Hi All and first thanks for all the info on here - specially carb,cam and dizzy info. It seems getting the right combination thereof makes for a smooth running TC. I will get there one day.
Meanwhile present request is for info on a car I’ve just bought. Its a 1977 (yes 77) elan dhc but with all the wrong numbers. Log book (pinks for US cousins) says Rebuilt - assembled from parts some of which were not new. Fair enough so probably a basket case (or two) re-assembled into one car in 1977. Q’s are vin no is 36/7461 which indicates a fhc (not a 45 dhc) of around 67 vintage, and the engine no is L220268 which suggests around 1970. Anyone come across such a rebuild in the past? Although the reg (licence plate) number is age related to first registered 1977 (R plate). I’d like to try for an age related plate to the 67 or 70 vintage - any thoughts? Final q is that the donor car/s had a registration of JVW 529H, which dvla tells me is still out there but can’t tell me whether it’s a running car or just a log book sitting in someones draw/ Does anyone have or has had this car? Any info greatfully received.
Ciao
ps There is no head present so if anyone has a spare weber/dellorto head i’d be ever so pleased
DVLA holds this info for your donor registration JVW 529H.
:
Date of Liability 01 06 1983
Date of First Registration 31 07 1970
Year of Manufacture Not Available
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1558CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour RED
Vehicle Type Approval
So it doesn’t look like the car has been used since 1983? If you were going for an age related plate this may well be the one to get, if there’s a way of proving that this was the doner car…except that the car is a S3!
Getting a '67 / 68 plate on the car could be done by getting confirmation from Lotus for the 36 / 7461 build date, and submitting that to DVLA. But you could just open a can of worms with the chassis number not coinciding with the Vin number, and the engine being from a different and later car…and the car being a dhc when Lotus records will show it as a fhc. I think that I would enjoy it as it is! By the way, is the shell a S3 chopped or a S4 from the doner?
Mark
So is that the what the liability date means - off roaded or untaxed since then? S3 or S4 I don’t know. The trim is basically there except for a centre console so I guess I can look at door handles etc to try and ID. The strange thing is that the body doesn’t appear to be chopped at all. The hood tray is off and the shell seems to be smooth as if out of the mould, not ragged at all. Also the bonnet has the stromberg bulge, but then it appears that they were used later on 'cos thats all they had in the factory that month! The only obvious thing at the mo is that the doors - particularly the drivers door appears to be bowed front to back and both the leading top edge and the rear trailing edge are proud of the body even with the latch and rubbers removed. Ho Hum- something to do over winter. Hoping to have a drivable car by Easter. I do have a spare engine (earlier type) that I can either rebuild or take the head from, but I am also about to rebuild the head on the plus 2, so perhaps do that first and check out local machine shops. Incidentally anyone know of a good machine/engine shop around the Sussex area?
S3 door handles have a ‘built-in’ lock, S4 have separate locks. The main difference in the shell is that the S3 has rounded slightly flaired rear arches, whereas the S4 has much more pronounced and squared-off arches. At the back underneath, the S3 has a recess for a transverse exhaust silencer, whereas the S4 has the recess for a straight-out silencer.
The door sticking out at the bottom at the back just means that it’s original! Thay all do that post S2 unless they’ve has some serious cosmetic surgery.
Inside the main difference in the dash is toggle switches on the S3, vs rocker switches on the S4 with the switch function written on the dash, a chrome door handle on the S3 and a plastic (Marina?!) handle on the S4, 2 bonnet pulls on the S3 and a single pull on the S4.
Try Miles Wilkins at Fibreglass Services (near Arundel)…he should be able to point you in the direction on a machine shop.
Mark
Thanks for the information on some of the differences between an S3 and an S4. You may be interested to know that the front wheel arches on an S4 are squared off also.
Also, my S4 has recesses for a straight-out silencer or a transverse silencer. One can install either one.
Thanks for info attached is jpg side view. Good to see usa input ,thanks Frank. Dash is missing switches but holes are for rockers, so S4 I think. Body has front end repair -looks as though possibly previously burnt so I’m guessing most of one car is complete but with additions to replace damaged (poss burnt out) areas. Well I’ve always wanted to build a kit car. I will probably rebuild as a sprint with the red/white shown. So look out for lots of please help postings for all those important missing parts and spec details mmm which diff is correct (re sprint) 3.55 or 3.7? I need a deadline -a show around Easter?[/img]
Welcome to the fold bruss. That’s an interesting challenge you’ve taken on. I would imagine that your best bet would be to buy a copy of Brian Buckland’s book before proceeding any further. Good luck with it all.
Hi Bruss,
I’d also like to say welcome. The thread has been interesting.
I think you have a lot of evidence to get the registration sorted.
Don’t feel hurt if I ask you, do you mean this coming Easter?
cheers
John
The photo looks like an S4 rear arch to me! And the car is red…maybe you have most of JVW? In which case why did it lose it’s identity and take on the identity of a S3fhc? Now it’s getting very interesting. How did you know that the donor car was JVW?
And Frank, you’re absolutely right…the S4 has both transverse and straight through moldings in the boot floor. I had to check my cars (an S3 that I’ve had for 30 years and an S4 that’s been here for 30 days!). The other most obvious difference that I forgot previously are the rear lights…the S3 has the Vauxhall Victor (long, slim with pointy ends) rears, and the S4 has the same as the Plus 2, and the shell is built up around the rear lights (S4) so that they fit properly.
Post a few more pictures up…nothing more interesting that a good project!!
Mark
Ok folks -
Seems to be an S4 bodyshell on a s3 vin chassis and with an engine from somewhere else. I suspect the vin car (fhc - keep up) got totalled and log book retained. Then new chassis in 1976 and somehow the dhc body obtained with a front end missing and put on to chasis. Just get an engine and drop it in, finds a donor front end and Roberts your aged relative, down to the local licencing authority and re-register as a kit built or new build car. That leaves the intriguing possibility that the shell the car came from (jvw) was rebuilt with a new shell and is still out there. Alternatively the jvw car was totalled and the part shell became available, if I can find this out then theres a chance of getting the jvw reg back.
How do I know the rear end donor was JVW - I have a picture of it from the guy I bought from. Unfortunately he got the picture from the guy he bought from ( as a restoration job) and that guy had the car two years and had bought it as a, you guessed it, restoration job. So I have no history of the car as a running item, just as a basket case. Confirm its an s4 dhc - it does have plus 2 rear lights. First job now is to tidy up the front end and bonnet fit. All the body mounting holes seem original and line up so I guess the bonnet fit and furthest front end can be modified with the aid of a sander and bucket of p40! I’ll post some pics in a couple of weeks when this bit’s done and before I remove the body to attack whatever’s underneath. No I didn’t say which Easter
My 66 S3 Coupe’ also had the vin (not including the model # and /) stamped into the chassis. It was on the upper chassis flange near where the oil pump is located. If you have a Lotus original chassis this might be possible number to use.
Mark,
…The door sticking out at the bottom at the back just means that it’s original! Thay all do that post S2 unless they’ve has some serious cosmetic surgery.
Not true, some do, some don’t. Probably different sets of molds.
Gordon
Gordon…there’s something in that. The motor show cars and the press cars certainly had flush fitting doors, but most all the others didn’t. I tried to get to the bottom of this back in the eighties, when Miles Wilkens suggested that they all came out of the factory with ill-fitting doors, with some ‘specials’ taken out of the line and corrected. He also mentioned a couple of stroppy customers not taking delivery of their new Elan until the doors were ‘adjusted’ properly…this meant some pretty serious surgery as part of the PDI!
I also seem to remember Graham Arnold in one of his talks mentioning a set of molds that could occasionally, but pretty infrequently, be used to obtain a perfect shape door…he thought that these were a ‘master’ set and not used in normal production.
Armed with this, I inspected a lot of S3 and S4 / Sprints at the various shows and found that about 90% ish had ill fitting doors, and those that didn’t had been restored and had the cut and shut job. This was back in the 80’s, when restorations weren’t perhaps as detailed as they may be now.I did find one that was perfect, and the owner had the car from new, and insisted that it came from the factory like that. Of course, he could have been one of the customers that had the PDI adjustment carried out.
Nowadays it seems that a lot of cars have well fitting doors, which I put down to having had the treatment…but I’m sure that there are some original goodies out there.
Another (minor) Elan mystery?
Mark
I said I’d update now and then- So attached pics of not much looking as though it has changed – BUT the bodywork is now almost the correct shape! Buckets of paint and poor repairs removed and buckets of P38/p40 added and removed to get shape back to standard - well according to the corgi model i’m using as a pattern . Body is off although pics show it sitting back in place, and this week the new gel coat will be applied and by next weekend it should be primed up- Hooray, starting to look like progress. Chassis is original Lotus (not spyder), and is good with no rust! Will be cleaned down and repainted anyway. Steering column is missing so anyone got one? Also any ideas on who best to supply new suspension bushes etc and cv’s - will probably go down Sue Miller route. Having interior retrimmed in leather (sorry you purist’s) but will keep same surface pattern as original. Engine is +20 on bores but otherwise bottom end is all good. Head needs total rework and again any recommendations for this greatly appreciated. Dellorto’s will have to be rebuilt and I need a new petrol tank - any ideas where to get one from? I will post new pics when primed if anyone is interested. Easter is still the deadline- gulp
Last time I visited Susan Miller I asked her about ill fitting doors. They all do that ex works she said. When restoring an Elan it seems to be good practice and much easier to filler the body to suit the doors rather than fiddling with the doors themselves. But if you like to keep your Elan genuine, just live with the rear door bottoms sticking out. That?s what I?ll do. And believe me, the car drives just as well!
Thanks guys, I have decided to leave the doors as is - just putting new bobbins in to tighten up the wear. I have something German - A Range Rover! Anyone any idea where the original steering column was scavenged from? I’m guessing a triumph part.