Basket case? What have i done!

[Jayeme69]

Hi Guys! Thanks for letting me in....Soooo after years of admiring the M100 but never being able to justify owning more than one car that only does 800 miles a year (and spends the rest of its time being pampered)= (Porsche 911 carrera 4s) i came across one on auction that had been stood that long (with the drivers window open)that its not even on the MOT database. It arrived yesterday (with no back lights) and i proceeded to strip and investigate, using the wiring diagrams on the site i had it running within a couple of hours and all sounds good, as you can imagine there is lots and lots and lots of work to do but the basics are there HOWEVER i will need parts.... and lots of em!" Rear lights lol , Window scraper rubbers, door seals, headlight motors,Seats , door cards ,drivers door lock/catch mechanism as i still haven't got the drivers door open GGRRRR! That's proving more difficult than getting the thing running Anyways if anyone has any info on this car Reg Number H908GRK i would be interested in any history. well that's it from me for now as it would appear i have work to do

[Wortho]

Welcome to LEC I'm sure you will find a lot of help on here.

Nice collection BTW

[Jamie N]

Welcome to the forum. Saw this one a couple of weeks back on the salvage auction, 'basket case' was my thoughts as well , although it was cheap , I suppose if you are committed and have plenty cash to spend
it could be a goer, glad to see it isn't getting broken for bits. Good luck and keep us posted.

[par]

Welcome to the forum from me as well!

[par]

Looks like you have a fair bit of work to do but a lot of us have been there also.

Rear lights might be the hardest things to find so it may be worth considering the Elise conversion but you need to find a rear pod for sale or someone with a mould. I cleared out most of my spare parts last year when moving house but still have the seats available, pictures will be in the original for sale advert. Others have plenty spares squirrelled away just in case.

Unless you are going down the Lotus purist route you could consider seat upgrades from other sources i.e. Honda S2000 etc.

Plenty of help and advice on here to keep you going when required/frustrated. The man above Jamie is the expert on replacement seals but don't think he is making any more at the moment.

Before you get in too deep it would be worth checking the condition of the outriggers if it has been sitting for a while.

[TorqueHorse]

Congrats! Sounds like a fun, horrible, rewarding challenge
As mentioned, lots of resources and folks here to help you on the journey; welcome!

[Jayeme69]

Welcome to the forum. Saw this one a couple of weeks back on the salvage auction, 'basket case' was my thoughts as well , although it was cheap , I suppose if you are committed and have plenty cash to spend
it could be a goer, glad to see it isn't getting broken for bits. Good luck and keep us posted.

HEY SOMEONE HAD TO BUY IT AND THERE'S ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE!

[Jamie N]

Haha they did indeed . But seriously before going headlong into buying parts for it ( 2 back lights alone will be a huge chunk of the price it sold for) I would recommend getting the carpet out and
having a good look at the outriggers, going by the look of the interior in the auction pictures it's been subject to water ingress for a considerable period of time, also the rear wishbones, highly
vulnerable to corrosion unless it has S2 galvanised ones retro fitted (very expensive also). There are many other places susceptible to rust, behind the front bumper, fans and surround etc.
Before buying anything for it I would suggest stripping it to bits and evaluate if it's good enough to save from there.

You're a braver man than me though and I will take on some seriously neglected stuff, I thought about buying it but the amount of work it needed just looked immense, far too many bits missing, no
description of where it had come from and not a single picture underneath it for me was just too much of a gamble.

We're all familiar with the term 'project creep', hopefully you wont find it turns to 'project cost far too steep'. Very best of luck bud.

[Steve A]

Does the Elise rear light option still exist ? or has that boat sunk ?
Outriggers could be a killer so definitely have a look at them first (although very awkward they have been repaired before).
I'm sure if you needed wishbones you might be lucky enough to find a good set of usable SE ones at a good price.
Honda S2000 seats are a good alternative and considered an upgrade to the originals (I've done it).
BTW welcome to the forum

[dapinky]

One of the original factors as to why no more Elise light rear panels were made (apart from the missing mould issue) was that the S2 Elise lights (which I bought brand new at the time for £100 a set of 4), and then they shot up in price, In fact, looking online just now, there is a set of 4 advertised at £900

Back then, you could still get used Elan lights for a couple of hundred quid, so it was 'desirability' which drove the whole project, and not availability.

Other light units have been used by other people, but none really worked as well (visually) as the S2 Elise lights.

That said, there are now a plethora of aftermarket units intended for the S2 Elise, which sell for about £400 a set. (LED lamps)

Whilst these numbers seem quite high, it is certainly a case that you could have a complete rear lighting solution using Elise parts and a custom panel, for far less cash than a pair of second-hand Elan units - and it can look good too.

I have pretty low fibreglassing skills, but for someone who knows the material, and has a car that they can work on, I wouldn't expect it to be too hard to create a rear panel mold using plywood, filler and 4 bits of drain pipe (okay, there is a bit more to it, but that's the basics!).

I don't know what the last price was that the rear panels sold for back in the day, but looking at current numbers, it may well be an option to consider.

[epipete]

Just catching up on some old threads and I came across Dave's comment above re Elise Light Panels.

I get the impression that there are all sorts of solutions to the broken Elan lamps since these panels were originally created but I rather liked them

Is there still an appetite for these panels? Did anyone explore options for their remanufacturing?

And are there any out there, and what would the likely value be now?

[Tuga2112]

i have one made. could use as a mould to make more. if there is interest and people would value the end result enought to justify the dosens of hours required