1971 Elan S4 Restoration

[pattyb611]

Hi All,

My father and I have started to work on a 1971 Lotus Elan S4 that has sat in our garage for over 10 years. It was my uncle?s car and he had taken it apart to replace the frame on it. He had sent the head away to be worked on and when he called a couple years later they said that they had no idea what he was talking about and that they never had his head. As a result the car sat for a while in a building which eventually flooded. Mice got into the car and therefore the interior is ruined on the car. He no longer had any room for the car so he gave it to us.

It sat for years in our garage but now we have decided to start to work on it. As a result I have decided to start a blog on it to show the progress and possibly get some help from the experienced people on the forum.

The following link it to a video that I edited showing us building a frame for the body to sit on along with us lifting the car off the frame with the help of some friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvK_yWxz_Fg

I will be uploading more videos and picture as the car is being built.

Any help/ tips and tricks/ advice on how to approach things would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Patrick

[pereirac]

A copy of Brian Bucklands book and the factory workshop manual would be a good place to start

I have an old Club Lotus sheet which lists which bits came of other cars if you are interested?

[pharriso]

Good luck with the restoration... I am subscribed

+1 on both manuals...

[pattyb611]

Thanks for the reply's and for the subs! pereirac yes I would be interested in getting that from you if you would like to PM me or something that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Patrick

[pattyb611]

Hi All,

Just an update on the build, we are currently looking at acquiring a second parts car that has a full motor and also has the half shafts conversion but it is a +2. do the updated cv shafts out of a +2 work in the regular elan S4? someone we spoke with said the shafts for the +2 are wider? is this true?

Thanks,
Patrick

[seniorchristo]

Yes, they are longer to accommodate the wider track of a plus 2.
Chris

[Gray]

The +2 suspension driveshafts and many other parts are different to the Elan. The engine, gearbox (4 speed), diff should all be the same year for year dependent on model - the +2 always had the SE engine before the big valve in 71. So unless the +2 is very cheap it's probably not worth buying as a source of parts for an S4.

[pattyb611]

Alright thanks for the informative responses we will have to decide if we have enough use for it to justify the extra cost. The main reason we are interested is because it has a complete motor with Weber carbs and our car is missing the head which appears to be expensive and difficult to find.

Patrick