47th Birthday

Today, 24th April 2014.

I still can't believe how tiny it is........

Out for a drive with Alexa over to Bell and Colville, our local Lotus dealer. And you thought the Elise was small?

Just driving it... :-)

And not much news, which is, I guess, good news.

Still a leak from the radiator but not a big problem. A couple more rattles and squeaks fixed, two more to sort.

Two sets of new keys work fine (where locks work!).

Headlight position switch springs were a bit too strong for the poor old vacuum pots so have been tweaked. New vacuum pots now on the "replace sometime" list.

A bit of oil use, to be expected.

Interior and door mirror both fell off, have been refixed.

Bag of tools and spares permanently in the boot now.

It's great!

Dry weather......

..... so enjoying driving. First shopping trip (for wine) caused a stir at the local shops. Parked between a Range Rover and BMW X5. Sitting in the Elan looking at huge tyres alongside me. :-)

Found a source (on eBay) of replacement keys - I only had one set and they are really badly worn. The new keys arrived today and work fine, in fact better than the originals. Only £6.99 for 3 keys including postage.

The radiator needed over 300ml of water. I'll keep checking and topping up until it's repaired.

Otherwise my ongoing attempts to trace and fix rattles and squeaks have been fairly successful.

The radio aerial (small item on the inside of the back window) doesn't pick up much of a signal, but I can play music from my phone through the radio via bluetooth or an aux. cable. Volume has to be LOUD to overcome engine and transmission noise.

Getting a few miles in.......

... and sorting out a few snags. Indicator telltale bulb replaced, drivers door mirror fitted. After one attempt that didn't work well, leading to a (successful) search of the road for a fixing piece. :-)

A few areas of rattles and vibration addressed too. This has further improved driving enjoyment!

One thing that remains to be sorted - a leak from the bottom of the radiator, looks like a crack in the weld around the drain plug. Not major, but the radiator will have to come out and be re-re-welded. Probably when I've done 1000 miles and it's time for a general fettle and tidy-up. Frequent checks and top-ups for now.

Tyre pressures. Workshop manual says 18f, 23 rear, but that was for older cross-plys. When I picked the car up, I has 25/26. Reduced to 21/26 and it feels "heavier" and less balanced at the front. So I'll up the pressures to 24/26 and see how that goes.

Looking for a few more replacement bits, drivers door window frame, drivers door exterior handle, various switches. Nothing urgent.

It's tiny!