I was out running errands this morning and decided to stop in at our local farmer’s market - slash - “antiques” emporium. It’s a large rambling place with probably 100 stalls filled with old things of all sorts. I ran across an interesting little shop with foreign (for the US) car and race car memorabilia. Included amongst the offerings was a brand spanking new copy of Miles Wilkins’ “Lotus Twin-Cam Engine” in hardcover! I am embarrassed to say how much I paid. I also had a great chat with the proprietor and several of the folks who stopped by while I was there. All in all a very productive outing.
The weather is finally moderating a bit here, plus we’ve had a good bit of rain to wash the salt away. As soon as we get a dry-ish day I will be all over the Elan again. It needs an oil change and a couple of other small items but should pretty much be ready to go. Unless I get the bit between my teeth to install the other engine…
I’ve spent the past week installing new window motors using the excellent kit offered by @ae_mike on this forum. I also did some minor refurbishment of the door trim while it was off. The inner vinyl piece was falling out on both sides and the foam backing was just a pile of dust, so it seemed prudent. I got it all buttoned up just in time to take it to a meeting of our local British car club (Keystone British Car Club for anyone relatively local – GREAT group of folks) the next day, and went out for a quick shakedown and gas run.
And we came home on/in the tow truck. I pulled up to a stop sign and it simply stopped running. Attempts to restart were fruitless. It spun over just fine, but made no attempt to fire. I was able to verify fuel to the carbs so I figured it was ignition, which I was not in a position to fix on the side of the road. Once home I verified that the Pertronix “igniter” was not doing its duty. I robbed the one from my spare motor but it’s a slightly different mount and I could not use it. So for now I wait for the replacement to arrive.
I saw some discussion in the Plus 2 topic regarding phone mounts. I toyed with doing something using the radio blanking plate in my car but did not like the phone jutting out from that particular location. I found a clamp on Amazon that looked like it would respect the dash panel, and so far it has. Link below.
I just had a very frustrating few days with Ignitor ignition issues, the car would start then stop, I checked fuel pressure, replaced stale fuel, cleaned carbs and blew out all jets, new plugs, replaced distributor with another which also had Ignitor and matching coil, marginal improvement, checked valve clearances then finally went old school, points and condenser and all was resolved. Cap and leads were 12 months old with no tracking.
I had noted voltage drop to coil, so replaced ignition switch, clearly the Ignitor is sensitive to drop. I have since been advised it’s sensitive to the height of ring on distributor shaft, adding an orient under typically sufficient to address issue and clearance to Ignitor unit. All were in spec on mine.
Sorted now, however it’s motivated me to replace the loom which has been chopped about, refurbish starter motor and replace the remote solenoid.
V
Another data point for chasing Pertronix issues. The plastic magnet ring that goes over the dizzy shaft has been known to crack with heat and age. It happened on mine. I temporarily fixed it with a piece of heat shrink vinyl tube and a heat gun until I could replace all and go back to the trusty points and condenser.
Which is exactly what I ended up doing. It did not occur to me that the electronic version would be fussy about which battery terminal was bolted to the frame. If anyone needs a negative ground Pertronix unit — or two — I’m your man. At any rate it’s sparking again.
Up to the next one (repair/video). 
Brgds, Sam.
