Lotus Elan Central

Starting this thread to keep a record of the progress with fitting, fettling and upgrading.

[*EDIT*] List moved to top of thread.

1. Replace auxiliary water pump) - COMPLETED 25/04/2015
2. Replace rear speakers with 6x4s - COMPLETED 22/05/2018
3. Replace front speakers - COMPLETED 21/05/2018
4. Fit short-shift kit
5. Replace injectors - COMPLETED 29/04/2015
6. Replace fuel filter - COMPLETED 29/04/2015
7. Replace HES
8. Intermittent wiper upgrade - COMPLETED 22/03/2015
9. Change carpets to red - COMPLETED 20/05/2018
10. Replace aerial with electric one - COMPLETED 02/04/2015
11. Recover door inserts - COMPLETED 24/04/2016
12. Fan timer
13. Replace rear bumper
14. Alarm/Immobiliser replacement/upgrade
15. Replace A pillar seals (thanks Jamie )
16. Boot gas struts - COMPLETED 25/04/2015
17. Fuel filler flap remote
18. Boot remote release - COMPLETED 02/04/2015
19. Steering wheel replacement - COMPLETED 03/04/2016
20. Single wiper conversion - COMPLETED 10/04/2016
21. Clear front indicators - COMPLETED 10/04/2016
22. Repair Headlight lift motor/Drivers side - COMPLETED 15/06/2021
23. New ignition coils and base plate fitted - COMPLETED 09/06/2020

And a timeline:

1. MOT passed with no advisories - 30/04/2015
2. Front brake pads replaced - 02/04/2016
3. Stainless steel front pad retaining pins - 02/04/2016
4. MOT passed with no advisories - 16/05/2016
5. New Alternator - 12/04/2017
6. New alternator belt - 12/04/2017
7. New PAS belt - 12/04/2017
8. MOT passed with the following advisories: Slight weeping PAS pipe, slightly worn tyre, slight distortion of road wheel bead rim - 20/05/2017
9. New Hi Spec front calipers and discs via PNM 275mm front brake kit - 02/06/2017
10. MOT passed with the following advisories: Slight weeping PAS pipe, slight distortion of road wheel bead rim - 17/05/2018
11. MOT passed first time - 21/05/2019

The list above is dynamic and subject to change!

When I made a list of jobs that needed doing, both large and small, once I'd got to 25, I stopped!

First things first, a post winter spruce-up; came up quite nicely with just a soapy wash.

After a bit of a battery top-up, started first turn of the key and warmed up nicely. Out for a quick run round the block only to discover that the brakes were less than great....hopefully it's just a matter of bleeding them. Still, pretty happy that nothing disastrous has happened after the winter lay-up - bring on the sun!

Maz unless your brake fluid is getting on a bit I would start off with the brakes by simply getting each corner up in the air in turn, taking the wheel off and exercising the sliders and pistons (remember that you have to wind the rears back in though). You may find that it frees them up enough to not need to disturb the hydraulics themselves.
As for the list, don't stop! If you stop you can end up forgetting things. And put a few "quick wins" near the top so that it keeps the motivation up!
The cleanup is a great start - I always did think that black looks the nuts when clean - nice one.

Looks great Martin!, never seen a black one with black S2 wheels before, any chance of a full side shot?. I sold a car last year with that same plate ending YHO, think the HO originates from Portsmouth.

Hi Neil,

Thank you for the suggestion - very kind; however.. YHO has Hispecs on the front and the PNM Golf conversion on the rears..... It feels like air in the lines to me but I'll get the garage to check it out; it's the one thing I'm not going to risk to my own fair hands....

Hi Jamie:

You are correct

HO - Hampshire & Dorset: Portsmouth

So here is the list: Only 15 at the moment, but I'm sure it will grow (and grow.....)

Not expecting to get them all done any time soon, but hope to knock some off this spring/summer

1. Replace auxiliary water pump (mine is broken)
2. Replace rear speakers with 6x4s (Original Lotus rear speakers have seen better days )
3. Replace front speakers (Same again)
4. Fit short-shift kit
5. Replace injectors
6. Replace fuel filter
7. Replace CAS
8. Intermittent wiper upgrade COMPLETED 22/03/2015
9. Change carpets to red
10. Replace aerial with electric one
11. Recover door panels
12. Fan timer
13. Replace rear bumper
14. Alarm/Immobiliser replacement/upgrade
15. Replace A pillar seals (thanks Jamie )

That'll do for now - more to follow I don't doubt.

Martin

Looking good (didn't realise the old girl needed so much work )

Regards



Jim

Hi Jim,

Not at all! Almost everything on the list is things I'd class as upgrades or cosmetic, rather than things that need doing. She still gets down the road darn sharpish

maz_r wrote:Hi Jim,

Not at all! Almost everything on the list is things I'd class as upgrades or cosmetic, rather than things that need doing. She still gets down the road darn sharpish

Martin

Good of you to say so. BTW the entire CAS* is a lot younger than the rest of the car and I changed the innards only last year..

Jim


*swapped out of a blue one I once owned.

Hi Maz,

Good to see another shiny black Elan, pity they dont stay that way for long!

Will be following your thread with interest as it looks like we are going down similar paths. Dont think I am brave enough to put everything on a list (maybe just the next 5 things at a time ) as it would get a bit scary. Would also like to see some side on shots of your car as I am still undecided about keeping the gold pinstripe on mine.

Martin,

Have you ever thought about designing a fan override unit for the car? Then you could add it to your list .........


...I'll get my coat

I guess it's Item 12 on the list..........

Dave: Assume from the deluge of posts from you that you have returned..............in one piece?

Errrrr.....

maz_r wrote:
12. Fan timer

But I have, Dave, designed and built one; it is sitting in my office (I use the word loosely), ready to fit on the car.

Yours however....

So, number 8 on the list is 'intermittent wiper upgrade', so here goes...

I am aware of the type 99 'programmable' replacement, but I like the idea of being able to turn a dial to set the interval - just personal choice, nothing against the alternative.

Having had a study of the electrical schematics and trawling the Interweb, it looks like an absolute breeze (famous last words).

Only 2 new bits required:

Firstly, a new wiper stalk from an Omega. There are a whole heap of variations, but the one needed is from the saloon model. I picked the one with the MFD (or is it cruise control?) buttons as I want to use them to change tracks on my Sony head unit. Cost £20 new off fleabay. You can read the partnumber on the piccy below:






Secondly, a replacement wiper relay, again from an Omega; part number GM 90494187; these seem to be quite often yellow, but I bought a grey one simply because it was new and not s/h. Cost £13.50 new, again off ebay.





Not fitted yet, so I may be back to eat my words, but I've had it working on the bench and it behaves exactly as I expected. To fit will require one wire to be cut in order to insert the new control. More pictures showing fitting to follow once I find time to spend on the car. Watch this space...

By way of background, for those interested, all that is required for the variable intermittent wipe to work is to introduce a variable resistor into the circuit that feeds 12v into to 'I' pin on the new relay; the larger the resistance then the longer the delay between swipes. Therefore, cutting the orange/purple wire that goes from the intermittent stalk setting to the new relay and introducing a potentiometer will give a variable swipe delay. The knob on the Omega stalk is a simple variable resistor. In theory, this mod could be achieved without changing the stalk, but instead using a pot mounted somewhere else.

Here is the modded circuit:



And the relay that needs swapping:

Great minds must think alike because I figured this could be the way to go a while back (for the same reasons as you), and even installed the same wiper stalk on my original Elan, but never got round to butchering the relay.
I'll be interested to see what you do to the Omega one when you open it up.

By the way, back to your original list, can I just query a couple of items? You mention replacing the injectors and also the CAS. Why? Are you having running issues or is it for potential upgrades? Thing is, an ultrasonic clean may restore performance to your injectors, and as far as the CAS is concerned only the HES usually fails which is just a £20 fix.

I have a wiper stalk ready to go (just need the relay now) and am waiting to see how this works out. Should be pretty simple. The stalk I've bought also has the extra controls on the tip of it for a trip computer. I am planning to wire those up and use the contacts as stereo controls. There's also a light switch stalk with extra controls that I'll probably buy and use for more stereo controls. Fun!

A full write up with a schematic and pics will get you extra points on the LEC project board!

Thanks both,

No butchery required to the relay - it is (should be!) a drop in replacement.

I too have the indicator stalk with extra buttons, but decided against adding more controls for the stereo - I might change my mind later on

To be perfectly honest, I was toying with the idea of designing something that made the wiper delay speed sensitive by hooking into the VSS signal on the back of the instruments, but this seemed a heck of a lot more straight forward! Maybe I'll revisit that when there is nothing more on the list....

Re. CAS - yes - I meant HES!
Re. Injectors - I have a nice new set of 4 sitting in the office all the way from RockAuto (and courtesy of Ian T for organising)

These last 2 are due to slightly lumpy idling and large quantities of unburned fuel entering the exhaust on lift-off; might be fun hearing it pop and bang sometimes but when you can feel it coming through the floor, I started to be a bit concerned.... Doing those 2 jobs (and the fuel filter) can't hurt - all the parts are sitting here waiting to go on anyways

For the record, I have a used wiper stalk I bought cheaply to test something. I do want to integrate some stereo controls using all the excess buttons on the stalks so I tested out something I found on the web. Gently rubbing a sugar cube (yes, sugar cube) over the silk screened letters will remove them with little or no marking on the plastic. I then plan to add tiny little adhesive backed letters for "VOL" and an up and down arrow to the stalk. There could be other easy ways to remove the printing but most chemical based ideas might cause damage to the plastic.

Blair: Can I ask what flavour of stereo you are trying to control? Mine is a Sony unit that can be controlled via the Remote Commander RM-X4S, which is just a resistor ladder and is therefore really easy to replicate. Got 'Prev Track' and 'Next Track' wired up to the 2 buttons on the wiper stalk ready to fit...

Nice tip re. the sugar cube