1980 Lotus Elite 504

Author
Discussion

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Sunday 22nd June 2014
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16VJay said:
Although the Elite's headlamps are vacuum operated like the Elan and Plus 2, the chassis is not the vacuum reservoir, there are two tanks in the body in front of the door hinges that store the vacuum.
Also used for heater & a/c (where fitted) controls IIRC.

16VJay

235 posts

218 months

Sunday 22nd June 2014
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Yes Angus, some of the heater and a/c units fitted to Elites have vacuum operated flaps - my car has just a heater with cable controls - but still has both tanks with the passenger's side one not connected!

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Sunday 22nd June 2014
quotequote all
16VJay said:
Although the Elite's headlamps are vacuum operated like the Elan and Plus 2, the chassis is not the vacuum reservoir, there are two tanks in the body in front of the door hinges that store the vacuum.
Ah, got you now, welding the Elite should be safe enough then.

I did see those tanks and wondered what they were, the one on the drivers side anyway when i was in there looking at how to get the throttle cable out, now i know.

I've learned so much from this thread cool

Found this pic on a Google search earlier, didn't realise what a sexy looking rear the S1 Elite has smile


Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Friday 27th June 2014
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Does anyone know how to remove the front bumper on one of these ?, got the two brackets in the middle (above the reg plate but stumped if i can see whats holding the ends, seems to be behind the lights but the lights are held on by tiny nuts behind the bumper, need to get the bumper off to fix a wiring fault to the side lights.

Other news, got my new fuel pump mounted and plumbed in, battery relocated and tray mounted, started repairing the O/S tailgate hinge area, that has turned into a horror (if i get the car painted next year i'll really need to look for another body section to let in, it's that bad), still waiting on the drive shaft U/J's from SJSportscars, delayed as i didn't put my house number in their order form.

Hope to get it MOT'd and on the road in the next week or so, though i'll still have to do oil and filter change, timing belt, water pump, fan upgrade, tyres (the tyres will pass an MOT but i'll be fitting fresh ones) and find a trimmer to repair/rebuild the front seats.

interloper

2,747 posts

254 months

Friday 27th June 2014
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I'm not familiar with how these go together but I am used to dealing with some perverse fittings! Have you looked behind the side light/indicator units? and also looked down the inside of the front wings from in the wheel arches?

I would hope they aren't simply glued on, there has to be a fixing there some were!

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Friday 27th June 2014
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interloper said:
I'm not familiar with how these go together but I am used to dealing with some perverse fittings! Have you looked behind the side light/indicator units? and also looked down the inside of the front wings from in the wheel arches?

I would hope they aren't simply glued on, there has to be a fixing there some were!
The light units butt hard against the front panel behind the bumper, as i said i can see tiny bolts holding the light units to the bumper but it's impossible to get to these with the bumper on.

Googled "Elite bumper removal" but it didn't help much, seen a pic of a stripped Eclat shell and it had holes in the front panel for the light unit bulb recesses to go into but no other holes.

Will have another go at it later.

LuS1fer

41,086 posts

244 months

Saturday 28th June 2014
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This is about the Esprit bumper but may offer clues:
http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/43581-f...

Found this 504 restoration blog (US)
https://sites.google.com/site/kwolshomepage/lotus-...

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Saturday 28th June 2014
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LuS1fer said:
This is about the Esprit bumper but may offer clues:
http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/43581-f...

Found this 504 restoration blog (US)
https://sites.google.com/site/kwolshomepage/lotus-...
Cheers for those links, the 504 resto is interesting smile

Cracked it anyway, the bumper is held on by two 10mm bolts accessed through the headlight pod recesses, mega tight to get to, disconnected the vacuum line so the pods would raise, in the best tradition one side came off ok, the other side the whole bolt is turning, would need to remove the headlight pod on that side to get in to cut the bolt off, not getting involved in that just now so have came up with a temporary fix for the side light for now.

16VJay

235 posts

218 months

Saturday 28th June 2014
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I should have known this straight off as I have had my front bumper off for repair and a re-paint but thinking about it that was in the early nineties! Had to check the manual but I was right, there are bolts through the bodywork from in front of the headlamp pods and there is also an L-section bracket above the air intake in the bumper. The top part of the bumper sits on that and there are a few bolts vertically up into the bracket.

You should get away with just removing the headlamps from their pods to get to the bolts but it will be an awkward reach into and through the pods to get to the bolts.

Beaten by 1 minute! smile

Edited by 16VJay on Saturday 28th June 15:56

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Saturday 28th June 2014
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16VJay said:
You should get away with just removing the headlamps from their pods to get to the bolts but it will be an awkward reach into and through the pods to get to the bolts.
Cheers man, did manage to get my hand down the front of the half open pods but it was tight, mission aborted though when one bolt started turning, no way i'll be able to slip a 4.5" angle grinder in there laugh

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Sunday 29th June 2014
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As bought this car had a bad repair/cover up on the top right tailgate hinge, this can just be seen in the pic of the rear on the first page, not complaining as the seller was honest about it and pictured it up close in the E-bay add.

Removed the tailgate to find there was mostly nothing holding the O/S hinge, chipped off the smeared on P40 readymix to uncover this horror eek



Started of by sanding down and hollowing out the cracks, also drilled the ends to stop them spreading.

Then filled the cracks top and bottom with fibre matting and resin.



This is the other fairly good side, stress cracks just starting here though.



Made up this steel repair section, front part is 1mm but rear part is 2mm to take the strain of the hinge/tailgate.



Forgot to take more pics but i secured the steel section to the shell with 10mm bolts and self tappers, re-enforced the edges with fibreglass, built up the lip to take the tailgate seal.

Ground down the heads of the self tappers and bolts then trial fitted the tailgate.



Removed the tailgate and covered with primer for now.



Not ideal but it'll do for now, at least it's far better than it was, tailgate is secure and i'll be able to get the boot watertight (it was swimming with water when i got the car home) thing is the repair will be hard/impossible to make invisible so will need to re-think getting the car re-sprayed next year, unless between now and then i can find a scrap Elite shell with a good top corner i can cut out and let into this shell.



Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Saturday 5th July 2014
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Progress has been slow on this due to work, waiting on parts and other stuff getting in the way but it's slowly getting there.

Got the shafts built up thismorning, used the press in the HGV workshop at work.



Got the shafts on but annoyingly found play in the rear wheel bearings, couldn't detect this before with the play in the U/J's.

I know i've been advised to retain the standard air box (good advice too) but how sexy do these look ? cool, got a pair of deep K&N's coming too.

Still to change the frayed throttle cable.



Out in the sun for the first time (minus bonnet for now), paint looks realy smart in these pics and is at a glance but it's rough under close inspection, can live with it for now though.



Got the carbs tuned and it's running better, will need to change the cam cover gasket though (you can just see the oil smoke in the above pic as the engine is running and burning the oil off the manifold)



Hopefully MOT next Saturday cool

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Friday 15th August 2014
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Jings, sorry guys, forgot to update this smile

Got the Lotus MOT'd ok last month, failed the first time on Anti roll bar bushes, exhaust blowing at joints and some bad earths on the lights.

Fitted new Polly Anti roll bar bushes, new SS exhaust had been badly fitted so removed it, cleaned the joints, re assembled with paste and new clamps, re test and a years MOT.





Forgot to post a pic of the engine with painted cam covers and K&N filters, fitted new cam cover gaskets but annoyingly the lower one still seems to be leaking slightly.



Started using the car for work etc but had some bad luck with it, motor was running rough, put this down to the engine needing warmed up fully, carbs needing tuned etc, few weeks ago an the way to work it broke down, after a bit of messing about (replacing points/condenser, setting timing) discovered the coil is overheating so motor starts and runs from cold but dies when it heats up, wiring has been messed with so car has had this problem in the past, fitted a new ballast resistor but coil is still getting 10.2 volts when running (should be 9 volts), it's better than it was but coil is still getting warm so going to fit another ballast resistor in line (so i'll run two ballast resistors).

Loose wire from loom is 12V feed to the coil from the starter (12V during cranking) not needed this so far but will wire it in when i get it running.

Will also re-do the crimped wire ends with soldered ones once i know it's fixed.



Found these leather MX5 seats in a breakers yard, cleaned up nice smile, shouldn't look out of place, a lucky find as the original seats were too far gone to justify getting them re-built/upholstered.



Will need a bit of adapting to fit but should be straightforward.

kev b

2,708 posts

165 months

Friday 15th August 2014
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You can make the cam covers look a lot smarter if you take a large flat file and go over the lines on the top surface, revealing the bare alloy underneath, just like when they left the factory.

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Sunday 24th August 2014
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Right, nearly at the end of my tether with this car, thought i'd cracked the running issue with the coil/wiring/ballast but the car died again when i had it out thismorning (third time the car has left me stranded, once on the way to work so starting to lose faith in it).

Would appreciate any help opinions on this, maybe something simple i've overlooked.

Friday night i started the car in the garage and ran it right up till the fans cut in (90 degrees) and it seemed fine so i was confident i'd cured the breaking down issue.

So seems to be something breaking down under load when the engine is hot.

Still running points (gap is fine) and condenser, these are new as are the rotor arm and cap, tested the leads (using and Ohmeter) these are fine (they look fairly new anyway), plugs are new and read fine (not black sooty or white), ignition timing was set with a strobe and is at 10 degrees BTDC, coil is new with two ballast resistors, reading 8.6 volts at the coil with engine running.

That covers the ignition.

Fuel, new Facet silver top pump, new inline fuel filter, new Facet pressure regulator set at 3 psi, had the tops off the carbs, these are clean inside, set the float heights, tank is venting ok, when car breaks down fuel pump runs fine and filter is full etc.

Carbs are probably slightly out of balance/needing set up but that shouldn't cause the engine not to run ?

Also when it's broken down i've not checked for a spark, usually so discusted with it i leave it parked walk away and go back to it later and it starts as it's cooled down, so i suppose i should drive it till it happens then check for a spark.

There is definitely a miss there though and it flutters when held at 2K so even in the drive i know it's not right.

Mistron

103 posts

165 months

Sunday 24th August 2014
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Lovely thing to look at whilst you're at the side of the road though!

I've fancied one for years. There was a super looking yellow one at Biggar show years ago, and I think it might be to blame!

Now I live in a '70s house, I think my drive would benefit from a bit of GRP wedge. Just need to pluck up the courage (and the funds)

Hope you get it sorted. Yet another duff modern condensor?

Al

interloper

2,747 posts

254 months

Sunday 24th August 2014
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Possibly mixture a bit week? In the past I had one car which would start okay, then due to the week mix (which I didn't know about at the time) would get hot, then die, because it wasn't getting enough fuel.

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Sunday 24th August 2014
quotequote all
It is indeed a lovely thing to look at at the side of the road, years ago i had an unreliable 68 Charger, thought the same about that but the novelty soon wears off smile

Thought about the condenser but the running issue was exactly the same before i changed it and the points.

Frustrating thing is i drove it 20 miles home in June fine (though running rough), with a duff battery andf fuel pump, now it cant make it two miles rolleyes

Markgenesis

Original Poster:

536 posts

131 months

Sunday 24th August 2014
quotequote all
interloper said:
Possibly mixture a bit week? In the past I had one car which would start okay, then due to the week mix (which I didn't know about at the time) would get hot, then die, because it wasn't getting enough fuel.
Plugs are reading fine though, not white to suggest a weak mixture, have been messing with the carbs but only the air bleed screws and the ballance screw to try and improve the idle.

Have read something about the fuel delivery rate of the Facet pump not being able to keep up with twin Dellorto's but thought that would only be at higher revs not pootling about (which is mostly what i do)

Starting to wonder if a Red top competition Facet would be more suitable (the carbs are big 45's)

Edited by Markgenesis on Sunday 24th August 18:55

S2Andy

307 posts

212 months

Sunday 24th August 2014
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Sounds very much like a condenser problem Allegedly a lot of dodgy new ones around. No harm in trying a different brand for a couple of pounds.