What made you happy today?

[pete]

Just become grandad for third time

[Bibs]

Congratulations Pete

[Dave Eds]

Congratulations mate. 

Pass that on to the family too please!

[Mark Blanchard]

Big congrats

 

[calvan]

Congrats on that, albeit a somewhat delayed response

[PaulCP]

On 18/10/2017 at 11:27, C8RKH said:

 

What made me happy was confirming the Supercharger upgrade on my VX220 this morning:

Dutch ECU and mapping software

Supercharger Stage 2

Pro-alloy larger fuel tank

Spitfire fuel pump

Braided brake hoses

New pro alloy radiator and charge cooler

Should be like a new car when she comes back with over 300bhp per ton!

I even get to help with the spannering which I am looking forward to. Last time I lifted the front bonnet I thought the engine had been stolen. Realised some bar steward had put it in the boot to fool me!  Bloody practical jokers...... 

 

Same spec as the one I sold 2 years ago, save for the Dutch ECU, after owning it for 14 years. Dyno'd at 262bhp & was definitely in the sweet spot between reliability and drivability. Makes a good track car

Dont forget the suspension, geo and brakes, the latter resolved purely by changing pads, no fancy big brakes required.

[C8RKH]

Thanks @PaulCP.

Brake pads and geo done and got the spitfire tie rods on too.

I'd be happy with 230/240 bhp to be honest. Can't wait. Deposit on the upgrade paid. 

[johnpwalsh]

What made me happy today.

Lets see, was it the informal chat about an old Lotus sitting outside a shed on deepest Norfolk for 15+ years. Was it the second conversation which was, there are two cars, or was it the third saying there were three.

 Was it the invite to come and view them and give an appraisal. Was it the last 24 hours when we drove to deepest darkest Nurfalk to view said three cars. One an early Elan been with the same owner for 40 plus years, the other two almost identical Elites, one 501, purchased about 87 and put into storage in 02 when the 501 was purchassed. The 503 which had been meticulously maintained, although unused until the current owner became to ill to further care for them.

The 503 appears to have had an engine rebuild and is almost ready to run. The 501 was the family pride and joy and was in regular use until the 503 came on the scene. Both cars originally registered within a couple of months of each other in 1978 and both Black. The 501 which is near immaculate has been sitting in a purpose built garage under a soft cover for all this time and still looks very, very fresh with no micro blisters or cracks evident.

The 503 which had originally been metallic Blue, but resprayed many years ago in Black, again doesn't look half bad although the paintwork has never been buffed up since it was sprayed.

The third car, a 72 Elan is a little gem and all original, although with an unusual set of alloy wheels which look a bit like Woolfrace but are spin on fittings. This one had been parked outside for 15 years so I feared the worst, but the owner had been dowsing all three cars regularly with waxoil on a regular basis and this is clearly evident as all three chassis are like new. I feared the worst with the Elan, but after a few checks, a duff battery was attached aided by my power pack and low and behold, she turned over and with good compression on all for of her cylinders with her big valve head. I then left her at that as a plan is being formulated by the family for her restoration and to be kept in the family.

The 503, well fuel pump was not working and the story was that the PO had managed to get her running for a few minutes some years ago after the engine rebuild. so pump removed, points cleaned up and tested. Well I guess we found the fault why it had only run for a very short while, yep, no petrol. A gallon of fresh was then added, fuel lines blown through and cleared, plugs were checked for spark, nice and Blue, banjo bolt slackened off from the carbs to allow for air to purge, mouth on petrol pipe to suck through to the pump (euch) and pipes all reconnected, here we go. Two minutes later and we have fuel at the carbs with an occasional spit. Bugger, bloody power pack has gone dead on me. Not surprised after using it on all three cars. Sadly, time was running short and as we had to be back in the good old North of Aberbeenshire for that night, we had to leave things at that stage.

Hate that bloody A1M. Anyway, the story will continue with a further foray into darkest Narfolk and the cars will be saved by yours truly, OK well by LotusRescue. The Elan will stay with the family and be restored, the two Elites will be made available only to true Lotus enthusiasts (one already spoken for) who will promise to bring them back to life and that will be a very simple task. I have seen far far worse.

PS, other than the abysmal narrow roads, one has say Narfok in daylight it looked like a real nice piece of countryside. But we didn't enjoy the 15 hour drive back to gods country getting home early hours of the morning.. Bloody A1M.

 

[ramjet]

I start a new job as a maintenance planner again on Wednesday. My tiling business is going ok, but the getting up and down is hell on my left leg.

I have a 1 hour commute one way to get there, but beggars can't be choosers.  

[Clive59]

Took the Elite for a run to Summer Bay(aka Palm Beach north of Sydney). First good outing for ages and perfect weather. Then down to Church Point, McCarrs Creek(great drive through Kuringai National Park, 3rd gear and twisty) and back to base at Collaroy. Been wanting to do that for ages. Next time with my son and we can press the loud pedal harder! My wife isn't totally comfortable traveling in it...yet. Have to work on that one, but at least she came for a drive.

[DDubya]

Memories Clive. I lived in St Ives then Collaroy Plateau, so a regular blat for me in my Caterham. 

[Clive59]

Just now, DDubya said:

so a regular blat for me in my Caterham. 

Oh now that would be a blast! Love the thought of that!!

[DDubya]

Curly ?. Where in Collaroy are you?

Danny

[johnpwalsh]

Great to see a pic of her at last Clive.

 

Nice surprise last night. Knock on the door and a total strangers said. Do you still do old Lotus car's, yes say's I. Oh well you can maybe use this then and hands me an original maintenance manual for an Elite/Eclat. Turns out her hubby is into classic tractors and he had picked it up at a car boot sale.

[Clive59]

2 hours ago, johnpwalsh said:

Nice surprise last night. Knock on the door

ooohhh nice. Great when things like that happen. If you want to sell it let me know.

And yes, finally on the road.

[Dunc]

6 hours ago, Clive59 said:

Took the Elite for a run to Summer Bay.

"You know they belong together....."

Every time I travel up the road from Gosford to the Pacific Motorway I'm thinking "my lotus would be ace down here!"

Car looks great Clive. I bet it gathered loads of admiring glances.

 

[Composite guru]

Got my garage sorted out finally after 2 years of it being a dumping ground.

Also made a feature out of the new units. 

Happy man now I have a usable man cave. 

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by Composite guru

[molemot]

Looks magnificent. My cave is bigger than that....and one can scarcely see the floor......(!)

[Mark Blanchard]

Now you need to make it a working garage and add some character, screw drivers and oily rags etc.

[swindon_alan]

Disgraceful. It needs a serious soiling with manly fluids. Erm, I mean...

[Mark Blanchard]

Manly fluids Alan?  Do that in your own garage!

[Composite guru]

44 minutes ago, Mark Blanchard said:

Now you need to make it a working garage and add some character, screw drivers and oily rags etc.

Oh I'm sure that worktopwill look quite battered in the following months. 

6 hours ago, molemot said:

Looks magnificent. My cave is bigger than that....and one can scarcely see the floor......(!)

This is the whole garage. It's a nice size for working in an Elise. 

 

[PascalM]

I purchased Automodello’s great Lotus 49 model and can now enjoy a great era of Lotus (next to the 49 are Jim Clark’s 25 and 33 - 1/18 models from Spark).

 

[johnpwalsh]

Well, about 18 months ago LotusResscue ws told of what was supposed to be a Red S3 Turbo parked up behind a garage and had been here for some time but the informant could not remember exactly where he had seen it, only the general direction from our home. fast forward 18 months and another friend who had just spent a week in Aviemore calls me up and tells me, I have just spotted what looks like an S3 Turb behind a garage on the A+++ and it looks like it s been there for some time.

So after having a good search on Google maps and finding the garage in question, this morning Mrs W and I done our Sherlock Holmes outfits and head off early morning. So one and a half hours later we find said building and said car. Well bless my cotton socks, it's not an S3 or an S4 but a bloody V8 at that. Nice lady comes out of house to see what I am nosing about at and I explain who I am and hand her a business card (all very professional you know) to give a bit of authenticity to who I am and what I am telling her. The story behind the car is the owner had sadly passed away and the car left to the brother. The brother lived in the city and had no storage for the car so came to an arrangement with said proprietor of storage unit to keep he car on site. The cr has developed an electrical problem, (at this time the fault is unknown) and required one or two other faults reparing. I have since looked up the history for the car and on her last MOT it said failure on O/S Headlight, Exhaust leak, Failure on O/S Rear tail light, Front uper Upper Suspension arm excessive play. The MOT prior to that she had  both front callipers replaced with new Brembo units, discs and pads fitted along with 2 new front tires.

The lady recon's that's what was being spoken about as the electrical fault. So my details have been passed to the owner, now  case of wait and see.

I have promised anonymity for now for obvious reasons, hence the registration numbers have been obscured.

Paint and interior are in good condition with no blistering or star cracks and I could see no signs of previous damage and having cover just over 56,000 miles, she comes with full history, original handbooks etc as would be expected from a one owner car.

Any interest if it becomes available at a sensible price based on her current condition.

 

Twenty minutes with a pressure washer will clean off 99% of the dirt.

 

[Dan E]

Good find John with that front number plate Barry will buy it save him a job of putting it on crooked