Mellow Yellow

[lotos]

Valve stems are in!

BBS Valve stems - $4.50 / piece from Tire Rack

BBS valve stems.jpg (59.68 KiB) Viewed 5057 times

Now I just need to find some new tires...

[Doug]

FYI for those interested - Tire Rack has the BBS valve stems in stock, they're $4.50 a piece, $30 total including shipping for four.

that's either some messed up math, or someone got bent over for shipping of 4 small bits??!!

[lotos]

Ended up ringing me $8 for shipping, so the total was $26. Gotta love the world we live in - $8 to ship under a pound. UPS and FedEx need to revise their light parcel rates.

[lotos]

Once they arrive... I'll finally install the new wheels, fix the headlight motor while the wheel's off..

Then I just need to install the short shift and the new stereo/gps/bluetooth. And of course buy a whole lot of other things still (chip, bov, brakes, exhaust). But we're getting there!

[lotos]

The date is set for next Saturday for my buddy to help me out by bringing the Elan into his shop bay. The main goal is the new wheel/tire setup, but I'm bringing along the headlight repair kit and the short-shift kit as well so I'm optimistic to whittle down my to-do list quite a bit in a week's time!

[tigerdog]

Good luck, Randy! Take lots of pictures and post them, Specky / Nitroman style. Since your Fed car was nearly completely stock when you bought it, documenting what you find may help many of us down the road. Even with minor projects, every photo is helpful to someone sooner or later. Enjoy the new tyres, too!

[max and andy]

When we put the new wheel on that we bought. Kwickfit put the valve in as the photo above. With the nut at the top. Should it be the other way around? As is we find it hard to put the air nozzle on enough to tell how much air is in? Plus should the nut not be up against the alloy to stop it going into the wheel. Plus Max can't get her Power Fairy valve caps to fit as is. A&M

[max and andy]

The good news is i managed to turn the nut holding the valve around and now we can see how much air has been put in. Oh and Max's Fairy Power valve caps fit again . The only problem is the nut is not very tight as everything turns when the nut starts to get tight. It probable should of been nipped up proper when the tyre was off. Is this my second Elan fix or am i kidding myself again? Andy

[lotos]

Finally got my new wheels installed (and fixed the headlight motor, too) !! Thanks for all of the help with the appurtenances, everything worked out great.

It was great to have the car on the lift and really get a chance to see something other than shocking yellow paint I'm pleased to say the car is in excellent condition, not even a scrape or scratch on the underside (other than the chin lip painted area but you can't even see it unless the car is on a lift...) The boots all are still sealed and flexible, and only a small bit of oil seepage from the oil pan gasket. Once we cleaned up the area under the engine, it looks possibly like new and I'm relieved. Even the brake pads have life left in them. The muffler has some cracking issues, but nothing to worry about and I'll probably get a new exhaust system one of these days.

The usual white crap in the headlight motor:

Powderized headlight bushings

Headlight-crap.jpg (107.79 KiB) Viewed 4790 times

And finally - all done! Back in the parking lot with new wheels:

All done! S2 Wheels

new-wheels.jpg (79.72 KiB) Viewed 4788 times

We didn't have time for the short shift kit this time, but soon soon soon! The long throw is really annoying.

[algirdas]

Dear Randy:

Are you going to the LOCO meeting this month? I have your door cheaters.

Sincerely,

Algirdas

[lotos]

Dear Randy:

Are you going to the LOCO meeting this month? I have your door cheaters.

Sincerely,

Algirdas

Algirdas - Sorry I missed your post here! I'll be there tonight and I appreciate you hauling those triangles back from UK for me! See you in a few hours.

- Randy

[lotos]

Still haven't fumbled with the fan - been really busy lately! But I did notice that it's only super-loud and obnoxious with the A/C on....

I took my wife on a surprise trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls for our 9th anniversary (she didn't find out the destination until she read it on the airport gate sign!), but NOW, I can finally install the short shift kit and the AB Cables...

[superbad]

Cool pic! Wish I could have made it...

[Elanlover]

I took my wife on a surprise trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls for our 9th anniversary (she didn't find out the destination until she read it on the airport gate sign!)

Shoulda let me know (as I'm in Toronto)! Hmmm........probably wouldn't have wanted me around for the anniversary dinner though

[tigerdog]

Hi Randy! Excellent photo - I love the yellow Elan against the green and tan of the track. Sounds like you had a great time!

[nitroman]

The usual white crap in the headlight motor:

We are all just dupes for a notorious British crack cocaine cartel!

[Monty]

Hey Randy, Good to see you`ve been out on Track

[lotos]

Cool pic! Wish I could have made it...

Me too! What shape's your Elan in right now?

Shoulda let me know (as I'm in Toronto)! Hmmm........probably wouldn't have wanted me around for the anniversary dinner though

Oh, wish I had known, we were sort of running out of things to do during the *day* ... We JUST MISSED all the insane strikes!

We are all just dupes for a notorious British crack cocaine cartel!

Funny... everytime I have been through customs, it all goes smoothly and we joke, "Why didn't we smuggle a few suitcases full of <something>???"

[superbad]

Me too! What shape's your Elan in right now?

I would feel kind of nervous tracking it until the cam belt has been done (it's OK on miles, but not on time). The tires suck. And like yours, it's got stock brakes and suspension. So I would have just been puttering around, but it was my wife's birthday party, so I couldn't go anyway. My dad was up there though, I think he was doing driving instruction. Probably took the dark grey Aston.

[lotos]

Probably took the dark grey Aston.

Yep, and it ran nonstop all day! Funny, he was behind us on the way home and we pulled over to put the top up at my wife's insistence.. he pulled into the gas station after us to check on us and make sure we were alright. "Afraid of rain or something?" "Nope, sunburn" He laughed and drove off.