Lotus Elan Central

Hi all, if you remember I bought an S2 in February that had been stood in showroom for 4 years, so needed a service and some odd jobs doing,
first job was to check the outriggers for rust, took the seats and carpets out and found only a small amount of surface rust in both front corners,
sandblasted, treated and painted so to the chassis, rear end was covered in rust so began to clean it up and found this,

The dreaded tinworm

Hi all some pics of chassis repairs,

good job.

tempts me to go that extra mile and completely separate the chassis from the body, But i think its too late for me now. and ive dealt with the outriggers in my car in a different manner.

that's some great fabrication work

thanks Steve, more pics , welds cleaned up and chassis painted, nearly ready to fit.

Wow, that is amazing. Are you painting it yourself? What is the primer coat you used? Just fantastic

Agreed that really is commitment to the restoration! I’d love to see a photo of the massive pile of parts you surely have somewhere. Looking forward to see the build come together.

I sandblasted all the rusty areas and treated with brunox epoxy, the primer is Motip acrylic spray can, top coat Motip industrial coating RAL 7004 signal grey,
I did not strip all the paint off just treated rusty areas and flatted down the rest with wet and dry, so most of the original paint is intact, the spray cans are ok
for a freshen up if I had stripped the chassis completely I would have used a spray gun.

I have parts all over the place, carpets, dashboard, centre console etc. in the attic, one seat in the corner of the dining room and one in the bedroom
the rest are all around the shed, a bit pushed for space because my Elan S4 lives in the garage.
The suspension parts are all rusty, need sandblasting and painting.
Going on holiday tomorrow, hope to refit the chassis when I get back.

chassis back in place

Hi there, made a bit more progress, fitted steering rack, dashboard, fuel tank, longerones, some brake pipes, master cylinder, brake valves, new fuel filter
and steering column, pressed new wheel bearings into the hubs, sand blasted and painted suspension components,
waiting for bushes for the suspension rafts, meanwhile overhauling the brake callipers. Fuel tank needed a small repair, there was a small hole in the the front where somebody
had drilled a hole through the rear bulkhead to fix a bracket for a C.D. changer, fixed with some plastic welding rod,




also received some shiny bits
regards, Geoff

Hi to everyone, a few more photos

Wow! , absolutely wonderful work there Geoff, not many folk go to those lengths to preserve their pride and joy. Highly impressed.

Thanks Jamie Bought it in Feb 22 thinking it would be a quick tidy up before the summer, took a bit longer than I thought,
driven it only once from dealer to home (on trade plates). I know more about it mechanically than how it drives
Just had a mishap, while fitting a radio I leaned on the passenger seat with my elbow and the stitching burst open,
So seat out seat cover removed and stitched up, just waiting for some hog rings so I can put it back together,
Car is ready to go to the technical control, but plan on waiting till after the winter,
meanwhile will have a look at the hood seals and try to make it leak free

A-mazing...jealous of your attention to detail and obvious skills...Wanna swap ?

Hi again, the elan has been sitting in the garage over the winter, decided to take it to the technical control and finally get it on the road,
started it up, let it run up to temp, thermostat opened, temp gauge got to a quarter and the coolant rose up and came out of the pressure cap,
stopped the motor, coolant level went down, removed cap, started up again and at a quarter on the gauge coolant level rose and flowed out of the
coolant tank, bled the system and tried again, same thing, also water in exhaust pipe which I thought might have been condensation,
suspect head gasket, did a sniffer test, inconclusive, pulled the spark plugs and one plug bright and shiny, removed cylinder head and gasket
showing early signs of failure between two cylinders and a water jacket, can only assume it was on its way out before I parked up

Happy motoring Geoff.