Brisbane Elan - recommission or rebuild, you be the judge!

[Owen L]

14/06/21

Apolgies for not posting any progress for a month. i have made the odd post on the FB group - so easy compared to the forum style.

But here is a deeper overview of what I've managed to do to the car.

Radiator is back in. added coolant with bleed valve open on new radiator. it filled very quickly i thought. closed off, i topped up the water steadily. had the heater controls set to full fan and full heat. Started it up and all seemed well. Took a little while to heat through but settled in on 1/4. I still worry its not really cooling but the radiator is warm, so i figure its doing its job. Themostat went in ok as well. seemed in good condition. Fans did kick in after a little drive but not for long.

Lower mount went back in after powdercoat. bit of a phaff to say the least. i realised i hadn't reused the original bolts for the prong thingo. so a 10 mm head is a nightmare in there and the originals are flanged 8mm - for a reason!

Headlight pods went back together easily after all the replating work. the rods should be 130mm and 140mm eye to eye someone was kind enough to tell me. i set them to this and they all fitted nicely. the 130mm is the rod into the pod, not from the motor. I put a cloth in the headlight well to allow me to reconnect all the wires before the hinge. main beam is not working, i think i touched two wires together and have blown something. i will check the fuse again (think its a4 for the lights?) and replace the bulbs to see if that cures it. the pod motors only go one way without that circuit being completed i found out. if i had just reassembled everything instead of trying to test stuff on the way, it would all be fine now. Grrr. I did enjoy raising and lowering them by hand several times to ensure they dont scrape. I will shim the pods up to match the bonnet soon. need more shims which makes no sense. more time needed there.

Bumper went on easily. but have two bolts left over marked cooler mount. so will have to pop it off again and look for those locations.

bonnet was easy to fit but i had it too far back and after it closed it wouldnt open. my wife was very patient holding the torch so i could see in the tiny gap to try to release it. moved the bonner forward slightly and it works. still graunchy, so again more fettling.

Car itself runs well although stumbles from cold for a few seconds now?

also a red light with an exclamation mark comes on and goes off. possibly a fluid warning? need to research that.

polishing bonnet up was therapeutic after an awful day at a funeral of a friends adult child. lets look after each other relentlessly hey!

RWC this week perhaps. or not. we will see.

[Owen L]

14/06/21

pod motors- initially i thought they were fine. but the LHS has a lot of play in the arm when reversing direction.

So definitely going to get this sorted out with the plastic pellets. now I've spent a bit of time in there, they should come out really fast.

another holiday job

[BarryDalHerbert]

Just a reminder for Aussies. Yonks ago I posted these two:

Thermostat: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=20163

Air filter: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=20162

BdH
Tuross Head NSW Oz
14-Jun-21 21:24

[Owen L]

18/12/22

where oh where has the time gone.

Car has now had the timing belt done by me. went really well and runs a lot quieter and much smoother. Water pump and pulleys and belts all done.

Also changed all the coolant pipes. Samco kit went in well. took a while and much skin lost.

Broke one headlight motor changing out the white pucks. On the list to be repaired, restricted to daylight running for now.

New Gear knob finally arrived, not yet fitted.

Finally got some time to work on the car again. currently chasing lack of urge above 4k. Have made a plea poste in the turbo section to see if anyone can help.

Keep chipping away, lot of fun driving it, even if it doesn't like to pull hard above 4k. Maybe they just dont? but thats crazy as i know the Boost solenoid isnt working. I will figure it out!

[Owen L]

18/12/22

I have read a bit about the cam angle sensor and fuel pressure under load.

but the Boost solenoid isn't working as the car behaves exactly the same with or without it connected. Oh the puzzlement.

[Owen L]

02/01/2023

Just wanted to make an entry in case anyone is mad enough to want to read the progress on the car in years to come. I finally got around to building the ElanScan cable and it all worked really easily on a brand new laptop running W10. Just follow Toby's video, it works. The data was quite useful but comparing it to a known good car is probably more useful. So always go find someone else's good scan, download it and overlay it on yours. For me the big error in my data was the IAC levels. Mine were too high. This is the idle air control. The other clue was a grumpy cold start for a few seconds. This should not happen. After a bit of input from others on here in the ElanScan section I resolved to check the base timing with a light gun. This always seemed voodoo to me, but I'd bought the gun ages ago and with the S2, it's very easy to hook it up to the positive post in the engine bay. Took me a sec to understand how to attach it to the right ignition lead but off we went. The base timing was miles out, under 10 according to the pulley marks. so i took all my brave pills and loosened the 6mm hex bolt and nudged the CAS UP a bit to advance the timing. Checking the mark again, it hadn't moved at all that i could discern, so i did a tiny bit more and then stuck the wheel on and took it for a drive. i should mention i first had to learn how to put the car into service mode. Again, this is very easy, and a paperclip really is all you need. Pop it into the ALDL cable pins A and B. Easy to find as they are black and black/white wires in the bottom right of the plug if you have the locator notch on the top.

Talk about a different car. Ant Anstead was right; it makes a lot of difference. Now the car revs cleanly past 4,000RPM and while it does fade a bit early in my opinion, it's there now and the car is very driveable for an older car. so Thats been a big relief. I will put the new Boost Solenoid on when it turns up and run scans with and without it connected to see if there is a difference in the data. If not, i may rig up a light to the wires to the solenoid to see if it is getting a signal.

for now the next jobs are electrical. I want to re-attach the third brake light wiring. reattach the electric water pump wiring. improve the wiring on the ElanScan and reinstall the dashboard dimmer which id bought and then found the old one in a box. Sounds like a morning.

Then the new sump with an oil change. looking forward to the filter. Speaking of filters, i want to change the fuel filter out as well. January should be a productive month for the car before work kicks back in. hahahaha.

[TorqueHorse]

Glad to hear you are starting the year off well, and got that missing "oomph" sorted!

Looking forward to seeing your progress on those other bits

[Owen L]

Glad to hear you are starting the year off well, and got that missing "oomph" sorted!

Looking forward to seeing your progress on those other bits

Cheers. Yes, it was good to take the car out for a drive yesterday because I wanted to, rather than to see if it was still unhappy. Pretty sure there is a loose heat shield as well. So under we go again!

[Hector2021]

Well done for getting on with things so early in the new year... Although im sure that having better weather than the UK helps. Interesting to hear your timing change made all the difference to performance too. Although mine seems to run just fine i think a check could be worthwhile doing myself.

[chrism]

Yep, Owen L you now stand guilty of getting us all scrambling through dusty drawers looking for our old strobe lights (that we last remember using somewhere in the '80s on completely different cars and can't remember how we hooked up...)

[Owen L]

Yep, Owen L you now stand guilty of getting us all scrambling through dusty drawers looking for our old strobe lights (that we last remember using somewhere in the '80s on completely different cars and can't remember how we hooked up...)

I remain puzzled at myself. Why on earth this wasn't the first thing i checked after changing the timing belt will remain on my "smart things i clearly recall not doing" list.

Honestly, go grab the gun and check your timing. its so simple and i doubt would absorb 30 minutes of your life.

Drove the car to get some milk yesterday and was smiling before i even got to the shop. imagine my joy after getting it warm and then having milk for coffee while i reflected on my general stupidity.

Auto Electrician here on Thursday to remove that dumb arse Immobiliser that the aussie dealer had fitted. To be fair the installer is around still and will talk to the guy, once i can prove i own the car.

Tomorrow is my birthday, so i think i better wash it. Unless we are out of milk again of course!

[Owen L]

Well done for getting on with things so early in the new year... Although im sure that having better weather than the UK helps. Interesting to hear your timing change made all the difference to performance too. Although mine seems to run just fine i think a check could be worthwhile doing myself.

Look, some days it's a bit hot in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr even May.'

We are very lucky here with the weather. Except for the storms, floods, fires, spiders etc. what doesn't kill you, just comes back later to have another go!

[alan e]

look ok, some days it's a bit hot in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr even May.'

We are very lucky here with the weather. Except for the storms, floods, fires, spiders etc. what doesn't kill you, just comes back later to have another go!

Thanks for that news i fly into Brisbane in March can't wait to be hit by a storm, washed away, burnt, and bitten by spiders .

[378S2]

Pretty brave time of year to head out; the drop bears can be bad in March.

[Owen L]

Pretty brave time of year to head out; the drop bears can be bad in March.

My daughter has a Golf convertible. She won't drive with the roof down at dusk in case a kangaroo jumps into the car. I'm incredulous but also wondering if somehow they would. Hmm

[bmw02rally]

Hey Owen,
I just found your thread and read all 4 pages. I am in Cleveland and purchased a UK Import Elan se turbo last year. I have been to a few Cars and Coffee so far and I showed the car at the All British Day.

I'm also taking it to the Ormiston swap meet this Thursday for Australia day. It has an Alternator issue that means I can't take it far at the moment but it would be good to meet up at some stage as even if we can coordinate buying parts we could save on postage!!

Best regards
Mark