Parts/advice & Help wanted please

[pmallinson]

Hello

Don't you just love it when you start on the trail of sorting another classic car but then finding you don't know about them like you did your previous cars !! ( Reliant Scimitars both estate and convertibles, Hillman Imps various guises, Ferrari 512 BB, Ferrari Mondial & Lancia Spyder to name a few have all been this way and moved on!)

I'm finding the Elan.Net forum a great help though so thanks already for advice on other stuff, I suppos this time 6 years from now I will be up to speed and hopefully have the car pristine so I can return the advice to newcomers.


I'm looking for a working outside air temp gauge and sensor for my Elan +2 does anyone have a working one or can you tell me where to get one from ? Where is the sensor mounted on the +2 and does anyone know what resistance it is supposed to be at any say 0 deg C ie: is it like a PT 100 where they are 100 ohm and then rise linearly to 138.5 ohm at 100 deg C ?

Also I would like a fitted car cover for the +2 but seem to be struggling to find one specifically for this car ? I seem to remember them being available in dark green with the yellow lotus symbol on the front ?

Also my steering wheel appears to be original but the centre does not have the horn P/B but rather a black rubberized cap and the horn is presently wired to a flick switch on the dash behind the RSH of the wheel ? this cannot be original surely ?

Anyone got a complete workshop manual for the +2 ( 1974 +2S 135) and a owners handbook etc ?

Finally does anyone live in the Poole area who would be willing to pick up a +2 dash for me and package it up and send for me at my cost obviously ? The item is for sale on ebay but the seller is Zero rated and does not accept paypal so I?m a bit wary ! if someone from this net would do me the favour of collecting it, checking its what its supposed to be (totally restored but minus lettering, by the way where can I get the lettering ?) I will send you either Cash, Cheque or even better pay you by paypal for the item the P&P and any petrol costs etc



Peter Mallinson

[email protected]

[rgh0]

Peter

The outside temperature gauge was mechanical not electrical. The sensor bulb was mounted in a small metal loop on the front of the air cleaner just behind the radiator grill.

Rohan

[john.p.clegg]

Go down to your local stationers and pick up a pack of "lettraset",just a quick rub-on then a thin top coat to protect them.John

[Jason1]

Hi Peter

I just bought a manual on ebay it cost me ?25, Paul Matty also sells them but they are ?72 new.

The horn on a flick switch does not sound good! Mine is on the column switch but I also have a horn push on the steering wheel. I pressume Lotus changed over from one to the other but carried on using the parts up.

Paul also sells the horn pushes for ?52.50 or I bought just the badge from Classic badges for ?18.50 (see link below)

http://66.113.161.198/Merchant2/merchan ... Code=C1035

It sounds like you need the whole horn so best go for Paul's new one (link below).

www.paulmattysportscars.co.uk

It's worth taking the horn appart as they seem to suffer from poor connects. Put "horn" in this sites search to see how many people have problems.

Hope this helps

Jason

[carrierdave]

Peter,
If its the same dashboard I looked at on Ebay be careful, there is no matching glove box lid (I asked the question) and you will never match up the colour and wood grain.

Dave

[tdafforn]

Outside temperature gauges are like hens teeth!
Saw one go for over 100 pounds on EBAY the other day!
Good luck
Tim

[JJDraper]

The Dash on Ebay was interesting & I asked the same question about the glovebox. I note that neither the qestions or the replies have not appeared on the item listing - a bit naughty...

With regard to the outside temp sensor, I have one, but like many, it doesn't work.. I asked a leading instrument repairer if they could be repaired & he replied that it was impossible to do it legally due to the 'nastiness' of the gas used in the sensor bulb, whatever that means! I have heard of many being destroyed by restorers not being aware of their nature, and having their capillary tube cut when the dashboard is removed. If you have a working one, guard it well!

As there are plenty of dead ones, scope for an electronic conversion anyone?

[tdafforn]

Have a dud and a working one.
Got the same answer from the recon guys when I asked about my dud gauge. I think the gas is not a gas, but ether, it vaporises at about the correct temp to give a good signal?
as far as an electric alternative I am sure that using the insides of a spare fuel gauge it should be very possible.
Cheers
tim

[pmallinson]

The Dash on Ebay was interesting & I asked the same question about the glovebox. I note that neither the qestions or the replies have not appeared on the item listing - a bit naughty...

With regard to the outside temp sensor, I have one, but like many, it doesn't work.. I asked a leading instrument repairer if they could be repaired & he replied that it was impossible to do it legally due to the 'nastiness' of the gas used in the sensor bulb, whatever that means! I have heard of many being destroyed by restorers not being aware of their nature, and having their capillary tube cut when the dashboard is removed. If you have a working one, guard it well!

As there are plenty of dead ones, scope for an electronic conversion anyone?

Well the dash has been and gone and I didn't win it and probably just as well as I had not seen your advice (and not thought about DOH !) the glove box aspect. So now I think I may have go at restoring one myself as veneer is fairly easy to come by and then all I need is a second hand dash complete with glove box lid Anyone got one then ?

With regards to the temp gauge I apologise for my ignorance but I have just bought the car and have not examined the thing to realise that it was liquid filled system ( I'm an instrument engineer by trade !!)

I'm presently overseas in Vietnam at work so cannot look at the actual one on my car but remember that when I drove it it was reading -12 Deg so suspect it is not right !!

Right the main problem then is that it really cannot be repaired (without very specialised equipment) its nothing to do with gas escaping as this in such a small system would be minimal. They are what's known as vapour pressure instruments whereby the liquid in the sensor (bulb) which could be of many guises quite often some form of ethanol or alcohol will basically 'gas off' to a certain degree dependent on the sensor temperature. Hence as it is a 'sealed' system this causes a change in pressure within the system and this rise and fall of pressure (due to rise and fall in temperature) is measured by the gauge and displayed as temperature.
Hear endeth the first lesson !!

With regards to changing it to electrical a fuel gauge would work fine IF you can acquire a suitable range RTD (Resistance Temperature Detector ) with a ohm value similar to that of the wiper in the fuel gauge but then the temperature characteristic of that RTD would need to be such that the resistance change for the temp range (say -15 Deg to + 30 Deg to cover all aspects as I?m unsure of the originals range) was close to that change from MT to full of the petrol tank then just make a new scale for the gauge !!!

As you can see its not easy, BUT armed with the information you have given me I have found a company who do manufacture Vapour Pressure thermometer gauges of about the right size etc so I?m in tough with them for possible solution Watch this space as they say

Peter
[email protected]

[rgh0]

Peter

The original plus 2 external gauge was basically the same system as used in the 2 seat elan for engine temperature. The elan gauges are still being rebuilt in both the UK and USA according to the posts I have read on this or the Yahoo forum if I recall correctly. So it should be possible to get a busted plus 2 external temp gauge repaired also.

Rohan

[Elanintheforest]

I repaired an Elan S3 temperature sender many years ago, and it still works and it's accurate. The pipe had broken at the bulb (sender). I unsoldered the broken pipe from the bulb and soldered in the non-fractured pipe. At the tip of the bulb is a blob of solder used to seal the bulb when it's full of stuff...I used ether. I heated the bulb and pipe, dipped it into a bottle of ether and re-sealed the tip with a new blob of solder...hey presto! As the bulb cools it sucks the ether inside. I can't guarentee that it won't explode when you try this, or that you can still buy ether, but you will feel very sleepy after completing this little exercise!
If I can do it with this very crude method, I'm sure that some instrument repairer can. Don't MGBs use the same (water temperature) gauge? If so, they must be being made currently, I guess.