Why restore an Elan

[Famous_Frank]

Some of you may have noticed I’m in the process of restoring my 66 S2 SE. Please allow me to explain why I’m taking on the this project and what is involved with this one. Let’s start by saying, I truly enjoy restoring cars. I many times think I like the restoration more than driving or showing of them later. This isn’t my first restoration but it is the most extensive I’ve tackled. One thing to remember, when I say “I restore”, it should always be read as “we restore”. Every car I’ve ever restored, I could not have done the work without the untiring assistance of Club and Forum members. That goes for all the clubs and forums, but especially this forum. It is by far the best and the members are above reporoach! Thank you all.

I purchased this car almost 4 years ago from an ad in Craigslist. It was 10 miles from home, mostly complete, but didn’t run. Although I paid more than I should have, I justified it by telling myself, I could have spent thousands more looking at others in different parts of the country and could have eaten up gobs of cash flying / driving looking at others. Then I would also have had the expense of towing it home. It had not run since the early 1980’s. It was in an accident in 1976 and was very poorly repaired, although at that time, it may have been a typical repair for the period. Looking at it now, it could not have driven very well after the repairs. As a matter of fact, it would have been a very dangerous car to drive. I believe the previous owner brought it down from the New York area.

Where does the time go? Well, many times, it goes hand in hand with the financial funds available. You can see from the pics, it didn’t look all that bad from the outside. The left door had fallen off but that could have been from a bad nylon hinge or ??? The paint was still shiny, although not an original color, and like I said, it was mostly complete. Upon closer inspection, the more I looked, the more it needed every part either replaced or refurbished for it to become a show car example.

By the way, I’m still looking for a pedal assembly bushing or a pedal assembly I have listed in the “Wanted” section.

Next phase to follow.

[paddy]

Good luck with it Frank. It looks like at least you have most of the hard-to-find trim and fittings, so the rest is just time and money

Paddy

[robertverhey]

Yep the journey is more enjoyable than the destination. That applies to the restoration and also to the outings once it’s done…almost reluctant to start pulling mine apart

Robert

[Famous_Frank]

Paddy, Robert,

Time and Money! Reluctant? Well most of us don’t always have the money. Time comes and goes (too quickly), and I’d be reluctant too if mine were at least a driver and a safe one at that.

We’ve had a huge storm come through the Atlanta area Sunday night. I’ve measured 8 inches of snow, then some ice on top of that, and next to nothing in the way of removal equipment, so I’m working from home and have a little more time to look at this forum and to get into the garage.

BTW, remember how said the faolks on this forum are unbeatable. Well my best friend Greg Zelazek (also on this forum, who owns a 72 Sprint) has been with me most of the way. He came with me when I purchased the car and helped get it on my trailer. And for the last 35 plus years has assisted me in dis-assembling many of my cars. It’s a standing joke that he always helps take them apart but is never around for the assembly. So two years ago I started the dis-assembly. Where has the time gone? I can’t believe I started this two years ago. The dis-assembly is like an archeogical dig. It reveals the skills or lack of previous people that have touches this car. It revealed poor workmanship, damaged parts, and a lack of caring.

There were some moments Greg even tried to get me to get the started and take it for a short ride before we took it apart. I was too lazy and this time my laziness paid off. The fuel lines were cracked or broken, the fuel in the tank had turn to mud, the donuts were broken, and many other parts were unsafe.

So it was two years ago this month that I started removing everything from the body. You may remember it was at this point I discovered part of the left front body had been replaced with that of another car and learned there are ribbed floor Elans and flat floor Elans. Mine was now both!!! Taking out the seats revealed floor repairs, emoving the head revealed broken fuel lines and removing the fuel tank revealed the muck and marbles rolling around inside. The door fell off because it weighed almost 100 pounds (without the glass or inner door panel). It is filled with 3 inches of bondo. A true artist had been at work in 1976.

Here are a few shots of the body coming off the frame. Again, it is not easily done without the help of friends and neighbors. Also, you get fewer complaints from the neighbors about the body shell laying in the yard when they helped you remove it and put it there! Keep plenty of beer, coffee, and soft drinks around.

Removing the body revealed more sad problems. Hmm, why is the frame painted black? Because someone has had the body off before. Hmm, what are all of these bends and hammer wack marks on the frame? Because it was bent and someone tried to straighten it. What is the this 6 inch by 8 inch piece of 1/4 inch steel plate welded to the frame? Something someone welded there to try to give the frame some strength. Oh, look at the rust in the from towers!!! Oh, look, every piece of rubber is either torn, rotted, or missing…everywhere!
Even the left rear knock on wheel is BOLTED to the Knock On hub because the drive pins are missing. How would you ever change a tire?

If that is what we see with a quick glance, what is to follow?

[frearther]

Frank,
I’m happy to see that I’m not the only one who thinks that a yellow car needs black bumpers. Silver just doesn’t cut it, in my book.

A.

[billwill]

@frearther

Frank,
I’m happy to see that I’m not the only one who thinks that a yellow car needs black bumpers. Silver just doesn’t cut it, in my book.

A.

My bumpers are Gold.

[gino1]

Hi Frank,
Looks a very nice car and at least complete.
I’m very envious of your steering wheel and I’d love to find one for myself
So is it going to be White ??

Gino
Milano
Italy

[Famous_Frank]

Bumbers. It is a coincidence the car came to me in a non-standard yellow with black bumpers. I bought my first Lotus in 1973. A 72 Europa Twincam. I couldn’t figure out why after just winning the 1973 SCCA Solo II title I was now hitting every other pylon in slalom. I lived in Chicago, … we got a lite dusting of snow and I was a girlfriends house. I thought, "I had better get the Lotus back to the garage I was renting at the time and get out the Chevy Nova which was my daily driver. While being the first ont to drive down the street in the lite snow, I realized why I was hitting every other pylon. There were four tire tracks in my rearview mirror. The frame was bent and I was dog tracking. A few months earlier, (actually it had been smoking when I bought it) the engine had been smoking like crazy. I sold that car and bought my second Lotus. A 74 Europa 5 speed. Mint with 8k miles. Kept that for a couple of years and took a second at the SCCA Solo II Nationals. Then in winter of 76 bought my first Elan from a friends father who had just bought three make from England. You guessed it. A RHD S2, non-standard yellow with black bumpers. Greg and I had been friends for a number of years at this point and a couple months after I purchased it he helped me take it all apart to do my first frame off. That was in January of 77. How ironic that in 2007 I purchase another yelow S2 with black bumpers and Greg is around (in another state) to help me pull the body off the frame again!!!

Personally, I like the silver bumpers, but everyone has their own taste. That first Elan had issues too, although no where close to the ones on the current car. Although some owner in England had ported the head and installed some cams with 300 degrees duration, when it came to acceleration, it fell flat on its face until you got over 60 mph. The problem was an engine that didn’t come alive until 4500 rpm, a close ratio trans, and 3:77 gears. I installed a close ratio trans and a 3:90. Boom, it was like a different car!!! I loved it. I even have a pic of it from the auction site in England. See below.

Someday I’ll tell the great story of getting stopped by the police with Greg as a passenger ina RHD car.

[vstibbard]

Hi Frank, looks like big project, I’ve not tackled one with as many period " dodgy repairer tweaks" my s1 had the fire damaged scuttle with chicken wire and paper, flared guards with pounds of plasticine and it had been acsuccessful racer!

Elans are magnetic once experienced you keep coming back to them, they’re so good to drive, like you I’ve had 4 still have 2, the s1 and 26r s2.

I’m looking forward to you’re trim parts For both and have a request for a 3rd centre console please.
Cheers Vaughan

[bast0n]

Billwill

My bumpers are Gold

.

Oh dear…

[trw99]

@bast0n

Billwill

My bumpers are Gold

.

Oh dear…

Oi! Whadda ya mean?

Lotus themselves finished the Sprint with gold bumpers!

Tim

[Alasdair]

Why indeed?

[bast0n]

TRW99

'cos I thought that they should be black…!

[c42]

Or a +2 for that matter.

Good Luck
John

[ardee_selby]

Q - Why restore an Elan?

A - Maybe to give encouragement to those who follow, such as whoever takes this one on?

carandclassic.co.uk/car/C203105/

Note the comment about avoiding another 26R look alike.

Cheers - rd (No connection with seller, just came across it whilst surfing)

[Jens]

When I see all of this my Elan, wich is in need of some TLC as well, just seems to be a pretty ok one!

[Jens]

Having said the above, maybe I should consider posting a few pictures!

EDIT: Pictures posted…

Interior…

Britains finest

Sideshot

Awaiting another long sleep

Almost original wheels…

Bedtime behind the lawnmower

[Famous_Frank]

Jens, what a great looking coupe! Those pics want me to leave the office early and get working on my car. Although you need to straighten out that front number plate, it’s driving me crazy. Such a straight car with a crooked plate!

Anyway, with all the discussions going on, I’ve been working every evening on mine. After cutting the nose off, I dug out the fiberglass around the lattice work on both sides, I may have said this already but in 76 when the body work was done, it appears they never welded the lattice work back together. They just sort of layed it in place and fiberglased it in. And hid the three areas where they cut the lattive work out…

As you know, I’m still looking for a L/side foot pedal assembly. I’ve decided not to use the one that vame out. After careful examination, not only is the bracket broke and the accelerator pedal cracked in two places (cracks 1 inch long) but the bushings are shot and it’s bent to boot. The car must have taken a good hit. I sure would like to talk to the person who owned backed then.

I media blasted the cut lattice work and repainted it a stainless steel gray. I did not paint the ends as they need to be clean for welding. My buddy at the body shop is an expert TIG welder, so we’ll probably do that before fitting the two halves together.

Greg and and I did bring the two halves to the body shop last Saturday. I told them I bring them a roller chassis this week, so i am working on that every night. Greg and I pulled the frame down from storage. I spent the good part of 5 hours chasing every thread. Between the sandblasting of the frame, the powder coating and then another coat of flat red to make it look more like it did when it left the factory, there was plenty of stuff to remove fromthe threads and from the front control arm mounts.

I’ve temporarily mounted the newly built front steering rack. Bump steer has not yet been set. More questions will be forthcoming regarding that. No shims came off the car when we took it apart. And as the rack was bent pretty bad, I can assume whoever did this fine previous crash repair never put the rack shims back in either.

Last night i started to assemble the front suspension. Replaced the trunnions, all new bushings in the blasted and powder coated front control arms. (Replaced two that were bent). Installed new wheelbearings, ball joints, and tie rod ends. Why do new trunion kit not come with the rubber cap that keeps the grease from coming out the top? Now I have to buy those too. Luckily, this is just a test fitting of all the parts and getting a roller chassis ready for the body shop for when we start to fit the two halves.

Another small problem cropped up. As I went to fit the new Lotocones, they wouldn’t fit the openings due to the extra gusseting that was welded in to strengthen the rear uprights. I’ll have to shave a small amount from the outside edge of the Lotocones and elongate the bolt holes. One other problem is the top cups that locate the rear springs will also have to be narrowed.

Finally, I make what seams like my weekly trip to “Threads for the South”. A local company that supplies all sorts of threaded products. I couldn’t find the few body to frame bolts I removed when taking off the body. Some were the wrong thread, some where missing along with one where the bobbin was missing also. Again due to the accident damage in 76. So a trip to Threads for the South gave me all new grade 8 bolts for the body to frame mounting. 16 total but I purchased double what I needed so I’d have them when needed when i start on the 26R. Also picked up the narrow nylocs for the front control arms. And also picked up standard nuts for the control arms, ball joints, and tie rod ends so i would be tightening and untightening the new nylocs numerous times. I’ll save those for the final assembly.

Tonights job,…finish the Lotocone installation, install the rear suspension and finish the front suspension assembly. With luck I can get the rolling chassis to the body shop tomorrow or Thursday. Then the real fun will begin!!!

[billwill]

Interesting front turrets you have there.

[Famous_Frank]

Bill, do you like those front turretts? Enclosing the front turretts is only one of the many 26R type of upgrades I had done when we fixed the frame. Once mounted under the body, very few of the mods will ever be seen.

Things are moving quickly …for a pleasant change! Last weekend I was able to transport the front and rear body halves to the body shop I am going to use to meld the two halves and most likely to do the final paint when that day comes. It’s called Legacy Auto Body in Woodstock, Georga. Partly owned by a friend of mine named Greg Moore (another Greg to get mixed in with the build) and only opened for 6 months. Greg has been in the collision business for over 20 years and has always wanted his own shop. He works on some pretty high end cars but putting two halves of a Lotus together would not hurt their reputation. He has always been very fair with me and I’ve always been impressed with his work.

As the body shop now has the body halves, I’ve been under the gun this week to make the chassis a roller so the body shop can also use the frame as a locating device to meld the halves. I got the bent steering rack replaced. The is or now I should was a shop in Decatur, Georgia called Atlanta Auto. For many years they have sold new English spares and had a goodly amount of used parts from dismantling English wrecks. Also in the rear of the shop is a race car builder / fabricator named Bob. Don’t know his last name, …maybe George does as he has made use of Bob’s skills in the past also. Anyway, Bob helped me by fabbing up some of the nicest sway bar mounts I
have ever seen. Bob has forgotten more than I will ever know when it comes to vintage cars. So I asked Bob if he could take apart my steering rack, get rid of all the 40 year old grease, etc and make sure everything was OK. That’s when we found the rack was badly bent. Luckily Bob was able to get a good used Spitfire rack from Atlanta Auto at the front of the building and combine the Lotus specific parts to make a bueatiful correct rack for my car. I had the arduous task of installing the rack and the new tie rod ends.

I assembled the front suspension loosely using regular nuts instead of the new locking nuts as I’ll be taking it all apart again later after the body is ready. All the suspension parts have been media blasted and powder coated. I blasted and painted all the exisiting nuts and bolts but they still don’t look like new CAD Plated grade 8 bolts, so I bit the bullet and bought all new nuts and bolts for the entire suspension.

Then last week when I picked up the rack from “Bob”, I noticed Atlanta Auto had 55 gallon barrels of calipers. I asked if I could go through them and try to find some GT6 calipers. The owner said he had a guy coming from North Caroliner to look at buying all their used parts and if I wanted to look thru them I had better do it quickly. Then last week we a bad snow storm and I gave them a call. No one answered the phone. I looked at the web site to make sure I was calling the correct number and noticed the web page said it is no longer being supported as of January 12. This seemed odd and for some reason, I had an urgent feeling to look through those barrels of calipers.
The other day I realized I still need those rubber seal that go on top of the Trunnions so I thought it would be prudent to go to Atlanta Auto, pcik up the rubber seals and look for Calipers. Greg and I went last Thursday only to find the doors locked. We went around the back where “Bob” is located and were able to gain access to Atlanta Auto from the back. We met with the owner and he said he has closed the doors for good and is going through Bankruptcy. I nearly begged to go thru the barrels. He said go for it. I had brought grubby clothes, gloves, flashlights, etc as it’s a dark, dirty, gloomy place. Not only was I able to find a pair of GT6 calipers but also some backing plates, and caliper mounts. Greg and I will be sad to see the place go. Luckily, “Bob” said he is fine and staying put. Bob has a enigne dyno (which George recently used with some very impressive numbers) and a transmission tester. We talked and soon I’ll be taking my rebuilt trans to him to test it before I put it in the car (if I use it as I am a 5 speed bigot and would like to use a T5 if possible). And I’d like to use his dyno just run my engine and make sure it doesn’t leak or anything. Although I have the orginal motor, I’m going t ojust keep it to the side. Fifteen years ago, I built up a small 1715 cc stroker. It made close to 150 hp and almost the same amount of torque. (Gary, that’s when I had money) It should make for a fun street car. It’s been sitting in my basement ever since. I just want to make sure all the seals, carbs, etc are good.

I also assembled the rear suspension, again just a little tighter than finger tight. Friday night I had to make a last minute modifation to the rear spring top hats I had welded metal in to properly locate them on the smaller diameter rear springs. It turned out the top hats interferred with the triangular shaped metal I welded into the rear shock towers (part of those 26R mods) so I had to quickly cut off the outer portion of the top hats to fit within the shock towers. I’ll make new ones later that will look much better that what I have now.

I was able to get the rolling chassis to the body shop late Friday afternoon. It’s in their hands now. This weekend I’ll work on cleaning up the garage and will be watching the Barrett Jackson Auction at the same time with the TV in the garage. I can’t wait to get the body and chassis back !!!

Now does anyone know of a great place to have Calipers rebuilt?