Breathing new life into an old car

[Saltire]

I knew I’d seen it somewhere; thanks, tigerdog and pinky

[Tuga2112]

i think my front TCA was in similar appearance when i first looked at it. cleaned out ok.

im sure you can get an idea of its state from the videos even tho they were made with the old camera which aint anywhere near as good as the new one

[Relevance]

the first boxes of parts are beginning to arrive! Have not been around to the shop yet to see them myself but everything looks to be there from what I've been told.

A100C0040F YOKE - Front Suspension
A100C0149F Upper Half Wishbone LH
A100D0059 Cam Adjuster Bolt
A100B0728F Finisher - Windscreen Side
A100A0492F Y strut Front Frame
FELPRO VS50064R Gasket - Valve cover set (non-OE)
MS 94504 Gasket - intake manifold (non-OE)
C100C6006F Flange Bush Raft Pivot
A100R6004S Outboard boot kit
A100E6031F Belt - V alternator (non-OE, Gater)
GM 52066-B Fuel Filter

yes, this is a completely random assortment of parts but no work is going to be done to the car until all of the parts have arrived anyway. I (in haste?) have been buying whatever misc parts I have been able to find on sale, leading to this.

i think my front TCA was in similar appearance when i first looked at it.

definitely going to try taking something off and giving it a clean as a test to see if its worth it for the others.

[Relevance]

Today I (nearly) finished my sourcing spreadsheet for everything I need to get back on the road. Only thing I have yet to find from any supplier is B100D0031F Control arm/Link arm so if someone could point me in the direction of some I would be very grateful. I would be even more grateful if someone US based had a nearly complete suspension to sell me next comes the expensive part.... since there is no real order I need to purchase parts in and no urgency to have the car fully roadworthy I can spread the pain and by parts as they come up on sale.

On a different side of things, I have been in contact with a title agent to make my car roadworthy legally. My state has very relaxed laws for older vehicles and as such the Elan qualifies as a "Antique" for registration purposes. With registering as an antique I will only have to pay to register the vehicle once instead of yearly, and it will be exempt from both safety and emissions inspections for the life of the vehicle! only caveat being that I am not permitted to drive the vehicle more than once a week, not that they would know if that wasn't the reality anyway.

[Tuga2112]

since there is no real order I need to purchase parts in and no urgency to have the car fully roadworthy I can spread the pain and by parts as they come up on sale.

i understand the idea. but my word of warning is that in my personal experience its pretty rare that anything appears on sale, the usual suspects (both from new and scrap parts) dont ever reduce their prices.
the onyl example i can think of where playing that game worked for me was related to the side mirrors, (which very recently became available from a company in germany) and are reasonably priced.
but generally speaking. buying now is cheaper than buying later "when" (more likely IF) its available.

only caveat being that I am not permitted to drive the vehicle more than once a week, not that they would know if that wasn't the reality anyway.

not sure how that works for car shows that span across multiple days ?

and as one of the few owners to drives it all year round. that certinaly wouldnt work for me. im right now at work. and the elan is in the car park... it has been in the office car park at least onse every week for the past 3 months. and been driven to events and supermarket regulaly as well.

this is a car to be enjoyed. not displayed

[Relevance]

i understand the idea. but my word of warning is that in my personal experience its pretty rare that anything appears on sale, the usual suspects (both from new and scrap parts) dont ever reduce their prices.
the onyl example i can think of where playing that game worked for me was related to the side mirrors, (which very recently became available from a company in germany) and are reasonably priced.
but generally speaking. buying now is cheaper than buying later "when" (more likely IF) its available.

You would be surprised! There are a few US based Lotus specialists I have talked to that see such little demand for M100 parts they are willing to let the inventory they already have in the US go at a discount just to clear some space. GM parts that can be used as a cross reference also seem to come on sale here pretty often as just about every parts store will carry them and their prices have to remain competetive. I've also sourced a few things from a UK lotus specialist that had some various suspension bits and bobs on sale granted they were second hand but in far better condition than what is currently on my car.

not sure how that works for car shows that span across multiple days ?

and as one of the few owners to drives it all year round. that certinaly wouldnt work for me. im right now at work. and the elan is in the car park... it has been in the office car park at least onse every week for the past 3 months. and been driven to events and supermarket regulaly as well.

this is a car to be enjoyed. not displayed

Taking the question very literally, say its a Friday-Sunday show, the state of Pennsylvania would be happiest if you drove there on Friday and did not move the car until Sunday. in a more figurative sense I think the rule is "not to be driven more than an average of 1 day per week" so if you drove to the show Friday, back Saturday, and then didn't drive the car for a week afterwards, so be it. I would love to be able to drive the car every day but the benefits of having it registered as an antique far outweigh getting to have it as my daily IMO. For example, after 5 years of ownership if the vehicle was registered as a regular passenger vehicle I would have to pay my $50 initial registration fee + $45 each year for registration + approx $120 a year for safety and emissions inspections = $830 over 5 years for the car to legally be on the road (excluding insurance) vs a one time $96 antique registration fee being the only fee I would have to pay over the lifetime of the car. I usually work from home so I would still be able to take the Elan on the occasional 150 mile round trip to the office and still be well within the terms of both my insurance and the state.

[Tuga2112]

registered as a regular passenger vehicle I would have to pay my $50 initial registration fee + $45 each year for registration + approx $120 a year for safety and emissions inspections = $830 over 5 years for the car to legally be on the road (excluding insurance)

that was just a few days ago.. for a year of vehicle tax

[Relevance]

That is absolutely absurd. I've learned a few things about car ownership in the UK from looking through my included paperwork, including a SORN confirmation for my car from years ago. Having no idea what it meant I did some research and it has got to be one of the dumbest things I've heard of. If I no longer wanted to or could not drive my car indefinitely I would only need to cancel my insurance, and nothing else

[Saltire]

If I want to stop using my Elan, I have to tell the vehicle licensing authority (DVLA), and declare it Off Road (SORN). I then get a refund of the remaining unused vehicle tax (£325 minus the number of months tax used, including the current month).

Then I can’t drive the car on the road again until I notify DVLA and re-tax it: another £325. If the annual vehicle test (MoT) has expired in the meantime, I also need to fork out £54 for that. I can’t get the tax until I have a valid MoT and insurance. So by the time you add up tax, insurance (anything from £100 upwards), and MoT, it’s an expensive hobby.

The good news is that cars over 40 years old don’t have to pay the annual tax and can, if the owner chooses, be exempted from the MoT. From 2029 onwards, therefore, a cohort of UK Elan owners will be cheering each year. I have to wait until 2035

Mind you, by then it will probably be illegal to use the car except on February 29th . . .

[Relevance]

Sounds too much like doing a math problem for me personally...

For full context, if I wanted to stop using my Elan (Antique registration) I would call my insurance agent to cancel my policy and that's it, no government involvement. if I wanted to start using it again, I would call my agent again and reinstate my policy. No government involvement necessary.

If I wanted to use stop using my Jetta (normal passenger car reg) for long enough that my registration and inspection had expired I would again need to cancel the insurance and then I would need to pay the $45 and ~$120 respectively for new reg and inspection and reinstate the policy - some government involvement but no need to let them know when I no longer want to be driving my car

[Tuga2112]

indeed most (i would assume all) european countries have a lot of government involvement in the car owneship.

its a cash cow to tax the working class, they know if you need a car to work (which is the case for the majority of people) you DO NEED A CAR, therefore, not only its easy to tax. but you are also taxing someone who has a job. therefore its easy to increase the tax and workers have no choise but to pay.

HOWEVER... this is getting rather political. and i am to blame about it... so.. have you got a todo list of your jobs firmed up yet ?

i think if you post your tdo list., you will probably find plenty of input from others with insights about the tasks in order to help you.

[Relevance]

HOWEVER... this is getting rather political. and i am to blame about it... so.. have you got a todo list of your jobs firmed up yet ?

i think if you post your tdo list., you will probably find plenty of input from others with insights about the tasks in order to help you.

Good idea indeed! So far I’ve got most of the front suspension, bar new bushings and hardware off a parts car in Los Angeles (thanks to FunElan/Matt!) as well as a few engine gaskets and truly misc parts from someone local to me in New Jersey.

No work is going to be done on the car until most or all of the parts have arrived so that it can all be knocked out at once with the engine out and the body can be repainted. The driving season around here will be over before I’m able to source everything so there’s no real rush, and I was told to buy whatever parts I still need in whatever order makes the most sense to me. Only thing is… I don’t really have an order that makes the most sense to me. My thoughts so far are to go for the parts that will be the hardest to find first (excluding taillights, or I’d never be done) and then buy all the GM parts from Rockauto all at once.

I’ve been aggressively patrolling all of the Elan FB pages to see what parts to see what parts owners have up for sale that will be either easier or cheaper to obtain that way, anyone thinking about listing some of their spares for sale feel free to message me!

I’ll post a screenshot of what I’m still looking for from my spreadsheet what I’m back on my computer if anyone has any advice or suggestions

[Relevance]

Finally made it over to the shop to take a look at what has arrived - very pleased so far!

New (to me) front yokes, rafts, Wishbones, TCA, and Hardware. They're not perfect but they look far better than what is on my car, after a quick trip through the media blaster I think they'll shine up nice. Bushings will definitely need replacement.





I also received a new soft top from Ebay (Morethantops) I haven't test fit it on the car yet but a quick eyeballing of it looks like it should fit pretty well. For only $470 it was worth it for me since it came with eBay's Guaranteed fit warranty and my current top is made out of mold.


I still have one more box to go through with some more parts but progress is starting to come along!

[Tuga2112]

can you please post a link to this ebay seller ? i tried to find it but may not be avaialble to see in the UK site ?

[Relevance]

can you please post a link to this ebay seller ? i tried to find it but may not be avaialble to see in the UK site ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/295497551448?m ... media=COPY


On my phone it says this is the last one available, but I have no idea if they will/can make more. Price has dropped since I bought mine so seems like they may not make more unless the demand is there.

[Tuga2112]

are you paying tax on top of those 400 dolars ?
if they market it close to the 400 pounds mark with vat inclusive, theres a good chance they would sell a few to the UK

[Relevance]

are you paying tax on top of those 400 dolars ?
if they market it close to the 400 pounds mark with vat inclusive, theres a good chance they would sell a few to the UK

I paid Pennsylvania 6% sales tax, the total was $475/£379 for top + shipping

[Relevance]

Hoping someone more knowledgeable than me can help here. The suspension pieces I posted the other day came off of a US car, looking in the parts book there is a note about the USA cars having wishbones that are different in some way. I am not smart enough to figure out what the difference is so I'm hoping that someone knows if they will fit on my car?

[Tuga2112]

i dont know for a fact

HOWEVER

if the 2 ends where the wishbones connect have the same part numbers i think its going to be safe to assume it will fit.

i read somewhere a long time ago that the US cars had a different geometry in order to make them more enjoyable at lower speeds due to the US speed liimits being different to the ROW.

i am assuming you should be ok with the parts you already have, and you still have the option of refurbishing the original arms... at least if i recall correctly, i think i already mentioned yours dont look any worse than mine did 2 years ago

[Relevance]

i dont know for a fact

HOWEVER

if the 2 ends where the wishbones connect have the same part numbers i think its going to be safe to assume it will fit.

i read somewhere a long time ago that the US cars had a different geometry in order to make them more enjoyable at lower speeds due to the US speed liimits being different to the ROW.

i am assuming you should be ok with the parts you already have, and you still have the option of refurbishing the original arms... at least if i recall correctly, i think i already mentioned yours dont look any worse than mine did 2 years ago

Thanks for the info! I do recall also hearing about the geometry being different but who knows to what extent. You are correct, I do still have the option of refurbishing my original parts - but all of the suspension parts pictured cost me less than what it would have to have the original ones removed from the car and blasted. That may prove to be the better choice for some other components down the line though!