Lotus Elan Central

I thought I would make a post on my Elans progress to keep track on what I have done and share my progress, as I am still newbie Elaner.

So when I first bought the car my original project list was fairly small, but I think it has somewhat grown!

The original list:
• Make a hardtop (Parts ready)
- I now have everything I need (thanks to Jeemy) and hope to start at some point in the summer

• Upgrade the brakes (Complete)
- PNM Hispec front kit fitted, along with Ferodo pads and HEL braided hoses



• Add a cup holder (Complete)
- Fischer cup holder fixed to centre console

• Refit the loose dash parts
- I still need to tackle this, its not too bad at the moment and it looks like a painful job to undertake

• Improve the audio (Complete)
- Kenwood KDC-BT92SD head unit
- Kenwood KSC-SW11 compact active subwoofer
- Edge coaxial speakers in the doors
- Edge component speaker behind the seats
- Edge tweeters



• Get a wind deflector (Complete)
- Classic additions style deflector bought from Amazon for a bargain price



• Roll bars
- Something that I no longer overly want

• DRLs (Complete)
- Osram PX-4 DRLs fitted, fit almost perfectly in the side grilles of the front bumper



• New wheels
- I’ve grown to love the BBS S2 wheels and will be looking to refurbish my set at some point.


Additional projects/tasks:
• Switchable Everest chip

• Boot release (complete but with faults)
- Done, but I’m not overly happy with it.
- The boot doesn’t pop up quite enough to stop the catch from locking once the switch is released. For now I’ve added a couple of rubber pads under the boot stops, but they need replacing every now and then.
- If anyone has any tips they would be much appreciated

• New seats
- Possible S2000 or 944 seats or maybe just a retrim

• Bonnet gas struts (Complete)
- I purchased the kit from LS Technologies and following Elanlovers guidance I fitted them yesterday.

• Boot lid gas struts
- I know this is likely to be a big task but I’m fed up with the boot lid shutting when the wind blows a little.

• New seals (Started)
- Thanks to DROMONG I have my awesome A pillar seals with the folding lip
- I also have a set of falling pillar seals and intermediate seals ready to replace

• Engine bay tart up (Started)
- She needs a few little bits, a good clean and a paint
- I have given Jeemy a list of parts that he is going to sort me out with, including some nicely refurbished heat shields
- Spark plug cover has been sprayed gloss black
- The cam cover and heat shields will be painted in a charcoal grey

• Rear hub conversion (Parts ready)
- I have Jeemy’s kit to fit at some point.

• Change badges to the Black and silver version (started)
- Just a personal preference of mine.

• Piper exhaust
- I currently have a SS system with a round exhaust tip, but personally I think the oval piper style tip looks much nicer on the Elan.

• Replace the radiator fans (Complete)
- One of my fans had seized solid and was disconnected by the previous owner.

• New front bumper lip (Complete)
- The old tatty ripped lip has been replaced with a universal Rhino Lip, gives the car a bit more of a modern look.


I also plan on servicing the car as soon as possible and upgrading a few bits while I'm at it
-NGK iridium spark plugs
-Castrol Edge 10w/60 oil
-K&N air filter

So I've managed to complete or at least start a lot of the work on my list, with many thanks to LEC and its users.

Welcome to the club.

I started out by wanting S2000 seats and just got carried away, 3 years later, almost where I want it to be. Except for the engine rebuild, modified turbo etc etc.

Just had my S2 wheels refurbed, they look great now.

Guess you have got the bug, not cheap and if you are doing it yourself, not always easy, but worth it in the end.

Some pics would be good, keep the thread updated.

Now where was that "this thread needs more pics" smiley?!?

Enright wrote::goodposting:
Now where was that "this thread needs more pics" smiley?!?

Here ...........

Theres a few pictures added, I need to take a few more of my other mods

It is great to see what you have done already in a short time, and what you plan to do in the coming months.

Like you, I want to install the switchable Everest chip - it is about time I placed my order. I shall also put new NGK BKR6EIX iridium plugs in and am about to order new HT plug leads - 8mm in red - from Kingsborne in San Diego - http://www.kingsbornewires.com/product-p/ign%20m100.htm

Rusty you have a PM

Fredjohn

If anyone else in the UK wants a set of leads and split the postage cost, let me know. I need to know which colour leads you want and whether you want 7mm or 8mm. 7mm are $21.99, and 8mm are $26.99. Postage from the US is £25.15. Even if we get charged duty, this is much cheaper than the almost £100 I have seen elsewhere.

Cutoff for this is Sunday evening at 9pm when I shall place the order.

Rusty Wishbone wrote:If anyone else in the UK wants a set of leads and split the postage cost, let me know. I need to know which colour leads you want and whether you want 7mm or 8mm. 7mm are $21.99, and 8mm are $26.99. Postage from the US is £25.15. Even if we get charged duty, this is much cheaper than the almost £100 I have seen elsewhere.

Cutoff for this is Sunday evening at 9pm when I shall place the order.

Created "Group buy" thread:

Transferred to new thread: viewtopic.php?f=85&t=23306

Fitted my Kingsborne 8mm leads and NGK Iridium spark plugs today!

Nice and easy to fit and the leads look much nicer than the old almost black original red leads. The hardest part was getting the old plug leads off the ignition coils, the rubber from the lead connection seemed to had fused to the plastic of the ignition coil.


The car seems to be running better, starts a lot quicker at least. I did find some oil under the plug cover though not much just about a tea spoons worth, none of it seemed to have come from the spark plugs. I've cleaned the oil away and I'll keep an eye on it in case it keeps coming back.


Is oil under the plug cover normal or should I worry about this?

Fitted my Kingsborne 8mm leads and NGK Iridium spark plugs today!

Nice and easy to fit

Any chance you might do a quick write-up - I've got my lovely red leads here and I'm pretty familiar with my socket set - but I've tended to leave my engine area to a mechanic in the past, so any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jon wrote:
Any chance you might do a quick write-up - I've got my lovely red leads here and I'm pretty familiar with my socket set - but I've tended to leave my engine area to a mechanic in the past, so any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks

It was very easy to do, along with changing the spark plugs it took me no longer than 45mins, I can give you a simple guide/list of tips but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures


1. Disconnect the negative battery terminal

2. Remove plug cover, air pipe from the inlet manifold and header tank mounting bolt (rest the header tank to the side to allow access to the coils underneath)



3. Follow the first lead from valve 1 (Valves are labeled 1-4 from the left to right) to the coil, then detached the plug from the coil and threaded it back up to the spark plug end unclipping from the plastic cable brackets along the way (the larger plug of the leads won't pass under the oil separator).

4. Thread the new lead (along the same path as the lead you just removed) from the spark plug to the coil and clip back into the brackets, then plug in at both ends

5. Repeat with lead 2 and so on (one by one)

6. Re-mount the header tank, fit the air intake, re-fit the plug cover (if you are confident all is fitted correctly) and re-attach the negative terminal to the battery

7. Start the car and ensure all sounds ok, if not I've no idea what you've done wrong

Notes
- When looking down at the coil the terminals should be 4,1,3,2 from top to bottom, so valve 1 should lead to the coil terminal 2nd from top etc.
- Ensure the leads are not to tight to allow for engine movement

Hope this helps

Nice car and good to see someone else in the Garden of England with one - I hope to buy one shortly. Do you go out to meets with it?

The oil you describe in the spark plug bores is almost certainly coming from the rocker cover gasket - really common on some engines and depending on why it is leaking, really easy to fix. If it is a plastic rocker cover, you might find it is simply over-tightened and has distorted a bit, deforming the gasket. A new gasket might fix it, but I'd be considering replacing the gasket AND using a very thin bead of the Hylomar type instant gasket sealant as well, then refitting the cover according to the workshop torque (and tightening sequence) settings.

Normally, a little bit of oil on the top of the plugs does no harm, but when you remove the plugs it falls into the cylinder with any dust that's there and does no good. Be very careful if a lot goes in there as it might hydraulic the bore and damage something. While running the worst that can happen with that oil there is it might after a while cause a misfire.

Look forward to seeing it (and meeting you) at some point.

Ian.

Ian Till wrote:Nice car and good to see someone else in the Garden of England with one - I hope to buy one shortly. Do you go out to meets with it?

Yeah I will go to as many meets as possible, you can learn a lot about our cars from long time owners. We had a meet in Westerham at the Grasshopper Inn on the 24th June, so not far from you, I'm sure you could tag along and have a nose at our cars at the next one. Although the Lotus Festival at Brands Hatch is going to be the next good meet that should be well worth attending if you can.

Ian Till wrote:The oil you describe in the spark plug bores is almost certainly coming from the rocker cover gasket - really common on some engines and depending on why it is leaking, really easy to fix. If it is a plastic rocker cover, you might find it is simply over-tightened and has distorted a bit, deforming the gasket. A new gasket might fix it, but I'd be considering replacing the gasket AND using a very thin bead of the Hylomar type instant gasket sealant as well, then refitting the cover according to the workshop torque (and tightening sequence) settings.

I need to give my cover a nice re-spray at some point, so I'll be changing the gasket then. Good shout though.

Wonderful - thanks for the write-up. Think that has given me a pretty good idea of what is required (certainly would have been lost without it)....when I get a few hours to spare I'll give it a go!

Jon wrote:Wonderful - thanks for the write-up. Think that has given me a pretty good idea of what is required (certainly would have been lost without it)....when I get a few hours to spare I'll give it a go!

Let me know how it goes, its always nice to know that I've managed to help other LECers!

I've done my HT leads today too. Novacaine's write-up is spot on. The only thing I would add is that, when removing the old leads from the coil, the boots tend to stick for dear life. I found that the boots released more easily peeling them back from the open end rather than pulling them from the end with the cable.

My old leads have the words "Sumitomo 1990" written on them, so I suppose they are the original leads.

Gents, thanks for the write up - I tacked it this morning and for an engine novice I managed to change the leads over in 30 minutes - plus the car started afterwards!!!



Have to say that I probably wouldn't have got very far at all if it hadn't been for Novacaine's diagram and steps. Very simple to follow!!

So now I just have to make sure I don't let this little success go to my head and let me believe I can tackle anything....otherwise the car might end up looking a bit like this:

So Donatello (Yes I've named my car after a teenage mutant ninja turtle ) got a new set of rubbers today. The rears were 12 yrs old and the front N/S had a chunk taken out of the side wheel so I think he needed it.

I have replace the Pirelli P Zero Nero from the front and the old Pirelli P Zero something from the back with Falken Ziex ZE-914 Ecorun 205/45 R16 Falken Ziex ZE-914 Ecorun 205/45 R16,




They had good reviews on pretty much every site I had a look on, so I though I'd give them a go. My first impressions are good, they seem a lot quieter, the road feel is pretty good and the grip seems better than the old Pirelli P Zeros. They look quite nice and have some clever wear indicators, so far they seem good value at £75 a corner ( from Blackcircles.com ).

Also the guy fitting them really liked the Elan, he was impressed with how clean underneath it is and wouldn't let me leave for ages, asking me questions. Its nice to find an Elan fan every now and then

]I managed to add a few more little personal modifications today.

I'm not to sure about the exhaust tip. It is just a bolt on and hides the pea shooter under it, but it will do until I can buy myself a Piper back box.









[attachment=0]valve caps2.jpg[/attachment