Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi,

Could anyone tell me if it is a realistic job to fit a new headlining to my elan? And if so what the best method is to do this well? If it is a really tricky job does anybody know the kind of cost i will be expected to pay an upholster to do this for me?

Another point is that I have just fixed my vacuum pods so the lights now pop up by using the button inside the cab, when i push the button in to drop the lghts the go down REALLY slowly, is this normal or should they drop much quicker, or have I missed out on some button which makes them drop quickly.

Any advise appreciated.

Thanks

Simon

Simon
Pop-ups,looks like you have the later "failsafe" system where the vacuum closes them(slowly) as opposed to the earlier type where the vacuum opens them (slowly)
John

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. I am sure I have the non-fail safe version as I have the two seperate vacuum units where the vacuum lifts them up. This goes up as you would expect them to, but when i push the button back in, which I assume opens some kind of pressure dump valve, they go down really slowly as if the pressure is not being let off very quickly.The springs are attached and are in fine working order.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Simon

They do sound like failsafe units where the spring raises the lamps if the vacuum system fails. They rise quickly with spring assistance but of course you are closing them against spring resistance. Slower when driving at speed as they are using inlet manifold vacuum which is higher at low throttle openings

regards

Ian

The way to check is remove the vacuum tube from the inlet manifold and see if you can get them up or down or what???
John

with the vacuum tube removed they stay down, so i am sure it is the vacuum that lifts them up. Therefore im think although the springs work fine, the vacuum units seem to return to ambient pressure very slowly? how does it loose the vacuum? It must have some kind of release valve so the lights drop under spring force rather than a combination of spring force and slowly decreasing vacuum.

Simon

Sounds like the early 2 pod non failsafe system fitted pre 1970 . If they drop slowly do not complain as most people find at high revs the lights drop quickly . Not the best situation . I would leave them well alone .

If i'm not mistaken it's the knob on the dash,connects vacuum when pulled out,opens to atmospheric pressure when pushed in,so maybe you have a slight blockage in the pipes between the switch and spheres....
Try disconnecting the pipe(when you have the headlights raised) at some other point nearer the spheres.
John