Everytime I take the car out, I am surprised how nimble and delicate it feels. Moving quickly along country roads is a delight. The entire car is well balance and just a joy to drive. I’m starting to learn why people have loved this car for more than 30 years.
Lotus Elan
I purchased my Elan because I wanted to restore a car. Why did I pick a Lotus and why did I pick an Elan Coupe’? I really don’t remember how I decided. At some point I wanted an Elan and the Pre-Airflow Coupe’ was the only one I wanted. I found the car via an internet search. A few phone calls and a drive down to Berkely and I had a car. Several years later I finally drove it.
Ownership History
- Chassis 36/5890 was delivered from the factory on August 8, 1966 to a Michel A. Marx.
- The car was transferred to Gil Denney (date unknown)
- On March 10, 2001 transferred to me, Jim Boone
Damage, Repair and Colors I’m not exactly sure of the order of events. I do know which colors came when and the sequence of the damage, although I am not sure if the driver’s door was damaged a second time or if it was never repaired after the second accident. It seems likely it was repaired at the time the car was repainted the second time and damaged again after that.
- Original color was British Racing Green.
- Torque rods pulled through chassis. A new piece of metal was welded in place to repair. Workmanship was OK.
- Differential ring gear was changed to 3.7:1.
- Original springs where changed to “Sprint” spec. At least that is what the sticker on the spring said.
- Stock fan was removed and an electric fan was installed using wire nuts
- Fire in the engine compartment which burned through the right inner fender damaging the outer fender. Flames also traveled through the air cleaner and scorched under the nose.
- Damage to nose, right front fender top and right rear fender.
- Repainted a lighter shade of green with the sills painted black. This may have been the result of the fire damage.
- Severe damage to left rear corner, left driver’s door and nose. Poorly repaired with a heavy cross textured fiberglass. Repainted with a very dark green.
- Driver’s door damaged again. Repair to driver’s door was thick fiberglass and 1/4″-1/2″ of body putty. Window glass replaced with Plexiglas.
- Wiring harness hacked and repaired with various bits of brown wire.
- A complete restoration was begun on May 5, 2001.
Restoration goals
- Stock Lotus Elan
- Street driven
- Upgrades for reliability
- Finish the development work Lotus didn’t finish
- Restoration was completed on April 7, 2004
Wheel clearance
I went out today and drove the car a bit more aggressively than I have in the past couple of weeks. Not too fast but up a notch in order to find more items for the ever present punch list. Of course I found another. When cornering to the right at a moderate pace I heard a bit of a noise. When I cornered again, the noise was definitely in the rear and rotating....
Muffler
Yea, I know I said I was done but there is still the punch list and a couple of items left on the todo list. I finally took the Elan down to the muffler shop to have the new muffler welded on. I was using the old center pipe and muffler, all held on by a couple of leaking exhaust clamps. The new muffler has one fewer exhaust leaks and is centered in the...
Brake Pedal
You may recall I was not happy with the height of the brake pedal. To fix this I ordered an adjustable pushrod from Dave Bean. The installation took about 15 minutes for the brake pedal and solved the problem. I still need to do the clutch.
Carb linkagge and Cable – Part II
I finally found the proper hose end that would allow clearance for the new throttle linkage. Installation was easy with only one gotcha. The idle speed adjusting screw fowled the linkage and I had to move it to the front carb. The new linkage is smoother with a postive return. It is much stiffer than the original which will take some getting use to. It is a bit harder to make a smooth takeoff...
Pictures at last
A couple of days ago I posted I was done and a lot of people wanted to see some pictures of the completed project. A few things have gotten on the way but I promise I’ll spend some time to get a series of good shots. Until then enjoy these