Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

This is the only pictures I have so far hope it works

and again

Has your front bumper been incorporated into the bodywork?
If it has-it actually work quite well

No the bumper is off the car but it is part of the spares package that came with the car along with the chrome grill surround and grill...

Hi... Car arrived safe and sound no problems, currently i have been stripping out the interior, and a few other bits n bobs..

Plan is to get the old sill members out this week not really looking for ward to that job but its got to be done .

need to get the servo away for refurb " any suggestions" its off the car can`t see any markings on it so think its a lockheed one...

Seats and interior all stripped out , seats and other interior are probably going down to broadland car upholsterers, recommended by sue miller,

radiator is out looks as if it needs to be chucked out but will try and get it refurbished, Its the original stanpart unit with that bulb thing that pushes in to it .

overall i`m really happy with the car, everything is there apart from a chrome strip that runs along the sill underneath the door , does anybody have a spare ??


Calipers will need refurbed or replaced any ideas of the best and cheapest option.


any help, suggestions would be a great help
Thanks
John

Hi John

Car looks nice, in Royal Blue (a Porsche colour, I think) by the looks of it. I had one the same & it is a really nice original colour, IMHO.

For the brakes & servo I would recommend Classicar Automotive - 01625 860910, from personal experience they are very good & reasonably priced.

More pics please

Regards

Adam

Hi again John

On second viewing, it looks like Lagoon Blue, an even better colour.

All the best.

Adam

more pictures

Hi again John.
Just a few more things to add to help. Your servo is a Girling & IMHO I would replace it with another or refurb your own. Graham Boulton is excellent & I have just had him do my 4 speed box, a very nice job. Adrian at Broadlands is excellent as well, both guys are very friendly & helpful as you would expect from a recommendation from Susan Miller. If it were me, I would go along with Mark's earlier comment to use Susan for all your parts where you can. She gives a service,second to none & is very helpful at all times.

One last obvious tip, whatever you do, do not throw anything away until you have finished it completely because there are a lot of things that you just cannot get anymore & you may need to refurbish yours or use it as a pattern to have new ones made.

That's about it for now, keep us all up to date with more pics if possible.

Regards

Adam

Hi just a further update from me... getting on fine with the car, interior is all out aprt from the dash, its in really good shape, everything works, apart from the choke cable snapped , can you still get them??
got all the old underfelt scraped off which wasn`t a nice job...
i`ve got the wheels off the car and the sill closing plates off and as expected the old sills are a pile of rust & dirt so , next thing is to take the rear struts off, so it gives me good access to get the old sills out and the new ones in..or is there another way to do it that somebody can suggest..?.
once i get the the new sills fitted my intention is to take the engine and box out, ive got most things removed like the servo and radiator, fan, etc.... they are all away for refurb, so things are happening which is good... and a big pile of bits n bobs to go for powder coating...
after all of that i`ll take the the chrome work off and see about a paint job, while the engine and box are away to get reconditioned..

the only thing that bothers me is the headlights it all seems a bit complicated and looking a parts manuals it mentions failsafes and things ??what are these!!
i was thinking about just renewing the whole lot but not sure what is involved, i don`t really want to take everything apart until i have everthing i need to refurb them...
also i have add a real good poke around and the chassis is in really good condition thanks to the previous owner....

thats about it for just now I`ll post some pics of my progress soon ..

John

Sounds like you?re cracking into the old girl, John.

Firstly, the choke. You don?t need one for Webers or Dellortos. When cold, two pumps on the accelerator pedal (all the way down), hold it halfway and crank. If you still have the original knob-end of the choke leave it in situ. You can?t buy the correct replacement for it new (different knob..looks poor) but if you search eBay for ?cortina choke? one or two come up per month?it?s from a Mk 1 Cortinas?the Mk 2 is wrong..

If you have spyder sill replacements, that look like a scaffold pipe, you don?t need to remove the rear suspension. The original Lotus replacements are a triangulated fabricated steel thingee, and will require the back end to come out. No big deal I guess as you?re going to do the suspension sometime?no time like the present!

The headlight bits are quite logical. Essentially, the headlights move up and down when a vacuum is applied to them?in the case of the failsafe (your) system, the vacuum makes the headlights go down.

The vacuum comes from the inlet manifold?you?ll see two pipes. The one at the front provides the vacuum for the headlights, the one at the rear for the servo. If you follow the front pipe from the manifold, it goes into the front chassis crossmember?this doubles up as the vacuum tank. From there, the pipe goes to a solenoid (switch) which is operated from the headlamp switch on your dash.

From the solenoid, the pipe goes to the vacuum actuator, which provides the ?pull? to move the headlamp down. The two headlamp pods are connected via a fairly hefty looking rod, and you?ll see a couple of large springs, which provide the ?push? to put the headlamps up. So when no vacuum applied to the actuator (i.e. the actuator isn?t connected to the vacuum tank) the springs will hold the headlamps up. When vacuum is applied, it pulls against the springs and pulls the headlamp pods down.

The opposite of your system is the non-failsafe. When vacuum was applied, the headlamps went up. These systems also had two actuator pods, so the headlights would go up and down at different speeds?very cute. It also didn?t have a solenoid to switch the vacuum ?on? or ?off?, but had a mechanical switch on the dash instead?so more to go wrong with the non-failsafe system?.and it often does go wrong.

Here endeth the first lesson. Exams in three months, so get reading!!

Mark

As you're so much work on the car I would abandon the 'crap' vacuum headlamps and go electric.

Get MX5 or Celica motors, brackets and rods from a scrap yard - they will be infinitely better than the old vacuum units.

You will need some help with the circuitry ? so if you go this route just let me know.

I would just like to point out that my car has vacuum operated lights which are not crap Brian!

I have to disagree with Brian as well?the system isn?t crap, it?s Lotus ingenuity at it?s finest! All part of the charm and foibles that is ELAN. Sure after a few years they will not perform as well as they could?but what?s to go wrong? An actuator, a few pipes, a Tee piece and a solenoid?very simple to overhaul and get absolutely right.

Keep the old girl original?there are plenty of botched hybrids out there that can?t find new owners, but an original car, warts and all, is still coveted. Why buy an old car if you want to make it into a Jap based replica?

Mark

Elanintheforest wrote: Why buy an old car if you want to make it into a Jap based replica?Mark

Spot on Mark! sure the vacuum system has its idiosyncrasy's but if maintained correctly its not a problem,its part of the package of owning an old Lotus.