The Elan M100 "Doer Upper"
Discussion
Originally posted in the Lotus section, but this is probably a better place for it.
In a fit of madness I recently purchsed a pretty well know Elan M100, basically blind, known by the previous owner as "Missy", she's running 240bhp at the moment & some monter brskes, hence the 90's tastic 17" rims
She is by no means a garage queen, quite the opposite in fact, she a bit rough around the edges, the paint really needs some love, the interior could be called "well worn", various bits of trim are damaged, not fitted properly or missing.
There's a reasonable list of issues to sort.
Fix sticky rear left caliper (probably do a full rebuild on both)
Sort out the occasional overboost - needs wastegate porting a bit more be as a result of a 2.5" exhaust
Check ignition system to find out why it won't switch off with key (probably a sticky relay)
Sort the slight battery drian, idicated by the battery light on the dash staying on, probably the alternator voltage regulator
Fix the erroneous readings from the fuel gauge
Fixi RH headlight no illuminating
Fix the intermittent speedometer
Sort the hood seals - they are shot
Strip, lube & reassemble the side window mechanism as they are slow.
Restore & refit door cards
Re-upholster seats
Source a glove box
Source some front arch liners
Fix/replace stereo
Sort orange peely paint
So I made a positive start this weekend.
Car not switching off would appear to be a sticky relay, as if you take it out & give it a sharp tap the problem goes away for a while, £2.52 for a new relay, nice cheap, easy fix.
The headlight not working was loose connection.
Door cards, wow, they were grotty, the inlays were broken, some of the skrivet holes had been damaged.
I set to work with G101 & tardis to clean the cards & remove dirt, adhesive etc, along with repairing the oversized scrivet holes with thins stainless washers & some DP460, the repaired areas are covered with carpet when finished.
The seats are being replaced with Mercedes SLK items, a well known replacement seat that fits, to hell with the originality, this car is way past that, picked these up for £60, arrived today. Besides the height adjustment will be essential of SWMBO, all 4'11" of her is to drive it.
That's it for now...
In a fit of madness I recently purchsed a pretty well know Elan M100, basically blind, known by the previous owner as "Missy", she's running 240bhp at the moment & some monter brskes, hence the 90's tastic 17" rims
She is by no means a garage queen, quite the opposite in fact, she a bit rough around the edges, the paint really needs some love, the interior could be called "well worn", various bits of trim are damaged, not fitted properly or missing.
There's a reasonable list of issues to sort.
Fix sticky rear left caliper (probably do a full rebuild on both)
Sort out the occasional overboost - needs wastegate porting a bit more be as a result of a 2.5" exhaust
Check ignition system to find out why it won't switch off with key (probably a sticky relay)
Sort the slight battery drian, idicated by the battery light on the dash staying on, probably the alternator voltage regulator
Fix the erroneous readings from the fuel gauge
Fixi RH headlight no illuminating
Fix the intermittent speedometer
Sort the hood seals - they are shot
Strip, lube & reassemble the side window mechanism as they are slow.
Restore & refit door cards
Re-upholster seats
Source a glove box
Source some front arch liners
Fix/replace stereo
Sort orange peely paint
So I made a positive start this weekend.
Car not switching off would appear to be a sticky relay, as if you take it out & give it a sharp tap the problem goes away for a while, £2.52 for a new relay, nice cheap, easy fix.
The headlight not working was loose connection.
Door cards, wow, they were grotty, the inlays were broken, some of the skrivet holes had been damaged.
I set to work with G101 & tardis to clean the cards & remove dirt, adhesive etc, along with repairing the oversized scrivet holes with thins stainless washers & some DP460, the repaired areas are covered with carpet when finished.
The seats are being replaced with Mercedes SLK items, a well known replacement seat that fits, to hell with the originality, this car is way past that, picked these up for £60, arrived today. Besides the height adjustment will be essential of SWMBO, all 4'11" of her is to drive it.
That's it for now...
Only a tiny bit of progress this week, youngest daughter is doing textiles at GCSE, and she's pretty handy at it so she's going to make new door card insert upholstery. Going with the same style as OEM, but in black & orange (where the old Red stripe is).
Knackered one unstitched for use as a template.
Need to reinforce the plastic door liners though now they are bonded back into a single piece.
The bond area is too small to be structural.
I'll be using a little woven 175g 25mm wide GRP tape wrapped around the edges to tie the sections back together wetted with Epoxy resin.
Knackered one unstitched for use as a template.
Need to reinforce the plastic door liners though now they are bonded back into a single piece.
The bond area is too small to be structural.
I'll be using a little woven 175g 25mm wide GRP tape wrapped around the edges to tie the sections back together wetted with Epoxy resin.
HustleRussell said:
Congrats OP, M100s deserve love
What is the parts supply situation on these? I know that major assemblies in classic Lotus style are repurposed from bigger manufacturers but I am imagining that Lotus-specific bits are a world of pain- am I wrong?
Pretty accurate there. Can be tricky, mostly as they didn't sell in huge numbers, so used & NOS parts are quite scarce. Thee may be much "make do & mend" needed.What is the parts supply situation on these? I know that major assemblies in classic Lotus style are repurposed from bigger manufacturers but I am imagining that Lotus-specific bits are a world of pain- am I wrong?
The reason the original door card inserts get broken is that they have hidden fir tree fasteners, they can be tricky to get behind & pull off with damaging the plastic inner (as seen above). Door card removal is impossible with taking these inserts out.
So with one eye on serviceability I have decided that the door card inserts will be held on with M4 CSK Back screws & black, large diameter CSK fairing washers. Then to accept the M4 screws I've bonded in some M4 rivnuts, the knurl on the outside gives the DP460 adhesive something to grab hold of.
So with one eye on serviceability I have decided that the door card inserts will be held on with M4 CSK Back screws & black, large diameter CSK fairing washers. Then to accept the M4 screws I've bonded in some M4 rivnuts, the knurl on the outside gives the DP460 adhesive something to grab hold of.
CallMeLegend said:
I need to find a tool to "dimple" some small stainless washers to bond into some damaged areas where CSK screws would normally fit in the door card but have pulled through.
Made one, had a brainwave & had to test if it would work without delay!!!Had some old upholstery eyelets in the garage which have a raised head.
If only I could find a way of inverting the head form by drawing it into something soft....like the back of a large Nylok by wedging a smaller nut into the front face & pulling against the soft Nylon with a CSK bolt
Changed the head form perfectly.
6 perfectly formed repair sleeves
That when bonded into this mess
Should transform it. The insert will be pulled up tight when boneded in.
Turns out the relay was not at fault, this was a bizzare coincidence.
I tried applying inwards pressure to the ignition key when switching off (pressing firmly on end of ket when turning) worked every time. Stop applying pressure, wouldn't switch off.
Took ignition switch off steering column & noticed the hole for the key was a little worn. Used a screwdriverin the hole at this point an again switchedon & off on demand.
New switch ordered from SJ Sportscars.
Now to find the reason the battery light stays on at all time. No voltage registering on dash guage so small drain, hopefully alternator regulator.
I tried applying inwards pressure to the ignition key when switching off (pressing firmly on end of ket when turning) worked every time. Stop applying pressure, wouldn't switch off.
Took ignition switch off steering column & noticed the hole for the key was a little worn. Used a screwdriverin the hole at this point an again switchedon & off on demand.
New switch ordered from SJ Sportscars.
Now to find the reason the battery light stays on at all time. No voltage registering on dash guage so small drain, hopefully alternator regulator.
I little bit of glass fiber taper reinforcement around the edge of the door cards the strengthen the repaired areas.
3mm scrim foam bonded on ready the attempt some upholstery.
Found the cause of the ignition not switching off. it was a dodgy ignition switch, think the female keyway is knackered.
When fitted to the car it's intermittent at best, when taken off the column & key really push in it works reliably.
3mm scrim foam bonded on ready the attempt some upholstery.
Found the cause of the ignition not switching off. it was a dodgy ignition switch, think the female keyway is knackered.
When fitted to the car it's intermittent at best, when taken off the column & key really push in it works reliably.
Carried out some final repairs to the door cards yesterday afternoon, these were in a bit of a pickle, this was one on the most rewarding jobs on the door cards so far.
One side was broken, but the part that was broken off was still there, so I cleaned it up for bonding & attached it using DP460, a bot of post bond cleanup, maybe mix some paint the same colour to touch in & I'l be happy with it as it's mostly hidden by the escutcheon.
The other side however was a different story, the tin section was missing. So I decided I had to make one.
I took a mould from the repaired side using milliput.
Then sound an old vac-formed Makita power tool box liner & cut out a flat section. Using a small hot air gun & heated the plastic, pushing it into the mould best I could, the resultant section was trimmed & bonded into place.
Finally I cleaned off some of the original material & boneded i an overlapped doubler. Cleaning off the original material ment ounce the doubler was on the section in this area would be the same thickness as the original part.
Needs a few hours in the oven (conservatory) to cure fully then it'll be cleaned up & painted the same colour, but again, it's mostly hidden by the lock pin escutcheon.
One side was broken, but the part that was broken off was still there, so I cleaned it up for bonding & attached it using DP460, a bot of post bond cleanup, maybe mix some paint the same colour to touch in & I'l be happy with it as it's mostly hidden by the escutcheon.
The other side however was a different story, the tin section was missing. So I decided I had to make one.
I took a mould from the repaired side using milliput.
Then sound an old vac-formed Makita power tool box liner & cut out a flat section. Using a small hot air gun & heated the plastic, pushing it into the mould best I could, the resultant section was trimmed & bonded into place.
Finally I cleaned off some of the original material & boneded i an overlapped doubler. Cleaning off the original material ment ounce the doubler was on the section in this area would be the same thickness as the original part.
Needs a few hours in the oven (conservatory) to cure fully then it'll be cleaned up & painted the same colour, but again, it's mostly hidden by the lock pin escutcheon.
Thanks to Par on LEC I managed to get my hands on an original Elan switch, albeit with the incorrect connector on the end of the flying lead. Quite simple to cut the old connector form the original switch & solder to the new flying lead, also gave me the option to increase the lead length slightly.
The Red lead is the immobiliser "starter disable" circuit (I didn't have Black/Red, amateurish I'm afraid, but needs must. The loop in the connector is a simple jump lead to test the cable.
The Red lead is the immobiliser "starter disable" circuit (I didn't have Black/Red, amateurish I'm afraid, but needs must. The loop in the connector is a simple jump lead to test the cable.
As the car is kept 65 miles away at the moment, during the week I have to concentrate on the jobs I can take home with me.
The gear knob & gaiter are not to my liking in the car.
The knob is worn out.
The gaiter looks generally tired.
The a new knob & gaiter are required, but first the original wire retainer had to be removed from the gaiter, this was a piece of steel that had never been painted, so was rusty. Time to give it a Deox C bath in the best Pirex bowl (women love it when you use kitchen equipment for cat stuff, try it).
Followed by a good wash, dry, etch prime & some Black paint to protect it.
A new gaiter has been source, to match the subtle paint colour.
Had to get a new gear knob too, found a really scruffy Elise item that I set to with varying grades of wet & dry, followed by Dodo Juice Supernatural metal polish I had lying around. Needs a final polish to remove the last of the sanding marks.
The gear knob & gaiter are not to my liking in the car.
The knob is worn out.
The gaiter looks generally tired.
The a new knob & gaiter are required, but first the original wire retainer had to be removed from the gaiter, this was a piece of steel that had never been painted, so was rusty. Time to give it a Deox C bath in the best Pirex bowl (women love it when you use kitchen equipment for cat stuff, try it).
Followed by a good wash, dry, etch prime & some Black paint to protect it.
A new gaiter has been source, to match the subtle paint colour.
Had to get a new gear knob too, found a really scruffy Elise item that I set to with varying grades of wet & dry, followed by Dodo Juice Supernatural metal polish I had lying around. Needs a final polish to remove the last of the sanding marks.
Edited by CallMeLegend on Thursday 2nd July 10:58
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