Lotus Elan Central

thought it was about time i shared my experiences:

Abit of back ground....

One of my earliest memories (id guess around 2-3) is of being sat in the back of my dads lotus elan sprint, flying down a coutry lane with my head banging against something hard, and ellated. My dad restored two elans in his life, a JPS sprint and later a gun metal grey plus 2s 130, im was too young to remember much of the sprint as my dad had to sell it when i was young, several years later he found a crashed elan and a chassi which he stripped down to the ground and rebuilt, i remember begging him to take me to school in it, i also used to wash it for him. sadly my dad passed away just after my 16th birthday, but his passion for lotus still lives on in me. I always love the elan but one year i spotted a new car it was on the trailer for a film called hunny i blew up the kids, it was a norfolk mustard m100 and from that moment on i fell in love with my generations elan. In november 2007 i bought my very first car (LOKI) a steel blue elan se, for a little over £3000, it needed some work (is it ever "some"?!) and this is where the it all begins.

this is loki before i got my hands on him (i know its traditional for a car to be female, but loki is more akin to a 5 year old boy, lots of fun but hard work at times, and cippling on the wallet)

oh and loki was the god of mischief in norse myth incase you were wondering.

Man that is a lovely colour.

A little work....

ok so the fumes of petrol soon became over powering and more than a little worrying, so a phone call to everyone least favorite breaker resulted in a S2 fuel tank, and according to pure lotus around a day of work to remove the old leaking fuel tank, the new one was fitted, id like to point out that the guys at purelotus took good care of me and the final bill wasnt as bad as you might expect.

the drivers seat had collapsed but me being a bigger chap never noticed until i was told, it was something i had to sort out but wasnt high on my list as i was worried about raising my seat im 6'3" but after advice from here i discovered i could remove the spacers, much better!

also during my time driving in the winter i managed to create a pond in my foot well, over time it has gone but im still not sure if my bungs are clogged or where they are, and im sure this will become important in the next few months. I was also informed by a gent at a NYLOC meeting that it might be wise to cut a small notch out of the seal in the bottom of the door to allow the water to run away from the car rather than into it, this i have done and so far it seems to be helping.

so lots of blatting around in my dream car followed the fitting of the new fuel tank, during this time i discovered that the brakes are realy rather scary and had to be replaced asap, i also began to think notice that on hard acceleration there was an increasing amount of noise but a noticable reduction in acceleration leading to the discover that i needed a new clutch. knowing that this can be a big job i decided to save up lots of little jobs to do at the same time, i'll come back to this.

some work continued....

with a mounting amount of work to do i set about working out how to make the car just how i want it, after much searching on here i discovered i needed a brake conversion and i decided on the hispec, the standard wheels had to go, as i realy dont like them and id ordered the 16" hispec brake upgrade so needed another inch, i came across what i though were the prefect wheels, kahn rsr these were on ebay with nearly new yokohama tyres on, with a 4x100 stud pattern, 7.5x17 and 205 section tyres so maximum comunication from the road, 56.6 bore and advertised as having 49mm offset (i'll come back to that too). i also found out about daves shortshift the everest chip the peco exhaust and dump valves, i decided a recur DV was the way to go, so i needed a way of plumbing it in, i decided an after market cold air induction kit was the way to do it and after scanning ebay i came across a pipercross viper realy cheap and then tried to workout how to make it all work together, i also read that the rear barkes can seize so i set about replacing them, and goodridge hose to finish off. I also pine after a hardtop as i use the car alot and it would make it much more usable. Ive also wanted to change the colour (bear with me here) to candy burnt orange. also after suffering with quite alot of wheel spin i decided a quaife LSD would be a good idea although later id discover a good set of tyres works wonders.

After the false start...

I was looking forward with ever more exitment to Donington, especialy the convoy in, when the poorly clutch was confirmed. so two weeks before i dropped loki in at the garage, im not entirely sure what happened but the short version was the car was ready for donny but three days after the event so i was some what disserpointed, and with a healthy (but not OTT) size bill to deal with. my plan (or justification in my head) was that i bought a car for £3000 and a good one would cost £5-6000 so i had around £2-3000 to play with, with the tank and the clutch done i was around £1000 lighter, and i still had the brake system to sort out, wheels and tyres to buy and lots of little bits and peices to sort. Oh i missed a bit but basicly the exahust was starting to leak so i had to find a replacment and i decided (against my initial concerns that peco make exhausts for boy racers) to go with the peco, £300 seemed like a bargin and with people reporting fitting for beer money i wasnt too concerned, for convinience i took the car and the exhaust to a local argicultural garage (its just down the road from work) and after 3 days i was finaly told it was ready, along with a bill for £150 for 4 hours work, that hit my wallet pretty hard and my faith in some people, it wouldnt be as bad but i send alot of work their way and to top it off the exhaust now hangs much lower that it needs to as a result i have to be extremely carful over speed bumps.

After looking at what other people had done and setting my own goals id workout a plan of attack, the short version is a car thats as reliable as possible, with around 220bhp (i dont think FWD can handle much more but i could be wrong) and an amount of modernising.

on of the first cosmetic modifications i made was a set of clear indicators for the front, peice of cake to fit and realy brought the front end upto date, i also replaced the side repeators in no time which also looks much better. I also purchased a licence plate with the union jack and the lotus logo on the left with "Elan n, vigorous spirit or enthusiasm" written underneither, however my origional plate was stuck on and after removing that and doing a poor job of removing the sticky pad i tried to fit the new plate, i heated it over my gas over to get a curve but i did a poor job of fitting it and it was soon hanging off, so shortly after i bought i stick on plate, which apart my naff effort to stick it on well looks rather tidy and touch wood its not caused any problems. i later found out a couple of self tapping screws wouldve done the job nicly but im sticking with what ive got atleast until i get a slap on the wrist.

it continues...

it was around this time i discovered just how knackered my headlights were, after looking around i found the lucas lamps and after some initial confussion over sealed beam lights i got my hands on four lamps, the fun part was fitting them which ive covered in another thread but i'll include some photos below. after the head lights came the bailey dv34 dump valve, this was a peice of cake to fit but getting it to recurc was a different matter, and was something i pursponed until other work was due in the engine bay, i have to say i liked the dump valve with did seem to make the turbo spool up faster.

All brings back memories Matt, but nethertheless very entertaining !

thanks for the replies... foo its a great colour but one i find hard to match to, the hint of blue in it is what makes it tricky, for example black goes with red or yellow/gold orange etc and vice versa, green and yellow go well, grey and deep red go well, blue and white/cream, etc etc. As im looking to update the interiour too i need something that goes with something else, but dont worry i wont be respraying the car i have a plan!!!

paul.p im glad you find it entertaining, ive got to say i do have a soft spot for your car, it bring back alot of memories with the JPS colours.


Abit of a quiet period and then madness....

I had a few scares, the peco was causing boost creep the tappets had started to get noisey and id also had a day or two where loki was spluttering under accelerating, thankfully the spluttering sorted itself out, the wastegate had to be ported and i decided to have the oil changed in the hope it would sort the tappets, and thank goodness it did. So after buying the short shift, wheels, tyres, hispec brakes, ss hoses, dorman calipers and modified handbrake levers (which i still havnt got sorted, they stick) and a ton of various silicone hoses, pce and gaskets, i dropped the car in at the garage.... it gets a little hazy from here but after a few days i get a call saying the wheels wont clear the calipers and the car is blocking up their lift, so i rushed off to halfrauds and bought a spacer to tide them over and had a spacer to them within 2 hours, i later find out they didnt even use it, but i then set about trying to find either wheels that would fit properly or a decent spacer, in the end i opted for a hudcentric spacer of 10mm which was used, i also ordered some 34mm bolts for the wheels but it turns out they wernt long enough either, so i get a set of 42mm bolts ordered and they did the trick. so on went the brakes, hoses, etc etc, the day i was due to pick her up i went down as it was a quiet day for me, and paid £1000 an agreed price and tried to help out, we were there until 11pm trying to get the brakes to repressurise after a complete drain and refill, i was beginning to sweat as the current financial climate is hitting me pretty hard and i was on a VERY strict budget, which was dwindeling by the week, after another day working on the brakes they called me and told me that its suspected the master cylinder had died, so i gave them a cross referenced part number from here and they ordered it and fitted it within a couple of days, unfortunately that extra work and part had taken me well over my budget and i had to get a load to pay for it all

so i got onto ebay and made some tough choices about what i did and didnt need.

also at some point among all this i found a rather cheap BRG elan which was accident damaged but had ALOT of the essential work done, so i went cap in had to family and they agreed to loan me the money to buy this car, its essentialy a safty net incase anything goes wrong with mine. i know some people might but upset with me for using a car for parts but as it was recorded and my first priority was my car i took the plunge, the hope is that while stripping the car down i will learn enough to work on my own and also save some cash.

so back to loki, ive been running loki now for a few weeks, there are a few issues, ie its knocking and it does feel like the power is a little down, the handbrake lever is sticking, but i have replaced the seats with some much tidier leather ones, ive bought some speakers and amps to sort the music out, nothing to anti social just enough to hear over the windblast, the garrett kit has be paid for and the bov kit will be shortly, the adaptor plate has arrived and i all that will be sorted when i can afford the turbo. pretty high on my list is the interiour but im currently in turmoil as i was going to go with a subtle dark red interiour but if i do get around to changing the colour to candy burnt orange then id need to redo it all so its a bit tricky at the moment. im also looking forward to a smaller steering wheel, metal monkey dials, brushed stalks (fitted them today) and gearknob, and fitting daves shortshift and AB cables. As you can proberly tell its all a bit up in the air at the moment, i'll do what i can when i can afford to, and have to prioritise as i go.

Feel guilty, mate. I was the other person after the BRG ship you're using for spares! It would have been a living, breathing, driving machine for me.....


I had to wait two or three extra weeks to get my current car as a result of such selfishness!

i do, but if it helps it will live on in other cars, so technicaly its keeping other cars on the road. glad to hear you got one.


oh before i get back into my story, i couldnt get into service mode while trying to sort the base timing. am i missing something or should/can i check the telltale lamp works?

Matt,

If you follow the paperclip test page on the wiki you should be seeing the CEL light flashing code 12 (all normal).

If you can't get a code of of it then your bulb has probably blown.

Ailwyn

ailwyn wrote:If you can't get a code of of it then your bulb has probably blown.

The more cynical amongst us might suggest an unscrupulous previous owner has removed the bulb to hide a problem

MattDon wrote: i decided (against my initial concerns that peco make exhausts for boy racers) to go with the peco, £300 seemed like a bargin

It was even more of a bargain at £250 fully fitted at PECO by the guy that designed it !

MattDon wrote: i took the car and the exhaust to a local argicultural garage (its just down the road from work) and after 3 days i was finaly told it was ready, along with a bill for £150 for 4 hours work

That "agricultural" garage well and truly ripped you off. The owner wasn't called John Wayne was he ?

Very nice thread man, keep writing your story.

I really like your colour, nice and rare. I am not an orange fan myself but if you like it no matter.

Keep having fun with LOKI.

L.G.

Im sure im missing a chunk out but i thought id bring everyone upto speed, i had a free day today (well i had to cook a desert for my girlfriends mum as we had dinner this evening but i wasnt due there until 5.30) so i decided to replace the A post seals (with some slightly less worn seals) and was so impressed with how well that went i decided to remove my roof and fit the one from the BRG, to cut a long story short i had a bit of panic when after 4 hours (this take me upto 4.00) of fiddeling and finger scraping i finaly finished to find it wouldnt close and after a frantic search on here (with a few post no longer available messages) i decided to loosen the bolts and fit the hood with the top down now i fits ok (although it does need abit more tweeking) leaving me 45 mins to make and cook the desert and make myself presentable, which i managed, just!I took it out onto the motorway and wow what a difference, i didnt have to turn the radio right up and i finished the drive very relaxed. I also got some replacement bulbs for the dash (cel light wasnt working) to find someone had removed both bulbs from the far right, i was not amussed and more than a little worried when i finaly got it into service mode, but all is well atleast there are no fault codes, i still need to get the timing done, as my mpg is getting worse as is the idle and the popping (which i am going to miss). Once i get the engine running right its time for the lgm turbo/dumpvalve and everest switcher (s2 type) and an oxygen sensor. Im also working on a fibreglass speaker enclosure to go behind the seats, all details will be posted when they are confirmed.

Alot has happened in the last few days, i got a very nice 30th birthday pressie from my mum and step dad, and work can now resume on loki. Ive orderd a hardtop, boughts a gt2560r, the hifi is all bought (minus a headunit), msd coils, ngk iridium plus, kingston cables, hopefully will be getting the rear lights changed to elise type but im planning to hide them behind tinted perspex as i dont think they look quite right, id realy like to get hold of a set of ab cables to so i can finaly fit daves shortshift kit. Ive got lots of questions but one that is on my mind is while im replacing the turbo are there any other jobs this would make easier, id like to fit the samco hoses and the new heater thingy, sort out the timing, could proberly do with a new cambelt, i also need to fit a new sump at some point, oh and im still having problems with my heating, when its on full blast i can hear lots of noise from inside the dash but air doesnt seem to come from anywhere in particular and the selector switch has no effect, also ive not tackled the refitting of the temp adjuster in the heater cluster, oh and ive also orderd a hub adaptor so i can fit a smaller steering wheel and hopefully 4 behind the steering wheel switches two of which will be for a v5 when i get the turbo fitted, i also like to pretty up the dash while its off, im thinking of trimming it in leather and fitting metal monkey dials. another issue is where im going to fit the new speakers, either in the door card, for the best sound or on a pillar pods for a tidier install the third option is to try to make custom door cards from fibreglass and improve the design, although that might be biting off more than i can chew. oh and a bulk pack of dynamat xtreme is on its way but im not 100% sure how to remove the carpets (without damage) or how to replace them once the dynamat is fitted. im getting there slowly but surely. i just hope i can find a local mechanic who i can trust who doesnt mind working for peanuts, lol.

just mulling threw a few ideas, and was wondering how hard it would be to change the temp adjuster setup to say a selanoid with an electronic control... i seem to be acumulating questions rather than answers.

Bloody hell Matt.
That's a re-build!

It all sounds a bit MAX POWER to me, but good luck nevertheless. Would be great to see.

I'm delighted to hear that you've been able to kick-start the project again, Matt.

And a belated happy 30th from me, too!

Advice (borne of long and bitter experience!):

Concentrate on and prioritise those tasks that improve your car's day-to-day useability (reliability, fault-fixing, braking), and then performance (turbo) and leave the cosmetics until those are sorted.

So: Cambelt (if it needs one, it's the single most urgent job, I'd suggest, and if it's more than six years or 60k since the last one, then it needs one), then coils, cables, timing, and that heater problem.

Since you're in Yorkshire and it's winter, I can see that the hardtop's a priority, but while hi-fi, steering wheel, new lights, new door cards etc. are all exciting sexy, and seem like priorities, you want to be putting them in a car that's properly sorted and fettled.

ha thanks for the replies guys, i promise its not going to be max powerd (i grew out of that at around 13) im just looking to refine the car, the hifi isnt going to be a boy racers thumping job, im just looking for a nice full sound. theres alot more to do when i find more funds, but im hoping the parts from the brg will help. not mentioned is that ive got either new or newer wishbones shocks and spring to go on, but my main priority is to get the engine running right as its a little off tune at the moment. Jackonicko thankyou for the birthday wishes but they arnt belated, my birthday is on the 18th but ive been given some funds to buy my pressies with.

As for priorities im booking the car in for a pre MOT check as i think its over due also it will be getting a service very soon. but id like to get everything done in one go, like the turbo fitted cambelt leads coils switcher etc, but the problem is all the jobs tie in at some point, like the turbo and O2 sensor require esm's chip which inturn would require placing a switch which means getting the dash out which would seem like a good time to fit the mm dials, retrim the dash, smaller steering wheel etc etc. I am VERY exited about the hardtop, it is an essential part living up north and using the car every day. The car is fairly sorted, hipsec dormans new clutch etc etc, the only issue i have thats pressing is the engne running a little off tune and the 17" wheels id like to revert back to either 16 or 15" wheels, proberly compermotive mo's in anthracite, the blowers, and i need to sort out the dash since i broke the bracket

I guess i'll get it through the MOT and see where it leaves me.

I think what i'll do is a question list and tick each one off as its answered.