JPS M100

[Paul.P]

Paul, you had me doubting my sanity for a minute so I just went out and had a look. All the black pipes around the LGM pipe, Wing to LGM, LGM to Throttle body & Blow-Off Valve to trash can are all Samco's . I've certainly not bought any pipes from Samco!!

Sorry G , thinking about it, that was when i had the carbon pipes, going senile i'm afraid

Glad to hear she's running ok again !

[G UK]

Bloody Fiat problems. Firstly an injector failure (£130 for one injector ) followed by the back box exhaust mount giving way on my way to work this morning, a quick fix using cable ties saw me to work where after finding out its £250 to get a replacement from a generic Kwik Fit type place (Piper on the Elan anyone ) saw a couple of favours be called in at work. An ingenious bit of bodge by one of our tinnies later and I have an almost new Stainless exhaust mount ready for re-fitting tomorrow. I cant believe how much people must pay to maintain a generic car (and in my case almost half the age and 2/3 the mileage), the Elan is much cheaper!!!

Anyway to get to the point, thanks to my Fiat issues I have been driving Blacky more than I would wish to normally this time of year and have had a couple of bizarre problems although I believe I know the source.

1) The occasional single missfire/cough under full boost: Every few days when my foot is flat to the floor and I'm under maximum boost I'll get a couple of coughs not affecting anything just providing an annoyance.
2) Overboost: I've had a couple of instances of overboost (admittedly in very cold conditions) despite the wastegate being ported and apparently free to move.

I believe both of these are due to a faulty no.1 lead as something was defiantly wrong with it when I tried to re-set the timing yet no.4 was fine.

[G UK]

Finally received a new coil pack today (£50 +free shipping from www.msdpower.com) and got it fitted along with the new leads, she seems to be running smother with no coughs or anything under full boost however she is still idling a lttle rough after a run. Looks like I'm going to have to re-check the plugs to see if they have become damaged again and re-set the timing again .

In other news despite running rich she still sailed through the MOT with only a couple of advisories as posted elsewhere.

- Front Tyre Wear (Will be replacing all 4 with R1R's in the near future)
- Small amount of play in Off Side rear wheel bearing (Will be fitting the rear brake upgrade soon anyway)
- Oil Leak (From CAS, I'll swap the standard O-Ring for the size I used on my last Elan to stop the leak)
- Slight Corrosion on the Near Side main run brake pipe (I'll have to keep an eye on that)

[G UK]

Hmm, A very bizarre one that happened a few weeks ago but which I thought I would keep to myself as I couldn't find an explanation and was beginning to think I was going nuts!!!

For some time I've had the feeling that something was wrong and that Blackie just wasn't performing as she should but could not find any problem, the problems I had been chasing with the rough idle reinforced this . Then a few weeks ago it was a nice morning so I decided to take Blackie to work. Upon trying to start her however I received an almost immediate and large bang which caused what is best described as a brown trouser moment . A quick inspection revealed no clue to what had happened so I attempted to restart thinking it must have been similar to the problem with the false start and subsequent missfire that I have suffered in both Elans previously (Blackie attempting to get on the ferry on the Isle of Man as an example!!! ). Unfortunately Blackie would not start and just sat there turning over without attempting to fire, at this point I was thinking "What the bleeding hell have I managed to do now" .

After an unsuccessful search both under the bonnet and lay on the floor, getting my work clothes in a right state whilst additionally leaving me late for work, I could find nothing to explain Blackies antics. As a desperate measure I thought I would give her one last try and low and behold she fired instantly and perfectly to life. Upon driving her I almost instantly noticed something had changed and she felt more free in her power delivery and as if something that was holding her back had gone.

Since then I still cannot find an explanation to what had happened although I've made some wild guesses. She still is running near perfect except for that damned rough idle and sometimes spluttering start and the performance still seems to be better than before!!

As I had replaced the ignition from Coil Packs to Leads to Plugs without joy I was beginning to think of a fueling problem, specifically something like a slightly blocked injector on one cylinder causing the rough idle however after the bang I'm possibly thinking crap in the fuel/lines?!?

[rip]

But you were getting an inconsistent spark from No.1 cylinder when trying to set the timing at Nick's, Graham.
No.4 was fine which virtually rules out the coil packs.... & you've checked the leads & plugs..but fuelling wouln't affect the spark...

You're not going mad. Nick & I can vouch for that as we both witnessed the curious ignition fault.

[G UK]

But you were getting an inconsistent spark from No.1 cylinder when trying to set the timing at Nick's, Graham.
No.4 was fine which virtually rules out the coil packs.... & you've checked the leads & plugs..but fuelling wouln't affect the spark...

You're not going mad. Nick & I can vouch for that as we both witnessed the curious ignition fault.

This is why I am bamboozled, I was getting a clean reading on number 1 after replacing the lead even though both new and old were reading the same with a multimeter!! After this I replaced the coil packs, and replaced the plugs again, and this still did not fix the idle/starting issue but a couple of weeks later the "bang" thing happened!?!

[G UK]

For the record Blackie has now passed 125k miles on the clock.

At the risk of calling down a huge amount of Bad Luck she has been running near perfectly (slight idle and starting issue intermittently remains but I've given up on this as a quirk of the car) for the past few months. Any planned upgrades have been put on ice due to me saving up for another deposit as I am purchasing a new house which I should be moving into in the near future. Unfortunately I will have to control my spending for a few months further due to me needing to "do up" my current house for sale or let.

The only things I have needed to do in the last few months have been to:

1) Re-assemble the glovebox latch and hinge. This was accomplished with the use of a bit of Araldite in place of the usual rivets which had pulled loose.

2) Releasing and oiling of the ignition barrel: I was having some issues with the ignition barrel not accepting the key being inserted which took the removal of the barrel to see the problem. As it turns out there is a block on the top of the barrel that should slide freely in and out as the key is inserted, mine was stuck down but was freed up by a generous dose of oil.

I'm going to have to think about cosmetics at some point as there is some minor pain cracking on the bodywork paint, the engine head paint is chipped and the roll-hoop fairings & rear deck still need trimming and adjusting. All of these are minor issues though.

[Paul.P]

Good to hear she's still running well G !

[G UK]

Crap it looks like I've had the Rear Engine Mount Steady Arm snap on me.

I can only find one replcement here www.elise-shop.com/a100a0917f-p-345301.html, want do people think about the option of welding the current one back together??

[Brit-Car-Nut]

The old part number was A100A0571F. It is replaced by A100A0917F. It is available from Lotus for £200.62.

Not cheap, I know, but at least it is still available. Call Robert Chapman at Stratton Motors if nobody wants to help.

01508 530491

[dapinky]

Not the sort of part we hear about failing very often

Seeing how 'solid' it looks, i'm not sure that a welded repair would fill me with confidence - it may have weakened elsewhere and fail again. (of course, I could well be wrong, and if someone else has actually studied the stress dynamics and says it'll be fine, then i bow to them).

I think that there is probably an underlying cause, and this is the symptom - has there been a period of 'rough running' and vibration? Are the other mounts/shock/struts attached properly? etc etc


Anyway - just been routing through the boxes, and i don't have one of these, which is annoying, 'coz i thought i had.

As i say though - it's not a common failure point, so there must be some out there

[surfboardfiller]

If this is the engine mount that attaches the gear box to the chassis, you may find the trunnions have gone and are still available but you need to determine which type of engine mount you have.
There are 3: Early, late and Fed.

Let me know if this is the engine mount you are talking about and I can help.

If it is this mount then the later type has a crash mechanism where by 2 shear rivets fail and allow the mount to rotate, I had one from Dave T's old car and the rivets didn't fail but the trunnion plates did. I re built it a few weeks ago and now fitted it on my Kit car project.

If you car has had a front end collision at some point it it likely this is the case but should have been rebuilt at the time.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Phil, he means the mount that comes out of the center of the chassis like a claw and attaches to the engine plate.

Page 4001B, item # 95 (on the right)

[surfboardfiller]

Phil, he means the mount that comes out of the center of the chassis like a claw and attaches to the engine plate.

Page 4001B, item # 95 (on the right)

Yes, that's the one.

The later type is shown here with the trunnion Check plates (102). These are designed to rotate in a collision sheering off the rivets, mine were bent and the rivets held which is probably due to the impact being to the side rather than a direct frontal collision. I bought these from Lotus recently although the button head screws (103) were not available. Early cars don't have this type, check the vin to see which yours is (late S1 and S2 will be later type).

If this is the same as Blackie then hopefully it is this simple but you may want to check the 4 bolts (104) under the chassis to see if they are all level and there is no distortion to the chassis floor. I think this car had a collision so it's likely you need to rebuild this and asses the damage. I got the 4 bolts from Lotus too.

The bad news is, its hard to get to with the car pretty much built around it.

Engine Mount.jpg

(246.68 KiB) Not downloaded yet

[G UK]

We've had the car back up on the lift today and had the arm out. As a short term fix I've had the arm welded back together and reinforced with a couple of plates as the rest of it looks in reasonably good shape.

Suprisingly they managed to get the arm back in with just removing the drive shafts and exhaust so should be able to fit a new one at a later date without the problems we would have expected. Just need to refit one of the driveshafts including a new inner CV boot and she'll be ready for next weekend.

[surfboardfiller]

We've had the car back up on the lift today and had the arm out. As a short term fix I've had the arm welded back together and reinforced with a couple of plates as the rest of it looks in reasonably good shape.

Suprisingly they managed to get the arm back in with just removing the drive shafts and exhaust so should be able to fit a new one at a later date without the problems we would have expected. Just need to refit one of the driveshafts including a new inner CV boot and she'll be ready for next weekend.

I don't see how you came to that conclusion.

All the best.

[wayne]

Sorry i'm a bit late viewing this thread but I have a good condition 2nd hand one that you may be interested in
if it will fit.
I guess it's the later type that was described with check plates. Removed from a 1992 car

21062011061.jpg

(245.84 KiB) Not downloaded yet

[surfboardfiller]

Sorry i'm a bit late viewing this thread but I have a good condition 2nd hand one that you may be interested in
if it will fit.
I guess it's the later type that was described with check plates. Removed from a 1992 car

21062011061.jpg

Yes that's the later one Wayne.

[G UK]

Thanks for the offer Wayne but shes back in one piece now.

I've literally just had to pay the deposit for the house I'm buying so I'll have it replaced later, its not permanent fix but it will do short term for now.

[Monty]

G, there`s one on ebay and only a day to go

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOTUS-ELAN-M100-R ... 1c1ce83387