Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Certified Lotus wrote:Tom, Just remove the Weber carbs, water hoses, radiator, all connecting cables from the wiring harness to the engine, coil to distributor cable, ground straps, throttle cable and exhaust manifold. Hoist body away.

I have found reinstalling the body to the chassis with the drive line components all installed is also the easiest.

Good luck!

Perfect. That will make "packaging" easier as we disassemble two cars. Thanks.

Tom,

I just did that job on my 1965 S2. Everything that other fellow wrote is correct, with these additions: I had to remove the carburetor studs, (on cylinders 3 & 4, at least) and I did not find it necessary to remove the exhaust manifold. If I was more facile with computers, I'd happily attach some of the 225 pictures taken, (old guy memory aid on reassembly). As it is, just know that my chassis is pretty well toasted. Tony Thompson is coming to the rescue. I COULD save it...but the amount of squeezing, wouldn't be justified by the juice realized, IMHO.

If some of you archivists can impart any insights: my newly uncovered, (literally) - chassis number is 26A701. The VIN is 26/4128 and the Body Number is 36645. I have the engine number, but it's not at hand. Everything seems to be original.

Cheers,
Woody
PS feel free to telephone, or email me directly, and I'll impart my half-vast knowledge and experience. (717) 5656 8687 home (717) 602-3043 cell email: [email protected]" target="_blank

Hey....guess I figured it out!

Woody M wrote:Tom,

I just did that job on my 1965 S2. Everything that other fellow wrote is correct, with these additions: I had to remove the carburetor studs, (on cylinders 3 & 4, at least) and I did not find it necessary to remove the exhaust manifold. If I was more facile with computers, I'd happily attach some of the 225 pictures taken, (old guy memory aid on reassembly). As it is, just know that my chassis is pretty well toasted. Tony Thompson is coming to the rescue. I COULD save it...but the amount of squeezing, wouldn't be justified by the juice realized, IMHO.

If some of you archivists can impart any insights: my newly uncovered, (literally) - chassis number is 26A701. The VIN is 26/4128 and the Body Number is 36645. I have the engine number, but it's not at hand. Everything seems to be original.

Cheers,
Woody
PS feel free to telephone, or email me directly, and I'll impart my half-vast knowledge and experience. (717) 5656 8687 home (717) 602-3043 cell email: [email protected]" target="_blank" target="_blank

Thank you, Woody. I may call you. Tom

A couple of other things to be removed as well.
Heater valve.
Clutch hydraulic pipes from clutch and brake master cylinders.
Hand brake cable.
Petrol pipe (at the tank)
Inner seat belt bolts.

In the light of the hot topic in the UK regarding the chassis/sub-frame relationship to the licencing authority, will you have any problems with your masters by fitting a non-original type "chassis" or is TT's a faithful copy?

Meg,

One of the Blessings of living in the USA, (and visiting England about three times monthly, for the last 15 years) - is that our dirndl-skirted Pecksniffs, who make up the various bureaucracies, are about a generation behind yours, in terms of unbridled, officious, unctuous authoritarianism....(did I state that too stridently? LOL!).
Short answer; no...no problem. In a less public forum, one could relate how relatively easy-going we are about most rules. The reason? Do we really want to digress into the origins and rationale of The Framers of The U.S. Constitution and it's modern day utility for calming down government overreach?....I'd guess not.

If one looks at it rationally, a new, accurate chassis makes all kind of sense, compared to patching up the original. It's safer and stronger. My chassis could be saved, but it simply makes no sense. Besides...there's still plenty of work to do; why make more? Finally, I have other projects ongoing in the shop and at 63-years, there aren't that many more "shopping days, till Christmas". I want to drive this car, whilst I can still enter and egress without aid of a hoist!
Happy Christmas! (see pictures of "other project" in shop) Built it in the 1990's flew it, sold it...it got wrecked...bought it back and only 5-years later, nearly ready to fly again.
Woody

Tom Cotter wrote:

Thornts wrote:Welcome indeed Tom. As the custodian of your last Elan (I assume you haven't had any more in the mean time), I'll be trying to keep pace with your twins as you work on them. As you can perhaps tell, I have not been making huge progress with the S3 SE FHC though the 'History' has come together nicely in no small part due to this forum and Mark 'Elan in Forest' in particular. I need to join the dots between it going back to Lotus and arriving with you, perhaps starting with Christopher, the woodworking guy you bought the car from who thus far I've not been able to track down.
All the best and good luck!
Rob
S3 SE FHC
S2 7
22
S1 Elise

Rob, Thanks for the update and encouragement. If you want to sell that coupe back to me, I might be interested. Tom

Hi Tom.
Apologies for the delay responding - I had assumed I'd get a flag from elan.net if there was activity on the thread and I've only just checked back in. Sorry to say I won't be selling - a few on here have tried to pursuade me to and as you may recall, it took me long enough to buy in the first place! What I DO need to do is make some progress! Very much enjoyed reading about it in your "The Hemi in the Barn" book - still have the advert you clipped from the 'Asheville Citizen' paper in the Elan's file. To avoid hijacking your twin restoration thread I'll PM you with more details I have uncovered from this end. As I say, a few more dots to join but that is half the fun.
Good luck to you and your son - I believe he is in some of the shots of the Coupe you sent me way back.
Rob

Good to hear from you, Rob. My intention was to dig into my dual Elan projects this winter, but we decided to rebuild my son?s Vintage Formula Vee project instead. I am a true believer that being involved in more than one project leads to nothing good. So perhaps next winter. Tom

I know the feeling Tom and agree, one project at a time. My slight problem is I have a bit of work to do to my '62 7 and I did promise Cath, my very patient wife, that I wouldn't start on the Elan until I had finished my (now her) Bugeye Sprite (never mind the Lotus 22 I couldn't resist a while back...).
What I really need to do is stop getting distracted by my relatively new business and spend a solid four or five hours a day in the workshop. That's the plan anyway.
All the best
Rob