New member from Australia

[bmw02rally]

Hello from Brisbane.
I bought the 91 Elan Turbo Se August 2022 from a guy who imported it over from Jersey. Its done 70k miles but only 1k in 20 years where the guy kept in inside. The history also shows 3 Cambelt changes in 1k miles to haha.
It needs an alternator rebuild but its perfect for top down drives in the Qld sun.
Mark

[MPx]

Welcome Mark. I too imported mine from Jersey (back to the UK)...but that was 20 years ago! I hope you get as much fun from yours. Enjoy!

[alan e]

Hi and welcome to the club you are not the only M100 owner in Brisbane check out Owen L he also lives in Brisbane.

[Tuga2112]

seems 2023 winter is the alternator season.

think thats the 3rd or 4th alternator i read about packing in in the past 2 months. XD

lucky for you im nearly finished filming the refurb job of mine

[bmw02rally]

Thanks for the welcomes,
unfortunately I've just had spinal surgery so I won't be getting under the car anytime soon. so short trips only.

[steve matthews]

Mark, please post pictures we love Pic.

[bmw02rally]

Here it is with its Mini r53 wheels on as I'm keeping the originals safe. Plus yes I know the front side lights/Indicators are on the wrong way around, it was like that when I bought it.

[Hector2021]

Looks great. Youre in the right part of the world to enjoy it too. The UK is some weeks away from having ideal top down warm weather. We just have to squeeze in the occasional sunny day when they appear.

[FunElan]

Lovely car. Curious on the wheels - did you have to modify them to fit, or direct swap?

[Rusty Wishbone]

Mark,

Welcome to Elan ownership. I hope that your car brings you some fun.

[bmw02rally]

Lovely car. Curious on the wheels - did you have to modify them to fit, or direct swap?

Only thing you need to do is take 0.5mm from the center bore as Mini's are 56.1mm and the Lotus is 56.6mm.

[Andy C]

G'day Mark,

Welcome to the (rather exclusive) Aussie M100 club!

If you ever go for a drive to Nth NSW (I'm at Inverell) .. let me know and we can share some roads, a beer and some M100 chatter

[chrism]

Hi Mark. Welcome.

Those R53 MINI wheels look really good on your m100. I'm intrigued tho'; as far As I can see they're R85 17" 7J ET48 S spokes but they don't seem to dominate the arches like most 17". In fact, they look more like 15"-ers.

Is there any wheel arch rubbing, or any other downside? And is the reduction of 56.1mm bore to 56.6mm an easy d-i-y job with (eg) a dremel or does it have to be done 'properly' with an expensive 'engineery' machine?

Like you I'd like to keep the originals 'safe'. I really like the way you've got your front indicators, too They seem to make more sense that way around

Enjoy the 'm100 madhouse'

[dapinky]

I really like the way you've got your front indicators, too They seem to make more sense that way around

History lesson of the day:-

There is no 'Lotus Design' correct way round for the indicators to be, although some people will tell you that there is a 'right' and a 'wrong' - and they may even be correct, BUT I bet you a cup of tea and a bacon roll that they won't know why they are either right or wrong....

Most such experts will tell you that the early cars had the indicators outboard (nearer to the car corners, so slightly more visible from some side angles) and later ones had them inboard, because it looks better.......

The facts are (sort of) right, but the reasons are not exactly like above.

Lotus designed the car in the mid 1980's, and it was designed to do the job, and look good at the same time - but still needed to comply with the law, as it was always intended to be a road car.

The 'indicators out' was intend to allow sufficient side view of the flashing amber to not require side repeaters on the 'A' panel...... but at the ride height intended, it didn't quite work out, and side repeaters were needed anyway to comply with UK law. (Fed cars had side repeaters in the front bumper anyway)..... so for those cars, there is no 'legal' issue with putting them either way round, and some left the factory one way, and others left the other way.

Then the UK law changed, with the introduction of the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989...... which, clearly, all manufacturers had been aware of before it came into effect, so were designing accordingly, hence the side repeaters requirement.

This law had certain 'backdated' elements to it, and makes reference to vehicles first registered before 1986 (so covers all Elans)... and also allowed some bits to be 'delayed' to allow for current vehicle designs.

As with many UK laws, there was a delay between when it was written, and when it came into effect, so started in November of 1989. replacing the 1987 rules, but didn't need 100% compliance until 1991.

Now, the indicators were not the reason for the "swap" of the front lights, it was the front position lamps (side lights) - the "new" rules required them to be within certain distances of the vehicle sides, whilst also having a 'separation' distance requirement.

The only way that lotus could meet the requirements was to completely re-design the front bumper......... or flip the lights upside down.

So, there you go - there is no actual design reason, no change of design between early and late cars, just the UK government changing the rules mid-production.

Of course, the regs in other places may well specify which way up they should be, but what are the chances of you ever finding a copper who knows which way up they need to be????? - and it matters not when it comes to MOT tests, as the test is conducted under Con & Use regs, with little regard to either Lighting Regs or Licensing Regs.......

[Fredjohn]

Hi Mark. Welcome.

Those R53 MINI wheels look really good on your m100. I'm intrigued tho'; as far As I can see they're R85 17" 7J ET48 S spokes but they don't seem to dominate the arches like most 17". In fact, they look more like 15"-ers.

Is there any wheel arch rubbing, or any other downside? And is the reduction of 56.1mm bore to 56.6mm an easy d-i-y job with (eg) a dremel or does it have to be done 'properly' with an expensive 'engineery' machine?

Don't mean to teach you how to suck eggs, but when you fit 17'' ilo 15'', ie a 1'' diameter increase, the tyre profile is reduced by 1''. So the overall diameter stays the same, and the the wheel arch/wheel picture is unchanged, and more importantly the speedo reading is unaffected..

If you don't change the tyre profile, the speedo will be way out. Plenty of websites that calculate the effects of changing wheel/tyre sizes on speedo reading.

[chrism]

Yep, point taken. Usually larger wheels 'look' larger (eg the Rover 17"-ers) but these seem to be a very natural fit (to my eye) in the w/arches. I'd be interested to know if it's a d-i-y prospect to grind of that .5mm of bore size.

[exeterjeep]

I bought a cheap router to increase the bore on a set of MG wheels

[chrism]

Gotta pic or item suggestion, please?

[bmw02rally]

Mine were already done by the guy that had them previously and I actually got the wheels and tyres really cheap because none of the Mini guys wanted them lol.

0.5 of a Millimeter is such a small measurement (accept for guys that work with open-wheelers of course haha) that many people get away with using a dremel like tool. I wouldn't personally because I have a mate with the correct access to more accurate tools.

The wheels haven't caused any issues for me but then I haven't driven the car much and compared to my native lanes of South Wales, the roads in Australia don't really show up any issues. Being an ex-rally try hard for 30 years I'm used to driving around problems as well haha.

[bmw02rally]

G'day Mark,

Welcome to the (rather exclusive) Aussie M100 club!

If you ever go for a drive to Nth NSW (I'm at Inverell) .. let me know and we can share some roads, a beer and some M100 chatter

Cool Andy, yep if I travel south I will look you up.