Bespoke Customisations....

[Simon_P]

Elan M100 is not particularly rare and not particularly high end, so values will rise I am sure but I don’t think they will go stratospheric,

They said that about the +2 they were going for 5 or6 k so people were changing the engine and selling the twin cam. Now they are worth £20k it is a different story.

4000 cars is pretty low volume, and how many of those are still around? 1500? The engine is relatively low volume as well.

I understand it was originally going to be a Toyota, so a Honda engine, which I think is the proposed engine replacement, in my opinion would be commensurate.

not quite, it was originally going to be a different car, then GM bought Lotus and it became a different car with a GM engine and since when have Honda had anything to do with Toyota?

Lotuses will always be undervalued as there are only a few people who have time patience and money to appreciate them.

Best of luck Jamie, I too will watch with interest as there is not exactly a lot of room and probably nothing will fit, you must like a challenge.

[Nick Brough]

Elan M100 is not particularly rare and not particularly high end, so values will rise I am sure but I don’t think they will go stratospheric,

They said that about the +2 they were going for 5 or6 k so people were changing the engine and selling the twin cam. Now they are worth £20k it is a different story.

4000 cars is pretty low volume, and how many of those are still around? 1500? The engine is relatively low volume as well.

I understand it was originally going to be a Toyota, so a Honda engine, which I think is the proposed engine replacement, in my opinion would be commensurate.

not quite, it was originally going to be a different car, then GM bought Lotus and it became a different car with a GM engine and since when have Honda had anything to do with Toyota?

Lotuses will always be undervalued as there are only a few people who have time patience and money to appreciate them.

Best of luck Jamie, I too will watch with interest as there is not exactly a lot of room and probably nothing will fit, you must like a challenge.

Good points, I am lucky enough to be the custodian of a car that had a production run of 25 with around 15 survivors, so 4000 and 1500 are big numbers to me, and in my opinion will support the odd modified car, not suggesting everyone does it though

The classic car fraternity is very finicky when it comes to originality, as they say a car is original once, so as soon as you respray, reupholster change the carpets for example, it is no longer original to many.


Nick

[Kipperozzy]

Hi Jamie, the mods look smart in the photos , I think its great that people are applying their skills and knowledge to enhance their cars as they wish. Good luck with the Honda upgrade !

I remember reading an earlier post asking if the BMW Mini wheels fit our cars, good to know that some do especially as the 1600 engine BMW use is prone to timing chain failure (someone in my work was quoted £1200 for parts to replace hers plus labour), so I imagine the early ones might end up in the breakers yard with good wheels for Elan drivers to fit their winter tyres on and not damage the original alloys with all the salt they have had to use this winter

[Scott J]

S2 Elise 2003 on Pistonheads now, with K20, £23,000 which proves Jamies point.
Having bought my Elan in 2003 I genuinely don't believe prices will ever go any where more than they are now. But buy to drive, not invest .
I missed the boat on my 80's car, XR3, RST, HFT, 205Gti, so will soon be buying a R53 Cooper which I do believe will/are becoming modern classics now that MINI is onto Gen 3.5 with Gen 4 couple of years away .

[par]

S2 Elise 2003 on Pistonheads now, with K20, £23,000 which proves Jamies point.
Having bought my Elan in 2003 I genuinely don't believe prices will ever go any where more than they are now. But buy to drive, not invest .
I missed the boat on my 80's car, XR3, RST, HFT, 205Gti, so will soon be buying a R53 Cooper which I do believe will/are becoming modern classics now that MINI is onto Gen 3.5 with Gen 4 couple of years away .

I agree Scott, cars like these should be bought to drive and enjoy, not as an investment! Any appreciation should be seen as a plus. That's why a lot of classic cars became unaffordable to many when all the investment clubs were buying them up to put into storage.

Your old car no longer has the original Lotus seats but the Honda S2000 seats now fitted means I can enjoy the car better than before, it may not suit some of the purists on here but I am happy

[par]

Scrap the plans to fit a K20 into an Elan, keep it and fit it to something worth a whole lot more:-

Honda NSX

[Simon_P]

Scott,
I Can't see the elise for all the other ones at a similar price.

Agreed about the Mini - Will you be putting a different engine in it as it to make it more classic?

Par,
Noone in their right mind would buy a lotus as an investment.

[Jamie N]

How the heck did a post about some easily reversed and non permanent silly modifications end up with a slanging
match about engine conversions ? .

there is not exactly a lot of room and probably nothing will fit, you must like a challenge.

Well to put that in perspective... nearly ten years ago a Consultant told me I had around 3 months to live, a fairly
devastating and terrifying thing to be told I can assure you. I can still see that Consultants face and hear the words like it was yesterday,
a real bolt from the blue and totally unexpected, unless you have been there personally you could never appreciate the extent to
which your world caves in.

I was then faced with the ultimate challenge for anyone to face, not many
challenges can be more difficult than fighting for your life and very existence on the planet.

Needless to say I faced it head on and fought it like the absolutely determined bastard I am.

So you asked about taking on a challenge Simon, well I can tell you this.... The challenge of putting a Type R engine into
an Elan doesn't scare me in the slightest bit, not one iota. I have done more Honda conversions than I can remember, including
at least a couple where folk were saying "cant be done", didn't phase me, I did the calculations and worked out it was doable,
just like the Elan.

Have you had several engines and gearboxes alongside an Elan to make the prediction that nothing will fit?, I have had a K20
engine and box and ancillaries alongside mine and made lots of measurements, so therefore have actual data,
whereas you just surmised and made it up that nothing will probably fit, why did you do that ?, just to be negative ?, seems
a really strange statement to make with (apparently) no evidence, (or maybe you do have the evidence that no other engine
can fit in an Elan engine bay ?).

Anyway, facing the thought that I would be dead within 3 months ultimately leaves you with a different perspective on many things,
more positive about life in general and what is genuinely important, and strangely, negativity from others becomes more apparent
and noticeable, often leaving me wonderingwhy is there so much dissing and doom mongering everywhere.

So that's why when someone makes statements like "watch the value of your car plummet" and "nothing will probably fit" and a
general air of defeatism it only serves to put a little smile on my face and make me even more determined to get stuck in
to this wee challenge, when I get the time!.

So, in answer to your query... yes, absolutely yes, I have been known to take the odd challenge on board Simon.

Have a nice day.

[Simon_P]

Jamie,
Perhaps if you read what I wrote with your positive state of mind rather than your negative one, you would realise that I am positively appreciating the efforts that you will have to go to in pursuit of your challenge.

I don't see a slanging match; a little irony perhaps. I have a different opinion to you and perhaps, a different perspective. Sorry you don't like it but that is somewhat the point of a forum.

I haven't suggested that you would be scared, daunted, or phased, neither would I be. It'll all fit first time, it'll drop straight in and you'll be done by teatime!

I had an excellent day thank you.

[Jamie N]

All good with me mate. Live and let live eh.

[alan e]

If you look at the seals he makes i think he will do it if he gets time to get round to it.

[Kipperozzy]

Hi Jamie, how do the Mini wheels suit the Elan for offset ? I have seen a lot of different wheel types on the BMW Mini, and remember watching the programme on TV about their production line saying a new owner can specify exactly how they would like their car to look which I suppose is "OEM" custom !
I've seen some unusual looking (to me) mini's on the road but I'm sure the owner is delighted with the result.

When I bought my SE,the owner had "customised" her by fitting "better" brakes that dont need a lot of maintenance to keep working properly, a modified gear linkage that shouldnt break and let me change gear smoothly, a SS exhaust so I dont need to worry about it rusting away among other things.
I have further customised her by fitting a Coolex radiator that shouldnt weep from the joins as its welded, and PAS pipework with passivised metal pipes so shouldnt rust. While I was doing that work I managed to repaint the front end using an American paint (POR15) and German paint(Lidl) and am in the process of customising the rear chassis and suspension using the same.
I thought I would add that in as the thread seemed to have changed into a "original or custom thread.
Also, I just looked on Google and see that there are actually more earlier Elans on the road now than M100's , and their price is far higher than ours. I sold my S4 Sprint for nearly double than I paid for it, and now (if it was in good condition) they are worth a lot more than that. I didnt buy mine as an investment but I believe I will get my money back if I ever sell her which is more than you can say for a lot of cars, and I think the M100 is a bargain at the prices they are advertised for now.

Bottom line is that we are all different and as owners we can carry out whatever "jamiefications" we want to without retribution

[Steve A]

Totally

[Jamie N]

Good point about the Mini wheels Kevin, I have had 8 or 9 Coopers here in the last year and they were all
quite unique with a few different wheel styles, I have an absolute peach just now, a creamy white 06
plate with only 43k miles, and the last of the good engines before they put the highly problematical Prince engine
in them (Peugeot 207....say no more! ), its as good condition as a 14 plate, absolutely immaculate, and it came from away down
south so hasn't been subjected to quite the same level of salt laden roads we have to put up with. I had an 09 plate that came from
Aberdeen and it was corroded so badly underneath it wouldn't pass an MOT.

I Think the 5 spoke 16" ones are quite good looking wheels, I have removed the tyres and redone the wheels
in satin iron grey metallic, going to change the tyres to 205 45, and will post a picture for you when
I have them on the car.

As for fitting...what I found with the set I have is the offset is 48mm, the centre bore has a lip about 6mm deep
and 2mm high, this lip prevents the wheel from fitting on the Elan hub, if you machine the lip down (you are only removing a tiny amount of alloy)
level with the rest of the bore, which on these is 56.5 it has the very slightest interference fit on the Elan hub, the Elan
spigot is around 16mm from the outside edge to the face of the disc, and that gives plenty of room to add the 3mm spacer you need on the
front to clear standard brakes, it is actually only fouling the alloy spoke by about 1mm. Obviously uprated front calipers will require a larger
spacer (which will unfortunately decrease the offset).

A highly debateable topic of course but I think these (looks wise anyway) are a huge improvement on the SE 15" originals,
but will it drive as good?, we will find out in due course.

[Jamie N]

Scrap the plans to fit a K20 into an Elan, keep it and fit it to something worth a whole lot more:-

Honda NSX

Well I never!, a Turbo K20 in an NSX, That is brilliant, 10 / 10 to the builder of that. And look at the size of that engine bay,
it looks about half the size of the Elans!. Another car with a tiny Engine bay has had several K20 swaps done across the globe,
the CR-Z, I really like the look of those and had one last year, but the hybrid electric was just uninspiring, it lasted a month .

[Scott J]

Show us your MINI then ! I am interested.
I sold my 55 plate Copper 9 months ago and regretting it. Brother probably selling his 06 with leather seats this summer so will buy it .

Re MINI wheels, I'm pretty sure Muley fitted the "minilite" style ones to an Elan .

[Rambo]

I think it might have been Nige Scott ??

[Rambo]

Par,
Noone in their right mind would buy a lotus as an investment.

Not true Simon. There are 2 guys in Club Lotus Scotland that I know off who have baby Elan's and bought them approx. 10 and 15 years ago, partly for their driveability, but also as a future investment. Not only have they enjoyed many years of fantastic drivng on twisty Scottish country roads but they are now reaping the benefits of their initial investments. Both of them have now cashed in their investments and bought Evora's. Wish I could manage to do that

[muley]

I think it might have been Nige Scott ??

This.

BTW you need early Mini 4 stud wheels ~ they've moved on to 5 stud. Offset isn't too far out. (or in ~ ha ha ha)


Jim

[Rambo]

I think it might have been Nige Scott ??

This.

BTW you need early Mini 4 stud wheels ~ they've moved on to 5 stud. Offset isn't too far out. (or in ~ ha ha ha)


Jim

Sorry to hijack your topic Jamie, but do you mean this one Jim ?

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=16255&p=216973&hilit=Minilite#p216973