Update by Tim Suddard to the
Lotus Elan project car
Jan 26, 2016
With our Lotus Elan‘s engine refresh underway, it was time to start disassembly of the rest of the car.
We were a bit nervous on this one, as the car was in such terrible shape and had been sitting outside for about 38 years in northern Michigan. Would we be able to get fasteners off? Would we have anything left if—and when—we did get the car apart?
Amazingly, the answer was yes and yes. We had very little trouble disassembling the car. We took our time and carefully bagged and tagged everything we took off. We also photographed every inch of the car before, during and after taking it apart. We had learned the hard way on our Mini project that you cannot be too careful in photographing and marking everything when dissembling an old sports car.
The final steps in this process were to make careful notes of what parts needed to be ordered new or found used, and then to carefully box everything up to properly store until it was time to reassemble the car.
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Tim, your dismantling the Elan the right way. Photograph everything! I just ordered a replacement wiring harness from British Wiring for the Elan S4 I am restoring, it is very well made and color coded to the manufacturer specifications. The S1 harness is much simpler, you shouldn't have any problems.
Pay attention to the shims (sometimes they are washers) used between the chassis and the body as well as the shims under the steering rack. The exact location and number of them is vital!
Restoration Impossible? So which one of you is Jim Phelps? Barney Collier? Willy Armitage? We know who Cinnamon Carter is.
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