戦略的撤退か、それとも全面降伏か？

Elan ディスカッション
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Some of you may remember that in 2022 I took my Elan apart, fixed a bunch of issues, repainted it, and swapped the stock Strombergs for Webers. The intent was to get it to the 2023 LOG #42 in WVa.

Very long story short, didn’t make it. The complete saga is here: Off-season bodywork

So then the plan was to get it running right and get to LOG 43 in Austin in 2024. That didn’t happen, either. I did get the car running, and got to a local show and took it on a fall drive with Neil C. and his OKC buddies. Most of that saga is covered here: Weber - gas coming out of 1 throat

But it still wasn’t right. It just didn’t drive as well as I remembered withi the Stromberts. Not as smoothly. It should have been more powerful, since I’d also refreshed the short block and the head was fresh. But it just wasn’t right. Yeah, I could drive it, but it didn’t put a smile on my face.

I tried everything. I now have a pretty extensive collection of Weber jets and doo dads. Lots of people helped, or tried to.

So with LOG 44 coming up, I wasn’t planning on going. I mean, it’s a pretty sad state when your MGB is more fun to drive than your Elan.

Then, on a Facebook Elan-oriented group, a freshly rebuilt Stromberg head was being offered for a very low price by a guy who had had it rebuilt, then decided to make the Weber switch. He had better luck, or skill, or knowledge or whatever, and wasn’t going back.

I thought - why not? The total price with shipping and, yes, tariffs, was about 1/4 of what I paid to buy and rebuild my Weber head.

The head arrived a few weeks ago. It’s on the car now, and I’m all smiles. It drives exactly as I remember it, actually even better now with the increased compression you get when you replace broken rings.

So, now the plan is to get to LOG, after a couple of years missed. It’s a 3 day trip from here - 1) Tulsa to Poplar Bluff, MO, through the Arkansas & Missouri Ozarks, 2) Poplar Bluff to Cincinnati along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, then 3) Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, with plenty of twisty roads along the way.

I just need to paint my old Stromberg bonnet - glad I didn’t remove the bump out of it, but it never got the new shade of red the rest of the car got, and one other thing. While testing the car’s electrics after recently pulling the dash off, the driver door window failed - it looks like the cable slipped off the pulley. I’ve got 49 days to get those done.

Then what? Will I every try to run that Weber setup again? I’m going to have to think about that. But if I do my thinking while driving the Elan, I’m guessing not. But we’ll see.

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As long as you’re happy with it, that’s all that matters, Steve.

Enjoy your revitalised Elan.

Tim

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Hi Steve. Missed seeing you at LOG in Austin and now I know why. My Elan has a Weber head and it took me forever to get it to run right too. But my +2 and Europa both have Strombergs and I think they run much better. I have European balance tubes rather than a blocked off cross over manifold. The Elan is very early as you know and is the stock 105 HP engine, no mods. It runs well now with no hesitations or pops, but not as exciting as the other cars. The Stromberg cars are SE and big valve spec in the Europa TCS so more cam and compression. Plus the Elan get about 22 MPG and the Stromberg about 33 under the same conditions. Plugs look good in both cars and no smoke. The Elan is geared a little shorter at 3.9 but is also lighter. I can’t explain it. I would not feel bad about the Stromberg head if I were you. As I said, I prefer the Stromberg over Weber on my cars. Also if I may ask where you got your radiator. My Elan has the original large Mardsten radiator and is no problem but the +2 still has the original small Triumph sourced radiator. It runs cool as long as I am moving but gets hot in stop and go traffic. I have been thinking about the Coolex system from UK but with shipping and constantly changing tariff policy of supreme leader I have been holding off. Any info appreciated. Has your fiberglass repair held up and are you happy with my suggestions? I don’t think I can make LOG this year, Maybe see you next year. Gary

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Looking forward to meeting up with you again in Pittsburgh. I’ll be flying in.

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Gary, your advice on t he fiberglass repair has been absolutely spot on, no visible sign of the repair after 2 yrs.

The radiator came from DBE. It comes with a fan, but I got a larger, higher flow fan from one of the race supply shops - it was the biggest they had that would fit.

Hope to see you in 26, wherever it is.

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steve_lyle, many thanks for being brave enough to sing the praises of Stromberg engines. I have always felt like the less attractive sibling owning one. Was out enjoying mine last night on a lovely summers evening here in the UK, it gives you a warm feeling when people look at the car driving along and smile.

I guess you already know the following but from my experience of a UK spec car:-

My UK spec Elan has the Coolex full width radiator and has completely solved the over heating issues with just the one modern fan, surviving the ring road around Oxford on a Friday without having to constantly stop/start the engine or have the heaters on. I have the fitting lugs for a second fan as it was a cheap optional extra but doubt if I will ever fit a second fan. It was an easy fit but similar radiators must be easily sourced in the USA.

Not sure if you have the adjustable needles in yours, if not I would recommend as I did have to spend some time tuning the carbs to get the mixture right after a long lay off. I also run mine on 99 Octane petrol (UK Spec) plus some octane booster which make it much smoother. Like yours the head has been skimmed so the compression ratio will be higher than spec. I also have a computerised ignition system that was supplied by QED back in the 90’s, it came with a selection of ignition advance maps which the owner of QED describe as ‘more suitable’ at the time but I don’t have the details of. If you fancy a play and have some knowledge maybe try the 123 Distributor, if you discover a magic formula I would be very interested.

Many thanks but maybe we should keep Stromberg heads under the radar maintaining a supply of second hand heads which both you and I have benefitted from :slight_smile:

Simon

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There never was anything wrong with Stromberg’s, reliable and economical and not so attractive to the ‘home’ tuner.

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Wishing you good luck and patience with your car — you’ll do great, Steve!

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My +s has only ever had Strombergs so I can’t compare, but I like them. One thing to say up-front is that I was a maybe a little biased to like them from the beginning because I had prior experience with the Bing CV carburettors found on air-cooled BMW motorcycles and the Strombergs are basically the thing only bigger. I definitely like how easy they are to live with! So incredibly reliable and low-maintenance! Mine haven’t been touched very much since doing the big rebuild on them after getting the car, the biggest thing being replacing the floats a couple of years ago when one of the old floats started failing to float. I do not have the adjustable needles but find that there is still a small amount of adjustment possible even without, since the needles are held in place by set-screws. I considered converting to adjustable but the cost of doing so turned me off the idea. No worries, I’m doing just fine without them! One other detail is that a previous owner had the head rebuilt to DBE Stage II specs and the Strombergs do just fine with that; I find the performance quite enjoyable. I wonder how many Stromberg heads have had such upgrades, being the less-popular option?

And is there really that much of a difference in performance with the Webers? An engine of a given set of characteristics can only run well within a certain range of air-fuel ratios. I’ve heard that the Webers maybe have snappier throttle-response, but in non-racing applications does it really matter? Is it enough to move the weight of the car any faster and if so, is it worth the hassle? It is nice though that the factory gave us options for every taste.

「いいね！」 1
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Hello

What is “spécifications DBE Stage II” for the strombergs?