Stu…to answer some of your other questions…I wouldn?t worry about converting the engine to ?big valve? spec. If you just change the cams for the ?C? type (as in the Sprint / big valve) and set up the timing and carbs you?ll get pretty much the same power. This was the specification of the ?Super S/E? engine in some S4 Elans.
The Lotus 5 speed box doesn?t have a very good reputation, and is prone to wear which shows up as stiff and crunchy changes. They can be rebuilt properly, but rarely seem to be. The 4 speed box on the other hand is a delight to use, and gives very few problems. Cruising at 80 is fine with a 4 speed. If I was to put a 5 speed in an early Plus 2 it would be a type 9 gearbox, out of a Ford Sierra?..there are kits around to adapt them very easily, and a few threads on this site discussing them.
The main place to check for frame corrosion is where the front wishbones attach to the vertical part of the frame …called the towers. These can fill with dirt over the years and start to rot out at the bottom. Get the car on a ramp for a close inspection. The cross member that joins the two towers at the bottom also acts as a vacuum reservoir for the headlights, another quirky Elan feature. The early Plus 2 (the one you?re looking at) had non-failsafe lights, whereby if the vacuum system fails, the headlights stay down. The later cars had the lights staying up on failure. Check out the car by putting the lights up when the engine is running, then switch the engine off. If the lights go down within, say, 10 minutes, there?s a problem in the vacuum system. At worst, this can be a rusty vacuum reservoir, but more likely to be one of the actuating pods or simply a bit of pipe leaking.
Whist it?s on the ramps, check for any fatigue splits around the engine mounts, gearbox mounts, and if you can see them, the differential mounts.
At the back you?ll see the driveshafts coming out of the differential to the hubs, connected by 2 rubber ?doughnuts? on each side. Check these for splits. Most folks now are replacing them with solid driveshafts which eliminate the surge which is very evident in the Plus 2.
Probably the most expensive thing to sort on any Elan is the paintwork. Check that there aren?t too many cracks in the paint, and no blisters or craters. The older the paint job, the more assured you can be that what you see is what you?ve got! An Elan can be painted very cheaply and it will look great for a few months, then all the cracks will start coming through. Check the invoices for the work done if it was recent?if it was a $2000 blowover done a few weeks ago, walk away, no matter how good the car looks now. I?d expect to pay ?3000 to ?5000 over here for a good job on a car which doesn?t have too many problems to start with.
The other things to check are pretty much as per any old car?smoking, oil pressure, overheating & oil leaks on the engine. A little extra to check is the noise the cam chain is making. They do rattle a bit compared to a modern car, but not too much. Check that there?s plenty of thread left on the adjuster?.a threaded screw with locknut sticking out of the front right (carb side) of the engine. If it?s screwed right in and rattling?.it?s a tired engine.
Mark