Photo Gallery and Finished Projects
For those of you that have visited the workshop in recent years, you will be familiar with our long and ongoing project of Mr Smith's Lotus Elan +2, we inherited the project back in 2004, the vehicle had been completely stripped and put into box's, quite a few box's, well it is finished !
After many hours of hard work with our sand blaster tank, most of the mechanical parts have been cleaned, painted and overhauled, reassembly of Mr Smith's Elan is well on the way to being put back together, the brakes and clutch have been bleed.
With the chassis built and assembled, the engine rebuilt with the latest lead free valve seats, new pistons, bearings etc, it was now ready to be fitted to the body, the body was lowered onto the chassis, all the body mounting bolt holes were marked on the chassis. The body was then removed again, the chassis mounting holes were then drilled and tapped to the appropriate sizes and the body refitted and bolted into place for the last time.
Things have moved on still further since these pictures were taken, the cooling system has been fitted including the heater, the engine wiring harness has been fitted, the carbs have been stripped, overhauled and fitted, distributor, plugs and leads fitted, ignition timing set up, electronic ignition wired in, and the engine has been running, that is after a false start when the fuel pump didn't work and leaked several litres of petrol all over the floor.
Over the last few months (Nov 10) things have moved on quite quickly, having fitted and adjusted the doors, bonnet, boot and head lamp pods, the body went off to be painted. It came back a few weeks later a gleaming rich red with a retro looking silver metal flake roof. We refitted the doors, bonnet boot lid and headlamp pods for the final time. Then came the job of refitting all the locks catches and chrome work. The dash was then fitted along with all the lighting. The screens were then fitted, during the rebuild process the front screen trim had become unavailable but we managed to find a black rubber trim to do the job, we also replaced the chrome insert in the rear screen rubber so it matched the front one all in all the screens looked very good although it would have been much better to be able to fit it with the correct trim, but this can be relatively easily changed at a later date if some original trim become available.
Well Christmas is coming but so has the bad weather, so although the Elan is MOT'ed, finished and road tested the six inches of snow mean this is not a good time for Mr Smith to pick up his gleaming Elan so it is safely lock away in the workshop until the new year
Well January came and went, but now the weather has improved Mr Smith comes to pick up his Elan, the first time he has been able to drive it since it was taken off the road back in 1989, this is also the first ever journey in the car for Mrs Smith and the first time their teenage sons have seen it on the road. Just in time for him to teach them to drive, perhaps not!.
It now very strange having a big gap in the workshop where the Elan had lived! Have you got an old unloved Lotus hiding in the back of your garage or barn? If you have give us a ring and perhaps we can put it back in it rightful place back on the road. Telephone 01932 340003 and speak to Tim