Checking a lotus Elan+2 before buying

[nitch]

Hello,
First of all, as this is my first post in this remarkable forum, I'll introduce myself.
My name is Liad, I live in Israel (Yeah, that far), and I've been a fan of british sport cars for many years now.
I have an opportunity to puchase one of the only 2 lotus elans in Israel.
It's a 1971 Lotus Elan+2, that has been standing steel for 6 years now.
It's body condition is quite good, and nothing seems to be missing.
Does anyone has anything to say about things that need to be tested?
I know that the chassis needs special attention, due to rust, especialy in the strut towers area.
Thanks everyone a lot,
Nitch

[Elanintheforest]

I think that everything you need to know is in this forum somewhere, but I?ll try and give an overview picture and then you can go search for the details?or ask further questions. And I?ll answer it from the perspective of what you need to look for regarding safety, performance and cosmetics, and what?s involved in sorting the problems.

Safety
One of the biggest Elan killers is fire, and that is caused either by petrol igniting or wires shorting causing sparks. Petrol dripping from the carburettors or petrol line onto the distributor is a favourite?once alight, the fibreglass body, often covered in oil under the bonnet, disappears in a few minutes. The main things to check here are the fuel supply pipe from the pump to the carbs, and the carbs themselves to ensure that the floats aren?t stuck in the chambers. Replace the fuel supply pipe irrespective of what it looks like.
The second cause of fire is old wiring?usually because it has been botched, or in a hot climate because the insulation has broken down. It?s a fairly complicated mess behind the dashboard of a Plus 2! Check for obvious ?enhancements? to the wiring and check that the insulation is OK on all wires under the bonnet. New wiring looms can be bought.
If the car is safe from fire, then check the chassis. It may not be rusted in Israel, but it can still suffer from fatigue and stress cracks around the front towers, the engine, gearbox and differential mounts. If the chassis needs replacing, you have a choice of two sources?a Lotus replacement or a Spyder chassis (made by a company who makes many aftermarket bits for Lotus. It is a straightforward job to replace the chassis, and not very expensive (?1000 ish in the UK for the unit) and can be done by one person, if you have sufficient number of jacks and props to hold the body up. After 35 years, the car will certainly need completely overhauling, and you can get to everything so much easier with the body off.
The only other safety item peculiar to the Elan is the Rotoflex couplings. These are the rubber ?universal joints? that connect the differential output to the road wheels, and can break up when old?they will probably need replacing, or aftermarket replacement shafts can be bought that replace the rubber components with proper Ujs.
The rest of the safety stuff is the same as any other car?the brakes, suspension and steering are all very straightforward and will need overhauling.

Performance
The engine is simple by today?s standards, but has one or two weaknesses. It is essentially a Ford block with a special head bolted on and a different front cover to enable the chain to drive the cams. The water pump is a weak point, and its replacement requires the head and sump to be removed to do it properly?it can be done in situ, but that often results in massive oil leaks. The cam chain will stretch over time and will need replacing, and depending on how well it?s been serviced and how it?s been used, the valve guides and valve seats may need replacing?both a specialist engineering job. If the engine hasn?t been apart for years, it?s worth stripping to inspect the rest of it to ensure that the piston rings / bores / crank journals are OK. The gaskets will have dried out, and running the car will almost certainly result in many oil leaks, especially from the rear crankshaft oil seal and the cam chain cover.
If running in a hot climate, fit an aftermarket aluminium radiator. The original radiator is pretty marginal at keeping the car cool in the UK!
Something to check specifically in a hot climate is that the engine has the correct coolent or ?antifreeze? in the radiator. Aluminium heads with steel head bolts don?t react well to being cooled with water only?it can result in severely corroded waterways and at worst a head that can?t be removed from the head bolts.
The gearbox and differential give very few problems, you?ll be pleased to hear!

Cosmetics
This is probably the most expensive thing to sort out. The body will undoubtedly have a couple of ?cracks? around stressed areas?the door handles, boot hinges etc. It will also have cracks where it has been hit by anything at slow speed?.often in the front or rear where it has been nudge-parked. These can be repaired as part of a respray, but it is a time consuming and messy job?lots of ?how-to? on this forum. Also if it is to be completely repainted, all the original paint must be removed down to the fibreglass?again a very time consuming job and not one to be undertaken before you know EXACTLY what you are doing?.you could just destroy the shell with chemicals or power tools.
Probably the main thing to check with the body is the gap between the bodywork and the wheels?make sure they are the same on both sides, and the car is the same length front to back on both sides?it?s easy to botch repair a crashed car so that it looks OK. Don?t expect the doors shut lines to be perfect?they never were, it?s just not that sort of car.

In terms of ballpark values and costs (in the UK), a Plus 2 to restore is ?2000 - ?3000, A good runner is about ?5000 and a well restored car ?10,000. A true show car can command any price that anyone is willing to pay. A bare shell respray with ?average? amount of repairs is ?4000 - ?8000, a chassis change with suspension, brake and steering overhaul at the same time would be ?4000 - ?6000, and an engine rebuild in the order of ?3000 - ?5000 for standard specification. These cost are for someone else to do it including parts?take 50% of if you do it yourself?.bodywork a much higher percentage off as it?s nearly all labour.

There are a few good publications to help the restorer?the best being the factory workshop manual and parts manual. Virtually all parts are available from specialists here in the UK, and in California and Melbourne Australia. They are also being broken at an alarming rate at the moment, as the value of the engine and gearbox is much the same as a car for restoration. Ebay is a great source of parts and cars.

So armed with this lot, search the forum for more information on the specific topics. If the car is 1 of 2 in Israel, buy it! If it?s a good one and the price is reasonable of course. Above all, enjoy.
All the best?Mark

[nitch]

Wow! That's a remarkable reply. Thank you so much.
As far as I could see, The chassis seems to be neat, so I hope everything is alright.
The wiring seems to be quite a mess, so it will require a serious ovehaul.
About the prices of cars that you metioned, in Israel they double because of the tax. The car will cost me about 3750 pounds, and according to other people who wanted to buy it (I was faster), it's almost free.
Tommorow morning the deal is supposed to be completed, so wish me luck.

And again, thank you for your responce. I realy appreciate it.

Liad

[elanman3]

My children were kind enough to buy me an Elan +2 video for Christmas. 2hrs 15min of nothing but Elan +2 info, with a long interview with Paul Matty, which goes into buying and maintaining the car. There is also an interview with QED, interesting.
The video is well worth the ?20.
If anybody is interested it can be purchased from Holden Classic at http://www.holden.co.uk/

Hope you all had a good Christmas and I hope you all have good New Year also.

Regards
Colin