Lotus Elan S4 - Restoration Horrors!

Whilst there’s been a fair selection of work I’ve discovered on the car which has been done, somewhat, shall we call it half heartedly…?
The rear suspension takes the absolute biscuit. Clearly the wheels ordered for the car, in 1982(!), were the wrong offset. Being 3 piece rims this wouldn’t have been hard to remedy, with new barrels bolting on to the existing centres, this could have been resolved.
Instead, the spring platforms and wishbone bolts got a butchering. As for the drive flange spacing. Well, mind blown!

[@witofthestaircase1]

Speaking as part of an appreciative albeit niche audience, all this is priceless for an under resourced owner of a similarly challenged Elan. By way of inspiration, my brother-in-law banged away for years with his niche healthcare content. Then there was a pandemic and he has a million subscribers!

[@boots_n_coots]

I’m enjoying this series Malcolm. I’m trying to get inspired to begin on my S1/2 Elan, which has been in storage far too long, and wants a proper ground-up resto. Please send a shed-load of honest British parts to me, in sunny California. 😎

[@munky2k]

Trade for some Californian weather 🤔😆

[@jonbretro4596]

Couple of points: Standard Lotus bolts for the hub carrier to wishbone connection had half height heads to improve the clearance with the wheel. Despite thiese, it was still tight. Secondly, I noticed your knock on threads appear to be greased. They should not be greased or lubricated at all. Dry only (which reduces the chance they will come off in use).

[@jameslove1363]

Doesn’t surprise me Malcolm, I have been enjoying your posts on the restoration of your dad‘s car.

[@DavidMiles-qy5qx]

Hi Malcolm, Dave, Based in Whitburn Scotland. Amazing Videos!!! I have just started a 5 year Project to build my dream car from scratch Lotus Elan Plus 2.

[@munky2k]

Small world, I’m also based in Whitburn (don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that on my videos, but seeing as I have a really muddled accent it wouldn’t be easy to guess!)

[@DavidMiles-qy5qx]

@@munky2k 😀Small world in deed! lol. Enjoying the vids!

[@mikemccarthy1398]

I watched Harrys Garage where he experimented with wider wheels which made the car much worse to drive.That was a review of the lotus Elan.

[@munky2k]

If you haven’t seen it already, check out the horrors video! Bottom line, the wheels don’t physically fit the car! On the width aspect, that will be changing. Not only is the width/sidewall combination awkward on a 13in rim, it’s massively over-tyred. 205 section on a car that weighs ~700kg is ridiculous, our race MINIs run 195 section at 1075kg. The challenge will be Compomotive no longer make 3 piece rims, so I’ll need to find someone like Image to custom manufacture narrower inner barrels that will work with the existing outer barrels. I think we’ll reduce the width to 6in, per what the 26R ran.

[@pharriso951]

@@munky2k Enjoying your videos... I thought my Elan Sprint was over-Tyred with 175s, 205s = nuts! I actually went back to 155s & the spare fits in the boot now. Colin Chapman knew a fair bit on suspension design...

[@berockization]

New 145s here! It's only a 1400lb car.