S2 #378 (Steve) - hopefully only light fixes

[dapinky]

I'm betting that at the end of the day...it doesn't matter much, and whatever oil you use will be fine if you change it often enough. Glad to hear your engine is still healthy at over 100k miles. Mine has 57k and I'm nervous about it all the time!

One of the things that gives me hesitation with high oil pressures are our weak oil cooler lines. I'm aware that the defect is typically the crimps, but for some reason, I get nightmares of high pressure blowing the lines off. But then again, I'm irrational and nervous when it comes to everything breaking

That's actually a valid thought, but I changed my lines and oil cooler a fair few years ago to a system which doesn't rely on 30+ year-old crimps.

[378S2]

Well... no changes other than the date and my oil pressure is reading 5bar today. It does this from time to time, sometimes it reads a consistent 7 under load and sometimes a consistent 5. The pressure transducer isn't standard, so maybe I just need to get round to swapping that over but it's a pig of a job I'm not excited to start.

[378S2]

A little work on the Elan this Christmas - I've done an oil change to the 10W50 which has brought the oil pressure down as expected. The oil filter is in a terrible spot - each time I do it I manage to fumble and drop it (open side down) on the exhaust. Bloody stupid place to put an oil filter.

I have also replaced my injectors, and I am very pleased with the improvement. With thanks to Matt for the recommendation, I picked up a set of well priced replacements from the US.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/191637275013

For the installation I followed the WikiLEC instructions which were excellent, thank you for those; it was fiddly but not hard. I put the front up on ramps to make it a bit easier to reach everything. The fuel rail bolts would not budge with a ratchet but the impact driver whipped them out in a moment. I really only had three problems:

1. The electrical connectors were very brittle. I managed to break off the little locking tab on each and one connector was already chipped quite badly. I've ordered a new set of connectors and will replace them all.
2. I could not get the new injectors in to the top rail first per the instructions. I found it much easier to put them in to the head, and then push the fuel rail down on to it. I put the bolts back in the rail, and then levered them up to the correct height which I found quite easy to do.
3. On first start it sounded awful, I am fairly sure it was not firing on more than 2 or 3 cylinders - bad enough that my wife came out to let me know I shouldn't have messed with it! I gave each connector a spray with WD40 and jiggled them in to position which cured it (new connectors will solve that).

Just a quick test drive tonight with a fire extinguisher on the passenger seat and a beautiful full moon above (roof down to make rapid escape from a burning Elan easier!). Subject to a proper test tomorrow, I think that it was noticeably more powerful and was boosting to 0.6bar in all gears.

New on the left and old on the right

The replacements are 3mm shorter than the originals, however the seals are spaced correctly with only ~0.5mm difference.

The advert for the new injectors say that the new hole pattern is an upgrade. 5 holes, not 1. Well I can't vouch for any improvement coming from that, but there are definitely more holes.

#1 was quite shabby.

[TorqueHorse]

Awesome, glad they are working for you so far! Hope the real test goes well too.
I'm chasing down a 'hard start' issue at the moment and need to pull mine to make sure they aren't leaking overnight. I'll use your tips to put it back together easier

[378S2]

Shame to hear of your hard start problem Matt.

Test drive completed - all working nicely. I don't have any means for an empirical comparison of the before and after but I do think that it now gets to 0.6bar boost in all gears whereas before I could only get it to 0.6bar in 4th gear. The coils and leads improved things but now it seems very predicable and I would say has a wee bit more pace. Possibly.

So probably a few placebo points again to be awarded in lieu of any actual measurable performance gain!

[378S2]

Today I solved the mystery of why my oil pressure sits steady at different values depending on the day - it is dependent on the fan speed setting.

at idle with fan on (top) and off

at 4k with fan on (top) and off [it is being caused by the drop in voltage - would be an easy fix to put a regulator on the gauges, but I can't really be bothered with it]

I was in the UK a couple of weeks ago and brought back a few bits that I've been working through. Here's the new leads to replace the temporary ones I found here:

They were about GBP30 from Classic Car Leads on eBay

I've swapped out the gear lever assembly. It was a fun job and not so hard. With the car up on ramps it was easy enough to disconnect the cables at the gearbox and then to work at the lever end. I found the replacement on the UK eBay site for less than GBP80.

the old and the new - the old one was very worn

still works but a lot of freeplay

new one installed. A clear improvement in freeplay of the lever. There's still some although I don't think it can be removed as there will always be some lash in the linkages.

Nice 100km drive through the bush this morning.

[TorqueHorse]

Look great! Perfect run of the leads make a nice show piece. Drive in the bush looks fun too!

[378S2]

you are very kind Matt, but I don't think my Elan will be a show car any time soon! The new feel on the gear changes is good though, combined with the short shift kit and a new lever assembly it is feeling very clickity-clackity.

[378S2]

Beautiful drive today through ~400km of WA bush. Almost no photos to show you except this one at Canning Dam.

I highly recommend refreshing your gear lever if you have a high mileage car, it's one of the few things I've spent some $$ on that doesn't rely on the placebo effect to convince you it was money well spent (overhauling the brakes were the other thing!). Here's the one I bought for GBP70 + delivery: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/295473833967

[378S2]

That's actually a valid thought, but I changed my lines and oil cooler a fair few years ago to a system which doesn't rely on 30+ year-old crimps.

Hi Dave - what system are you using?

[dapinky]

That's actually a valid thought, but I changed my lines and oil cooler a fair few years ago to a system which doesn't rely on 30+ year-old crimps.

Hi Dave - what system are you using?

It was a bit of a "system" which I made myself out of necessity! - Many years ago I discovered that my oil cooler radiator was leaking and it was only a few days before Castle Combe trackday - there was no way I could get a replacement in time.....

.....I just tried to find the thread I created at the time, but it appears to be one from the time of the "great disappearing thread mystery" era.

So, to summarise, I got hold of a slightly smaller radiator (Setrab 19-row, 210mm, with M22 female threads) which allowed me to fit 90degree fir-tree unions into the place where the current banjo connectors go..... this is why I used the 19-row radiator, not the 22-row one, as it allows space for the fittings and hose. The hose was 'standard' high-performance Aeroquip hose which simply push-fits onto the fir-tree connectors (or at least, it would if you have the grip and strength of the incredible hulk - without which you have to soak the hose ends in boiling water, put the fixings in the freezer, then bring the 2 parts together with as much force as you can muster whilst wearing suitable gloves.... they are never going to fall off!)

I removed the fitting from the end of the solid pipes coming from the oil pump and braised on a 'standard' threaded union (can't remember exactly what size, probably a 1/2" BSP fitting or whatever I could find that would provide the connection to the other end of the flexible pipes I made...... again, that end was made with fir-tree fittings.

Mounting the radiator was the most awkward bit and I used a sheet of 2mm aluminium to make bracketry for it to fill the OE location.

I'm not at all sure that it is something I'd do again by choice - but at the time I needed the car back on the road, and I still had to wait until the Saturday morning for the last pieces to arrive to get to Castle Combe that day!

[378S2]

Steve made a friend today - an identical silver S2 which has just migrated to WA from the east coast.

Now one of us has our indicator lenses round the wrong way. But who?

[TorqueHorse]

Phenomenal! Glad to see long lost brothers back together. Maybe you can convince Perth and WA to start an ad campaign for the "Silver Coast" to compete with Queensland

[378S2]

I am in the UK for a couple of weeks with work and popped over to Shropshire today to see family. This is only the third Elan M100 I’ve ever seen. I followed you for a while but my personality free hire car wouldn’t keep up. If that was you, I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to chat.

[378S2]

I was chasing a rear end clunk today, and while I did not find it I did find that my sway bar drop links need new boots. Has anyone sourced them, and could you please share the secret to your success?

[378S2]

I ran a compression test tonight for the first time - how are my values? It's a cheap tester, the engine was warm (not hot) and I did not add any oil.

CL1

CL2

CL3

CL4

Spark 1

Spark 2

Spark 3

Spark 4

[Tuga2112]

i dont know much but those results look pretty good to me, nearly all cilinder show the same.

[378S2]

I've just made an exciting discovery... you can't get the oil filter out the bottom of the car if there's weight on the wheels! Oh what a mess. I had it on drive up ramps and I just couldn't get it out because it gets stuck between the driver's side drive shaft and the oil line. At one point I had my finger stuck in the filter threaded hole and my arm trapped between the exhaust and subframe. Once I managed to free myself I freed the oil filter by lifting the car a few inches on the trolley jack.

Stupid bloody place for an oil filter! I think Greenpeace will pay me a visit soon to protest the mess on my garage floor. When it's stopped dripping in the morning I will attack it with several cans of degreaser.

[Tuga2112]

your making it harder than it needs to be.

this will hopefully help you for next year. it takes a lot of effort to setup cameras in ways that you can show this.

[378S2]

Hello All

My car turns 30 in a couple of weeks - and I have two jobs. Timing belt etc. (plenty of guidance, thank you) and a new exhaust. I would love a little exhaust advice please.

The one on there has annoyed me since I got it, because it's very loud and you can really only hear the exhaust and never the engine, I'd much prefer a quiet ride. Additionally it's broken the rear two hangars, the CAT hangs too low, and the welding looks like it's been done by a chicken... so it's time to go. Postage of a kit from the UK is absurd, so I am booked in next week for a new custom stainless system.

On a trip to the UK two years ago, I did bring back a new CAT section, so that's SJ replicated standard. I have asked them to build something quiet which doesn't reduce power noticeably. They're talking about putting in another muffler after the CAT and replacing the back box. I've seen some extra silencers that go in the rear wheel bay, but my local shop think it will go best underneath.

Any tips I can pass on to the shop please?

I will have to use a non-standard tip because a previous owner has opened up the bumper. I will most likely go for a twin pipe rather than this oval one.

Thanks for the help!