Lotus Elan Central

Project vehicle - Elan SE turbo - 1993 - 40,000 miles
Current upgrades - BBR kit - drilled/slotted discs
LGM rollbar - DaveM rear strut brace

After two years of elan ownership and twelve months of collecting parts this weekend saw the start of several aftermarket upgrades being fitted to 'The Beast'
Well, no parts have been fitted as yet but.......
Decided it would be best to remove the engine and box as the following items are to be fitted -

Quaife ATB
Assco flywheel
Uprated clutch
Stiffy custom downpipe
Alan Betts gear cables
Samco silicone coolant hose set
Wilwood four pot (front) calipers , 310mm discs
New replacement stock rear discs
Braided brake hoses allround
Isuzu Bills plenum pipe thingy??
HKS dump valve

Also whilst the engine is out i will be replacing the cam,power steering and alternator belts, and cleaning/repainting various other parts under the bonnet.

There is nothing being done here that hasnt already been done by other forum members, but i figured it would be wise to start my own project thread. No doubt i'll be asking plenty of questions along the way.

With the help of Monty, this weekend saw us both on my driveway wrestling the engine and box out of the elan, erm, well, no it didnt actualy. We failed, but only just.
Next friday afternoon will be our next attempt. We spent around 10 hours on the car, but to be honest a couple of hours of that time was spent replacing the suspension, hubs,plongeron etc so we could wheel the car back into the very large single garage
Heres hoping for fine weather next friday. Two hours is all we need

Thanks to Monty for his help so far and to Jimp who kindly loaned me his engine hoist.

The beginning of the end - first bolt!

Well done Paul, whats the estimated time scale then, for the completion ?

Good luck! Always excited for owners starting big projects and I'll be anxious to hear how things go. The engine is a bit of work to get out as you know, but it just takes time. My one suggestion: Label everything and buy some sandwich baggies for all the loose bits. Masking tape is your friend. You'll love being able to clean up things and get to engine bit once it is out!

Hey u didn`t mention the front wheels nearly doing the banana splits

Note, the prongeron/cross member is an important factor in keeping the wheels straight

Dico has decided to lift out the engine & box out in one go, personally i`d remove the gear box sperate LOL

Hope it does come out friday as we need to get the gearbox`s of to quaife next tuesday

Might sound daft but did anyone ever try dropping the engine & box out the bottom. Most go in that way at the factory these days, wish I could remember from when I did the factory tour back in '90

a tenner says its not ready for donny.

Dico

Good luck with your project, you said nothing is getting done that has not been done before. So why not make this thread simple for idiots, not for me of course, I'm a fully qualified F1 mechanic

Some topics are way over peoples heads, so please would you make this one easy to follow. Like saying why the gearbox will be going off to Quaife and stating parts and part numbers used throughout this project.

Any information from you will be most welcome though.

Good luck again

Gazza

Are you saying that Dico is well qualified to write an idiots guide
(good idea though)

stevo wrote:a tenner says its not ready for donny.

<--- Dico in March

Hi girls

I have'nt really set a timescale because i know full well things go wrong, and also that i may get carried away with the removal/cleaning of items.
I only really have one halfday each weekend and maybe a couple of hours during the week whilst Sam is asleep. Not only that but this weekend see's me in the lake district and the following two weekends will see me having to go to the trouble of jumping on a ski lift in Italy, just to ski down a moutain or two
So its going to be a bit of a slow start, but at least the gearbox will be at Quaife next week, and various other items will be being lovingly attended to by other people whilst i'm on the slopes.
£10 - Donington, hmm, a tenner out of a scotsman now theres a challenge

Gazza, good point. I will try and get part numbers together etc and probably edit my first post rather than spread them around on various pages

i thought you were doing the work yourself.

Doug wrote:

stevo wrote:a tenner says its not ready for donny.

<--- Dico in March

Stevo, any news on the ceramic stiffies?

stevo wrote:i thought

Ah, there lies the problem

That looks a very tight fit mate, still stop any thieves, they won't be able to get in

I used to think land was for the taking here in the USA (dirt cheap). Since moving to Atlanta I see what crowded conditions do to land values: 5-million people here in Atlanta vs. 8-million in the whole state of Georgia.

Formerly... 1-million people in Jacksonville vs. 18-million in all of Florida.

I'm retiring to some undeveloped rural area or a suitably small town!

dico are you expecting some sort of world shortage of toilet roll?

stevo wrote:dico are you expecting some sort of world shortage of toilet roll?

Man! I was looking at that picture, saw the toilet rolls, then read your comment and I fell of my chair laughing so hard, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!

Bless you!


Costas

stevo wrote:dico are you expecting some sort of world shortage of toilet roll?

don`t forget about the ass on his shoulders, he needs twice as much as everyone else.

Hopefully tomo`s afternoon we`ll be lifting out the engine/gearbox, so more pic`s to follow

ITS OOOOOOUT!!!

It's either then engine, or Dico's joined the Lib Dems