General musings

I've made a couple of minor adjustments, per the instructions in the workshop manual, to idle mixture on cylinders 1 and 4 and will see how that affects (hopefully, improves) driveability, plug colour etc.

I've topped up the oil again, and think we're up to 500 miles/l which is ok for now.

MPG has dropped, probably a combination of thicker oil and also a good deal of setup work over the last few weeks.

Drove over to Moss at Feltham to collect some more gloop (sorry, 25/70 oil) and other bits including a large metal drip tray, which just fitted on the passenger side, resting on the open ashtray and my shoulder! I can recommend Moss, very helpful staff. I emailed a list of things I wanted, they ensured they had them all at Feltham (some had to be brought from another site) before I went over to collect. The specialise in tools etc for classics, and components for MGs, and Triumphs. The Elan was parked outside their office, and when I came out with my box of bits found several staff taking photos - lots of comments about how small the car is.

The Revival meeting got me thinking, again, about classics vs new cars (the Jaguar F-type is rather nice).

Financials are different of course; the Elan will need some more "investment" to get up to a reasonable level of usability (engine rebuild, drivers door, maybe new radiator etc.) and then an annual budget to keep on top of problems. It's value would be fairly stable, possibly increasing and almost certainly not depreciating. Club Lotus' insurance valuation is in effect a rebuilding cost, and fairly close to purchase + restoration costs - but much higher than the likely sale value.

A newer car (or, say, a 3 year old purchase) would of course depreciate and after 6-7 years start to need replacement of minor components, major components after 10. It would never appreciate, in my lifetime at least.

But then, the Elan is unlikely to be a comfortable reliable touring car!

I'm also musing on two post lift vs. inspection pit, as we will be demolishing and rebuilding our garage as part of extending the house.

We're off to France with Club Lotus in early October. RAC card, bag of tools and spares and other essentials being collected.

Electric fan

Fan fitted, with on/off switch in the glove box as a temporary measure.

It covers quite a small proportion of the area of the radiator. After a bit of thought, I installed it under the inlet from the top hose over towards the near side of the radiator (this was also convenient for wiring it up). A quick test at tickover, after a short drive to get the water and oil up to temperature, went well. I allowed the indicated temperature to rise to about 95C, switched the fan on, and after about 30 seconds the indicated temperature started to reduce and eventually came down, after 4-5 minutes, to the thermostat control temperature which is just above 80C.

Repeated as above, worked the same.

Air temperature around 18C.

The rate of reduction wasn't rapid but that's not a bad thing, although I don't yet know, of course, how it works in hotter ambient temperatures.

I measured the DC current before completing the wiring; about 7-8 amps on battery alone (will be a bit higher with the engine running and hence the alternator providing a slightly higher voltage).

The feed to the fan is direct (ie, not ignition controlled) via a 25A fuse, as recommended by Kenlowe.

I'll retain the Kenlowe controller and switch for future use, should I decide to install a new radiator.

Overheating, mileage and other updates

I think I should fit the Kenlowe fan  - driving to the Goodwood Revival, all went well until we reached the turning to the car park, after the racecourse. It took an hour to travel the last mile. Of course the car overheated, as did a number of other classics in the queue. So, the heater had to be on full blast for most of that hour, ensuring that those in the car were just as hot and bothered as the Elan. Not a good start to what was an incredibly crowded event. Apart from that the journeys went well.

At least it proved that the heater matrix isn't blocked.

Kenlowe, annoyingly, failed to cut the fan frame as required to fit the Elan radiator. As I may replace the radiator with one that has by design a fan mounting, I don't want to cut it down until that's decided and am therefore thinking of a temporary installation using thin wooden spacers and a simple on/off switch in the glovebox.

The car has now done 47100 miles, around 2500 miles since it was back on the road. I had a look at the last MOT and that has a brief list of dates and mileage of a few earlier MOTs. This made interesting reading:
2006 - 44459 miles
2008 - 44543 (84 in 2 years)
2009 - 44632 (89 in the year)
2014 - 44664 (32 in 5 years, that includes testing before the MOT and driving to the test)

So only 205 miles and 3 MOTs in 8 years, nothing in the last 5 when the car had obviously been sitting (degrading) in a damp garage.

An hour's chat with, and test drive by Grahame. He was very happy with ride and suspension. Engine OK, runs out of revs above 4500/5000 but that’s the way it’s set up. Agreed that the 2800-3500 range was a bit rough. G suggested mechanical balancer for rough rev range and also perhaps a change to head breathing. Definitely oil from worn bores being burnt.

I found a company in Australia that makes balancer pulleys for the Kent engine, but they don't seem to have any distributors in Europe and haven't replied to my email.

Oil and water

Well, the k-seal seems to have stopped the radiator leak. Although Max is very concerned that it will have blocked the heater matrix (which is a dog to remove if that is required). We'll see, but clearly there are no easy wins here.

Oil consumption, with the 25/70 oil, has certainly slowed to around a more reasonable (less unreasonable) 500 miles per litre. I let the oil level reduce to just above the minimum on the dipstick and added 250ml.

But I do have a concern that, based on the mechanical oil gauge, it does take a few seconds to get up to working pressure form a cold start. It could just be the gauge is slow to respond, but equally it could be a pick-up problem due to the high viscosity of the oil.

If the latter, it would be bad. Again, no easy wins.

Checking the plugs, 1 and 4 are still dirty but not as bad as before the carbs were re-choked. 2 and 3 are an acceptable brown colour. The exhaust tail pipe is not as dark but the particles of soot feel a bit oily.

When I start from cold, the engine is quieter and smoother until the oil is up to temperature. For example we set off from some friends, a couple of miles of minor roads, then dual carriageway at 3000-3500rpm. To start with, less noise in the "problem" range of 2750/2800 up to 3500rpm, and no significant noise on the overrun. Once the oil was up to temperature (a few miles after the water temperature stabilises, based on the oil pressure stabilising) the engine is definitely noisier in the rev range mentioned and there is significant noise on the overrun.

I'm pretty sure that the noise and vibration are engine rpm dependent, and not road speed. I have previously had a new, balanced, propshaft fitted.

Had another chat with Grahame. Despite his high workload, he's kindly offered to take the car out for a test drive to see if he can pinpoint the issues. His current theory is that oil is passing the piston rings - from the colour of the plugs he could well be spot-on, with 1 and 4 being the primary suspects.

Could the overrun noise be crankshaft float? I've learnt not to trust anything done by the previous owner, and he changed the crankshaft and rods (and possibly the pistons) when he put in the longer block.

Exhaust, again

Fortunately (!!) the exhaust failed just by the slip road to Fleet Services on the M3 and I was in the nearside lane - so could coast into the first available parking space with the pipe rattling along the road. Just before that, I had been in the outside lane overtaking lorries.....

Same problem as before.... the y-section between the manifold and long straight pipe had failed at the circular weld.

So I rang Max, and he managed to persuade Paul of Swiss Cottage to drop everything and come and collect me. Which he did - another low-loader trip to Lakeside.

So, discussions followed. It seems that the manufacturer of the failed sections have only ever heard of two failures, both on my Elan. Same for Max.

Clearly the weld (Mig-welded?) had thinned the metal. Therefore I asked Max if the section could be strengthened, which has been done and the new part fitted. Max has also fashioned a catcher, made from locking wire, for the straight section so that should I experience another failure the straight pipe won't immediately fall on to the road.

I also have another, strengthened, y-section which I will carry in the car spares and tools bag. Belt, braces, string............. or wire........

Mixture and timing

I drove down to Gillingham in Dorset on Tuesday morning last week to get the engine set up at Sigma Engineering.

What a great place - some superb old cars being worked on, including a huge 1910 Chrysler, Triumphs, Bugatti...... The Elan was the youngest cars there. They have 2 sets of rollers coupled to some really high-tech diagnostic equipment, and drawers full of components for Weber carburettors. The owner, Pete Lander, is a real technical guy of the old school.

As the alert amongst you will know, carburettors basically work by drawing air through a choke, basically a tube of a defined (tuned) length and a specific diameter. The main fuel jet protrudes into the airflow and fuel is drawn in. The amount of fuel is proportional to the velocity of the airflow. There are other jets for acceleration, cold running and idle, but the main jet is key for steady running.

First run on the rollers, it was clear that the engine was running very lean (insufficient fuel / too much air) mid range. One idle setting was slightly wrong too, easily corrected. Distributor timing was a couple of degrees low at tickover and was adjusted up to give more advance over the rev range and higher up in particular. Main jets were standard, so Pete measured the chokes which were oversize. It seems that the previous owner had crudely machined out the chokes from 30mm to 33. Not only does that mean 20% more area and hence 20% lower average air velocity and therefore 20% less fuel for the volume of air, but also "crudely" means turbulent air and hence inconsistencies.

Sigma had 30mm chokes in the magic Weber box, these were fitted and a second run on the rollers showed a massive improvement. A test drive confirmed this, very tractable, mid-range misfire has gone. CO2, I quote "nearly good enough for a MOT".

So, happy owner drives home. Until the exhaust fell off, again, just by Fleet services on the M3.

Snag list priorities

Too many things on the list for one blog. :-)

The priorities in August (subject to other things breaking!) were:

- Make the engine smoother and quieter
- Reduce excessive oil consumption
- Sort the radiator leak
- Drivers door locking, window frame and glass fibre
- Bonnet catches and alignment

The car has been getting some reasonable use, and has now done more than 2000 miles in my ownership.

I had a good a chat with a friend, Grahame Bull, who runs a classic car restoration company specialising in Jaguars. He's incredibly busy so I didn't want to take much of his time, but He had a look and listen and gave some useful advice as follows:

1. Change the oil and filter, refill with 25/70 oil obtainable from Moss Europe. He also advised NOT filling oil above a point about half way between max and min on the dipstick, as the crankshaft may be churning up the cylinder bores.
2. Take the car to Sigma Engineering in Gillingham to have the timing and mixture set up.
3. Put a small bottle of K-seal in the radiator, to seal the leak without blocking the heater matrix

Oil and filter duly changed. K-seal added to radiator.

The workshop manual says that the oil capacity is 4l including the filter. Drained the old (very dirty after only 700 miles) oil, changed the filter, measured and added 3.5l of the new oil.

The oil is certainly pretty viscous. You don't exactly have to squeeze the can to get it out, but.......

I've had discussions with Max at Lakeside and Brian Buckland of Club Lotus about the door problems. Brian has sent me the modified door catch, and will make up the Lotus-specific handle actuator.

Brian also suggests that Spyder have a jig to align, and can repair, the o/s window frame.

Max is trying to get the remaining matching paint from the elusive Miles Wilkins.

Introduction

So, after 18 months of restoration and de-bugging, documented in a earlier blog, I thought it might be fun to jot down some notes on the ups and downs of ownership.

Here are a few paragraphs from my last post in the earlier blog.

The car is just great to drive on the open road but is obviously still less than reliable and is not at all fun to drive in heavy traffic. And it has truly been a money pit. Sadly, the previous owner had been ill for a number of years and had obviously been unable to keep on top of the work required and had taken a number of shortcuts - the scope of which only became obvious as work progressed.

We loved our old +2, and - perhaps this was a historical perspective through rose tinted-glasses - had hoped that the Elan would be an excellent touring car. So far it isn't, and may never be; the +2 is a different car and when we owned it was less than 20 years old.

 Which brings me to the main conclusions of the blog:
1. Running an old car can't be justified in terms of money. They will go wrong, overheat and throw unexpected tantrums. You either love the car for what it is or you let it go.
2. You have to use the car or it will just deteriorate...... and what's the point in that?
3. However, as you use it you have to treat every journey as an adventure and be prepared for issues to arise.
4. I'm really pleased that another of these fantastic cars is still on the road.

So, onwards - with the ups and downs!