Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

So i have got myself a crossflow crankshaft,i am going to use 4.926" rods and special pistons with 1.315" compression height. This will get it fitting into the 701m block and keep the rod/stroke ratio at 1.61
Not sure about what bore size yet... 85mm would be nice but it might be a bit risky on my block? I can't find anyone local that can measure the bore wall accurately enough to be sure it would be ok? May be best to stick to 84mm and be safe?
I have a pair of Kent cams KCL2's that i bought way back in 1983 but i can't recall what they are like... They seem to have a bit less lift than the big valve ones fitted but i can see that the opening and closing ramps are much steeper... Anyone know if they would worthwhile fitting to my engine?

Oh yes and the type 9 gearbox is in bits all over the bench! Waiting for bearings and stuff...Plan for tomorrow is to bolt all the empty casings together and fit them into the chassis so i can make up a gearbox rear mount while i wait for parts,i have used a Milton adaptor plate to mate the 5 speeder to the 2000E bell housing..

The block currently has a 83.25mm bore if its 30 thou over like you say. 85mm without ultrasonic thickness measurement and offset boring is a 70+% chance of failure. 84mm is about a 20% chance of failure. If you cant get the bore wall thicknesses ultrasonically checked then do the minimum possible to the block and go to 83.5mm but any engine machine shop worth using these days should have the ability to do a proper ultrasonic survey of the wall thickness and be able to offset the boring to maximise wall thickness.

I cant find the KCL2 cam listed on the Kent web site but Twin cams like cam lift and with the work your doing to the rest of the engine its worth putting in a good high lift cam such as the QED420 or similar together with the required mods to the valve springs etc

cheers
Rohan

Spent some of the time cleaning all the gearbox parts,I think i might fit the 2.98 ratio first gear kit while i have the box in bits.... I understand the 3.65 is a bit annoying and would hate to keep thinking how it would be better with the long first gear?

Got the empty housings in the chassis and now trying to work out a rear mount for the type 9...
Getting the height of the rear end of the box is very important of course so i am trying to work this out? I reckon if i take a straight line through the crank and tail shaft to the diff pinion i should be about right? Might raise the rear of the gearbox up a little from that to allow for the pinion lifting under load? I will check this against the old 2000E box height because i am aware that the front of the cam cover won't fit under the bonnet if i get it wrong!

Thanks for sharing the pix and story, Julian. Keep us informed. We're livin' the dream through you! And good luck on getting the driveline angles and prop phasing, etc. correct.

Regards,

Randy

Gearbox now rebuilt with 2.98 first gear!
The rear case and front nose are going to be altered to move the gear lever forward and use a concentric slave cylinder..Just needs working out!
Pistons are on order from Ross in the USA, 4.9126" con rods on order as well.

Just a bit of an update really.... I guess you could be thinking i had put the project on the back burner as i have been quiet for a few months? Well not so! I have just not had the time to write on the forum! You know how these things go... a bit of a refresh turns into a major rebuild! I have completely stripped the body and taken the paint off, repaired a thousand cracks, previous repairs etc and now it is in high build primer!
Oh, and not to mention i hand flatted the roof paint off to get back to the metal flake...Very nice it looks too!

The thing is, should i paint it the original colour? I still want it yellow but was thinking a nice pearlescent yellow?
Just to make it a bit more vibrant?

What do you think?

Well in the end i went for the Lotus Lemon yellow, almost the same as it was but
a little brighter i think plus the paint shop could only get the old colour in water based for some strange reason?
I flatted all the paint off the roof to get to the metalflake the clear coated the whole car..

looks great,
Paul

Not too bad indeed!! Looking forward to more pix, including how the roof turned out.

And where do you find all the time to do this work so quickly?

Keep us posted . . .

Randy

Well, that was over two years ago! Car has been back on the road for about 4 months now and going well..
Got the type 9 gearbox fitted and the lever from the 4 speed looks just as it should, new dash fitted and all the instruments stripped and cleaned etc. new console and dash trims fitted together with a re-trim including door cards, headliner etc.
Window motors stripped and re-built together with relays to control them, I made up a set of poly v belt pulleys and fitted a 65 amp alternator with small pulley so that it charges even at idle speed, I fitted new heavier cable for the headlamps and hid a set of relays under the dash to take the load off the switch etc.
I rebuilt the pedal box, bored out the pedals and made a new oversize pivot pin, I drilled a holes through the pin and fitted a grease nipple on the end so that I can lubricate the pedals from under the bonnet, heater box rebuilt with new foam etc and a cleaned up blower fan blade!
I did fit a solid state fuel pump in the boot with an inline filter but, I just could not stand the ticking from it, no matter what I did it was just too loud! I found a small motor driven pump that is meant for carburettors (old type 911 I think) fitted that and it just quietly whirrs away.. Or goes dead silent if it runs out of fuel ( don't ask how I know)
Obviously there are many more things I can't think of right now! But there are a few things to sort out, one being that I fitted an electronic voltage stabilizer for the gauges, this works well when it's working but it seems that a voltage spike shuts it down 6 times out of 10 when you turn the ignition on? If I get time I keep turning off/on until it works! I'm thinking maybe I could fit a capacitor somewhere to cure the issue?

That pesky fuel filler leak! I did the vent pipe mod and now have no fuel smell but with half a tank or more the fuel leaks from the cap on right handers, I was thinking of modifying the filler neck to fit a ford cap-less filler valve inside so that the original cap becomes just a finisher?

Get the steering wheel re-trimmed!
Replace the boot release cable.. new one lasted 3 months and the handle broke! Last one, 33 years and was still working!

Julian.

That pesky fuel filler leak! I did the vent pipe mod and now have no fuel smell but with half a tank or more the fuel leaks from the cap on right handers,

Hi Julian, glad to see you got this back on the road.
I'm interested in your experiences with the vent pipe mods. I am currently carrying the mod out. So far I have collected the parts to do this. My shell is without headling so I figure it's a good time to consider this.
- what exactly is happening ?
- where is the leak ? Do you have a lockable filler cap or not - is this where the leak is ?
- any pointers are welcome as I have to decide whether to complete this mod or stay with the Original layout.

Apologies if this breaks your thread - let me know if you would prefer me to start a separate post

Adrian

With mine I fitted a locking cap as I already had this in my spares stash and the old non locking was badly corroded.
I linked the two big vent pipes together above the tank with a Y piece then ran a hose off the third end to the filler neck. As the filler neck goes in from the outside you can't fit a fixed spigot on it or you won't get it through the body hole so, you weld a nut to the inside of the neck where you have previously drilled a hole then, you can fit the neck then screw in your spigot to fit the third hose!
When you fill up the air can escape into the neck and out, when the filler flap is closed the big vent tube is then closed so no fuel can escape and masses of vapour cannot escape!
The thing is you do need a small vent to stop the tank from pressurising as the fuel warms up and to stop the tank from collapsing or fuel starvation as the fuel is used or contracts causing low pressure!

The locking cap provides a small vent that consists of two small holes offset to one another so fuel does not leak out Trouble is the construction is not that good and the way the innerds are sealed with a bit of squashy rubber hose leaves a bit to be desired? So folk say its the vent hole that leaks but it is rather hard to be sure?
If I was doing it again I would run a small bore tube over the roof and use that as the vent so that I could use a fully sealed cap, can't remember if the old one was any good as far as sealing goes, the car always smelled of fuel..

Hi vxah

I am interested in how you flatted back to the metal flake roof, was it in good condition or did you have to re spray it

At the moment I have started to rub down to re paint my roof, this had been painted in two pack covering the metal flake back in 1986. I am wondering if I can recover the original.
Was the metal flake a lacquer finish or a just paint finish.

It may have possibilities

As far as I could make out the metalflake was behind the clear gel coat so, I hand flatted all the paint and primer off it then cut it back with a buffing machine to get a smooth but not too shiny finish, then it was painted with clear coat with the rest of the car so there is no "step" between body colour and roof.
It does have a little yellow hue to it in certain lighting but I would expect that I guess after 40 years!

Thanks for the reply.
I am planning to put in a small bore pipe over the roof (I have some 5mm id re-inforced PVC - I am hoping this is narrow enough). The rest will be in 1/2". Connections are brass plumbing parts. I have choice of a locking cap which is as new or the original which would need plating. I favour the locking cap and have modified the filler neck to take it. The sealing ring was initially too tight so I have eased the rubber tube that sits under the sealing rubber , around the lock.
I was wondering if petrol would find it's way via the lock and onto the bodywork, but it sounds like there is more likely an issue with vent holes (I will have a look to see if I have these) and the lack of a general vent.