Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

It's October 2016.... and my plus 2 just drove round the block... three times !
no leaks
But I have very soft brakes
No brake fluid leaks... so just a bleed I hope
And squirelly steering.
I need help doing the steering wheel toe adjustments
The exhaust is blowing at the silencer joint.
And the dam horn keeps going off when I touch the steering wheel...so disconnected for now....
Some interior bits and bobs
Rear screen chrome
Mount the radio properly (it's loose)
Refit bonnet
And that is almost it

But the biggie is the carbs
Good idle
Good high revs
But appalling stumble from idle

Wow magic im at that point as well and my car has not been moved under her own steam since 1985

Perhaps you should have fitted that injection kit after all!

You must feel like you're in space again and the to-do list doesn't seem very long after all the work you've had to do. Congratulations, but what was the +2 type you rebuilt?

Same question to JR44 too, what are you about to hit the streets in?

Great stuff! Photos please.

Congratulations !!!

Great news, always good to sort out issues when your car is mobile.

I was hopeful to restart my engine after 34 years, but issues with exhaust, needs the crank angle bending back from 20 to 11 degrees.

Still news like yours is good for my motivation.

All the best with sorting your issues.

LaikaTheDog wrote:And the dam horn keeps going off when I touch the steering wheel...so disconnected for now....

if the horn button is not the culprit, a short to the steering column may be an other thing to check (e.g. from old, brittle wires hanging between the alternator and the firewall - been there)...

keep going !

I last drove my pre-airflow FHC in October 1984. It had been stored in a friend's barn for years until 2 years ago, when I trailered it to my winter quarters in Florida. It is now very much apart, the chassis sand blasted and painted and the body 80-90% sanded down to gel coat prior to respray. I'm hoping that in a few months I'll be able to add further to this forum that my FHC has just been driven again since 1984.

nmauduit wrote:

LaikaTheDog wrote:And the damn horn keeps going off when I touch the steering wheel...so disconnected for now....

if the horn button is not the culprit, a short to the steering column may be another thing to check (e.g. from old, brittle wires hanging between the alternator and the firewall - been there)...

This intermittent problem is, invariably, the steering wheel boss scraping on the column casing. Either move the casing forward or reset the steering shaft at the safety clamp so there is 3/32" gap behind the boss.

+1
Took me a while to find that out!

RE the carbs. Do you have them set up as described in the manual? If not revert to the basic settings and there will be less stumble.

as it wasnt raining and feezing cold, managed to get some bits done.

carbs needed more turns out on mixture now progresses much better, but needs a rolling road.

the alternator had a faulty internal regulator, so that is now fixed with a new one off internet for ?20

fixed blowing exhaust

front wheel..i replaced the bearing, no change
so stripped all front down to check trunion, all fine... but discovered that the two bolts that go through the upright to the steering arm, one was loose, so tightened that, put an extra turn on the trunion and it now seems much better !

now need to fix central locking, still got to do the rear screen trim and bleed brakes... but its almost time to close up the underside of the dash !

Had a litany of other problems to fix but eventually did a proper shakedown drive yesterday

First time at the petrol pump since 84 !!

What I fixed since last time;
Had an annoying oil leak. So had to replace front crank seal... which meant loosing my timing... which took an age to get right again... only to discover that number 2 piston had a compression problem. ... engine out. Head off. New rings . New bearings. All back together. Turns out that seal failure was because I hadn't oiled the surface during insertion. When I had started the engine first time the crank grabbed the seal and ripped it out...
Then struggled with timing and carb tune for a while only to read my own post about running rich...which got me going again.
Fixed faulty dash gauge problems ... traced it to an oxidised fuse. Suddenly my fuel Temp and lights started working... but damned rev counter still dead
Fitted new bumpers front and rear. Front one thanks to oxo.
Fog lights started working !...can't take credit... it was magic

Shakedown means I have more little problems to deal with;
Still need to fit rear screen trim !
Speedo stopped working....
Fixed central locking problem on passenger side. But now the driver side won't lock properly ! Probaby the joint has slipped
Rear plate sticky melted in the sun so took the plate off before it fell off...
Need to fit wipers... completely forgot they weren't there. ..
Heater fan has decided to stop... annoying given it was the very first thing I tested...
Exhaust mount is loose at rear...just needs a tighten
Still have squirelly steering. ... going to replace the other front bearing...


Otherwise I had a great test drive. Had a thumbs up from a guy in a people mover and some teenagers at a bus stop asked what car it is...

That looks really nice. Well done on getting her going again. It's always nice to have comments from the young crowd, I had a 'yooof' shout "nice car mate" when driving through town the other week

Rich

good weekend:
fitted rear screen trim..much easier than i expected.

fixed central locking, the driver side had indeed slipped.

the rear silencer turned out to be sheared rubber mount, so had to remove rear box to fit new rubber mount

horn going off was because i hadn't tightened the nut/allen combo near the bulkhead the steering wheel was sliding up and down the shaft and causing horn contact !

wipers fitted and the self park fixed after a cleaning of the contacts

rear plate fixed on with screws !

heater fan was a bad earth caused by corroded screw that mounts the earth plate on the left of the heater box

wobbly wheel was due to mangled bearing, so new stub, nuts, washers and bearing fitted

developed an odd starting problem, traced to faulty solenoid, got new one for a landy for only ?6

refitted loose electric fan on radiator using tiewraps, much smarter than the awful plastic things it came with.
noticed my screenwash pump seems to have lost both its screws! and ran a new hose to the bottle.

refixed my loose main beam chrome trims which i have never clipped on properly

speedo is not working...due to snapped cable...looking for a 90 degree speedo drive box now

tacho now working thanks to chris at spidya who helped me test my rev counter and then replaced my board without quibble... now working perfectly

going to have a go at bump steer and rack shimming tomorrow...then close up the underside of the dash, fit carpets in footwells, load up with tools and...then another shakedown