Lotus Elan Central

by **Dave S M100** » Thu 01.02.2007, 17:37

Hey guys,

I still have the yellow M100 track car, actually gave it to my daughter, since my son has the black Elan, but she is getting married and might want to sell it. I had installed most of the interior back, added in the side windows and door panels, etc. and added a top, head light buckets, etc, but all those can come out again.

As for the roll bar, I had one made by a guy in Sarasota, Flordia that does FIA bars, he did a nice job, bolt in and it is a 4 point that goes on the inside of the windshield as well to help in a roll over, it also gives the etra benefit of stiffing up the body from flexing. I paid $750 for it about 7 years ago. The seat belt harnesses attach to the bar as well.

by **Dave M** » Thu 01.02.2007, 17:59

Dave S M100 wrote:I still have the yellow M100 track car, actually gave it to my daughter, since my son has the black Elan, but she is getting married and might want to sell it.

Hi Dave. Great to hear from you! Oh, no... My wife is going to kill me for even wondering, though if your daughter really does want to sell it, please let me know. Depending on timing, I may be interested.

by **Dave M** » Thu 01.02.2007, 18:02

Sy V wrote:Have you done something similar between your B-Posts for the harnesses in that top picture?

Yes, I have extra bars welded into the rollbar for the harnesses. You can just see them in the top pic, but they go from the outer portion of the bar to the "Y" center section. Hack MS Paint drawing below...

by **ailwyn** » Thu 01.02.2007, 18:02

Dave, your garage must be too big... are you buying up all the Elans in the land?

by **Jeff** » Thu 01.02.2007, 18:30

Dave's Yellow M100 can be the LEC M100 Club racer

by **Sy V** » Thu 01.02.2007, 19:11

Dave S

That's great news about the car and (more importantly to me) about the roll cage.

LONG SHOT: Seven years have passed - I don't suppose he has CAD drawings (or similar) of the rollcage does he - perhaps?

Dave M

If you get anything back from AE, please let me know.

My Flying Cat project has stalled because I won't proceed any further without a roll bar/cage. Once that's in (if I can find one) I can fit seat and harness, then fire extinguishing system before starting geo and testing.

by **Dave M** » Thu 01.02.2007, 20:32

ailwyn wrote:Dave, your garage must be too big... are you buying up all the Elans in the land?

My garage is not big enough...I'm going to be stacking Track Elan & Peely via a lift as it is! I really need to move and get a pole barn. If I sell Peely someday, then I'd have room for the yellow one. My wife was VERY understanding about the red car, but 3 Elans at once would mean death for me or a new house for her (then I get the pole barn :wink:

). At this point we'd have to sell the kids (among many other assets) to do that, however. And we kinda like the kids. :roll:

by **Ekapol** » Thu 01.02.2007, 20:48

Dave M wrote: At this point we'd have to sell the kids among many other things to do that however, however.

Please let me know. Depending on timing, I may be interested. :-D

by **Dave S M100** » Thu 01.02.2007, 21:10

I actually took the car down to Flordia and left it there for a few weeks, he custom built it to the car, so no drawings. It was also power coated for me.

by **Dave S M100** » Thu 01.02.2007, 21:20

I have a liftand it is great to stack and work on them.

Let's see if I can get the picture to apear.

Dave

by **Kuching** » Thu 01.02.2007, 21:36

Jeff wrote:Kuching,

Funny that you mention it; that magical 400lb number has been stuck in my head for several months now.

So tell us,what additional tricks do you have up your sleeve? Carbon fibre replacement body panels?

A large part of the weight of the Elan is in the backbone chassis, also this lacks torsional rigidity due to the small cross-sectional area (compared to a structural shell). My plan is to dispense with this and build the car around a fabricated tubular structure. This could be made far lighter and enormously stiffer than the original chassis as well as improving rollover protection.

Carbon fibre panels could be another avenue to explore but I suspect that the cost/weight-saving would be relatively high. I would suggest tackling the heaviest components first.

400lbs is just a rough estimate but once all the unwanted road-car stuff is ditched, I wouldn't be surprised if this could be improved on.

by **Dave M** » Thu 01.02.2007, 22:27

Dave S M100 wrote:I have a liftand it is great to stack and work on them.

Swap colors and that is very close to what my garage will look like. Except my walls are BRG and Norfolk Mustard Yellow. :wink:

by **Dave M** » Fri 02.02.2007, 01:00

[quote="Sy V"]If you get anything back from AE, please let me know./quote]
Just heard back from AE and they said they have one in stock and can have more made at any time. The guy who builds them does them 3 at a time, so AE may need 3 orders before they have them made - though if there were two people interested (after the existing bar is gone), I can't imagine they wouldn't do an order.

Price is $750, but maybe less if we had more folks interested (do I dare say group buy?). The guy said that they had shipped 3 or 4 to the UK before, so that doesn't seem like an issue.

If anyone wants to contact them directly here is who replied to me: tom@autoeuropesales.com

by **Doug** » Fri 02.02.2007, 01:26

so you're arranging a group buy, Dave!

What a guy! :-D

[no need to reply with the :smt097

smilie as I already know]

by **Dave M** » Fri 02.02.2007, 02:00

Doug wrote:[no need to reply with the smilie as I already know]

No...actually it will be no problem! I'll just charge my standard tax consulting rate per hour and I'll take the time during busy season to do it. If people want a group buy and can wait until April 18, I'll do it for my typical "Lotus" rate per hour - $0. :wink:

by **Jeff** » Fri 02.02.2007, 15:47

Kuching

Just curious about your space frame idea; what materials did you invision for implementing a space frame? Bonded aluminum? Carbon fibre? Also how would this incorporate with the engine/raft subframe? The same way the backbone chassis is connected?

Also in regards to the 4wd setup, would that entail entirely new drivetrain? I didn't believe it could be done with the existing Isuzu lump.

by **Jeff** » Fri 02.02.2007, 15:59

Also Dave M. was curious what type of events that you participate in. I would probably still continue with HPDE and Open Track days. You know it will be just a matter of time before our M100's are eligible for..um..."Vintage" racing. Well since mine in BRG it only makes sense :lol:

I've never ventured over into the wheel to wheel all-out racing SCCA/NASA type events; M100's are still very rare , and replacement body components ($$$$)!unlike a spec Miata where you could just hammer out the dings or find a new hood relatively easy.

by **Dave M** » Fri 02.02.2007, 19:21

Jeff wrote:Also Dave M. was curious what type of events that you participate in. I would probably still continue with HPDE and Open Track days. You know it will be just a matter of time before our M100's are eligible for..um..."Vintage" racing. Well since mine in BRG it only makes sense

I mostly run with Lotus club events. I'm lucky to be right in-between the Detroit and Chicago clubs, so I usually do each of their events each year + a number of others via the area Porsche club or something like that. All events are limited passing, multiple run groups by experience, etc. so no major chance of banging the car up. If I wanted to get into true "racing", I'd probably do a spec Miata series or something cheap like that. I care too much about my Elan to crack something!

by **Kuching** » Fri 02.02.2007, 20:08

Jeff wrote:Kuching

Just curious about your space frame idea; what materials did you invision for implementing a space frame? Bonded aluminum? Carbon fibre? Also how would this incorporate with the engine/raft subframe? The same way the backbone chassis is connected?

Also in regards to the 4wd setup, would that entail entirely new drivetrain? I didn't believe it could be done with the existing Isuzu lump.

This would be a welded tubular steel construction. Using high tensile steel allows relatively thin wall sections to be used - and therefore low weight while achieving very high structural rigidity.

The front suspension raft is a very clever idea for a road application allowing compensation for the deflection in the rubber bushes under changing load. However for a track car rigidity is the key, therefore the suspension would mount directly to the chassis using spherical bearings that effectively have no compliance. This makes the suspension movement and control much more accurate, consistent and direct. Coupled with the improved stiffness in the structure, the dampers now have far more control over wheel movement (which would otherwise be lost in the 'mush' of bushes squashing and the chassis twisting).

4WD is another project in itself and would probably be phase 2 in the scheme. There are several motorsport systems that may be worth investigating but this would bump the cost up by many thousands. The first idea I would look into is using the Isuzu system (is it the Impulse RS?). To be honest I know little about this car, if there are many about now, or if one ever got to the UK, but if it is as simple as bolting the unit on to the Elan engine (with any required chassis mods) this has to be the cheapest and simplest solution.

So, have I sparked any interest?

by **Dico** » Fri 02.02.2007, 21:08

Monty wrote:
Well thats gone to pot as Dico has bought something else

Monty mortgages can be extended........... and i've got three of them! :shock:

Must admit my eyes opened when I read Simons comments

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