / us.

Hope you all have a great time! Did I hear 41 will be in West-by-God-Virginia?

SENC wrote:Hope you all have a great time! Did I hear 41 will be in West-by-God-Virginia?

You are correct, sir. New Canaan, WV

Got back home last night. A great time was had by all. Six Elans made the trip, 4 S1/S2s, 2 S3/S4/Sprints. Oddly enough, no +2's, although Gary and Michael certainly gave it a try. Will post some pictures in a bit.

Hi-lights of the return trip:

- Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd / S Guardsman Pass Rd / Pine Canyon Dr., from Apple Valley, UT to Midway UT, through and over the Wasatch Mountains
- CO 139, from Rangely to Loma, up and over Douglas Pass
- CO 92, from Delta to Sapinero, around Black Canyon (spectacular scenery throughout much of CO, but this was the best). If you drive it, make sure to stop at Pioneer Lookout Point.
- US50 up and over Monarch Pass (another 11k ft pass in CO)

Day 2 was a long one, as we stopped several times on CO92 to gape at Black Canyon. 570 mi, 12 hours. As we pulled into the hotel parking lot in Guymon, OK, it seemed the steering was a little heavy, but it was late, I was tired, so I left it till morning.

In the morning I saw the left front tire was totally flat. Issue one. But issue zero was the fact that I had left the radiator fan override on, and the battery was dead. So I called AAA and got a jump. But as soon as the cables were removed, the car died. Bad alternator, says the service guy. Wow, says I, what a coincidence, and a bit hard to grasp, as I'm running one of those small Japanese jobs that has less than 10k mi on it. So the service guy takes off, and I start removing the alternator, figuring I'd be able to call Dave Bean in an hour or so when they opened and find out from Ken what, if any, car came with that alternator that the Autozone about 300 yds away might be able to get me.

But when I got to the "remove the cables from the alternator" step in the process, I found that the + cable from the alternator to the starter solenoid had pulled out of the ring terminal at the alternator, somehow. I had clamped the "-" cable on the alternator body at the tension bolt, so it was near the cable, but I didn't think I even touched the cable. Oh well. So I hiked to Autozone, got ring terminals, hiked back, put everything back together, and called the service guy, who had nicely left me his # so he could give me a jump once I sorted out the alternator.

He also brought a tank of air, we put that in the tire, didn't hear any hissing, and took off for the nearest tire store, about 1/2 mi away. They put the tire in a water tank. No bubbles. Ran it up to 50 psi and put it back in the tank. Nothing. So he dismounted the tire from the wheel (these were brand new tires, mounted about 8 days ago), found no issues with the bead on either the wheel or tire, and mounted it back. Tested it in the tank, no bubbles. Couldn't think of anything else to do, so we hit the road.

Two hours later we stopped for lunch. The tire was down to 20 psi or so. I got my little 12v compressor out and put it back to 30 (we don't carry a spare, that space is dedicated to tools). Every hour or so the rest of the way we stopped and checked the tire. It was generally down 4 psi each time.

So, lots of weirdness on the way back - but good fortune as well, since if that stuff had happened somewhere else along the way, it could have been a much bigger pain.

Sounds like an interesting trip. In hindsight, the stories are always fun. Looking forward to the pics.

Follow the link for the pics:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsQ7-WjsT0UsmQ_rLry ... D?e=3ffiYL

Enjoyed visiting with Steve and Pam and Gary and Mike, Ross and many others as well. Too bad that the Covid is still throwing a wrench in the works as far as out overseas friends travel. However Richards virtual tour of Classic Lotus, for me, was a highpoint. West Virginia may be a destination for next year.

Kurt

steve lyle wrote:

The Veg wrote:

steve lyle wrote:We got passed by an Evora on a small road in KS headed where we’re going. He’ll likely get there before we do.

A red one with a Georgia plate? He's a friend of mine, posted a pic of a red Elan with an OK plate on his Facebook and I figured it was you!

Yep, that was him / us.

I am sad to report that my friend's Evora had a nasty run-in with a mule deer on the way homein South Dakota. Front end is cracked-up pretty good and since brake fluid was leaking, he couldnt just duct-tape the GRP and keep on truckin'. He and his passenger were not hurt, got a rental car to continue the trip as planned, and the insurance company is trucking the car back to Georgia where it will be evaluated.

I am sad to report that my friend's Evora had a nasty run-in with a mule deer on the way homein South Dakota. Front end is cracked-up pretty good and since brake fluid was leaking, he couldnt just duct-tape the GRP and keep on truckin'. He and his passenger were not hurt, got a rental car to continue the trip as planned, and the insurance company is trucking the car back to Georgia where it will be evaluated.[/quote]

That is too bad but I wonder if he was sure it was a mule deer. Most mule deer are pretty laid back and act more like old cows while whitetails are bent on suicide!

Though I get my mail from Iowa, I'm a resident of So Dak and I think my current lifetime count of whitetails I've hit is six!

Kurt