Elan is on the road again: Classic Cars forum: Classic Motorsports

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June 13, 2011 3:00 p.m. Tahoe New Reader

Lots of fun this weekend as I finished some recent work on the Elan Friday night and drove it for the first time since October. Installed an alternator, gear reduction starter, Pertronix ignition, new Aluminum radiator, electric fuel pump, installed rebuilt tach and speedo, along with new speedo gear, and angle drive. Old gas tank is full of rust scale and some varnish, and I've switched out the fuel filter a few times to where it is minimal now. New aluminum fuel tank is coming soon so that problem will go away. Also, scored a factory hardtop which I'll pickup at Laguna Seca in August.

Anyway this weekend I put about 100 miles on the Elan, and plan to drive it as much as possible before Winter comes again, when I'll start another list of fixes/upgrades. On the list is the exhaust system, new dash, CV rear axles, and general clean up of wiring, and trunk (boot) area.
June 13, 2011 5:30 p.m. Leo Basile Reader

Be aware that in higher reving engines, the pertronix tends to break down. I thought that I had some sort of spark plug wire or distrubitor/rotor issue. Turned out to be the actual pertronix unit. I switched over to the Cran Cams XR7000 and LOVE IT! Its not as a clean of an install, but it works very well.

Leo

"Simplificate the design and add lightness" Kelly Johnson on the SR-71
June 13, 2011 6:29 p.m. VClassics Reader

Pertronix tends to eject the magnets from the little rotor thingy at high revs. I've seen this at least three times. The latest one was a few weeks ago when a friend was racing his vintage 2002 at Pacific Raceways near Seattle. Car suddenly lost power on the back straight, and he tried limping up the hill to the pits on one cylinder (lots of elevation changes at that track). There was fire in the exhaust from all the unburnt gas pumping through three dead cyls, and it got hot enough to set the paint in the cockpit on fire...

I've never seen any sort of failure with the Crane optical ignition.
June 14, 2011 8:47 a.m. RossD SuperDork

Pictures!!!!!!

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June 14, 2011 9:03 a.m. gjz30075 Reader

Still running points in my twincam and didn't want to go to Pertronix so thanks for the Crane alternative
June 14, 2011 9:42 a.m. Tahoe New Reader

Well, I wish I knew about the Pertronix issues before. I'll see how things shake out. I'm thinking that with a my engine which is basically stock that I'll never go beyond 6500 rpm and I may be okay. Interesting because my first Elan had Pertornix and after many years I no issues.
June 14, 2011 8:41 p.m. Bainford New Reader

Does anyone have any experience with Lumignition systems? They sound like a neat bit of kit but I haven't heard any feedback from anyone who has used one.

Oh, and cheers on getting the Lotus back on the road. Mine should be a couple more weeks.

Sometimes, the faster it gets, the less you need to know. But you got to remember, the smarter it gets, the further its going to go.
June 15, 2011 11:34 a.m. VClassics Reader

Lumenition is an optical points replacement ignition, very similar to the Crane XR700 but made in England. I had one that was perfectly reliable, but couldn't keep up with even a Bosch blue coil at high RPMs.