Breathing new life into an old car

[Relevance]

I'd like to start off with a big thank you to all of the LEC members I have spoken with so far who have offered their advice and expertise!

Some of you may have seen my other posts regarding importing my '92 turbo in Silk Red K489DTM (Still not sure why people post their license plate numbers...). Well, now that the car is in my hands and I could take a closer look at its condition, its time for a restoration of some extent. Below, I'll list a recap of the cars current condition as I wait for new photos back from the shop photographer.

Body
The clear coat is totally gone on well over 50% of the car and is about to let go on the remaining parts of the body. Silk Red was never available on federalized cars, although I have heard stories of one that has been resprayed. I am planning to have it repainted the same color with some new clear coat.

N/S taillight cover is cracked and the inside is moldy from water damage.

Rear bumper missing paint/some damage around tailpipe

Light damage to the outside edges of both doors - likely from hitting curbs after parking.

rear window has a hole, and is so unbelievably dirty that it is fully opaque and resembles a slice of cheesecake.

Top grew a lot of mold while on the ship and now would just be better off in the skip.

Engine/Driveline
Engine bay/valve cover/Turbo Heat shield dirty and slightly corroded - soon to be removed, vapor blasted, and repainted. No leaks or noises from either!

Clutch feels a bit strange to me but I have never driven another Elan for reference and it was not slipping

Suspension
Just about everything, front and rear, are corroded past the point of being salvageable with the exception of the rear wishbones supplied by another LEC member years ago which look almost brand new. everything else will be replaced in the coming months.

Brakes
Calipers are on the verge of sticking and brake lines are on the verge of turning to dust. Fronts are likely going to be replaced by PNM big brake kit, rears TBD.

interior
door card on the drivers side has been pulled out and edges are hanging loose, looks like it may be able to be repaired fairly easily.

Shift knob looks like a dog has been chewing on it

Horn inoperable from steering wheel, previous owner had added a switch into a dead panel to pass MOT.

glovebox door and latch were found behind the passenger seat and don't appear to fit back together properly (glovebox still works, just has no cover on it)






I look forward to talking to and learning from you all as this project gets underway!

[Tuga2112]

you need to resize those pictures.

as far as rear light cover. that is going to be pricey. but judging fromthe background you are not going to struggle much sourcing one.

the hood cover can be sourced from greece, but i have been told its very poor quality and worth looking for a good second hand one. ALTHOUGH i know someone who is trying to get new ones made in the Northeast. i can enquiry about the progress see if your lucky with that.
personally because im a cheapskate, i would just give it a very through clean and see what can be done. its rather amazing what yo can do with a good clean and 2 coats of black dye.
replacing the rear plastiglass is a job you will probably find someone willing to do fairly easily.. it can be done by hand as Clemo had done (and i think its been documented to some extent in he's project)

horn not working seems odd. the wiring for the switch in the steering wheel is pretty straighforward. with a little investigation i suspect theres a good chance you can make it work again without buying new parts and just doing some wire replacements or plugging loose ends

front suspension may not be anywhere near as bad as it looks. if you check my videos you can see how bad it looks and what wonders can be done with cleaning up and getting it new bushes as well as powder coating.

obviously... if that is your garage. then your financial position is nothing like mine.. and all my advice can be easily discaded for better (and more expensive) ways to solve all problems.

[Tuga2112]

and ive noticed you use imgur to host.

to resize your images all you have to do is add a small case 'L ' to the image code

for instance your image like
Olbv1CK.jpg

becomes
https://i.imgur.com/Olbv1CKl.jpg

then you add the (img) tags using square brakets and it will be like this.

[Jamie N]

Forget the Elan, please please please show more pictures and tell us about the NSX.

[Relevance]

you need to resize those pictures.

as far as rear light cover. that is going to be pricey. but judging fromthe background you are not going to struggle much sourcing one.

the hood cover can be sourced from greece, but i have been told its very poor quality and worth looking for a good second hand one. ALTHOUGH i know someone who is trying to get new ones made in the Northeast. i can enquiry about the progress see if your lucky with that.
personally because im a cheapskate, i would just give it a very through clean and see what can be done. its rather amazing what yo can do with a good clean and 2 coats of black dye.
replacing the rear plastiglass is a job you will probably find someone willing to do fairly easily.. it can be done by hand as Clemo had done (and i think its been documented to some extent in he's project)

horn not working seems odd. the wiring for the switch in the steering wheel is pretty straighforward. with a little investigation i suspect theres a good chance you can make it work again without buying new parts and just doing some wire replacements or plugging loose ends

front suspension may not be anywhere near as bad as it looks. if you check my videos you can see how bad it looks and what wonders can be done with cleaning up and getting it new bushes as well as powder coating.

obviously... if that is your garage. then your financial position is nothing like mine.. and all my advice can be easily discaded for better (and more expensive) ways to solve all problems.

Hi Tuga,

Thanks for the tip for Imgur, images have been resized properly! Regarding the background/surroundings - none of the vehicles pictured apart from the Elan belong to me, but I've had the chance to experience them. the garage belongs to a very close friend of mine that has graciously allowed me to store the car among his collection (most of what is pictured is part of it) and have his technicians and I work together to do the restoration. The Technician that will be doing most of the work says he knows a US based Lotus specialist that has the rear light cover in stock, but we will see if they are able to locate it. If not, converting to circular lights doesn't seem like too bad of an alternative. I completely agree that the top is likely able to be saved but I will need to search for a way to address where it has started to wear thin from the roof mechanism, as you had said window should not be much of a hassle to replace. The horn switch appears to have been nothing more than a quick patch job by the last owner but doesn't bother me much, it will likely be fixed at some point. I have watched a few of your videos for research when I was waiting for mine to arrive but now that I've seen my car first hand I will definitely check them out again. Part of our plan is to send the car out to have the entire underside blasted, see if anything is salvageable, and then go from there - I did see an MOT advisory for "suspension arms corroded but not seriously weakened" from the last owner, but the situation looks pretty grim from the underside right now. Really appreciate all the advice and hope to put it to good use soon!

[Relevance]

Forget the Elan, please please please show more pictures and tell us about the NSX.

just took a look and sadly I don't have any other pictures of that NSX. From what I remember its an all original 1 owner, very very low mile car. There is every chance in the world that I'm wrong though so i'll ask the owner the next time i'm with the car

[Tuga2112]

i certainly envy your working conditions... but only partially. I rather like my own even without a lot of space. the nice thing is that it takes me less than a minute to go from bed to the garage in my case

[Relevance]

Believe me I certainly envy yours too! My house doesn’t have a garage, driveway, or parking and it takes me no less than an hour to get to the shop on a good day

[Saltire]

First up, I agree with Jamie about the NSX. I test drove one once and I can honestly say it was the most memorable test drive ever. (Why Coopers let me out in it on my own, I’ve no idea; must be my honest face)

With regard to the horn, I had a problem once with an inoperative horn at MoT time. All the wiring was fine and the horns worked when directly connected. I eventually traced it to a poorly fitted steering column cowl. This had been removed to replace one of the stalk switches, and when I replaced it, I’d snagged the horn wire so it pulled the trigger switch away from the horn ring on the back of the steering wheel.

On my car at least, the horn wire was quite long and it was extremely easy to do. Even once I knew about it, and took care with refitting, it still took me a couple of goes before I got it all properly aligned and had a working horn again.

Just a thought.

[Giniw]

While we are talking about the horn, is it a bit weak or is it just my car?
I mean it works, but it's really not that loud.

[Saltire]

I wouldn’t call mine weak. Have you checked that both are working - when I originally bought my car, one had a flaky connection and that softened them considerably

[dapinky]

Getting back on topic (although I do agree that the wiring actually at the horn itself under the wheel arch is likely to be the problem for a very "unloud" horn)....

... having done a few Elans in my time, I'm nearly always pleasantly surprised by how the suspension units clean up. Even when they look really grotty, they often come up like new after a bit of a clean, a soak in phosphoric acid and a repaint (or powdercoat).

Okay, so I change the shocks and bushes as a matter of course, along with the balljoints - but nearly everything else is re-usable. (However, I do replace all nuts and bolts with stainless where they are strong enough, or HT steel where they aren't). After that, a good squirt of Bilt-Hamber Dynax-UC wax keeps it good.

[Giniw]

I wouldn’t call mine weak. Have you checked that both are working - when I originally bought my car, one had a flaky connection and that softened them considerably

I have not, and I should indeed. The only issue is I only think to the horn when I am using it, which is not very often, and certainly not when the car is parked
I should write a little sticky note

(although I do agree that the wiring actually at the horn itself under the wheel arch is likely to be the problem for a very "unloud" horn)

Thanks!

[Relevance]

While we are talking about the horn, is it a bit weak or is it just my car?
I mean it works, but it's really not that loud.

I wouldn't say it's quiet but its in no way intimidating.

Getting back on topic (although I do agree that the wiring actually at the horn itself under the wheel arch is likely to be the problem for a very "unloud" horn)....

... having done a few Elans in my time, I'm nearly always pleasantly surprised by how the suspension units clean up. Even when they look really grotty, they often come up like new after a bit of a clean, a soak in phosphoric acid and a repaint (or powdercoat).

Okay, so I change the shocks and bushes as a matter of course, along with the balljoints - but nearly everything else is re-usable. (However, I do replace all nuts and bolts with stainless where they are strong enough, or HT steel where they aren't). After that, a good squirt of Bilt-Hamber Dynax-UC wax keeps it good.

Reading both yours and Tuga's experiences with cleaning up the suspension gives me (and my wallet) hope! Though there is always the lingering possibility of fitting PNM or AVO replacements regardless.... I will be back with the car on Friday and will do some cleaning up underneath and post my results. Hope to have some professional photos of the underside back soon to share as well.

After that, a good squirt of Bilt-Hamber Dynax-UC wax keeps it good.

Took a quick look and this isn't able to be shipped to the US I'm sure I'll be able to find an alternative relatively easily though

[Tuga2112]

I wouldn't say it's quiet but its in no way intimidating.

thats a full working Elan horn for you... or basically any other european car tbh.

[Rambo]

I rather like my own even without a lot of space. the nice thing is that it takes me less than a minute to go from bed to the garage in my case

That's because rumour has it Jõao, you sleep in one and work on the other. Allegedly.

[Rambo]

Wow, I love that garage

What's that orange one in the bottom photo? Lambo? McLaren?

[Giniw]

Pretty sure it's a Lamborghini! (Murcielago?)

[TorqueHorse]

Exciting project! Looking forward to following the progress.

[Relevance]

Pretty sure it's a Lamborghini! (Murcielago?)

Correct! This one I have some more pictures of at least