Welcome

Here's a small webpage to introduce my 1973 Lotus 50; commonly known as Lotus Elan Plus2. Being a late type, she benefits from the big valve engine and has the post fix 130S. So her complete name is Lotus Elan Plus2 130S.

If you want to know more about Lotus Elan's I strongly enourage you to visit www.lotuselan.net  

General

She's registered in Switzerland as a "veteran" car since Sept 2021 and she has papers from the FIVA i.e. "Fédération Internatinale des Véhicules Anciens. I purchased the car in 2011, and it's been in storage and unregistered until 2017. Since then it has been driven more or less 2000km in total. Engine starts immediately, produces good pressure, revs happily and quickly, and produces no smoke. Driving is very thight and precise. With such a rev-happy engine, double clutching while toe-and-heeling is a dream!

Chassis, body and interior

• original Lotus chassis
• fully dimmensionally checked with FARO digital measuring arm
• race-style reinforced as per along the lines of those produced by Advanced Vehicle Operations
• spray painted gloss black with special 2K chassis paint
• new seals and gaskets on the differential.
• galvanized sills
• cracked windshield replaced 2012 with a brand new one with new chrome/plastic surround.
• original paint was lagoon blue and originally with gold metal flakes roof. On the roof the original transparent lacquer had half peeled off and half yellowed and the large metal flakes were going. In 2012 the roof has been sanded back to the gelcoat and sprayed with a more modern metallic silver. In the summer of 2023 I spent 80+ hours sanding the body back to gelcoat. Then the body went to the body shop for some craze repairs and then filling, surfacing and eventually in January 2024 it got a new, gorgeous coat of Lagoon blue.
• fix the clogged circuit to the interior radiator.

I'm very happy with the body. I have not yet found a trace of accident repair.

Suspension and driveline

• TTR u-jointed drive shafts. Drive shafts brushed and painted and new u-joints 2012.
• new wheel bearings in the rear uprights 2011.
• new rear wishbones 2012.
• Spax adjustable read shocks
• Supposedly 3.55:1 ratio differential fitted. However, I counted 40 and 11 teeth on crownwheel and pinion which gives a ratio of 3.64. Maybe I counted the 1st tooth twice. 39 on the crownwheel would give 3.55
• Koni front shocks and springs.
• sand blasted and powder coated the front suspension and anti-roll bar. 2017
• replaced the L/h front vertical link. 2017
• replaced all front suspension nuts and bolts with new anti-rust treated one (Zinc-Aluminum Coated where I could find them). 2017
• replaced all suspension and anti roll bar bushings with polyurethane ones. 2017
• new front suspension ball joints. 2017

Engine work done previously

• radiator recored (May 2005)
• rebuilt engine with a new water pump etc., overhauled the fan (what was rebuilt on this engine, I do not know)
• the starter motor changed for a modern lightweight type.
• new ALLOY tank, new fuel lines to engine bay including faucet in boot.
• new stainless exhaust system from Paul Matty
• rebuilt the oil-pump. Removing the pump required disconnecting the steering column at the steering rack, which in turn required separating the 2 halves of the seering column. And even then, it was a tight fit.

Engine work, Nov 2023 - Jan 2024

• removed from chassis
• brushed to metal and cleaned with acetone
• new aluminum alternator bracket machined from solid
• new simmers front and back
• new anti-slosh, anti-starving oil pan baffles as per Don Nester (1979, gglotus.org) https://gglotus.org/ggtech/tc-oilpan/baffledpan.htm
• new oil pan seals with Hylomar 2024.
• spray painted light gray including oil pan with special 2K engine paint
• new cam cover seal with Loctite 518 flange sealant
• Engine with nice balance at 230mm Hg at idle and 5% CO. Perfectly steady idle a tad below 1000rpm when hot.

Gearbox work from me, Nov 2023 - Jan 2024

• new clutch slave cylinder, new slave cylinder solid line (2016)
• removed from chassis
• brushed to metal and cleaned with acetone
• new ball bearings front and back, new input shaft bearing
• new simmers front and back
• new gaskets all around
• spray painted light gray with special 2K engine paint

Brakes

• converted to dual master cylinder to conform to Swiss law. Therefore dual Lockheed brake servo (pre 2011).
• rebuilt front brake callipers with new stainless pistons and new seals and bellows.
• brushed and painted front brake callipers (they had been fully rebuilt with 0 km in 2011).
• improved the air dam at the heigh of the radiator to improve the air cooling.
• new stainless steel bolts at the bottom of the sills. The originals really did not look good any more.
• AP DOT4 racing blue brake fluid

Fuel system

• put new fuel hoses.
• Facet red top fuel pump from Demon Tweaks in the boot
• taken the carbs appart and cleaned them.
• finished installing the K+N air filters (incl. a bit of machining to make an adapter for the breather), made a custom breather grommet.
• removed the K+N filters because there were too noisy! Original filter and duct back in place.
• re-cabled the choke control.

Electricals

all electricals work. All exterior lights of course (high beam, low beam, pilot lights, indicators, boot), but all lights inside as well, electrics windows, wipers, windscreen washer pump, etc. Everything. Plus, there are a couple a cool little mods to the electric circuit on this car:

• pressure switch installed on the oil system to shut-off the electrical fuel pump if the oil pressure is not there. An override switch on the dash is used to force the pump to run with the engine off. This is useful to pump gas in the carbs when the car has be sitting for a while. The fuel pump is operated through a relay located under the dash.
• battery cut-out switch inside the car (removable red key type)
• Aldon Ignitor & coil (no balance resistor) and Magnecor ignition leads
• original fog lights replaced by permanent LED day lights so that I do not have to have the main lights deployed duging the day (that's now the law in Switzerland).
• changed the original thin rim steering wheel with a smaller thicker dished 13" Motolita.

With original steering wheel. This wheel comes with the car

Spares and parts

• Original steering wheel like in the small picture above.
• Pair of original fog lights (presently replaced with day lights.
• Pair of bespoke K+N filters + fixture to hold the throttle cable.
• Original single brake master cylinder + original Girling single channel servo.
• Original radio (condition unknown).
• Misc new gaskets and bushings (2 dual master cylinder overhaul kits, rear wishbone poly bushings, oil pan cork gasket and many more).
• Original electric fan for radiator.
• Pair of center wheel nuts (left and right).
• Pair of wheel hubs (left and right).
• Octagonal socket to tighten the wheel nuts (machined from solid, a $200 value!).
• Original workshop manual.
• File with bills from 1990 to today.
• After market pneumatic horns.
• All in all 3 boxes of spares.
• Car cover.