I'm now a month into Elan ownership, so I suppose it's time I open a "Projects" thread to document the continuing evolution of the BRG Elan built to such a wonderful standard by Russ "Houdini" Schulz. To those not familiar with the project, I'll direct you to the car's well-documented history here and here.
Smaug is no average monster. A quick recap of the modifications he had when I purchased the car includes:
- Garrett Turbo (GT2560R)
Garrett Intercooler
RC injectors 550cc
3 bar MAP sensor
TopEnd Performance Intake pipes and TurboXS BOV
TurboXS Manual Boost Controller
Kingbourn wires
Accel coils (already replaced - see below)
Aluminum Flywheel
HD Clutch
Quaife LSD
AB shift cables with solid shifter mounts
Dave's short shift kit
Dave M's rear strut bar
Auto Europe Roll Bar
Autometer gauges
In the first month, Smaug has pulled a couple of tricks on me, documented elsewhere in the Forums. The windows refused to go up (traced to faulty relay contacts, fixed by cleaning) and a nasty two-cylinder miss under all conditions, caused by a faulty plug wire (burned right through the insulator!) and a bad coil. No way to tell which caused the other to fail, but web research uncovered a number of posts outlining problems with the Accel twin-tower coil. I have replaced both coils with MSD units and Kingsborne were kind enough to replace the wires at no charge.
While I had the overflow tank removed, I decided to see what I could do about the shiter. Fore/aft feel and travel was very good, but the right/left motion was very stiff and full of friction. The lever was also canted very far to the right. I was able to improve the action quite a bit by placing the selector in 3rd, moving the AB Cable adjustors to the opposite ends of the threaded travel, then briskly moving the housing and the lever back and forth until it settled into a less restrictive position. I then positioned the lever just slightly to the left of vertical and cinched down the adjustors. Shifting is much improved, though still stickier than some I've driven.
My first true "modification" was to replace the Sony "Xplode" head unit with a mid-90's Blaupunkt unit. It's not the one I ultimate want, but it removes the visually jarring silver Sony and replaces it one that looks like it belongs in the dash and with ergonomics that won't cause an accident while trying to change radio stations.
The jury is still out as to whether I'll fit the adjustable dampers and I'm still undecided on the Auto Europe roll bar. Whereas Houdini was taking the car ever closer to a track-day special, I intend to use the car as my "sunny day driver, so these items may not fit with Smaug's new duties. My first major project will be to fit the Wilwood brake kit that came with the car. I'm also very curious as to how the car can run so well with the stock ECU being fed by a 3-bar MAP sensor and driving 550cc injectors. The car was intended to have a Haltech but that was unfortunately lost to thieves prior to my purchasing the car. I'll make some ElanScan runs and ask for insights from ESM in the near future.
For now, the weather is perfect, the car is VERY strong (running about 1.1 bar, 16PSI of boost) and driving is way too much fun.