Wheel Arches

[Davidb]

I just found this thread while looking for wheel information--this is my car!
I bought it from the 'seller' mentioned earlier in the thread in 2009.

The reason for the modified wheel arches and 'odd steel wheels'-well spotted that man!- is that the car is an old racer that won the Western Canadian championship in '67, 68, and '69.

It has numerous original 26r parts including Armstrong adjustable front shocks, sliding spline drive-shafts, rear sway bar and did have an all steel bottom end until the seller b*****d that and then froze the block by leaving it in the car port pictured with no anti freeze-in Canada...At least he kept the hard top safe indoors.

I am in the process of rebuilding the car with the goal of running it in the Spring Thaw Rally here in BC in late April.

I am just about to remove the body...

[Mazzini]

"Remove the body' of the previous owner?

[Davidb]

He already "disappeared"

I have discovered that I need two engine hoists to lift the body off the chassis-at least that looks like the easiest way.

[billwill]

He already "disappeared"

I have discovered that I need two engine hoists to lift the body off the chassis-at least that looks like the easiest way.

I used 6 friends and a barrel of beer.

[Davidb]

That was my original plan! However, all my friends are similar age to me and too smart to get caught in a ruse like that.

Two engine hoists is what it is going to take-I'll save the beer for myself

[Mazzini]

I bought a very inexpensive Chinese two post lift and some car skates, it's made my life so easy, though I have a few cars so it justifies it...well that's what I said to my ex-wife...

[el-saturn]

these are exagerated/oversized S4 flares which have little to do with a S2 - I'm afraid you can't quite grind or sand em back to the much nicer S2 arches (those wide s4s' don't match the car) ----- and yes folks I also luv s4s; did u c that nice drk blue+white one?!!!!!????? sandy; alpside

[Davidb]

El saturn, the wheel arches are fine-they are period-1960s modification-from the cars racing history-I have no intention of removing them at present although I might put full S2 26R arches on in the distant future. The car is not original and neither am I

[Davidb]

Mazzini-I would have loved to use a two poster! I have promised myself one...

The body is off now-I used an engine hoist at front and rear and then slid the chassis out sideways using trolleys under the wheels.

Now I have two months to rebuild the engine, gearbox, diff and paint the chassis...

[Mazzini]

Easy Hope you have a fast parts supplier.

Best of luck!

[Davidb]

I hadn't considered that...
Are some of them slow?

[Mazzini]

I have a little experience with some of the US suppliers and they're pretty good, but a lot depends on stock levels.

[Davidb]

I thought I should give an update.

I reinforced the chassis to so-called 26R specs. This is the way the chassis should have been made originally:

I had the chassis sandblasted and I painted it with POR15 following discussion on the forum.
As of today the chassis looks like this:

It is the original chassis to the car and was completely rust free as befits a car with low miles and much of it competition usage. Its hardest time was sitting in a carport... The sliding spline driveshafts date from the sixties. The wheels are Revolution that I recently acquired.

Every mechanical component of the car has been rebuilt: The diff has a new 3.54 cwp. The wheel bearings are all new. The U-joints are all new. The gearbox is refreshed. The brake calipers have all new seals and pistons.

I have entered the car for the Spring Thaw rally here in British Columbia at the end of April-things are getting a little tight!

The original engine was buggered by the previous owner so I had to start from fresh. I acquired an ex racing 2731 block that has turned out be something special with thick walls, big caps and lots of indication of very good prep work. I acquired an ex-Formula Atlantic BDD crankshaft that needed repairs. I sent it to Marine Crankshafts in California who did a magnificent job of remanufacturing it: submerged arc welded one journal, then fully machined, straightened and re-nitrided the crank--for $650... It looks like new. Unfortunately their promise of three weeks turnaround became nearly three months and that has really set me back.

For rods I bought a set of the Carrillo copies on ebay for $250. (Maxspeedingrods) They are very impressive looking and I cannot find one report of a failure in racing and they have been available for some years now.

For pistons I may have out manouvered myself. After talking to some of the guys in Oz I decided to go with Datsun 240Z pistons-84mm-they are cheap and available over here. Since I am not racing the car I do not need forged pistons at $1200 a set. Yeah, I know, BDD crank etc... However, in period the Elan was raced on cast pistons and cast pistons are in probably 98% of the cars on the road. The problem with using the 240Z pistons is that they need machining to work and I cannot do that (I have a lathe but not enough skill). So now I am waiting for a, very busy, machine shop to modify the pistons for me-that may be the thing that prevents me from taking the Elan in the Spring Thaw rally.

Wish me luck!

[el-saturn]

....................those wheels are really getting to me: and maybe the "uprights" are also BRAND X????? those homemade rims look like they're made of 2 different makes! good luck sandy

[Certified Lotus]

David, keep us up to date on your progress. Looks good so far. What are the diamentions of those wheels? They look very wide.