Lotus Elan Central

by **Paul.P** » Sat 12.01.2008, 13:57

ailwyn wrote:The markings on the speedo gauge are notoriously inaccurate.
Lockwood sell aftermarket dials that read 160mph on the same arc(?) which is much closer to actual speed.

Several of us have proved that going to S2 wheels & with the Lockwood 160mph dials, the speedo is far more accurate. I have done this upto 120mph, someone reading the GPS whilst i was reading speedo, & it was 3mph out all the way !.
By the way, all standard equipement speedo's will read over what you are actually doing, if it we're other way around there would be loads of car manufacturers being sued !

by **GeoffSmith** » Sat 12.01.2008, 15:36

Paul.P wrote:By the way, all standard equipement speedo's will read over what you are actually doing, if it we're other way around there would be loads of car manufacturers being sued !

We got that by reading Paul's link!

ElanScan report the pulses from the speed sensor which is a hell of a lot more accurate than the speedo.

by **Paul.P** » Sat 12.01.2008, 16:51

geoffsmith wrote: We got that by reading Paul's link!

ElanScan report the pulses from the speed sensor which is a hell of a lot more accurate than the speedo.

Just confirming Pauls link :!:

Its fine elanscan being more accurate, but its a pity them pulses can't work an electric speedo to give an accurate reading, can't you sort this Geoff, your an electronic wizard ?

by **ailwyn** » Sat 12.01.2008, 17:19

Paul,

You need a speedo drive that makes the VSS signal.

The only reason you can't swap (directly) the original cable driven speedo for a VSS one is the VSS is part of the speedo, so if you remove the speedo assy you are left with the cable and no VSS.

LGM has fitted a speedo drive that produces the VSS directly.

Hope that makes sense

by **tweetdriver63** » Sat 12.01.2008, 17:41

Thanks everybody. I didn't expect so many replies so fast. I was aware that speedometers err in our favor by design, but the amount led me to think something's wrong. I watched a story on one of the TV news shows a couple of years ago, 60 Minutes maybe. I remember them finding that BMWs had the most accurate ones, and that most read the speed faster than you're really going, by only about 1-3 mph at highway speed (65 mph.

My speedo reading about 75 mph when the car is actually only going 65 mph is an error of around 15%, which I think is a bit out-to-lunch. I could look for somebody who could re-calibrate it, or I could just live with it. I could also put bigger tires on the next time I need them. How much would it affect the handling if I did that? Going from the stock 205/45-16 tires to 215/50-16 would make a 5.2% difference in the right direction (and I guess over the long haul, I'd be putting fewer miles on the odometer).

by **dermotbell** » Sat 12.01.2008, 17:51

I have found that most cars I have owned over read by about 5%, except for Lotus.

Both mine and my dads overead by 10% - performance enhancing :wink:

I use my Road Angel for an accurate read out.

PS are you at Columbus, seem to remember being through there on the VC10 (the other classic i drove, the machmeter over read on her as well :!:

)

by **tweetdriver63** » Sat 12.01.2008, 17:59

Yes. I'm in Columbus. I've been here for about 15 of the last 18 years. I'm retiring from the Air Force at the end of April, after 22 1/2 years. I haven't flown anything measured in mach in a long time. :cry:

by **dermotbell** » Sat 12.01.2008, 18:20

Training baby pilots? Can't quite match 22 1/2, only 12 1/2 yrs in RAF.

Just moved to Sentry, long days of groundschool :cry:

by **tweetdriver63** » Sat 12.01.2008, 18:41

dermotbell wrote:Training baby pilots?

I've pretty much made a career of it - 3,000 IP hours in the Tweet and T-34C (Navy) over 17 years, after 3 years in the KC-135.

I did have the pleasure of spending 6 weeks TDY at Mildenhall back in 1988 (Ah..the Bird in Hand...), passing gas to many of your brethren in the F-111 and a bunch of NATO AWACS weenies. One of your F-111 guys blinded me for a few minutes with his lightshow following a night refueling. That was very cool.

by **dermotbell** » Sat 12.01.2008, 20:07

I was a Tanker Wanker for 7 yrs, loved every minute of it.

Many happy dets in Bahrain, one very good one in Eglin (stayed in Destin) in 2004 for JCIETs.

The 10 is now 40 yrs old in RAF service - just another 10 before she finally is put to bed for the last time. I still tell people that as Concorde has retired she is now the fastest airline in the world.

by **Specky** » Sat 12.01.2008, 20:36

Ah the two winged master race... :wink:

I also was on 10's a few years ago..

Found out Skydrol burns evrything you touch the hard way..

TTFN

by **dermotbell** » Sat 12.01.2008, 21:00

I left in 2004, how bout you?

by **Paul.P** » Sat 12.01.2008, 21:07

Bloody hell, you lot would qualify as EM members at this rate :lol:

by **Monty** » Sat 12.01.2008, 21:36

tweetdriver63 wrote:Thanks everybody. I didn't expect so many replies so fast. I was aware that speedometers err in our favor by design, but the amount led me to think something's wrong. I watched a story on one of the TV news shows a couple of years ago, 60 Minutes maybe. I remember them finding that BMWs had the most accurate ones, and that most read the speed faster than you're really going, by only about 1-3 mph at highway speed (65 mph.

My speedo reading about 75 mph when the car is actually only going 65 mph is an error of around 15%, which I think is a bit out-to-lunch. I could look for somebody who could re-calibrate it, or I could just live with it. I could also put bigger tires on the next time I need them. How much would it affect the handling if I did that? Going from the stock 205/45-16 tires to 215/50-16 would make a 5.2% difference in the right direction (and I guess over the long haul, I'd be putting fewer miles on the odometer).

I wouldn`t change size of tyres for the sake of a speedo

Yours does seem to be out a little more than the norm, in pinky at 110 is showing 100 on the Sat Nav and thats with lockwood dials and 16" S2 wheels.

I`ve heard some of the older type Elan owners use IIRC one of those speedo`s you get for a push bike and stick it to the dash, but you need to calibrate it

by **The Ref** » Sat 12.01.2008, 22:38

I was in the army for six WEEKS before they kicked me out for standing up to a bully :smt077

by **Nige** » Tue 15.01.2008, 20:25

You lot need to get some in, 28 years and still going :shock:

, the question is why :roll:

.

by **Elanlover** » Wed 16.01.2008, 18:34

I wonder if these pics can shed some light on this issue. I'm putting in new dial faces on the guages and at the same time I'm swapping the MPH speedo which cam with my Cali car for a KMH speedo for use here in Canada. In looking these two speedos over they seem to NOT have the same calibration marks.

The MPH one starts at about 14KMH where as the KMH speed starts at 20KMH. Also, the MPH one ends at what would appear to be about 270KMH (170mph) where the KMH speedo ends at 260KMH - but the calibration marks appear to be the same position for 170MPH and 260KMH. Meaning they aren't the same as 170MPH doesn't equal 260KMH. Could be that there's other marks out of sync as well.

Does anyone now how far off a KMH speedo is? Seems the MPH speedo is off by many reports. I wonder which is more accurate if any?

by **AndyH** » Thu 17.01.2008, 00:50

Off topic I know but I just wanted to say ARSE! I'm posted to Waddo on the 28th Jan... I was hoping to be the only Elan owner there! I'll PM you dermotbell when I'm settled - we can compare motors

carry on...

by **Specky** » Thu 17.01.2008, 11:41

As stated earlier the Speedo's can be Calibrated...So there's no real issue why the Dials are slightly different..

Or.... just fit either and use your Sat Nav to see which is more accurate..

or the combination of the two...

TTFN

by **dermotbell** » Thu 17.01.2008, 20:37

Andy,
welcome to sleepy Lincolnshire.

That will make 3 Elans in the area, almost enough for a group

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Speedometer Accuracy in Question

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