New member from Pennsylvania

[Relevance]

Hi everyone,

I've recently purchased a 1992 Silk Red SE (my first Lotus) from England and am currently importing it to Pennsylvania, Mid-July ETA. Knowing of some flaws and trying to anticipate others, I bought a headlight motor rebuild kit and new Yellowstuff brake pads. I plan on also getting new rotors, as well as new fuel, oil and air filters. Any other suggestions for maintenance items that may have been deferred and would be good to tackle immediately would be much appreciated!






Thanks!

[MPx]

Welcome! With the RHD I'm guessing Glocestershire rather than USA? The big one that immediately comes to mind is the cambelt of course. They have a service life of 5 years so you need to know when it was last changed. Otherwise I reckon you can just wait and see. Great motors that are even better if regularly and properly used. Hope you get to enjoy yours...

[Relevance]

Welcome! With the RHD I'm guessing Glocestershire rather than USA? The big one that immediately comes to mind is the cambelt of course. They have a service life of 5 years so you need to know when it was last changed. Otherwise I reckon you can just wait and see. Great motors that are even better if regularly and properly used. Hope you get to enjoy yours...

Hi Mike, Pennsylvania, United States! Car is about to make its journey across the Atlantic! Previous owner said cam belt had been changed previously but not sure how long ago so I’ll be sure to get one

[Giniw]

Hello and welcome to you!

Nice Elan!
I am pretty sure the fabric seats give more support than the full leather ones. Full leather is nice, but not so much for lateral acceleration.

[dapinky]

Previous owner said cam belt had been changed previously but not sure how long ago so I’ll be sure to get one

At least you can get the parts over your side of the pond - just remember that this is a Lotus from the times when GM owned the brand/company, and the parts bins that they raided used many bits from US cars of the time.....

Engine/Gearbox = Isuzu Impulse/Geo Storm - with some changes to parts, so always worth asking on here if a certain part is correct.

Brakes = Oldsmobile Cutlass (again, not always a direct swap, as they changed which sides the callipers were used, but at least it's a start!

As such, service items like plugs, wires, coil packs, injectors, oil filters are easily cross-referenced and available

'Bigger' service items like cambelt, water pumps, idlers and tensioners are available from Rock Auto - along with many of the sensors and other bits and pieces

Alternators etc are easy to get over there.....

etc, etc - in fact, my latest delivery from Rockauto.com arrived yesterday - we can get stuff to UK in less than a week, so you should have no problems. On my latest box I paid nearly as much for VAT and delivery as I did for the parts, and still saved a fortune over buying the parts in the UK.

[Relevance]

Previous owner said cam belt had been changed previously but not sure how long ago so I’ll be sure to get one

At least you can get the parts over your side of the pond - just remember that this is a Lotus from the times when GM owned the brand/company, and the parts bins that they raided used many bits from US cars of the time.....

Engine/Gearbox = Isuzu Impulse/Geo Storm - with some changes to parts, so always worth asking on here if a certain part is correct.

Brakes = Oldsmobile Cutlass (again, not always a direct swap, as they changed which sides the callipers were used, but at least it's a start!

As such, service items like plugs, wires, coil packs, injectors, oil filters are easily cross-referenced and available

'Bigger' service items like cambelt, water pumps, idlers and tensioners are available from Rock Auto - along with many of the sensors and other bits and pieces

Alternators etc are easy to get over there.....

etc, etc - in fact, my latest delivery from Rockauto.com arrived yesterday - we can get stuff to UK in less than a week, so you should have no problems. On my latest box I paid nearly as much for VAT and delivery as I did for the parts, and still saved a fortune over buying the parts in the UK.

Hi Pinky! Thanks for all of the information - thankfully GM parts are a dime a dozen here and just about everything you can think of is readily available and most auto parts stores. I haven’t personally used rock auto in years but I’ll be sure to price check them with the other sources around here. That being said, I would love to be able to help the Elan community wherever possible by being a “boots on the ground” US guy for parts should anyone ever need assistance in sourcing.

[steve matthews]

Silk Red from across the pond

[Relevance]

Silk Red from across the pond

I know there’s been photos of a silk red federalized Elan but I’m willing to bet this will be the first imported silk red in the US! (Maybe the first imported to the US overall?)

[Tuga2112]

Silk Red from across the pond

I know there’s been photos of a silk red federalized Elan but I’m willing to bet this will be the first imported silk red in the US! (Maybe the first imported to the US overall?)

why import an elan to the US when they were originally sold there ?
I understand it may be dificult to find one, but your going through the import costs as well as the fact the steering is on the oposite side, which will have an adverse effect to the enjoyment of driving it since you have worse view of the road ahead

[Relevance]

Silk Red from across the pond

I know there’s been photos of a silk red federalized Elan but I’m willing to bet this will be the first imported silk red in the US! (Maybe the first imported to the US overall?)

why import an elan to the US when they were originally sold there ?
I understand it may be dificult to find one, but your going through the import costs as well as the fact the steering is on the oposite side, which will have an adverse effect to the enjoyment of driving it since you have worse view of the road ahead

Hi Tuga, I do understand its a bit unusual but I had a few reasons for doing do.
1. I was in the market for an obscure car, preferably an RHD one - where I live it doesn't make much difference which side the steering wheel is on as far as visibility. There's also a huge boom of RHD cars coming to America since we never had them and have to wait 25 years to import any
2. The price was significantly less than a LHD would have been, even including shipping and customs. When I bought mine there was only 1 for sale in the US at the time and it was listed for 3x what I paid for mine
3. GM sourced parts are very readily available here and very cheap
4. back in 2020 I nearly bought a federalized one on cars and bids but lost my job the same week, I've kept an eye on the market for them ever since and the one i've bought happened to be shown to me at the perfect time, I had just sold my Miata and had the money burning a hole in my pocket

[Relevance]

I just noticed this thread was posted under Literature instead of "New Member Introductions" which is where I thought I was posting.

apologies for the mistake and thank you to everyone for being so nice and not making fun of me for it

[dapinky]

I just noticed this thread was posted under Literature instead of "New Member Introductions" which is where I thought I was posting.

apologies for the mistake and thank you to everyone for being so nice and not making fun of me for it

Well, I hadn't noticed, and it seems no-one else had either, so you could have kept it quiet and probably got away with it......

.... still, I've now moved it to a more suitable place.

[RonR]

Welcome to the joys of M100 ownership, and the Silk Red club!

I'm sure you'll discover that they sort-of creep up on you and get under your skin. My own Silk Red is about to go back on the road after a year or so, I've missed driving it terribly (but I tend to drive it terribly most of the time).

Just curious to know what you have there in place of the ashtray?

[Relevance]

Welcome to the joys of M100 ownership, and the Silk Red club!

I'm sure you'll discover that they sort-of creep up on you and get under your skin. My own Silk Red is about to go back on the road after a year or so, I've missed driving it terribly (but I tend to drive it terribly most of the time).

Just curious to know what you have there in place of the ashtray?

To be honest with you, I’ve got no clue what it is. We will know in a few weeks time!

[TorqueHorse]

Welcome! I've seen folks importing Elise's from the UK, especially S1s, but hadn't seen anyone do an M100 before. Makes sense like you said given the larger pool of vehicles on the market and the going rates. There is a Japanese market M100 that is over here too, which I saw on ebay a couple of years ago. So you join it for the very, very rare of an already rare club
My guess for the ashtray area is that it is a pivot point for a phone holder.
Good luck on the import process and that you are able to soon enjoy the end of summer and fall with some exciting runs!

[Relevance]

Welcome! I've seen folks importing Elise's from the UK, especially S1s, but hadn't seen anyone do an M100 before. Makes sense like you said given the larger pool of vehicles on the market and the going rates. There is a Japanese market M100 that is over here too, which I saw on ebay a couple of years ago. So you join it for the very, very rare of an already rare club
My guess for the ashtray area is that it is a pivot point for a phone holder.
Good luck on the import process and that you are able to soon enjoy the end of summer and fall with some exciting runs!

Thanks! I'll have to take a look for some information about that Japanese one. I could probably ask the person I bought it from what the ashtray area is but I think I'd rather wait and be surprised. Import process is mostly buttoned up now and current target is landing in the US the 13th of July

[Relevance]

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