Elan photo gallery
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This Elan Plus 2 S 130 arrived with a cracked frame, burned fiberglass under the carburetors, and a noisy final drive. These and many more faults were rectified during restoration. The result is spectacular to see and a joy to drive.
The Plus 2 engine bay, as received for restoration. Engine mounts were upside-down, many oil leaks, wiring a mess, braking system poorly modified.
Same engine bay after restoration.
This two-owner Elan Coupé had bad fiberglass repairs hidden under filler. The body was completely stripped, repaired and repainted in the original Signal Red.
The interior of this car is completely original - carpets, headliner, instrument panel finish, door seals, shifter boot... But it all had to be carefully removed and reinstalled for body restoration.
Engine rebuilt and engine bay restored from extensive electrical modifications. Cam cover original "Hammertone blue" custom matched in Hammerite.
Before: Elan S3 engine bay as received for repairs. Stripping revealed badly repaired burned areas in the right fender and footwell.
After: Complete engine rebuild and major body repair provided an opportunity to tidy the engine bay.
The Series 3 just before lifting repaired body back onto chassis. Front wheels are removed to ease passage of the body over engine.
Typical neglected brake caliper condition: pistons sticking in caliper bores due to corrosion, dust boots baked hard and cracked, handbrake caliper out of adjustment.
Calipers are disassembled but body halves are not normally separated. Parts are thoroughly cleaned and refinished then carefully assembled with new seals, pistons and pads. Installation on the car includes new hoses, brake disc runout check, and adjustment of handbrake. Hard lines are inspected for damage and corrosion and if necessary new tubing fabricated with proper flares and fittings.
This S4 had an oil cooler leaking through cracks in the nose. Oil had wicked into the exposed glass strands, which all had to be ground out.
The S4 after repairs and repaint. Fiberglass repairs blended into original layup to be as invisible inside as on the outside.
This Elan Sprint was showing numerous waves, checks and cracks, and the colors did not appeal to the owner.
Fiberglass repairs curing. Damage was ground out and new mat & resin laid in. It was discovered that this car had been badly damaged in an accident and fairly competently repaired in England, but much secondary damage had been overlooked.
The remainder of the paint and primer was sanded away to the original gel coat revealing further cracks. All were repaired and a final tissue layer applied and lightly blocked. Here the light blue polyester filler is being sanded. Even a body with no accident damage requires extensive filler to correct warpage that develops with time and heat/cool cycles.
The application of color is the culmination of many laborious stages in a body repair project.
Correct red, white and gold were found for the classic 'Gold Leaf' color scheme. This car also had its door fit corrected as described below.
Many Series 3 and 4 Elan doors fit poorly at the bottom rear, apparently due to a moulding problem at Lotus. Photo at left shows typical condition, photo at right after door surgery to eliminate this defect. Outer door skin paint is not disturbed in this procedure.
This early Elan Coupé was completely restored with a new Lotus chassis (next photo) and standard specification equipment throughout.
The original chassis of this car had minimal rust damage, but dimensions were out of specification due to accident repairs to the right front tower and entire rear section. A common chassis rot location is in front suspension tower pockets behind spring & damper.
Elite photo gallery © 2001 - 2022 Randall Fehr
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