Justin's I.B.10

[JusNoGood]

Yea think you’re right. I think the other Ferrari place has the track. I wanted to check out Pagonda too but two was enough apparently. At 40 euro (for two) to look at a few stationary cars I think she’s right

I think we decided on Assisi yesterday and a few surrounding towns. We’ll then head back to Florence and then onto Siena, Lucca and start moving our way up the west coast towards home. So do Clinique Terra and a few other spots.

If it makes you feel better we’ve had around four days of unsettled weather. As we were driving south from Mondena yesterday I had to stop and put the roof up!

[Rambo]

Isn't it Cinque ? Clinique Terra is where they put the loony terrorists

[JusNoGood]

Lol...yes, I think Clinique may be a face cream

[John_W]

Isn't it Cinque ?

... and while we’re at it

driving south from Mondena yesterday

has a typo.

[dapinky]

Well, it comes to something when an Englishman has to be schooled on spelling by a couple of Scottishmen.

[JusNoGood]

[JusNoGood]

I’m far to busy swimming in the pool and drying myself in the sun to spell corwectwe

[JusNoGood]

Back from an amazing trip. The car performed extremely well. We did 3,000 miles over 6 weeks with the top down all but three of those days! I was especially impressed with the last three days when we covered over 900 miles driving home. We have some great places to stay in France, Switzerland and Italy, the majority with garages/parking. If anyone is interested just PM me.


List of things to work through:

1. The first day of our return journey was especially tiring as it absolutely poured down, it was a proper monsoon downpour. We realised I hadn't stopped the water ingress into the passenger footwell so mrs, DSLR and various other things got drenched. As did I when we had to open the windows when they started to steam up Previously I thought the cause was the stupid heater foam that had disintegrated but I have already replaced that.
2. The roof headrail rattled somewhere in the middle at a certain speed with cross wind. So want to stop that.
3. I find it very tough getting into 5th gear and sometimes I can't not crunch it to get it in...so need to work out why that's happening. I have replaced the oil recently and that didnt help.
4. Replace wheel bearings all round. I did get a local garage near Florence to tighten my problematic one but I may as well just replace them as they are cheap and relatively easy to do
5. Check headlight pod nut. One nut came loose and fell off somewhere near Assisi, so I had a droopy headlight for a little while...until I noticed and replaced the missing nut.

[John_W]

Well done. Glad you had fun!

Your wee list of “snagging items” isn’t bad for a 30-year old car on a 3,000 mile continental jaunt! The Elan is a great fun tourer.


Waterproofing’s perfectly possible. Mine didn’t leak at all, and we got a lot more rain than you on our trip in June. There’s a “water ingress addendum” in BritCarNut’s set of manuals. The header seal can be augmented either with a sealing strip along the top of the windscreen or judicious use of silicon sealant and cling film!

I think you mentioned that you had your mechanic check that the 5th gears were securely attached, but I don’t expect that he checked the synchro ring. Maybe it’s worn. I think they’re easy to get if that’s what it is.

I’m interested in any good hotels you found. I’ve got a few recommendations I can send you in return. Maybe we need a “LEC european tour hotels” thread. Or maybe we’ve only got a couple of weeks to be able to use it.

John

[Steve A]

Back from an amazing trip. The car performed extremely well. We did 3,000 miles over 6 weeks with the top down all but three of those days! I was especially impressed with the last three days when we covered over 900 miles driving home. We have some great places to stay in France, Switzerland and Italy, the majority with garages/parking. If anyone is interested just PM me.

I must admit I was secretly hoping for a running commentary with maps and photos, but I suspect you was far too busy enjoying it.
Any details you have would be of interest

[JusNoGood]

:cheers:
Well done. Glad you had fun!

Your wee list of “snagging items” isn’t bad for a 30-year old car on a 3,000 mile continental jaunt! The Elan is a great fun tourer.


Waterproofing’s perfectly possible. Mine didn’t leak at all, and we got a lot more rain than you on our trip in June. There’s a “water ingress addendum” in BritCarNut’s set of manuals. The header seal can be augmented either with a sealing strip along the top of the windscreen or judicious use of silicon sealant and cling film!
John

Thanks John. I have done a few of those already. I replaced the absorbent underlay with closed foam and drilled a few holes in the floor. So pleased to say it was actually pretty dry under the carpet. No big puddles like I used to have I have also bought a new set of seals from Jamie I could install. TBH the seals are in pretty good nick and the water doesn't come in when the windows are up....well, only comes into the passenger footwell from the engine bay, wheel arch or somewhere like that. I took the seats and carpets out today and didn't spot anything obvious. I'll try again tomorrow. I think I may have to jack it up and look under the wheel arch.

I think you mentioned that you had your mechanic check that the 5th gears were securely attached, but I don’t expect that he checked the synchro ring. Maybe it’s worn. I think they’re easy to get if that’s what it is.
John

Ah right. No I doubt he did. He's a general mechanic and I told him what to do and that isn't included. I'll investigate that further. Thanks.

[JusNoGood]

I’m interested in any good hotels you found. I’ve got a few recommendations I can send you in return. Maybe we need a “LEC european tour hotels” thread. Or maybe we’ve only got a couple of weeks to be able to use it.

John

I must admit I was secretly hoping for a running commentary with maps and photos, but I suspect you was far too busy enjoying it.
Any details you have would be of interest

The Mrs made a diary of everywhere we stayed and went. I also documented it with photos on a private family messenger group. So easy to get written up. I'll do it over the weekend.

I got a lot of help and advice from Dave and Ann Excell too which I'll include. For example in advance I bought tags for france and italy so I didnt have to constantly stop (sometimes in big queues) at toll booths.

When we were driving from Florence to San Gimignano we convoyed with an UK registered Aston Martin convertible for an hour or so which was quite fun and memorable

Where I could I got accommodation with parking so I think that would be a big help for anyone wanting to do something similar. Being away for 6 weeks we did look after the budget but stayed in nice places.

I didnt post much when I was away because a friend did that and got burgled!

[John_W]

Justin,
Ref your soggy passenger footwell, I can’t remember if you have already checked the heater air intake connector under the left wheel-arch; the foam rubber one that always disintegrates and lets in water.

The only time I got water in the passenger footwell was during a torrential downpour with a strong cross-wind from the left. It was forced in past the front part of the door seal by the A-pillar. It was s strict one-of.

John

[JusNoGood]

Justin,
Ref your soggy passenger footwell, I can’t remember if you have already checked the heater air intake connector under the left wheel-arch; the foam rubber one that always disintegrates and lets in water.

The only time I got water in the passenger footwell was during a torrential downpour with a strong cross-wind from the left. It was forced in past the front part of the door seal by the A-pillar. It was s strict one-of.

John

Thanks for the hints John.

Last year I drove in torrential rain and it did the same. When I looked at that stupid foam thing it was in a real poor state so I replace it with a new one. Although I wasn't really impressed with the new one, it didn't seem like it would keep water out or last very long. I'm going to check this weekend. I'm hoping it is that again. I think I'll replace it with something a bit more substantial this time like Mr Pink suggested.

I thought it was coming in from the bulk head area directly in front of the passenger. The carpet was drenched all the way down from behind the glove box down. I'll check the A-pillar too but the carpet all around the fuse box and sill was bone dry. I have tried pouring water down the windscreen to see if there was a leak anywhere but it flowed quite nicely in the channels and out.

[Lotusman33]

Glad to see IB10 has gone to such a good home and you’ve taken it to the next level Justin, the car sounds well sorted now.
Sorry to hear about the water leak, not something I encountered although TBH I never used it in the rain, I replaced that rubbish foam joiner and like you was not impressed with the quality.

I don’t get on here much but will pop by to see how the car progresses.

All the best
Dave

[JusNoGood]

Hiya Dave

Nice to hear from you. How is the Esprit progressing?

Jus

[JusNoGood]

I took IB10 on a six week drive to and around Italy in Sept/Oct so getting so use out of it too

[Lotusman33]

Sounds like a fantastic road trip and what better car to do it in!

I have moved on to an Evora now

Dave

[JusNoGood]

Time for a project update.

After returning from Italy in October ( story of the trip in Club Lotus mag soon hopefully ) I stripped out the seats and carpet to dry them out and left the car in the garage. Coming up to MOT time I refitted the seats,carpet and drained the fuel. I refueled and took IB for a spin. Everything seemed fine until on boost. Checked spark plugs (6 months old) and one was cracked! Replaced them all and it drove better but still with some hesitation on boost - perhaps stuck waste gate again, who knows...

Decided I'd try out Tim at Lakeside Engineering and get a service, cambelt, mot and if money allowed ask him to fit the shortshift kit I bought from BritCarNut. Tim went in search for my running problem too. He ended up replacing my coil packs (I had bought these recently but one was faulty!) and the fuel injectors (darn water). Car passed MOT and is driving a lot better now, phew!

I never liked the sloppy feel of the gear shift. With JC's kit its certainly made a difference. There's a distinct lack of play in the gear stick now and to change you need to be a lot more direct and purposeful. No longer can I change with my lazy half @rsed slap it into gear style. It's going to take me a little time to get used to but I do prefer it.

[Saltire]

No longer can I change with my lazy half @rsed slap it into gear style. It's going to take me a little time to get used to but I do prefer it.

As another exponent of the lazy half @rsed slap, and about to have the new cables/ short shift fitted, I’ll be fascinated to compare notes after a month or so!

As a matter of interest, Justin, I need to take out the carpets as well. How did you remove the plastic sill pieces - mine appear to be stuck fast and I don’t particularly want to break them.