Im a new member on here. I am about to start a full restoration on my S4 SE.
A Breif run down on the car
The car was bought my my father in 1977. He bought it locally from a oldish gent who needed a bigger car. Initially when he bought it, it was in a tawny brown but he soon had it resprayed in white with gold bumpers. He then fitted a big valve head and a set of webbers. In 1980 he put it in his aunts garage to where it was still sat 2 years ago due to his aunts death. He then put it in his garage where it still sits exactly the same.
I have spoken to the lotus archives who have sent me a copy of the build sheet and invoice , the car originally was white and was sold in the kit form.
I have just sold my elise and now have room in my garage to set about restoring the SE.
I am a complete lotus nut and cannot wait to drive this car. it will be such a fantastic day.
I would like to say thanks for reading this and i will post some pics when i have posted more than 3 times
Welcome abord Kieran !
You start with this forum like every new member should do …
Have I done the same at the time !?! I am afraid no ! I was allready looking for help , and because of the location of its members , this forum is nearly 24hrs/7days/week …
This is maybe not the funniest place on web (they wanted me to keep writing black prior anything … a bit of a clue , no !?!), but you ll get allways a fast , complete and fully documented answer , whatever the question , if not on 26R shapesomething , Ed.
One last advice (black writing apart); use the search button , every subjects have been now covered several times , and the olders don’t like newbies asking the same questions …
Christian.
All part of the fun of owning the car. Its up to you how you do it. No right or wrong (some may argue that point) I went for originality where poss’ and put back most of what came off the car during its resto’ Original paint etc is nice I think. Wheels can be swapped back n forth and you have the originals. Minilites look great!
It will look super no matter how you do it.
Just enjoy. It is huge fun and very rewarding.
This forum support is just wonderfull also. Great bunch of Guys. Very very helpfull and what they don’t know aint worth knowing.
Hi Kieran and welcome…looks like a great place to start!
Have you got ‘the three books’ yet? The workshop manual, the parts book and Brian Buckland’s bible on Elan restoration. You’ll have most of the information available (and needed) once you have those…and with well over 1000 pages between them, you’ll have something to read for quite a while as well.
I have the twin of your car, which is waiting it’s turn in the workshop. And between us, we don’t have the right colour wheels
Looks like a good car to start with - looks like all the bits there and from what I can see, an easyish job to find the missing parts. Hope it’s not too bad underneath. Patience and enthusiasm …and I suppose money will see this through - fortunately the parts for these fab cars are fairly reasonable. Every time you see one on the road, you’ll be scurrying home to do another little job on your own car.
Dont take what Christian said to heart, (apologies Christian) most of us old fogies cant remember what we said yesterday let alone last year, and anyway we like to repeat ourselves, and anyway we like to repeat ourselves - (apologies everybody else).
We like to know the problems you are facing and reassure ourselves that we’re not the only ones with that problem.
Also… if you find a source of parts or a man who can spin up that elusive part, let us know.
Thank you all three listers for the wonderful pictures. I have a comment and a question for Jas. I like the pleated door coverings a la Turbo Esprit and your dash and wood steering wheel are superb. All of my wires run through the door sills to get to the back of the car. What are the wires running down the back bone? Are they speaker wires?
Thanks Frank.
I like the door sides also, the car came like that, but I don?t like the colour. I?m in the middle of recolouring the leather seats and door sides to black. The wooden steering wheel is also making way for a leather wheel of the same kind, I don?t like the feel and small rim diameter of the wooden one.
Yes the wires on the back bone are for the speakers, they will be soldered and not just twisted together and go down the sill with the others.
You have my old car! I put 15000 miles on it in 2000-2001 as my everyday car, it came with that probably very expensive but totally non standard interior. I have a few more pics if you’re interested.
… and good luck Kieran. I’m on my third Elan now, they’re very addictive
David…did those Plus 2 wheels cause any problems at all? I seem to remember something about the tyre touching the front wheelarch on full lock…maybe when hitting a bump! They do look good on the S4, as do the standard Plus 2 5.5J rims.
Although I didn’t fit the wheels, I’m pretty sure they were aftermarket baby Elan size wheels in the +2S style. No problems at the front, but the wrong type of balance weights would foul the rear wishbone mounting nuts.
Hi David
Yes please send me some photos and some history also if you have it.
I bought the car last winter from a guy in Leeds who got it from Paul Matty, I can see that I am the 9th owner, so the car has been around.
You can send the picture to ?Jannik dot Sadolin at gmail dot com? or PM me.
How come you keep changing Elans?
Sorry Kieran don?t mean to steel your post.
Hi David, In your car photo, what was the over sized snow cone with community straws pictured above your car? It looks like it is in an area of experimental building. Clean looking Elan
Jas - I’ll mail the pics to you when I can, and PM some history. Bit busy at work right now. PS I don’t really keep changing Elans, only on my third in 25 years!
Sarto - brilliant description of what was meant to be a landmark display of UK excellence, the Millennium Dome. It got hijacked by multiple committees and the opportunity was lost… foreground is land reclaimed for building by the Thames in Greenwich, where I lived then.