Dashboard in

Carpets and trim

The interior is looking much better now......

New dashboard

Reassembly of the instruments and switches is well underway.

Respray complete!

All 17 areas of fibreglass damage repaired too! New badges as well.

Looking good. Now to get the rest of the rebuild done.

Bodywork and respray

A trip down to Arundel today to visit Miles Wilkins of Fibreglass Services, who has begun the bodywork repairs. We had an interesting chat about Lotus generally and the Elan specifically, and a tour of the workshops. Saw two Elites, one in the spray booth and a white +2.

Still lots to do on the car but the bodywork repairs are looking good so far.

It looks great!

Many thanks to Alexa for this wonderful scale model, great detail down to the correct registration plate!

The engine, she runs!

Just a quick test with no coolant to check the basics are Ok. Oil pressure & compression seem fine.

The heater has been rebuilt and is ready to install.

Decision made on bodywork repairs and respray - Fibreglass Services in Arundel, owned by Miles Wilkins. Miles owns a S3 coupe, and is well known for his books on many things Lotus.

The car should be back from respray in the first half of August. After holidays the long haul to put everything back together will begin!

Checking out a shiny friend

Engine in......

The engine is completely assembled and has been installed, not yet fully connected but including the correct clutch and new exhaust manifold :-)

Looking good, thanks Max.

New electronic ignition fitted.

The Tacho will be sent away for modification to negative earth, as well as being upgraded to work properly with electronic ignition.




The car is now on it's own wheels and suspension!

Next steps, Max will get the engine running, install the steering column (temporarily) and make the car ready for the respray.

Two candidates for respray work, decision soon.

Max and I then went through remaining work and approximate costs. I then had a good cry......

Manifold problems

Aaaargh.....

The exhaust manifold is cracked and not worth repairing -  it will fail again eventually  -  so a new item required.

Unfortunately this means a further delay to completing engine assembly.

It's the wrong flywheel; grommets

Well, the good news is that engine reassembly is going OK. The not so good news is that the standard crossflow 7.5" clutch and flywheel had been used when the block was swapped out a few years ago, not the 9" item that Lotus had used to cope with the power of the twin-cam. So now we need to find the correct item.

The current clutch is badly worn, indicative of what will happen very quickly if we fit the smaller clutch again.

Managed to buy some new grommets on ebay to replace the older / perished items as hoses and cables through the bulkhead are replaced and refitted.

Ready to roll??

Wheels on

Clutch and brake master cylinders overhauled

Servo removed and bypass pipe fitted (deliberate policy)

Heater box de-rusted and painted

Engine bay readied for re-installation

Problems with the valve guides in the cylinder head mean that more work is required. The head should be back at Lakeside later this week ready for the engine to be reassembled and then installed. 

The engine will be fired up as a test and the car will then go for bodywork repairs and respray. Two quotes so far, should get a third next week. Eye-watering numbers...............

Engine capacity

Measured at 1688cc. 78mm stroke, 83mm bore.

The original capacity was 1558cc, 72.75mm stroke and 82.55 bore.

An 8.3% increase in volume.

16th May

Work continuing in a number of areas:
- tyres on wheels
- front suspension fitted
- underside of the wheel arches spray painted black
- cylinder head valves ground in
- engine bay cleaning and sanding in preparation for painting

Decision made to remove brake servo to improve pedal response. The pipework will remain so that it can be fitted later if required.

Looking to get 3 quotes for fibreglass repairs + respray.

Progress

Rear suspension and hubs back on

















Wheels refurbished  

Cylinder head reassembled















Corroded window glass frame repaired. The other frame (on the left) will be overhauled.













Radiator refurbished











Next
- finish cleaning and then paint the engine bay.
- refit window frames
- fit front suspension and hubs
- wheels and tyres on
- reassemble and install engine
- quotes for respray

Dismantling

More dismantling today.


Bumpers removed, lights disconnected and checked - some can be reused, others will need to be replaced.

One of the window frames is badly rusted - in fact rotten - and will need to be repaired.





Badges and numberplate also removed.

Basically, the car is now a kit of parts - pretty much as a kit would have been delivered from the factory 46 years ago.

The key difference is that lots of the components are 46 years old!

A problem with the cylinder head - mismatched valve guides - so new, consistent size guides have been ordered and will need to be machined.

The good news is that the suspension, brake, and hub units are being reassembled and should be refitted next week.

We now know, pretty much, what's required - loads of new parts and refurbishment kits.....

It will be quiet for a few days as I'm away, but next week I'll be hoping to get the engine bay tidied up and painted ready for the engine to go back in.... in a few weeks.





The order of events has changed a bit. The first phase is now to get the engine back in and refit the suspension etc. and wheels - basically get it into a "rolling" state. Then get the car resprayed.

The final phase will be to refit the screens, dashboard, electrics, all the trim and get everything working. We'll probably convert the car from positive to negative earth along the way.

The original colour was........

News just in - the car was originally white! This information as a result of checks whilst assessing the work required to respray.

That makes the decision easier - white car with silver wheels and bumpers.

Update - the car had been resprayed in a non-standard colour, actually Bermuda Yellow (and not Burnt Sand). This was an option on later models but not on the S3.

Sparks fly

More work stripping out the interior. Two layers of fabric trim plus felt, some of it very rotten. Removed the seats and runners (including the unusual wooden items!). Scraped most of the crud off the floor. Cleared out the boot and interior. Scraped as much of the remaining dirt as I could from the underside of the car.





Max has removed the offside door and the badly corroded frame from the nearside door. New glass will be required for the nearside as well as major repairs to the frame.

The top picture shows Max angle-grinding out the bolts holding the wooden and old rusted seat runners.




The other two pictures are of the interior as it looks now, rear and front.

It's a Lotus, so........ (and a belated "happy reg-day").

Hawkeye Hurst has spotted that a piece of black felt pop-riveted inside the engine bay covered up the required holes for LHD steering rack etc. The theory is that it was originally intended to be LHD for export, but UK demand was such that the factory made a late decision to build it as RHD. I've emailed Lotus to see if they can shed any light on this.

Belated 46th Birthday  - on 24/4.

Dashboard and heater removed

A busy day at Lakeside today. Thanks to Max and Tim for providing care in the community ... and for the tea, advice etc.
The car is up on a trolley. Max has removed the wheels, hubs, brakes & suspension, cleaned up arches and the engine bay.

The rear window has been removed for access to the suspension.
I was able to contribute by removing the dash, disconnecting all the instruments, switches and cables, labelling them ready for reconnection later.

Also removing the heater and dismantling this ready for overhaul.

Next steps for me, remove the seats, prepare the engine bay for painting and remove more accumulated grime from the wheel arches. 

Max will be listing the replacement mechanical items to be bought and fitted.

Colour and chrome

Still not sure about the colour. Keeping the original colour - Bunt Sand - with silver wheels and bumpers may be an option, but.....

Max has some magic chrome cleaner / polish, which when applied started to transform the chrome from scruffy to pretty good. Lots of polishing ahead........

The windscreen is cracked - may be a MOT fail - and a new seal will be required.

Update on 1st May - it's not Burnt Sand, but a non-standard colour over the original white!

Wheels, suspension, brakes.....

Next week, the car will be put on a trolley and the wheels removed and sent away for refurbishment. Then, the suspension and brakes can be checked out and decisions made on what needs repair or replacement.

Sorting out the engine

The engine bay looks a bit empty..... The block is on a stand in the workshop, and the head is away having the hardened valve seats fitted and a general overhaul. This IS a tall (crossflow) block. We still don't know the actual capacity.

The block and pistons look OK    Max has been tidying up and painting the block, cam covers,

sump, fan etc.. These will all be ready for refitting when the cylinder head is back in a couple of weeks. Now it's time to clean up the engine bay & start thinking about taking the dash out ready to start checking the electrics and preparing for  hose replacement, heater overhaul and more once the engine is ready to go back in.

The engine's missing!

Well, the engine is out, and there is lots to do. It seems that a 'tall  block' (crossflow rather than the original) has been fitted, which means longer stroke. We'll need to measure the actual capacity, and eventually update the logbook. A number of compromises (!!) were made in the installation and will be improved.

Work should start soon.

Waiting for the guys at Lakeside to get started. First job is to take the engine out, get the cylinder head off and inspect. We know that the head gasket, timing chain and water pump bearing all need to be replaced.

New car?

I'll be posting updates on the project to refurbish my "new" Lotus Elan S3 SE Coupe, 1967 vintage. The car was purchased on the 21st March 2013 from Sue Appleby, widow of the previous owner Brian who had the car since he bought it from his brother David in 1981.


The car is Lotus type 36, and had a Lotus galvanised chassis fitted in 2001.

I'm not convinced about the original colour, which reminds me of rather too much 1960s Allegros and Marinas......... not the sort of heritage that I was thinking of. A quick check of the  Lotus Elan register shows only 4 cars in that colour.
Update on 1st May - it's not Burnt Sand as I was told, but a non-standard colour, Bermuda Orange, over the original white!



These first pictures show the car, expertly transported by Paul of Swiss Cottage Guildford, arriving at Lakeside Engineering, where Max Hurst has made an initial assessment of the work required for the restoration project.

It's not going to be easy or cheap. Time will tell exactly how difficult and expensive it actually is!