Interior Makeover

[Elanlover]

Ok then, I received the struts from SUSPA (not cheap either when you order only two) and it looks very promising. I hope to tackle installing them this weekend but I quickly held them in position while moving the trunk lid up and own and it does look like this could work. We'll know more on the weekend. In fact, I'm so optimistic that I decided to have a look at the hood/bonnet as well and I'm initially of the opinion that struts could be mounted to the front as well. I plan on looking into that on the weekend too.

Now, assuming I can get the trunk and hood struts to work I'd like to know if there would be any interest in a group buy which I would be happy to organize. A very rough number for both trunk and hood (boot and bonnet) struts and mounting hardware would be about $350. It could be slightly more or a lot less dependng on quantities. Once I figure out exactly what's required i would be able to firm up the costs but I think I'm pretty close right now. If you're interested just say so here in this thread and I will consolidate the list as well as move it to the group buy section if it warrants it later on.

[Elanlover]

Hmmm................seems the strust from SUSPA don't quite fit. I hate being the test pilot. I've sourced some others that could do the job and are much cheaper too. The total cost for trunk and hood struts would come down to around $220 if it all works out.

[Elanlover]

Well now, after a long dlay between posts I can finally report success! Pics posted below of the hood/bonnet struts and brackets. Its worked out quite nicely actually without any modificaitons to the body work. I don't recommend the trunk/bonnet gas spring conversion unless you are willing to put in a lot of effort. It will require layering on some additional fibreglass to stiffen the rear wall as there's a lot of presure from the gas springs causing the wall to flex. Fortunately, I am planning on adding a subwoofer to that wall so stiffening up that area was already in the cards.

On the hood/bonnet, the top mounting ball brackets are standard items that required virtually no modifications to fit. All I had to do was drill out the holes a bit so the screws from the hinge bracket on the car would be accepted. The spacing of the mounting holes on the ball bracket I sourced were perfect. The bracket simply bolts in over top of the hinge mounting plate. The bottom bracket is custom made by yours truly and slides in under the hinge mounting plate on the body of the car. They have a slight bend at the end where the ball stud is to match the shape of the body work. I'm going to do a bit more testing (like opening and closing the hood a dozen times) but it seems to work nicely. I will also open a thread on a group buy if people are interested.

[lotos]

Looks great!

I will also open a thread on a group buy if people are interested.

[tigerdog]

Very sweet. Looks factory, probably works better than factory would have done at that time. Still, Colin C would probably object to all the extra weight when a simple prop could do the job.

[theelanman]

didnt like the broom handle then.....
I always liked the original elans bonnet design.....no hinge as such but the front of the bonnet was out of balance so it was always at 45degs when the 'latch' had been released.........why add weight when you can get gravity to do the work for you........ ......simple and brilliant all at the same time.....

I really must get out more.....

[ratman]

Looks great!

I will also open a thread on a group buy if people are interested.

ciao,
I'm interested on the front gas spring system!:
1) Ratman

[Elanlover]

p.s. I'm having the company who's doing the springs also fabricate some much better looking mounting brackets than I made.

Ratman, if you're interested you need to follow the link and add yourself to the group buy list. The good news is the cost has dropped to $75 plus any shipping and taxes.

[Elanlover]

Ok folks, its time to document my latest project - an epic one destined to go down in the anals as a masterpiece of project creep. I may write a book about it and call it:

HOW I TRIED TO MOVE MY SUBWOOFER AND ENDED UP WITH A BIGGER SUB, GAS TRUNK STRUTS, A NEW AMP, COMPLETELY NEW STEREO CABLING, A NEW TRUNK, A NEW SPARE TIRE, HOOD STRUTS, NEW REAR SPEAKER BOXES, NEW FRONT SPEAKERS WITH NEWLY DESIGNED INSERT PANELS, NEW SPEAKER GRILLS, A REAR CUPHOLDER, A GIANT BILL AND A MASSIVE HEADACHE.

I've yet to decide if its to be a comedy or a horror. I think it started out as a romance but headed south from there quickly. I do know that the book will start something like this...........



CHAPTER 1
It was a dark and stormy night when I went out to the garage to look at my dusty Elan. It had been off the road all year because I bit off more than i could chew with a few too many projects. I knew I had time over the winter to get all caught up. Plenty of time in fact I said to myself. And as i said this I looked over at my subwoofer. Nestled next to the battery and sandwiched between the bars of my LGM rollbar I knew I had to move it soon. It was a nice idea at the time but I figured one day I'd need to change the fuel filter and the positioning of sub enclosure had ensured that not even the tiniest of Lotus elf workmen who had originally assembled the car could get at it. Winter's coming, I've got time and I'm going to add this to my list of things to do. How hard can moving the sub be?

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I needed a good spot for it as the previous location blasted low frequency soundwaves right up the a$$ of whoever dared sit in the passenger seat with the stereo up loud. Usually, that would be my wife and she'd developed several ingenious methods of expressing her displaeasure about it. As i stood staring at the car I recalled reading many times that the trunk of a car is generally not the best place for a subwoofer and with such little space there I didn't think that'd be the spot. I tapped on the back wall between the trunk and battery compartment and a light went on. My wife told me to come back in, closed the door and turned off the patio light. Then I had an idea!

I'll punch a hole in the wall, seal off the wall from the trunk side with a box and blow low frequency sound through the roof storage area and right at our heads. Brilliant! Now to work figuring out the things I'd need to do. This will be easy.

[Elanlover]

CHAPTER 2

Hmmmm, seems after some investigation I'll need to do a few things to make this work. First thing I'll need to do is remove the torsion bar springs that run along the back wall that hold the trunk lid up and replace them with something else like gas springs/struts. I'll have to figure out how to mount them but that'll be easy enough. So let's get started on removing those springs.

(Project creep item #1 - gas struts for trunk)
(Elapsed time to remove srings without breaking anything or killing myself - 2 weeks)

What a pain. Have also chipped the trunk lid when it fell as I forgot that there was no longer anything holding it up A piece of wood works better than my head as I found out. I'll select my subwoofer, order it and cut the hole when it arrives. Better start on the struts in the meantime.

(Project creep item #2 - gas struts for hood - why not since I'm already working with struts, mounting plates, etc.)
(Elapsed time to figure out rear spring arrangement - 1.5 months, 6 sets of different springs, 4 sets of different mounting plates)

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Ugh! And, now that the springs are in I can't even close the trunk. The rear wall is bucklng under the stress and I'm afraid I'm going to crack the entire back wall. I'm going to need to lay down some new layers of fibreglass over the wall to add strength.

(Project creep item #3 - new back wall fibreglass layers - good things its not that hard to do as I've never done it before)
Elapsed time to lay fibreglass layers - 1 week)

Time to cut the hole for the sub. Crap. The wall isn't flat but has a bend in it. It rises up at an angle from its base then straightens out to run vertical. I'm going to need to get creative here and build up the area to hold the sub properly.

(Project creep item #4 - special sub mounting cutout)
(Elapsed time to create - 1 week)

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Finally ready to build the rear box and secure it to the rear of the wall. I think.

[Elanlover]

CHAPTER 3

Well, its clear that the old amp just won't do. It used to hang against the rear wall and is fairly wide being 5 channel amp. I loved that amp - its really good (and now for sale if anyone wants to enquire). While it is pretty flat the dimensions I've figured out for the sub box i need for the Kenwood Excelon slim mount 10" sub will mean it will sit too far into the trunk space and make things a bit too cramped. So I need a new amp and a place to put it. Not only that but I've realized that the cables to the old amp won't reach the new one. I'll need to buy and run new cables for power, speakers and to the head unit. *sigh*

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(Project creep item #5 - new amp and mounting methodology for new space)
(Project creep item #6 - rewire entire sound system)
(Combined elapsed time - 3 weeks)

Ok, that's done and the Kenwood Excelon digital 5 channel amp looks good, has good specs and fits perfectly with the creative mounting method i had to improvise so i could reach all the controls. I chose Stinger's top end RCA cables and 12 gauge speaker wire going top end all the way with a Stinger 5 Farad hybrid capacitor too. Decided that, if I'm going to spend this kind of money I might as well make it look good so I added a clear plexi window in the trunk carpet to see the amp. But of course, there's another problem. The sub box dimensions won't fit over the strut bar mounted there now. So that had to go

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Since I'm running new wires around I might as well replace the speakers - right? I've been running Polk Audio's SR5200's in the fronts and some middle of the pack Boston Acoustics in the rear. The Polk's are incredible but I was never happy with the install I did. They can be mounted coax style to save from cutting holes in the door for tweeters but they stand a bit proud and touch the grill. I made some mods on the grill a while ago to push them forward but it wasn't enough and I didn't lik the look. So, I decided to revisit the whole thing and guess what I ended up doing? Replace the fronts with new SR6500 (6.5") and move the SR5200 (5.25") to the rear. To do this required constructing new speaker mount panels in the doors to have the speakers sit back further. As the 6500's are larger I felt I needed a bigger speaker grill in the door as the old ones were for 4" speakers. I sourced some Jaguar grills that look great and were just the right size to squeeze in after carefully cutting new holes. They look great and more up to date as well. Of course, I'll need new custom speaker boxes for the rear now with the 5200's going back there. And, to top it all off, if I'm building up all this fibreglass stuff (walls, speaker boxes, etc.) then I might as well do something creative and source a cool cupholder i can mount behind the centre console in a custom enclosure.........right???

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(Project creep item #6 - new front speakers, mounting panels and grills)
(Elapsed time - 2 weeks)

(Project creep itme #7 - new rear speaker boxes)
(Elapsed time - 1 week and 1 more to finish them - total 2 weeks)

(Project creep item #8 - rear cupholder)
(Elapsed time - 1 week with 1 more week to finish)

And last but not least for this chapter. We just had to get rid of the antenna didnt we? I sourced out a small antenna that also had a built in signal amplifier froma Honda S2000. It sure looked like a perfect fit but I soon found out that the mounting plates wherenèt quite right. After a few attempts and some grinding of the plates it fit. Looks ok to me but it took a bit to figure out the wiring as the manual doesnt have a Fed wiring diagram - you have to stumble across it in the documentation.

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(Project creep item #9 - new antenna)
(Elapsed time - 1 week)

[Monty]

Great work as ever


Must of put some weight on though

[Elanlover]

Me or the car?



Actually, its lost some weight I think. The new amp is lighter by a couple of pounds and the new spare wheel is about half the weight. The gas springs are lighter than the torsion spring bar assempbly that was there. The fibreglass rear speaker enclosures (when done) will be lighter than the MDF ones that were there. The sub is about the same as the previous one and the strut bar is now gone too. I figure its probably up to 5 pounds lighter even with the extra fibreglass on the back wall.

[tweetdriver63]

When are you coming to do mine?

[Elanlover]

Ok, I've been struggling with a nagging problem that ocurred every since I swapped the tailight, etc. bulbs for LEDs and then installed a new LED compatible flasher module. I've never been able to get the dash warning lamp to come on when I activate the turn signal or hazards. I spent a fair bit of time replacing and testing stuff so, when my frustration had reached its maximum allowable level, I decided to go a completely different route.

There's a subtle difference between the Fed and UK wiring for the hazards and turn signals. The Fed version uses a different flasher module than the UK version (4 pin vs. 3pin) and that 4th pin (C2) provides the signal for the single lamp that tells you if your flashers/turn signals are on. The UK version forgoes the extra pin and uses the same circuit and wiring that goes to the rear and front indicator lights (as switched by the stalk control on the steering column) to light up the dash warning lamp. The dash lamp is part of the same circuit that runs the exterior lights in the UK while the Fed version uses a completely different circuit to light up the dash lamp via the 4th pin on the flasher module.

I didn't seem to be getting any real signal from the C2 pin so I decided to convert the Fed system to the UK system and, in the process, separate the right and left signal warning lamps on the dash (I have new dial faces coming from Metal Monkey reflecting the addition of the right and left signal warning lamps). Looking over the wiring diagrams I figured I'd have to do a crap load of cutting and splicing to get the wire runs I wanted but in the end, it was pretty simply.

The wiring harness to the instrument cluster actually has both the Fed and UK wiring available. In the middle of the wiring run is a plug and there's two male ends - one for the Fed version and one for the UK version. All you have to do is swap the UK version for the Fed version and over half the work is done. I then spliced the right turn wire into the high beam lamp on the dash, found a new location for the high beam warning bulb and spliced that in, made a couple of other splices and voila! Once the new dial faces come in I'll have solved my nagging problem AND added dedicated right and left turn warning lamps to the dash.

[Elanlover]

Ok, after a long absence from this thread here's a little update.

I love a great stereo. There's nothing like blasting out a great tune with the roof down and scaring all the neighbourhood children and cats (I mean really, do you need either of these???). Problem is, the Elan may be the worst sound stage to configure in the history of cars (although most convertibles suck at this). I did pretty good with the Polk Audio 6.5 speakers (incredible sound and clarity) and the 10 inch sub from a few posts ago. But, it just wasn't enough. With the roof down driving on the highway you lose a lot of mid range to road and wind noise. Blah. So, I decided to add some more speakers Actually, I decided I needed more mid range.

The Polk's are components so I can mount the tweeter in the centre of the woofer (where it should always be) saving space. I sourced out a very nice set or Morel CDM88 midranges on eBay that were tiny enough to fit. I've always found the rear speakers to be practically useless blowing sound up your a$$. So, I removed them completely and ran the Morel's from the rear channel outputs. At least ALL the sound will be coming from the front sound stage now. Oh yea, I replaced the amp at the same time and installed a JBL HD900/5 (meaning I now have an almost brand new Kenwood Excelon X5 5 channel digital amp for sale (nudge nudge ).

This was a complicated job but proves that you can fit a 3 way speaker system in the front if you want. I had to make new speaker mounting panels first for which I used some plastic serving trays (don't laugh) with a rubber backing to reduce vibrations. The Polk Audio speakers are shallow mount which was a requirement to get everything to fit. I also had to trim away some of the fibreglass of the door panel to fit a larger speaker mounting panel - no big deal there. Even so, the windows had to be adjusted outwards so the speakers didn't hit the glass. Below is a pic of the speakers and I'll post one of the finished door panel when its completed as I still need to add an additional grill.

This isn't a traditional 3-way system. Its much better My Polk 2 ways sound great on their own but with an additional set of spekers in the front (albeit midrange only) this system sounds really fantastic now sitting in the garage. Can't wait to test it on the road. Cats beware!

[Elanlover]

The finished product.....so to speaker. I mean speak

[Elanlover]

The stereo sounds incredible now - as good as one can get with this car I believe. I highly recommend people ditch the rear speakers in favour of some other arrangement which could include dedicated mids upfront (like I did), room for a sub (or two) behind the seats (or the amp like I did) or more power to the speakers up front by driving them on both the front and rear channels, etc.

[Elanlover]

Ok then, onto the next (potentially) project - an electronic parking brake. This idea is getting moved from this thread over here where it belongs.

In light of people having difficulty with pulling the handbrake on both sides of the pond I have been giving though to implementing an electronically controlled handbrake. There's two types commonly used out there. The first type involves specific rear calipers that are electrically operated to activate the parking brake portion of the calipers. In other words, its a unique set of calipers that accept an electric signal to activate them - no cables. I'm not in favour of this arrangement mostly due to the fact that I've already spent a fortune on hubs, hats, rotors and calipers that work quite well thanks. The second type involves the traditional cable arrangement that we have now but with a linear actuator that, when activated, does the cable pulling for you. The majority of people who have retrofitted their vehicles with an electronic handbrake seem to have gone this route due to simplicity and cost. Involved in making this work would be the following (as I see it but chime in and add away if toy think I'm missing anything):

1) an appropriate linear actuator with the desired force and stroke length
2) a fixing at the end of the actuators rod to attach the existing cable such that no modifications are required to the existing cable in any way permitting the stock setup to be swapped back in if desired
3) a custom mounting plate to fix the actuator in place of the hand brake lever using the same mounting holes and screws
4) possibly a limit switch that would shut the actuator off when the desired stroke length has been reached
5) a momentary switch (in my mind, something from an existing vehicle that looks "stock" as opposed to an aftermarket switch - like this)
6) some electronics to interface with the switch such that a momentary pulse from the switch can be converted to a continuous signal sent to the actuator to activate the brake then send a reversed signal to release the brake
7) some additional electronics to implement a safety protocol to prevent brake activation while driving (could include requiring brake pedal activation or pedal activation and a switch activation for 1 second for example)

Also, as part of this I would consider modifying the centre console significantly. Since there would be a handbrake lever and the thought of a large empty hole in the console isn't too appealing I would have a fibreglass copy made them modified to include at least, but not limited to, the following changes:

1) new window switches (I have already installed more modern Vauxhall switches in the current console which look much better) and possible relocation of them
2) new mirror switch that has a damn neutral position when not in use to prevent accidental moving of the mirrors
3) possible addition of a pair of cupholders
4) elimination of the indent where your hand goes to grasp the brake handle
5) extend the centre console backwards to the bulk head wall to eliminate the crappy carpet filler piece (I don't have a pocket there any more) and possibly enlarging the oddments tray
6) extend it forwards right to the fascia to eliminate the joint that never seems to match up - this would mean cutting into the dash a bit which would be invisible after the modifications
7) as this piece would be fibreglass and no longer match he interior panels I would cover it in leather to match the other leather interior parts
8 ) others as may be dreamed up from time to time


Thoughts????

[Elanlover]

And on the concept of a revised centre console, one idea would be to run the back of the console up the bulkhead wall, eliminating the map pocket (does anyone use that for anything useful?) and replacing it with additional storage a la the beautiful new Jag F type.