Elan-specific bolt package

[Paul.P]

Thanks Matt, you have made it easy for me to order, i would be grateful if you could send me a copy of them placing instructions so i know where you intended all these bolts to go, actually if your sending Dico a set, you could put them in with his, if thats any easier & i'll get copy off him ?

[nitroman]

Paul, I would suggest waiting to install the Aerotek bolts until you receive the polished washers coming from SCS... or you will have to remove the new bolts later to install the washers.  Go ahead & order from Aerotek though.<br><br>I am going to attach & number the other pieces to each part diagram (each page) they are depicted on, to aid the install effort.  Everyone will get these pages, so no one will have to share.  Each kit will be specialized as there are 3 "S2-spec" packages (irrespective of the fact that they are not all S2s) and 2 "early SE" packages.  Each one will ship with your names on it.

[nitroman]

Federal front bonnet-stop retro-fit... (yellow caps are all I had, do not consider it my choice to go with red)<br><br><br>Paul, I had another tube of anti-seize... I'll pass it along to you.  I'll also throw in a pair of mechanic's gloves with each tube of anti-seize as life is much better without that stuff getting all over your hands, face, clothes, etc.  You might wanna mention that to me when the time comes lest I forget.

[grahamec]

Dico<br>No problem mate, happy tp help

[nitroman]

If anyone wants me to send a bolt-sizer similar to the white one pictured above with your kit, I'll pick some up at the hardware store this weekend.  Just let me know, cost would be one £ or less I would imagine.

[grahamec]

Yes please Matt  :)

[Paul.P]

Yes please Matt !

[Sy V]

Never seen anything like it before Matt, so...YPM!

[nitroman]

I picked up the bolt-sizers today & "re-lighted" my garage with 4 new flourescent fixtures.  It's wonderful!  I segregated/allocated the 5mm bolts to everyone today & managed to do so with the sizes I had, although I dipped into my prior personal stash to finish the last one.  Just wanted to have the 5's done as there will be lots of cutting/filing required to get the right lengths for the 6mm bolts.  Anyhow just wish I had the washers & nuts here already to pack & ship your kits.<br><br>One note of bad news for Doug or anyone with a Federal Elan wanting to install front-bonnet-stops...  I removed my test install (as pictured earlier in this thread) today & found one of the bolts was bent/deformed.  I guess a long thin aluminium shaft is not the best choice for placing a constant weight upon.  You could always move up to SS, or ultimately, a hardened fastener.  Even Lotus increased the size from 6 to 8mm when they switched to bonnet-stops.

[Doug]

Matt, I found my local hardware store now has lots of polished SS bolts, etc.--they have some other different head types I have not seen before too! <br><br>If you can lead me to some black OE type hex head covers then I can make my own!  Guess I should check the local auto stores for them . . .

[nitroman]

Are you sure they are polished SS bolts, and not just regular SS, and in Metric too?  If so you'll have to let me know what HW store it is.  I have never seen a hardware store sell these outright.  <br><br>There was a fastener store in Jacksonville all my life until a year or 2 after they closed Cecil field Naval Air Station.  It was located 2 blocks from the base & I am sure that is what kept them financially viable, as they carried every imaginable fastener.  The NAS housed the air wings of 3 carrier battle groups, the Forrestal, the Kennedy, and the Saratoga.  Over the years the aircraft changed but it was a varied slew of fighters, light bombers, attack aircraft & anti-submarine helicopters.  The long-range anti-submarine aircraft for the entire East coast were also based at NAS JAX just a few miles away (and still are).  Keeping these aircraft in the air was not an option and I am sure that is why his stock was so varied.<br><br>As an aside HITRON, the Hellicopter Interdiction Squadron, is based at NAS Mayport in Jacksonville.  They interdict the go-fast boats used by drug runners and are armed with a rapid-fire Gatling-gun as well as a .50-cal harnessed multi-scoped rifle for pin-point accuracy.  The machine gun is many times used to fire warning shots across a ship's bow while the other is take out a boat's engine or shoot holes in the hull.  What is noteworthy is that this is the only part of the U.S. military with authority to fire upon civilians within US borders, without direct Presidential approval.

[nitroman]

Refer to Grahame's picture (http://www.lotuselancentral.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=upgrades;action=display;num=1081810058;start=75) and notice the full-threaded fastener.  On my car they are only partial thread (http://www.lotuselancentral.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=upgrades;action=display;num=1081810058;start=60).  This just tells me Lotus went with whatever parts the supplier provided.  I have 4 new & original bonnet-stops with hardware as suppled by Lotus, if you would rather have them than stainless.  That is not enough to go around for everyone and you would be subject to the same rust problem in future as in Grahame's picture, but if you are into originality then they are for you.  Interestingly there was a Unipart paper label and part number on the package.<br><br><br>Using another of Grahame's photos here are the bolts/washers/nuts which will be in your kit for this section.<br>

[grahamec]

Does anyone else aside from Dico want me to order the 16 bolts from Aerotek to complete the packs Matt is putting together ?

[nitroman]

Today's update:<br><br>[glow=red,2,300]Hi Matt-<br> <br>Just want to let you know your order has been received and is being pulled for polishing.<br> <br>I need the 3 digit number from the back of your credit card.<br> <br>Thanks, Sue<br>South Coast Stainless[/glow]<br><br>StevieShag... I called & added your request for a full set of bolts to the order.  I thought about adding the M4's for others as well but did not know who had already done that themselves.  Anyway Steve, your order will be complete, so you do not need to order anything else.

[nitroman]

Miscellaneous ramblings:<br><br>1) A beburring wheel will cut through human flesh.<br>2) A latex glove stops the blood from getting on your work.<br><br>I cut & deburred all the M6 bolts that needed to be sized.  I personally screwed a nut on each one until it went on smoothly with no resistance, by looking for high spots and deburring.<br><br>The Bolt Master  (formerly "The Nut Man")

[nitroman]

I had another request today for a polished kit so I dialed up SCS to see if they could oblige.  They answered that they had finshed the order today & it is sitting on their loading dock & will be on a truck B4 the day is out.  The polished request would have held up the order by 3-days.  Needless to say I just could not do that to the fine folk who have been waiting patiently.<br><br>Perhaps in future if enough interest is expressed, this might all happen again.<br><br>Best regards to ALL, Matt

[nitroman]

I discovered one other location today, and would like to gauge interest on whether or not there is sufficient demand to include this in any future packages.  The two bolts 180-degrees apart which hold the black-metal-cover which encases your headlight motors... really the only 2 bolts visually worth replacing on the motor... are yours rusty or unsightful?  I removed one today & sized it.  It is not metric but instead an 8-32 x 1/2", an SAE size which makes sense as the motor is a General-Motors part.  Should I make this a part of the kits in the future?  PS - you will also not be able to remove this with your metric tool set, I tried.  It needs a 1/4" socket, which I could supply with the kit as well.  Do most people in the UK have SAE tools or only metric?<br><br>Also, what about all the bolts (there are 9 of them) and washers at the very bottom of the rear bumper?  They look wonderful in polished stainless as the OE ones, including the LARGE fender washers, rust VERY badly... perhaps bcuz they hold moisture in their "last-stop-B4-the-ground" location.  The middle 5 can be a b-e-e-c-h to remove as they rust to their well nuts, which hold them on the car.  I have had to use a rotary tool to remove the bolt heads, then just push the old wellnut through, as nothing is truly secured to the car body like with a weld-nut.  I have to do over half of mine again as when they removed the rear-bumper to paint my car they somehow LOST them, THOSE IDIOTS.  Then they just replaced them with a hodge-podge of different sized bolts... it looks like crap.  Actually if you are having your car painted that would be a great time to just hand-over this complete kit, wellnuts, washers & bolts all included, to the body-shop and say "here, these are all the OE components.  When you reinstall the bumper please use these"!  Cuz they are damn sure not gonna have well nuts on hand.  Hell, even people in the auto-parts biz don't know what they are!

[Doug]

Guys, if you want to put some bling where you will routinely see it then replace the 4 bolts within the fuel door . . .  8)