Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby lotusflasherman » Wed 06.12.2017, 14:16

Rambo wrote:Having a sleepless night Phil ? Too much thinking about the tall one in the middle :lol: :lol:


Going :offtopic: but .... Yes, as usual, but it's tinnitus, not Sheila Ferguson - but it may tonight .... SF on youtube.com
Think she's like the M100, may be old but still performs :lol: and where can I find a 70 year old that (mis)behaves like that ? :bananasex:
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Jamie N » Wed 06.12.2017, 20:53

lotusflasherman wrote:Going :offtopic: but .... Yes, as usual, but it's tinnitus, not Sheila Ferguson - but it may tonight .... SF on youtube.com
Think she's like the M100, may be old but still performs :lol: and where can I find a 70 year old that (mis)behaves like that ? :bananasex:






She is 70 ?, chuffin 'eck!!! :D , like the Elan indeed.... curve's in all the right places :-D .
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Rusty Wishbone » Thu 08.02.2018, 00:31

A bit of a coolant leak since the garage replaced the old coolant hoses with my Samco ones. On investigation, it looks like it is leaking at the bleed screw. Tightening resulted in the head of the bleed screw snapping off, so I've just replaced that. I notice that the escaped coolant is pink, so it looks like the garage used OAT coolant. I'm going to drain it down and replace with ethylene glycol coolant.

Anyway, while I was under the car, I noticed that the oil cooler is leaking. I see that SJ's sells their own brand replacement, but before buying one, I wondered if there were any other choices. Any thoughts?
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Brit-Car-Nut » Thu 08.02.2018, 00:37

Remember to flush the system after draining it. You don't want to mix the two types of antifreeze.

Coolex also offer a replacement oil cooler. look for a posting from them.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Saltire » Thu 08.02.2018, 21:43

Brit-Car-Nut wrote:Coolex also offer a replacement oil cooler. look for a posting from them.


I have the Coolex oil cooler, fitted 2 years ago. Brilliant piece of kit. Just a thought though; is the leak definitely coming from the cooler rather than the pipes? I only ask because one of my pipes was leaking too. I had a local supplier make up new pipes with the existing ends (old ends NLA)
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Rusty Wishbone » Fri 09.02.2018, 00:32

Thanks for comments. I have felt around the top of the oil cooler, and the pipes, and there is no trace of a leak there.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Rusty Wishbone » Sun 11.02.2018, 22:37

I am getting coolant boiling out of the expansion tank, so advice would be very welcome. Here is the story:

The car has a stainless steel expansion tank - that was there when I bough the car, so has been there for several years. I had the garage replace the old hoses with the SAMCO ones that I bought a couple of years' ago. Ever since the car had the hoses replaced, it has been losing water. This week I hunted around for leaks, and identified that, when hot, water seemed to be leaking from the bleed screw beneath that headlamp. Having a poke around, I discovered that the head of the bleed screw had broken off, so I replaced it. Testing it to temperature again, steam and boiling water is forced out around the reservoir cap as the engine approaches the point where the fans cut in - I think that this is the only place it is escaping. Once cooled, the reservoir is empty. I am using one third ethylene glycol in the coolant water.

I don't really know what to do next. The only thing I can think of is that the reservoir cap doesn't hold enough pressure, but it is on tight. I am puzzled by the fact that the coolant still boils with the antifreeze in there - I thought that antifreeze increased the boiling point of the coolant. The fans cut in at the correct time - when the engine temperature reaches the 3/4 point, and the temperature falls to half way very quickly.

Your advice would be very welcome.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Brit-Car-Nut » Sun 11.02.2018, 22:42

It may be crazy, but check the thermostat to make sure it is installed correctly: the jiggle pin goes at 12 o'clock. If it is wrong, there will be a coolant void and crazy things will happen.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Rusty Wishbone » Sun 11.02.2018, 23:03

Thanks BCN. I know that this was installed the correct way up because I did it myself about 2 or 3 years' ago, and was aware of this advice form you at that time.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby par » Mon 12.02.2018, 00:39

Is your heater working on full when bleeding the system?

I had something similar and it was caused by an airlock in the heater matrix, I didn't realise at the time that vacuum pipe was leaking so the heater controls were not working properly. Once I sorted the vacuum leak I successfully bled all the air out of the system and it worked fine.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Rusty Wishbone » Tue 13.02.2018, 00:30

Yes, the heater is on hot, and heat comes out the vents.

I think I'll order a new header tank cap from SJ's. Incidentally, I think that the header tank is an aluminium one from Coolex.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby lotusflasherman » Tue 13.02.2018, 03:46

Rusty Wishbone wrote: I think I'll order a new header tank cap from SJ's.


Made a quick video for Scott of how to test a pressure cap blow off pressure ... link here Quite easy to do with two hands, not so easy when one is holding the phone to video it .. :lol: Click the youtube link...
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby chrisP » Tue 13.02.2018, 16:44

Check the thermostat again, if it fails it can lead to the same symptoms and it is a cheap to replace part in any case. If not is it HGF??
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Oscarthecat » Mon 06.01.2020, 16:07

lotusflasherman wrote:
Have you got any old wheel centres - My Lotus logo centre caps had faded to: 1) nothing, 2) a faint outline, 3) pale blue on cream and 4) faded original colours. I looked at replacing them and then decided to try something different - Cat on Skates logo from here appealed but looked a bit fussy with 'lotuselancentral.com' so reduced that to Lotus Elan and printed on photopaper and laminated it. Fixed with double sided tape but don't know how long they'll take to fade but expensive ones didn't last that long either and these didn't cost a lot to make...

What do you think? Can post a set on a sheet if you want.

Phil


I have these Cat on skates centre caps on mine. No idea when they were fitted but 3 of them still look good. 1 has peeled and looks black and silver in colour. Car was previously owned by BFG then Muley. Did you supply the caps?

Thanks Paul
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby GeoffSmith » Mon 06.01.2020, 16:34

Calypso Red S2 #417

USB ElanScan interfaces - £60 incl. UK P&P & £65 incl. ROW P&P
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Rusty Wishbone » Sat 02.05.2020, 22:45

I need to get back to the coolant leakage problem one of these days. But in the meantime, I've replaced the door window weather strips. Nice to introduce my youngest son to pop riveting too.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Rusty Wishbone » Sat 09.05.2020, 10:43

This lockdown has really allowed me to get back to tinkering with the Elan. Next, I'm going to disassemble the rear suspension, de-rust it and paint it before putting it all back together. I'll also de-rust and paint the chassis at the rear. Before starting, I've measured the suspension geometry with lengths of string, and almost everything is slightly out of whack:

REAR:
Ride height 165mm (should be 174mm +/-2mm)
Left Toe in 1mm (2mm+/-1/2mm)) Camber -1.2deg (-1/2 deg +/-1/4 deg)
Right Toe in 3mm; Camber -0.3deg

FRONT:
Ride height 152mm (should be 165mm +/-2mm)
Left Toe out 0.5mm (zero); Camber -1deg (-3/4deg +/-1/4 deg)
Right Toe out 2mm; Camber -0.7deg

It is no surprise, really that the ride height has dropped after all these years. but there isn't any way of adjusting this, I don't think, other than by replacing the springs. I would prefer to keep the original springs because the replacement ones are a bit firmer and I have the view that if it was good enough for Lotus, its good enough for me. I might replace the dampers, but I'll have to see what condition they are in once I remove them. If anyone has any advice on replacement of the spring/dampers based on the geometry, I would be interested to hear it.
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Re: Rusty's Second Elan - Keeping it on the Road

Postby Saltire » Sat 09.05.2020, 21:14

Rusty, I replaced both springs and dampers when I did my suspension rebuild eighteen months ago. Like you, I wanted to stay original. Springs weren’t a problem; they came from SJ Sportscars (fronts linked but I got the rears there too).

Dampers were more of a problem, as originals are NLA. After much research, I elected to go for a set of adjustable Avos from Merlin Motorsport, as a good balance between cost, functionality and ease of refurbishment in future. I have them set one click up from fully soft, which is just a tad firmer than the standard dampers, and that suits me fine (but then I’m an Old Bloke!)

I didn’t take detailed measurements before starting, because I knew I wanted to replace bushes etc anyway, so I just had all the adjustments set afterwards. Which reminds me, I must go down and see Mr Hunter Hawkeye for a check-up once we’re no longer imprisoned and the car’s on the road.
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