Elan Sprint

[Toomanyloti]

As Tom mentioned the word Elan I thought I would post a few photos of mine in build.
I am waiting for the seats to be completed but otherwise its about done. My garage extension is not yet complete so I'm not pushing for completion just yet. It has cost a small fortune and its not 'standard' if that can be said about any 1970's lotus. Wheels and arches are Pre 1983 so could be argued as 'period'. I have saved as much as I could from the original car, blasting and passivate coating as many of the original nuts and bolts as i could. Components have only been replaced where i had no choice.

 

[Toomanyloti]

yes its tiny...

Heater full of soda and 50 years of sh!te

Original Dellortos restored

 

[Twin Cam]

Beautiful, I tip my hat to you

 

[TomE]

Great work, what a transformation. They are tiny aren’t they!

 

[simonb]

love the wheels, were they ever standard fitment?

 

[Aero]

The simplicity of that chassis structure backbone is a sight to see. Is it just bent up sheet metal?

 

[Logoman]

It was interesting to hear Gordon Murray talk about the pinnacle of good steering, a Lotus achievement that he'd tried to reach but had always failed, as being the 60's Elan.

 

[benjh1028]

Fantastic work! I’m so impressed with people here that have the talent AND the patience (which I guess you have to be patient if you want to own a Lotus).

 

[hml_xy]

Lotus Elans are just a miracle! I have never experienced anything that drives like it. They are (feel) surprisingly fast. But since they are often sub-700kg, so carburator powered 138bhp do carry quite a bit of punch for such a small car. Which feels incredibly fast sitting so low on the ground in such a tiny car.

Restoring them is a lot of work and yours looks really nice @Toomanyloti - how well does the right door fit on yours? 😅

I cannot wait to get my Sprint/5 out once the weather gets a bit better.

 

[Pugwash]

Nice. The photo of the chassis before took me back to when I first got mine. The rear uprights were so bad the seatbelt mount literally pulled off the top with a good yank! Did you replace the chassis or salvage it? Looks like you have opted to keep the rear donuts. I finally gave in last year and went CV when they needed replacing and the cost of a new set of donuts was approaching the price of the CV set.
I have had mine now 26 years and it’s still such a brilliant thing to drive. You must be really looking forward to getting it back.
Felt the need to add a few photos.

 

[hml_xy]

@Pugwash did you notice a difference in the ride after replacing the donuts?

I was tempted to also do the swap but heard that sometimes the additional vibration can harm the chassis mountpoint.

 

[Pugwash]

As well as CVs I changed the springs and added Spax adjustable shocks (the ones with the droop limits) and am still playing with the settings on those. I wouldn’t say it’s lost any of the lotusness in the handling. I had read that the drive could be slightly harsher as you don’t have the wind up of the donuts dampening things down a bit but I can’t say I noticed that either. Not heard about vibration harming anything and can’t say I have felt anything like that. I have heard that there can be issues with the diff as it’s the next weak link from a torque point of view once the donuts are gone but I think it’s rare and don’t plan too many 0-60 launches! Mine is an S4 and I am running 420 cams, it dynos at 142bhp. I have fitted the rear cross brace that the Sprint gets to help the chassis deal with it.

 

[Tokion]

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yes its tiny...

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Heater full of soda and 50 years of sh!te

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Original Dellortos restored
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BEAUTIFUL❤️

 

[centerpunch]

Very cool cars. I had a yellow '72 Sprint years ago, great car and great autocross car. The first owner was a US serviceman who bought the car when he was stationed in the UK. I bought it from him via an Autoweek ad in 1979. I rebuilt the engine, but after discovering the machine shop I used had messed it up, I sent the engine to Dave Bean, where their engine guy (I think his name was Chris) hopped it up to 137HP @7500 RPM. I sold it in 1985.

In the fall of 2021, two friends discovered it at the nearby Dayton (Ohio) concours. It looks different (red now), but the guy had a list of previous owners, and turns out I'm the only one who's still alive!

Anyway, I contacted him, he's a great guy- restored it himself- and drove up to see him and the car. Very cool to see it again.
.

 

[centerpunch]

And for folks who need a size reference to understand what size these cars are....
.
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[Toomanyloti]

Great work, what a transformation. They are tiny aren’t they!

absolutely tidgy. I'll park it next to the Porker when it comes home and send a photo

and as one can see from Centrepunche's yellow peril we are used to a bit of body roll, suspension travel and the 145 x 13" tyres rolling almost off the rim!

 

[Toomanyloti]

Nice. The photo of the chassis before took me back to when I first got mine. The rear uprights were so bad the seatbelt mount literally pulled off the top with a good yank! Did you replace the chassis or salvage it? Looks like you have opted to keep the rear donuts. I finally gave in last year and went CV when they needed replacing and the cost of a new set of donuts was approaching the price of the CV set.

I think I have had mine just over 28 years. Early inheritance when i was 25....
Took my new 19 yr old GF out in it on a first date 28 years ago...shes now my wife...still..just about 🤡
We salvaged the chassis and it was pretty good to be fair. It had so much waxoyl coated everywhere i scraped it off and made a ball the size of a grapefruit! I had it chemically dipped, a few repairs done then it was powder coated. Hopefully it will be ok its certainly better than it was a should outlive me by 'a long time'.
Yes the donuts are silly money for what they are. I replaced them a while back and am reusing for now. A previous owner was an engineer and he did all sorts to it. He even made some straps from old seatbelt webbing to stop the rear wishbones fully drooping and risking a CV joint lock up, inevitable failure and maybe both half shafts flailing all over the place..
It came with two sets of 'period' `cv joints. When I got it the setup was a cv joint on the outboard end (i think) and a donut inboard. The crucifx snapped , luckily when reversing, and my local guy suggest taking back to donuts. Its an aquired taste and technique setting off with donuts. Very easy to look like its the first time you ever drove a car and was the worst attempt ever! (or a TIT in my language).
If I save up enough and live long enough I think it would be an awesome project to build a 26R 'sort of thing' out of all new parts with no worry about offending purists. That would be an incredible machine.
Mine has all sorts of bits on it which would give me a huge fail in a concourse comp.
I remember me and my dad setting off in his MGBGT to a small dingy machine shop, I think in Derbyshire, to pick up that AKS front plate. The idea being that the twin cam ate water pump bearings so this was a cassette design where one could remove the pump without taking the engine 'to bits'. I think the AKS plate was also renown for helping the engine to leak even more oil than normal.

 

[Toomanyloti]

The simplicity of that chassis structure backbone is a sight to see. Is it just bent up sheet metal?

yes!

 

[centerpunch]

and as one can see from Centrepunch's yellow peril we are used to a bit of body roll, suspension travel and the 145 x 13" tyres rolling almost off the rim!

.
Actually, I was running on 5.5" widened wheels and slicks in that photo!

Hence the Joie Chitwood attitude!

 

[Toomanyloti]

love the wheels, were they ever standard fitment?

No but they are period knock on Revolutions. Fook knows what I would do if I bent one.
It has some custom made spacers to help fill the arches. It was over tyred when I first got it and I will have to do some research for some replacements before its back on the road. Those firestones are antiques 🤦‍♂️