Lotus Elan Central

My '92 SE has been with me for a year now, so I thought it was about time I started one of these "Small Project" threads to let you good people know I haven't just been sitting on my ar*e for all that time.
The car covered ~3000 miles in the previous 10 years, so the basic idea was to make it reliable, then worry about the cosmetics later.

I'd just like to say I couldn't have taken on half these jobs without the good people of LEC, the Wiki and Obiwan Toby's Videos.

Here's a list of what's been done so far......

Jan '17:

Removed HKS Dump Valve and Everest Chip to give a performance baseline and remove chavvy sound
Fixed Driver's door lock (First encounter with Elan door internals!)
Re-attached Glove box lid to glove box and fitted new lock, the old lock internals were long gone

Feb:

Refitted original rear lights as Kia lights were allowing water into the boot - also wanted to re-instate the brighter 55w rear fog lights
Fitted clear repeater lenses
Fitted Metal Monkey Dial Faces - White on black with green illumination - much better in the daylight

Mar:

Fixed leak into passenger footwell - The foam heater intake shroud deteriorated + the wiring loom dropped and cut through it - new foam is wrapped in neoprene sheet to keep out water and give some strength.
Fitted BCN Gear Cables and Short Shift - Thank you BCN!
Steering column lower UJ changed
Rebuilt most of the cooling system as both rusty thermostat housing bolts sheared off

Apr:

Fitted O2 sensor and Closed Loop conversion with S2 ECM from the spares list
Fitted DAB radio and changed wiring so that the radio's memory isn't lost when ignition is turned off
Rebuilt N/S Headlight motor and fitted new Main beam reflectors

May:

Removed seats and carpets, inspected outriggers (all good!), painted outriggers and replaced underfelt with 12mm closed cell foam
Fitted new Bosch S4-075 Battery
Fitted new front springs and shock absorbers - old springs were sagging badly
Fitted "Raid" steering wheel

Jun:

Completed "A+B+C" service plus new Fuel Filter (Cam belt was done in 2016)
Rear brake calipers rebuilt - handbrake now works and adjusts

Jul:

Fitted a set of Jamie's one-piece Windscreen and A-pillar seals - Jamie the Seal my dry knees thank you!
S2 Alloys refurbished and new Dunlop SportMaxx RT tyres fitted
New NGK coils fitted, ignition module cleaned up and heat-sink-greased to ally backing plate - cured starting problems

Sep:

PNM extra silencer fitted and rear silencer replaced as there was no wadding left inside!
PNM Door waist seals fitted (Second encounter with Elan door internals!)
1000 mile trip through France with no problems

Oct:

Upgraded Everest chip to 1499 (S2) and put it into SE ECM - 200BHP AND closed loop!
Built and tested Matthias' ElanLogger

Nov:

Started work on ElanLogger display modification

Still to be done, in no particular order:-

1. Replace twisted N/S/R Wishbone with possible "Project Creep" to rebuild the brake proportioning valves - if I can source the O rings.
2. Fix tapping Hydraulic Valve Lifter - Wynns HVL Cleaner worked on all but 1 lifter - As the cam belt has to come off anyway I might just change the Head gasket while I'm in there as I'm pretty sure it's never been done and there's been a few reports of possible age-related HGF recently.
3. Fix cracks on fibreglass front bumper or possibly replace with a good ABS one?
4. De-rusting and refurbishing of the suspension and chassis
5. Fabricate mountings and fit Porsche seats

I'll try uploading some photos in a later post.
Cheers,
Ron

If every single post from you is like this, you'll have a brand new car in a post or 4

And then you can start on mine

Well done Ron. Wish I had half of your skills

HJ2 wrote:If every single post from you is like this, you'll have a brand new car in a post or 4

At a rate of 1 post per year that might take some time.....

Rambo wrote:And then you can start on mine

Sorry Rambo, once the M100 is up to snuff I'm afraid I have a '68 +2 that's been awaiting my attention for >30 years. One of the reasons for me getting the M100 was to see if I still had the desire to muck about with cars, but without spending a fortune. I think that one's been answered now!

Cheers,
Ron

Great bit of work you have put in there Ron . I like the sound of the Porsche seats, I have often looked at some of those and thought
they would be great in the Elan. Look forward to seeing them done.

Sounds good Ron where did you manage to source a glove box lock from. Mine requires replacing

davidcgriffiths wrote:Sounds good Ron where did you manage to source a glove box lock from. Mine requires replacing

Hi David,

I got a new lock + 2 keys from K.L.C.K - Here
The one I have is listed as CAVALIER (MK3), and I can't see any difference between the new one and the original Lotus one.
I don't know if it will fit an S2 though as mine's an SE.

Cheers,
Ron

Thanks Ron got one ordered,

First few photos of last year's fun:

Reason for leak into passenger footwell:


What was left of the A-pillar seals:


Sealing old seal attachment holes in header rail with Neoprene sheet and Sikaflex:


Painted Header Rail:


Wheel refurb - IMHO darker colour suits silk red:


Cheers,
Ron

Can we have a picture of your back side so we can all appreciate it .
Thank you.

clemo wrote:Can we have a picture of your back side so we can all appreciate it.

Not sure if you meant the back of the car or the outriggers Clemo:





The other meaning is too dire to contemplate!

Neither of those and least of all the last option ! ... i thought you had put the Kia's back on .

Both very good photos in different ways

It is very pleasing to see that your inner sills are in exceptional condition ( as are mine )
So it goes to show to those who are fearful to go and have a look. They may be pleasantly surprised .

Have you also (like Rambo) fitted reverse sensors in your plate surround ?
and is that a shut up pipe inside the piper exhaust tail end ?

Whew!

I must admit to crossing my fingers when removing the underfelt/sponge around the outriggers. It looks like the car had the drain holes in the sills from new, so that probably helped.
There are just 2 reversing sensors fitted at the moment, the other 2 will get inset into the bumper grille when I get a round tewitt.
The exhaust was a very early Cybox/PNM one. The round pipe looked original, but it has since been replaced with the latest PNM.

When the car had the Kia rear lights fitted they weren't sealed properly and so let water into the boot. It needed some fibreglass work to make them good and I didn't have the time for that so I refitted the originals. I still like the look of them but I'm not keen on having the fog and reversing lights behind the bumper grille.
I had a thought about them the other day - what if the inner red lenses were replaced with elise-style round fog and reversing lights like this?

I'll keep that one on the back burner for now...

Cheers,
Ron

Small update time:

Mar '18:
Replaced both door glasses, rebuilding door internals and using Wayne's sliders and PTFE Rod as rollers - this enabled the sliders to be fitted with roller ends outwards, making the glass less wobbly
PNM Door Waist seals refitted with 1mm solid neoprene sikaflexed to the outside mounting face - brought the seals into better contact with the glass

Apr:
Replaced door card carpet with removable panels of Ply / Neoprene closed cell foam / Alcantara


Repaired split in Porsche seat squab foam and reinforced with 15oz Hessian, rebuilt seats with seat heaters



Made Adaptor brackets for fitting seats into car - still need to fettle the rear brackets a bit as there's contact with the seats gas struts

RonR wrote:Small update time:

Apr:
Replaced door card carpet with removable panels of Ply / Neoprene closed cell foam / Alcantara

Very nice, I like the carpet replacement and have been thinking of doing something similar. Couple of questions if you dont mind:

-What thickness of ply did you use?
-How have you fixed it to the door panel, is it just bonded in place?

This is similar to how i did mine a couple of years ago.

For fitting, i made the 'base' out of 3mm hardboard, which I painted with fibreglass resin to give it some water resistance. I drilled 3 x 6mm holes straight through the board and the door panel (making sure that they were clear of anything underneath!)

They were fixed with 'Fir-tree' fasteners.

Then removed from the door card, covered with thin neoprene foam (spray glued). Once dry, i used a sharp blade to pare down the slight lumps where the firtree heads allowed the foam to bulge out a bit, resulting in a near flat covering.

Then glued the alcantara over the top, and tucked in round the back.

Once dry, they simply pressed into the holes in the door card. They are still there now, but easily removable if required.

My method was almost exactly the same as Dapinky's but using 3mm Ply, varnish, then 3mm foam and finally Alcantara.

Fixing is by 3 x plastic 'rivets', the top part is stuck to and passes through the ply and the bottom part goes through the door card:

It seems to be quite secure although time will tell....

Cheers,
Ron

Thanks both!

That gives me enough pointers to try and put something together.

It took me hours cleaning off all the old layers of adhesive residue from the door panels and it would be a shame to cover them with contact adhesive again!

Another small update:

May '18:
Fitted new Battery connection, Fuses and relays under the hood stowage area for seat heaters and seat back electric operation.
Porsche seats fitted after making 3-part rear brackets, finally resolving the gas strut clearance problem. Had to add a couple of washers to the outside seat brackets tilting the seats inward ever so slightly to stop the hood frame from rubbing on the seat back.
Still need to fit the seat heater switches somewhere, possibly in the centre console cubby box?


Aug:
My wheel centres were looking a bit tired, so it was time for a refurb. Decided I like the look of black badges, so ordered up some domed ally ones from Epay to try. Removed the old badges and the outer lip from the original S2 wheel centres, the new badges (56.5mm) just overlapped the old centres but still fitted in the wheel recesses, so I Sikaflexed them on and now they're looking a whole lot better IMHO. Well worth £10.28 for 4!


Cheers,
Ron

Looking good Ron