1976 Elite restoration.

[directordanw]

Don’t know if this helps, and it’s an S2, but mine was over the column then under and in front of the heater. 

[Tony D]

Tony

Back to your trim photos, I think both your middle and bottom picture are cill trims. Lotus changed the section. Earliest cars had a simple, symmetrical curve to the front, later cars were slightly wider and had a flat. The 3rd picture looks very much like the cill trim from later car and the middle the ones off earlier car. 

I wonder if the top picture is some internal trim. 

Ref wire routing, my dash is out currently and I could post photo if you still need guidance. 

Tony 

 

[Doris the dog]

I think you are probably right about two different models. The wrecked car that was part of the deal, I think was a later model.  I have no way to confirm it , just means I have to ask more questions.  
A photo would be good please , as I’m bound to see something else.  
After a battle with the distributor over the weekend, mistakenly thinking I had a rotor arm problem, which I didn’t, I couldn’t do the clip up under dizzy, so had to take air box off. Noticed oil on the block so think O ring on dizzy is gone , after badly installed by previous owner. 
Thanks Tony

[Tony D]

Tony

Many of the trim parts, doors,  etc will have a number written on the inside. Likely to be 4 digits. It is the last few digits of the chassis number. If you can find one on any of you donor car parts, it will give you an idea of its age. Yours being a P plate car would most likely have had the cill trim in your 3rd photo. If the other cill trim you have is rounded, you donor car could well be older than main car. 

I'll photo the dash area tomorrow and post here. 

Tony 

 

 

[williamtherebel]

On 26/04/2020 at 13:01, Doris the dog said:

As the village is so quiet today, rather than bash and crash about , I’ve started to look what trim I’ve got.  
Some pieces I can easily recognise, others I haven’t a clue your help again is required.  
Some I have double of from old wrecked elite. 
Some have been painted black. 
I don’t think I’ve top of screen trim

 Hi Tony, Ive had a look through what trim Ive got and this is it. (see photo). I have a passenger side top that you need. let mw know if you need anything else. Regards. lez

[Tony D]

14 hours ago, Doris the dog said:

A photo would be good please , as I’m bound to see something else.  

A couple of photo's of a MY 74 dash area

Hoping they help. 

 

[Doris the dog]

As the weather took a turn for the worse, not to much work on the car. Just cleaned and painted the spare wheel carrier. 
Had the engine running for a few times now, I think I shot my self in the foot, it suddenly stopped the other day and wouldn’t start.  So foolishly I decided to look at the points, big mistake.  When I couldn’t do up bottom clip on distributor cap , as airbox fitted.  
So had to remove it just to do clip. Then noticed oil on block , same as when dizzy wasn’t fully home, but it was fully home. Oil was getting past O ring.  
With all the effort to to try and check points etc. an the oil leak , decided to order new electronic ignition distributor and coil. Which should save roadside breakdowns in future.  Have one on my classic mini and they work very well.  

[Doris the dog]

On 27/04/2020 at 20:36, williamtherebel said:

 Hi Tony, Ive had a look through what trim Ive got and this is it. (see photo). I have a passenger side top that you need. let mw know if you need anything else. Regards. lez

Hi L

[Doris the dog]

One step forward , two steps back. 
The forward part , engine running , then I tried to improve it by putting in electronic ignition. So as I had a slight oil leak passed the ‘“ O “ ring on dizzy shaft , I decided to buy new electronic ignition distributor and coil.  
The company I ordered it from cocked up and failed to put dizzy in the package, so only coil arrived , phoned and sorted. Dizzy arrived two days later.  Fitted it today , lined up the off set dog and in it went. 
As it came with new cap , all I had to do remove leads from old cap and push into new cap.  Well two transferred easily, the others were corroded and a bit of a struggle to get out. Eventually moved them over. 
All ready to fit up , battery didn’t have much life but give it ago.  Needed to rotate dizzy for timing, noticed the advance unit was not in same place on the dizzy casting, although supposed to be same as my old one 25D. So now have no idea the rough position for it to fire up. 
A job for tomorrow.  
Anyone now the correct battery that goes on the Elite ?   
 

[EXCEL V8]

1 hour ago, Doris the dog said:

Anyone now the correct battery that goes on the Elite ?   
 

I just bought a Duracell DA45 - it's a 048 size.

Pete

[Tony D]

Very timely post. Was thinking earlier this week a suitable battery could be next on my shopping list. 

Getting difficult to check out local electrical circuit function and I don't want to leave all the electrical testing until later.

Thanks

Tony

[EXCEL V8]

That's why I've bought one - to test the MX-5 motors etc..

Pete

[Doris the dog]

Ok car electrics and me are like chalk and cheese.  
Fitted new electronic ignition distributor.  Now I cannot get engine to fire. I know some cars have a ballest system and I know like my classic mini you have to have minimum 9 volts for it to fire up.  
What I don’t know is how to wire the coil so it’s getting the right voltage.  
would the photo below be something to do with ballest resistor.  As I’ve no idea what it is and cannot trace on wiring diagram. 
Thanks again 

 

[Clive59]

The ballast resistor is usually a pink wire, nichrome or similar, single strand and thick, and is connected between the ignition switch and the coil. When cranking, the ignition switch turns on starter solenoid, and bypasses the pink wire also. You will see the ballast on wiring diagram as a resistor between ignition switch and coil. The electronic ignition should work happily on ballasted supply anyway, so not critical that it gets 12V. Timing is critical when new ignition put in, A few degrees makes big difference.

 

[rjwooll]

21 hours ago, Doris the dog said:

One step forward , two steps back. 
The forward part , engine running , then I tried to improve it by putting in electronic ignition. So as I had a slight oil leak passed the ‘“ O “ ring on dizzy shaft , I decided to buy new electronic ignition distributor and coil.  
The company I ordered it from cocked up and failed to put dizzy in the package, so only coil arrived , phoned and sorted. Dizzy arrived two days later.  Fitted it today , lined up the off set dog and in it went. 
As it came with new cap , all I had to do remove leads from old cap and push into new cap.  Well two transferred easily, the others were corroded and a bit of a struggle to get out. Eventually moved them over. 
All ready to fit up , battery didn’t have much life but give it ago.  Needed to rotate dizzy for timing, noticed the advance unit was not in same place on the dizzy casting, although supposed to be same as my old one 25D. So now have no idea the rough position for it to fire up. 
A job for tomorrow.  
Anyone now the correct battery that goes on the Elite ?   
 

Tony, you may find the new dizzy isn't quite accurate in terms of centrifugal advance. I believe that, on distributors of the same series (e.g. 25D,) the springs dictate the advance curve. These generic dizzys have a good enough 'average' curve, but you may wish to fit the springs from your old dizzy to get the correct Lotus timing.

Cheers, Richard

[Doris the dog]

After much changing of dizzy position and cables to coil etc. Still nothing.  So removed fuel hose to carbs, and no fuel 😔 so back to pump , I could getting working ( ticking) , turn key , no different.  Take carb hose off , go to pump give it a tap  , ticking , back to engine, fuel pumping out all over engine.   Hose back on carb, try again, nothing.  
Decided to take pump apart, may have rubbish in it as car has been standing for many years, although pump looks new. Stripped out , no sediment at all. 
Only thing that’s not good is the O ring has a bigger diameter than the groove machined in pump body. 

[Angus553]

Had a problem myself with starting the car. It was sparking on 0 or 2 plugs and when started it ran really rough. Eventually after replacing everything except the dizzy i went back to fitting the rotor arm again again etc  until it just seemed to sit right and it started and ran well since.(had 3 different rotor arms.) 45D Dizzy with accuspark electronic ignition. Used carb tune and carb balancer to get it running nicely. Iam guessing you have fitted the extra wires correctly? 

[Doris the dog]

Not sure I’ve done anything correctly over last few days, it was running very well before I thought I would improve it as dizzy O ring was leaking oil on the block.  So decided to purchase new electronic ignition distributor, all went pear shaped 😂

[TAR]

The o-ring may have expanded after contact with petrol. If you put it in the freezer for a few hours, it'll shrink back to original size. 🙂

[Doris the dog]

Thanks Tar , that sounds good , if I wasn’t such a Pratt , ordered new one , coming Wednesday. £5:86 for 50. ☺️ Anyone need one I will have a few spares. 
Note to not to rush , chill and wait for reply’s from forum members. 

[steve clack]

I don't know whether you have tried swapping over the leads on the new dizzy, the new one might be 180' out. These genetic dizzys sometimes are designed for multi use. I think the new one you bought is the same for a mini mk1.

[Doris the dog]

Steve , when the the new one arrived out of the box I noticed that vacuum advance unit was above the clip that holds the dizzy cap on. The original is below clip.  It’s as if it opposite hand.  
Do you suggest swapping positive and negative around ?

[steve clack]

No, I'm suggesting swapping the ht leads around to see if the dizzy is firing in the wrong order....I've had this problem with this electronic dizzy I fitted on my 1962 mini mk1. Swapped the leads around and all was good.

[Doris the dog]

Right , with you.  Once I get pump back up and running will give that a go.  Thanks. 
Do you still have the mini? I run a 86 mini as daily car.  Have electronic ignition in dizzy, but removed points etc, and installed kit  
 

 

[steve clack]

If you get stuck tomorrow give me a call and we can talk it through. 01980 863801