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!

Home at last

After a year's hard work by Max........

It's so good to drive.........

Took the car down to Fibreglass Services last week to have the flexing panel reinforced and the paint crack repaired. An eventful journey - Max was driving the Elan with me following... and suddenly petrol began to pour from the rear offside of the car. We stopped and investigated, and clearly the tank had sprung a leak - we had about 2 inches of petrol in the boot.

We decided to continue down to Arundel where we siphoned out the remaining petrol.

So, down to Arundel again today to collect the car. Miles and Ian have done a fantastic job - the paint crack has been repaired and the panel reinforced, a new tank has been fitted and a brake servo also installed, as we decided that there was just too much brake pedal pressure required for safe stopping.

Inspection of the old tank showed yet another older bodged repair had failed.

I drove the car back to Lakeside. Fantastic steering and ride, very comfortable and rather quick. I really enjoyed it.

No sign of problems due to wind-up of the Rotoflex couplings, which I remembered from our old +2. Lighter car, lower final drive.

Definitely need a drivers-side door mirror.

We noticed that the speedo seems to be a long way out so that will need to be addressed, if only by subtraction (don't go faster than indicated 20 in a 30, 30 in a 40 etc.) for now. Calibration so far by me driving at a constant speed, 30, 40 etc. indicating to Max, following in the Mini what speed I was doing and him noting the speed as shown on the Mini speedo. A new worm gear may be required, if one can be found with the correct ratio.

The even better news is that the car should be home next week. :-)

Only minor adjustments required now.

First impressions.

First, brief, trip in the car today with Max driving.

Really good performance and the suspension, grip, roadholding and balance are outstanding -  it was years ahead of the industry at the time it was built. 

Noisy and a few rattles, but I knew that would be the case. With a 4 speed gearbox and ratios chosen for acceleration  - above 65 in 4th is loud! 

Overall, really delighted. 

Still a few snags to be investigated and fixed.

I'm now a member of Club Lotus and have asked them to carry out an "agreed value" valuation for insurance purposes. The car in now rather more valuable than a year ago - I hope!