New member looking for advice

[GuyC]

The graph says 103mph, an earlier run at 5800rpm was 109mph. It really is worth the money if your mechanical sympathy will allow, it's provided a noticeable difference in torque and runs much smoother. I'll post the graph tomorrow when I have a scanner.

Haha I dare not tot up the total list, you'll make me sad . However the rough costs are below:

Suspension and wheel bearings - ?900
Tyres - ?200
ARB - ?200
Radiator and fan - ?250
Clutch parts - ?100
Rolling road - ?130
Plus some labour costs for some of the above jobs.

I paid ?16,200 for it, with +2 prices the way they are it's difficult to tell if it's a good buy or not (probably not ). Some ropey cars are being advertised for ?20k+, some very clean examples owned by enthusiasts for considerably less. Given my recent experience the best advice I have for new buyers is to recruit an experienced member here into looking at one, the so-called Lotus specialist missed my one not having an ARB!

Is it story time for your car then?

[SprogBarnes]

My story involves family coincidence, professional lies, classic car restoration deceit, lawyers, mystery, heartache, finscial pain and very little driving!

In a year the newly fully rebuilt car and engine (bought for ?16k with 5K of receipts) has travelled just 10 miles and I've spent 10k getting it sorted. It looked great and for that I'm grateful, I hope it'll now be more than skin deep.

I get the car back this month but the MOT, tax and insurance have expired and the garage hire has been a wasted investment.

All in all my classic car ownership experience has not been a good one. I've paid to fixed the car with Lotus approved specialists so at least now I know what I've got and I can look forward to enjoying what I hope will be a fun car to own and drive.

Here's hoping!

[GuyC]

Bloody hell! Well fingers crossed you have many fun future years of motoring in it, and remember it for the car it is now and not what it was! Have you got much left to do? May I ask what sort of things were wrong to rack up such a bill?

Guy

[SprogBarnes]

Thanks, it's been painful!

A full engine rebuild took a chunk of change. This was found after needing to fix a leaking camshaft seal leak and exploring a slightly 'off' engine noise lead to taking the cylider head off to uncover divots in the cylinder head.

In addition working but dodgy / dangerous wiring was addressed, other electrics, handbrake, brake servo, steering rack and a multitude of lesser issues.

The car should be pretty solid when I get it back and knowing the car is as good as new in most areas is requiring. Money well spent, only time will tell!

[john.p.clegg]

"That's a lovely looking car."
Ditto,
but I'm biased,
I have one...

John

[Rich135]

That looks really nice guy, a beautiful colour. I think I saw it advertised (pictures taken on the chaps driveway?).

Sorry to hear you have a couple of issues but now it's all sorted out I am sure you will be much happier.

I also managed to find myself a nice car and have been clocking up a few pleasurable miles when the sun shines. I am about to replace the throttle cable, as the pedal feels a bit "sticky" which I believe is being caused by the cable, but otherwise it's been a joy to drive, and listen to passers by say "look at that Lotus" when the windows are down

Rich

[gibbon]

Im not sure what it is about plus 2 elans, but i found buying one quite difficult.

I went for a car with heavy 'patina' (i.e. ideally needs a respray) but hopefully very honest, with lots of work done, which drove very well. I bought it about 18 months ago. Sadly almost immediately i had to have the water pump replaced, which was a fairly nasty bill, but im happy to say since then its been running well (touch wood) and ive managed to drive 2000 miles in it in about a year.

I think one of the issue is most cars i looked at were either showing suspiciously fresh body work, or were never really used, or indeed both. I dont know what it is about these cars, but for such drivers cars, they never seem to get driven.

I would suggest if people are looking to buy, they should look for a car that has been in regular light use.

[gibbon]

ps, lovely looking car OP, i saw that advertised and though it looked lovely.

[CBUEB1771]

One thing the dyno chap pointed out was the transmission losses from the engine to the wheels was incredibly high, he said he would expect about 30-32bhp loss for a solid axle classic, but the Elan was around 41bhp loss. Anyone have any experience if this is normal? The wheels rotate freely as they can with rotoflexes, so I'm guessing there are a lot of additional losses through the rotoflex couplings?

Estimation of transmission losses on a chassis dynamometer is notoriously unreliable. Do you understand how the dynamometer operator actually made the estimation? From the sound of your report I would just be pleased with the result of the tuning work and not worry about the transmission loss estimate.

[The Veg]

Beautiful car, Guy!

[GuyC]

Estimation of transmission losses on a chassis dynamometer is notoriously unreliable. Do you understand how the dynamometer operator actually made the estimation? From the sound of your report I would just be pleased with the result of the tuning work and not worry about the transmission loss estimate.

I'm assuming wheel horsepower is measured during the run up and flywheel horsepower is calculated on the transmission resistance (hp loss) on the coast down? I can imagine dyno to dyno variation could be quite high, but the same operator measuring on the same dyno many different cars would be able to provide a good indication.

I am very happy with the result for a standard engine, I thought it was an interesting anomaly pointed out. I don't necessarily think there is something wrong with my car (unless others suggest otherwise!), but if it is to do with the rotoflexes, do CV joints improve transmission losses? It could end up being quite an effective performance mod!

I've also attached the power graph.

Cheers,

Guy

[rgh0]

Around 10 horsepower plus 10% is the typical loss on a rolling road dyno for light cars around 1500cc to 2000cc when tested in the direct drive gear ratio (normally 4th). Much bigger variation can occur depending on tyres and geometry of the rollers versus the wheels, tyre pressures, weight of car. It also depends on what gear the test was done in as losses higher in 3rd gear versus direct drive 4th. The coast down estimate of rolling road losses that many people do is notoriously high giving a high flywheel HP estimate, which keeps the customers happy


A normal big valve twin cam will put out about 95 hp on a rolling road dyno at the wheels at 6000 rpm. The Lotus quoted 126hp was measured on a engine dyno to the SAE standard of the time which excluded the V belt drive and associated losses and probably also had a much more effective exhaust fitted on the dyno than you can fit in the car. So 95 hp at the wheels gives a real world flywheel HP of around 115 to 120 with all the ancillaries being driven and the normal car exhaust.

cheers
Rohan

[gus]

>>>>

3) Slight steering wheel play, and slight movement in the n/s rack.
>>>

check the u joint at the bottom of the column, if it is the rubber washer style change to a u joint

the +2 rack is extended and the bushing can wear, but the rack also wears, so if the deflection is small it affects little

[Jason1]

Any members around the Essex area? It would be good to come and have a look at one!


Cheers, Guy

Hi Guy

I missed your post and believe you have a +2 now.
Where are you in Essex?

Jason

[GuyC]

Hi Jason,

Yes, I've had mine about 6 months now and after the work it's had, it has been great! Still a few more bits to sort, but will look at that further into spring time.

I'm in the Thurrock area (unfortunately ), are you based in Essex also? Have you got a +2 as well?

Guy