Lotus Elan Central

New member here. Just got my first Elan - my first Lotus in fact. Project car. Looking forward to engaging here.

Howdy!
There are a few of us here stateside. Glad you found an Elan and have jumped in to it as a project car. This is the place to be if you are trying to keep your newfound love in top fiddle. We will all love to see photos of your car and the progress too (and answer questions along the way)!

Welcome! Our cars are very specific, so if you have any questions don't hesitate to search first and then ask us here!

theres a few youtube sources that will be helpfull
most are UK cars but you sometimes find a FED example being worked on

thats my channel
https://www.youtube.com/@tuga2112

this is a very highly regarded channel by the comunity althoguht i dont think the guy is a member here. (or at least i havent seen anyone in this forum claiming ownership of the channel )
https://www.youtube.com/@thelotuselanm100restoratio3

ther's this idiot with a red car (FED car) with some intersting stuff... hes from the US and i suspect He has a black cat....
https://www.youtube.com/@doubleshadowstar

Welcome to the crazy house.
you must post pictures.

Steve

I'll start with the gory details. It's been in storage for a while. It starts and runs, but cold start idle doesn't hold, have to rev it till it warms up and it sounds off - likely timing and possibly needs new plugs. So decided to replace fuel filter first.

Welcome! Springtime has come to DC. A great time to be out and about.
I'm in Northern VA. Reach out to me if you need assistance.

Tom

Thanks for the "welcome". Good to know we have some local owners in NOVA. I will definitely take you up on that offer, Tom. By the way, how do I access the wikilec? Is there a separate password I need for that?

lotusflight wrote:Thanks for the "welcome". Good to know we have some local owners in NOVA. I will definitely take you up on that offer, Tom. By the way, how do I access the wikilec? Is there a separate password I need for that?

Wikilec is currently down, but here is a link:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240511095 ... /Main_Page

Toolkit was missing the penknife, so got the same style one that matches the car more or less.

While I'm waiting for the fuel filter to come in, replaces the wipers and got some Rover parts cross referenced for the plastic caps to cover the wiper bolt/nut.

Pulled one plug out to see if those need to be changed. What do you gents recommend for plugs upgrade?

And the "under bonnet".

Making quick work - glad to see it. You're lucky you have the tool kit, mine seems to have disappeared!

I really welcome any comments or suggestions. This is my first project of this kind, so I know there is a lot that I don't know.

Since you're going to have the fuel system depressurized while doing the filter, it honestly makes sense to do the injectors at the same time. I know some here don't like fixing things until they're a problem, but it seems MOST of us have experienced an injector failure. They usually fail in pairs. You can have your originals rebuilt, or somewhere in the wiki is a link to the RC injector kit which is plug and play.

After having success with a fiat engine that has a single point injection system and using an off-the-shelf ultrasonic cleaner to recover a blocked injector.
My advice would be to take them out clean them all and put them back in don't spend money on something you don't need especially when it's something as expensive as injectors

Tuga2112 wrote:After having success with a fiat engine that has a single point injection system and using an off-the-shelf ultrasonic cleaner to recover a blocked injector.
My advice would be to take them out clean them all and put them back in don't spend money on something you don't need especially when it's something as expensive as injectors

som

Oh. I'd be game to learn how to clean those. You mean something like this device?
https://a.co/d/gh9I8YF

FunElan wrote:Since you're going to have the fuel system depressurized while doing the filter, it honestly makes sense to do the injectors at the same time. I know some here don't like fixing things until they're a problem, but it seems MOST of us have experienced an injector failure. They usually fail in pairs. You can have your originals rebuilt, or somewhere in the wiki is a link to the RC injector kit which is plug and play.

Good point. I would hate to find out that after replacing fuel filter and plugs, it still runs badly and would have to get the injectors addressed then. I thin I would like to keep to stock. Pretty sure this car has not been modified up to this point. And I honestly don't know yet what it does normally, so no idea about a baseline if I need a "boost" with the PL8-0550's and the new 3 MAP. If I were going to replace with the same injectors that it has, what would I get? (RC is an upgrade as I understand it from reading.)

lotusflight wrote:

Tuga2112 wrote:After having success with a fiat engine that has a single point injection system and using an off-the-shelf ultrasonic cleaner to recover a blocked injector.
My advice would be to take them out clean them all and put them back in don't spend money on something you don't need especially when it's something as expensive as injectors

som

Oh. I'd be game to learn how to clean those. You mean something like this device?
https://a.co/d/gh9I8YF

yes, but that tool is bit more heavy duty than the one i used, if you can afford to budgt for that, im pretty sure you will find other uses for it