Nigel (soon to be The Stig)

[GeoffSmith]

I agree with nMonty!

[tweetdriver63]

Oooh that really pissed me off. I just typed a whole post, which took me a while, getting the words out right. Then when I hit submit, I got the "internal server error" message, and it was all lost!

Shite!

Well, let me try again.

Thanks guys. I think when you drive a car like this one, your attitude changes over time, and some of the things you thought looked great at the start, just don't seem to fit your style any more. That's what has happened to me, with the interior and the wheels. I grew cold to the faux carbon-fibre stuff on the inside, and also to the style I had originally tried with the wheels. I really did like the way I had done the wheels up shortly after I got the car, but I've changed, and my sense of Elan-style has changed. Fortunately, I did the wheels in a temporary fashion the first time, just cleaning them up and using a touch-up paint to paint on the red accents. I very much like the new look of the gun metal wheels, and the different personality/attitude they give the car. It's just the way I feel driving it.

So, my advice to new owners (in the future) will be to hold off on making any permanent styling changes until they've driven the car for six months or so, and have had a chance to really get to know it, and how they see it's personality. If not, they'll risk doing something they end up not liking.

[Doug]

Chris,

I like the new wheels too!

wondering if you did them yourself, and if so what advice do you have for do's and don'ts ??

-Doug

[tweetdriver63]

Yes Doug, I did them myself. It's the kind of thing I like doing. If I had the money to spend on having them professionally done, I probably would have. I think I actually did a pretty good job, but if I had paid for it, I would have demanded perfection. As it is, there are some small flaws. By my count, I have one small run (almost impossible to see because of where it is), and a half dozen minor covered up curb scrapes. You'd have to look very, very closely to notice any of those things.

The paint I used is Dupli-color Truck, Van and SUV paint, in Gun Metal Grey. I used two cans. After the paint, I put a couple of coats of Dupli-color clear wheel coating on for some extra shine, and extra protection from chips etc. It really did make a noticable difference in the finish.

I didn't take the tires off. I just removed the wheels, cleaned them carefully with a degreaser and then soapy water. Then I hand-sanded them with 220 grit paper. I didn't worry too much about the little scrapes on the edges, beyond the sanding, because I figured that part will most likely get scraped again, and like I said, I wasn't looking for a perfect refurb, just a descent re-finish. After cleaning, I masked off the tire and the valve stem, popped out the wheel center, and started spraying. First primer, then 3 coats of the gun metal, followed by 2 coats of the wheel coating. Being the impatient type that I am, I used a hair dryer to speed the process between coats.

I spent about 1 hour per wheel, not counting final drying time. I would let a wheel sit about an hour after I finished, and had used the hair dryer on it for 5-10 minutes, then I would put it carefully back on the car, and move to the next one. I did the 2 on one side on Saturday, then the other 2 on Sunday.

If having the fun of doing it myself, and saving the money of paying a pro, means I might have to do it again in a couple of years, I'm good with that, but I really think the finish will last.

[Doug]

Thanks for the tips.

I have a similar project waiting for me on my Saab from the previous owner's affinity for the curb! The wheels are actually poorly painted from the factory and I might end up with a better job than new? I hope they look near as good as yours and I'll be happy.

[tweetdriver63]

Today was the day I planned to take on a relatively small task -- installing the Everest chip that came in the mail a few days ago. So, here's how it went, and how that relatively small task turned into a full day of cursing and swearing, broken up by 3 trips to the parts store for tools I needed.

First, I headed out to the car with removal/installation instructions in hand. I sat beside the driver's side (as instructed) and reached in to locate the ECU. The first thing I found was a pallet of relays just floating around loosely. Of course, as I tried to investigate that, two of the relays fell to the floor. Dammit! Now there's no doubt that I'm going to have to get back into the Lotus position and finally get serious about finding the two nuts that secure the knee bolster, and take the bolster off so I can figure out what's up with that bunch of relays. Trouble light. Mirror. Contorsions. Finally....I found one of the nuts behind/next to the relay pallet (this must be why the relays weren't secured. The previous owner, who installed the Superchip, didn't have the patience to put it all back together correctly.). After contorting and fighting and cussing for a while, I had to make the first trip to the parts store to get a deep-well, 10mm socket. (I bought a set of six metric deep-wells just in case) Finally, I got that nut off. Now to find the other. It took a lot of looking, squirming, contorting, and swearing, but it finally paid off. The damn thing hides behind a white-ish plastic thing labeled "Fed Logic Unit." Take the connector off that, then remove the screw holding the upper end of it in place (requiring removal of three harness brackets), then get the deep-well socket onto it. Crap! I need one of those omni-directional adapters for the ratchet handle. Another trip to the store (I have one for my big 3/8 drive ratchet, but not for the small 1/4 inch one). Ok, that did it. The bolster's off. Now the work on the ECU and the relays will be easy. There's a single screw that holds the relay bracket in place, and it's missing. Thank you again, Mr. Previous Owner. I got lucky, and found a screw that fit perfectly on the first try.

Now to the ECU and the new chip.

I took the ECU out (no problem), then following the instructions, I opened it up, took out the chip, and then it got confusing. The original OEM chip, which I had in the box the Superchip came in, had to go back in, then install the Everest. The trouble is, the OEM chip still sat piggy-back on it's adapter (that connects it to the circuit board), but the Superchip came off, leaving it's adapter (which is soldered to the board) behind. This means that when the OEM chip is put in place, it stands 50% taller than it should, based on the pictures, and the blue plastic cover isn't tall enough to clip back in place at that end of the board. After dicking around with it for a few minutes, I decided "F@$k it," and just put it on with the blue cover only clipped at one end of the board. Well, short story long, it all went together (with that one exception) as advertised.

ECU back in the car. Relay board back in place, with the suicidal relays returned to their homes, and now the real fun begins.

First, since I had to take the bolster all the way off (it had been hanging down a bit since I worked on the speedo cluster a while back, and I was leaving it that way until I figured out a permanent fix for the inaccurate speedo), this was the best time to go ahead with painting the cluster's trim with the gun metal to match the rest of the trim I've been working on. Out comes the cluster. I won't go into detail about the painting. When it comes time to put it back in, I decided to fiddle with the speedo a bit. I pulled out the little stop that the needle rests against at a stand still, and pulled the speedo needle off. I put the needle back on pointing to where about minus-10 mph would be, then held it above where the stop goes, and reinstalled the stop. I did that because at a stand still, the needle didn't actually rest on the stop, and I thought that could have something to do with the speedo always reading 15-20 mph faster than the GPS indicates. As it turns out, I was right. After putting everything back together, when I went for a test drive to test the Everest, I noticed the speedo is now reading only 5-10 mph fast. Unfortunately, I put everything all the way back together before I discovered that, and there's no way in Hell I'm taking it back out to move the needle again. That will have to wait until something else requires it.

The last bit of work was to remove the MBC. That was a piece of cake.

Test drive results: Perfect! Although I must admit, I don't notice a huge difference in the performance (I had the MBC adjusted to allow about .8 bar boost), I think it's smoother, and I know it is better for the engine to have the system mapped for the higher boost, instead of just cranking it up and defeating the fuel cut-off with a Supershit. It went right to .9 bar consistently (and I have a totally stock exhaust system), although I did once exceed that to about 1.0 briefly. I can live with that. I don't normally drive that way anyhow, and all I have to do if I see that is back off a bit.

I did discover what must be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, pain in the arse job in an Elan. That damn knee bolster. The front of it is held in place by two tiny, tiny clips that have to fit onto a little metal shelf. You have to push it up into place, then push it forward to engage the clips. The trouble is, you can't see them, and you can't feel anything. All you can do is bang on it hard with your fist to hopefully get them engaged, and then relax to see if the thing drops or not. If it doesn't drop, you've probably got them engaged. Then you put those two nuts on, which are impossible to see, and nearly impossible to reach, and will have you ready to take a torch to the car by the time you're done! What's worse, as the nuts tighten, because of the length of the studs (which is actually a bit more than the depth of a standard deep-well socket), you tend to be pushing out on the bolster a bit, and those clips, being as frakking tiny as they are, tend to disengage from the shelf, and you have to start all over! frakkin'

Anyway, all's well now. I'll post a pic or two of the cluster, trimmed in gun metal, tomorrow.

BTW, if anybody wants a Superchip for an Elan, I've got one dirt cheap.

[tweetdriver63]

As promised, a couple of pics. (I still haven't done the AC/hazard switches, or re-done around the FB3 guages)

gun metel cluster 1.jpg (90.15 KiB) Viewed 6239 times

Yeah, I did the air vents, too.

gun metal cluster.jpg (85.11 KiB) Viewed 6224 times

[tweetdriver63]

Final job around the FB3 gauges and AC/hazard switches are now done.

[tweetdriver63]

Just got this on ebay. I think it's a good price.

Spring project?

[tweetdriver63]

Project is ready to commence.

[tweetdriver63]

Windblokker installed. Pretty easy job.

I was hoping for a more dramatic effect on the wind in my hair, but the difference is noticable. Only some jostling of the hair on top now (which I think I can eliminate by removing the spacers under the seat tracks), and the swirling wind that normally blows paper and such around in the cabin is all but gone. I am a little bothered by the fact (like others have said) that the top of the windblocker is right in the middle of the rear-view mirror, but I'll get used to it.

I used brackets that are meant for saloon-style doors (like the saloons they drank in in the old West, not like a saloon car, for you Brits), and knobs that allow me to quickly remove it if I want. It doesn't interfere with operation of the hood, so I expect I'll just leave it installed, except during the winter months, when I know I won't be driving it top-down.

windblokker1.jpg (86.28 KiB) Viewed 6063 times

windblokker2.jpg (98.77 KiB) Viewed 6063 times

windblokker3.jpg (78.1 KiB) Viewed 6062 times

[Specky]

I've just seen the ultimate accessory....

Clicky

TTFN

[tweetdriver63]

I've just seen the ultimate accessory....

Clicky

TTFN

Maybe, if I had money coming out of my arse, and didn't mind people thinking I was a looney.....

There is a line, you know, that would have to be crossed to get to the point of buying something such as that.

Maybe I could go to Vegas, and be a Stig impersonator, alongside all the Elvis impersonators?

[chris.t]

nChris,

Those wheels look far better than before

I have to agree with Monty a vast improvement and they won't show the dirt so much not that your car gets dirty by the looks of it

[Specky]

I've just seen the ultimate accessory....

Clicky

TTFN

Maybe, if I had money coming out of my arse, and didn't mind people thinking I was a looney.....

There is a line, you know, that would have to be crossed to get to the point of buying something such as that.

Maybe I could go to Vegas, and be a Stig impersonator, alongside all the Elvis impersonators?

Well that's two "May be's" and could you justify crossing that line...

TTFN

[GeoffSmith]

Maybe I could go to Vegas, and be a Stig impersonator, alongside all the Elvis impersonators?

You'll need these then!

[nitroman]

I was hoping for a more dramatic effect on the wind in my hair, but the difference is noticable. Only some jostling of the hair on top now.

Your install seems to sit lower than in the picture of the unit installed in an MX5, not that you have any control over that.

mounted in an MX5

I have a clear acrylic one which came with my white M100. It is also an adapted windblocker which rests with prop-arms against the flat rear parcel-shelf, then snaps with nylon cord into the nether-region of the seat-mounting area. It is both "pulled-forward" (by cord) & propped-from-falling-backward by the extension-arms. It works, but I am certain there is another car it was meant for.

It also sits very high, eliminating the wind concerns you voiced, whilst eliminating the vision issues.
I am going to sell it on with the car.

[tweetdriver63]

I may try mounting it up a bit higher, but I think it will interfere with the roof if I do, and therefore will have to mount it in such a way that I can easily raise/lower it. Right now, it's in a fixed position, and it doesn't interfere with the roof operation.