SENC

Rob - if you're thinking the odds are you'll have to replace, you have nothing to lose and a great learning opportunity. Part of the beauty of these cars is their relative simplicity, and what a great chance to learn how to fully disassemble without any real risk of breaking anything or not getting it back together. It seems the worst case scenario is you learn all the bits and parts - best case is you learn how to rebuild yourself and save the cost of a new engine! I pulled my first engine myself (69 Elan) 5 years ago for the purpose of rebuilding my gearbox - also a first. That gave me the confidence to pull my Seven engine and gearbox to investigate and ultimately rebuild both. Since I'd never done a leakdown test much less rebuilt an engine, I found a local mechanic with experience in vintage race cars and hired him to come over a few evenings to help me test and with disassembly and for guidance on reassembly. It may have cost me a few hundred bucks for 5-6 hours of time over a few months - and the education I got was worth much more. I'm a lo g way from having any real expertise, but now comfortable enough to do a lot more on my Seven and Elan than I'd have ever guessed I'd be. What do you have to lose?

in the UK... https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/1961-lotus-super-seven

@bugman - I'm in Wilmington - will have to connect when you find one! I don't know of any right now, but will keep my ears open. You might check @SevenAmerica as he often hears through his simplesevens site or the old lotusseven listserve.

Mick at XtraSpecialSevens can make seats for you - he does a great job. He may have the grille, too.

lots of fun debate on the grease v oil in the trunnion debate on lotuselan.net... I find myself in the grease camp, but don't think you can really go wrong if you're checking/maintaining regularly

@SevenAmerica is likely to know the answer if anyone does

As John said, it appears to be a finer thread pitch than the 1/2-20. You should be able to calculate tpi with measurements - and if you can measure the angle of the thread event better as there are several resources for identifying fittings with this information. www.britishfasteners.com is one I use. British Standard Brass is 1/2-26, so that is a possibility if this is an original Serck fuel tank.

Beautiful pictures, thank you for sharing!

No relation, but if you've been looking for one... https://www.ebay.com/itm/334282307330?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=a5b2a2d88edf4e51b516ca5841a05e95&bu=44278349486&ut=RU&osub=-1~1&crd=20220108015309&segname=11021&sojTags=ch%3Dch%2Cbu%3Dbu%2Cut%3Dut%2Cosub%3Dosub%2Ccrd%3Dcrd%2Csegname%3Dsegname%2Cchnl%3Dmkcid This is the same manual available in the download section.

Welcome, and looking forward to following this project along - I'm a fan of the S4s. The last one I looked at had the inset areas of the dash in black as Croc described, and it looked great.

Finished 2021 with a beautiful day for a drive - hope this is a good omen for a better 2022! Tha ks to all here for a great forum, and Happy New Year wishes to all!

Blessed with spectacular 70° weather allowed a couple drives this weekend, after changing the 79°-30' butterflies for 78° butterflies, on Keith Franck's advice. This effectively moved the 1st progression holes downstream by .5mm, which made all the difference in the world in the transition, eliminating the popping on decel while maintaining a nice idle. I have a little more tweaking to do, but think I'm getting very close to finding the right balance now. My 20 y-o daughter, home from college, got her first ride in it - all smiles and giggles as we accelerated through curves! I'm not embarrassed to admit to giggling every time I drive it, too!

Congratulations, and excellent choice (I'm a bit biased towards 65 7s :).

in the UK, but... Lotus Seven S2, 1962. 1500cc pre-crossflow Cosworth with Ford 2000E gearbox. Full nut and bolt restoration. - UK Sports CarsUK Sports Cars

The SBH... number at the very bottom of the picture is likely the engine number... does it match the number on the block (RHS motor mount) or on any of the records? Head over to lotuselan.net, lots of knowledge there about the Lotus twin cam as it was used throughout the Elan's life, including Holbay iterations. Several there have access to extensive records and may be able to help confirm whether your engine was original to your car or, if not, what it may have originally been in. You might also find the following article on the Lotus-Holbay of interest... Engine Series – Lotus-Holbay | Colin Chapman Archive and Resource (colinchapmanmuseum.co.uk)

@Mr Mark's new car post reminded me to finish this thread by adding engine number information. I don't have any personal knowledge of the coventry climax or bmc a engines that were used in early Lotus Sevens - please contribute if you do! The Kent Ford blocks, from pre-crossflow to crossflow to twink had the engine number stamped just above the right hand side motor mount. Years of paint and crud may make this hard to read - a lead rubbing may reveal it in that case, below is a picture of mine that revealed most, a second effort after cleaning confirmed the rest matched my records.

Looks awesome, can't wait to see more pictures. The engine number should be on the block just over the RHS mount.

Great looking car, and welcome! 68 was the crossover year for S2 to S3. There were twinks in some 68 S2s (called 2-1/2s), but I'm not sure the Holbays came along until later. The chassis number (should be stamped on the frame by the master cylinder mount) and engine number will help. John Watson, Lotus Seven Registrar is most knowledgeable and has access to many old records. Lots of helpful folks with twin cam, Weber, and gearbox experience/knowledge on lotuselan.net (Elans used the same).

Had a beautiful day to take a drive and tune some more.

Wow, scary. Glad you are recovering - lots to be thankful for, indeed.

They arrived just before Thanksgiving - thanks Craig! I have the earlier fan on my Seven, but a bearing is going bad in it - so this one will play substitute while I rebuild the other. I'd actually hoped I might just be able to swap blades, but the older style metal blade requires a larger diameter spindle. Thanks again!

just sent you an email

I'll give a 3rd nod of approval to those stands!

Had a nice, 70 mile break-in drive yesterday, and the little car ran very well. My old, spare clutch slave held up quite well, and as I started my journey home from the back country roads I'd been using for accel/decel I noticed the bearing noise was reduced. By the time I got home it was non-existent, so maybe got lucky on that one. Oil pressure was right on the money throughout, and engine temp stayed on the low side thanks to a 70 degree day and running without the bonnet. I took a shorter, 5-mile jaunt today to warm the oil back up before changing the break-in oil for regular oil, and ran strong, still no clutch noise and, more importantly, no smoking. I'm getting a little exhaust popping on lifting off the accelerator after a 3k-5k WOT pull, so some tuning is next on the list - but plugs looked decent and the engine sounded good and pulled hard, so perhaps not too far off. About only "negative" so far is a fair amount of engine oil draining from the filler cap (it is a breather, too) and pooling on the top of the rocker cover - enough that running yesterday without the bonnet resulted in a fine mist on the windshield from the air flowing over the engine at speed. I'm hoping that 50 weight will be less prone to do so than the lighter 30 weight break-in oil. But will work on a baffle if not, and not a big worry overall - the dipstick showed little to no loss on the day. Glad to have it back to a state it can be driven, and hoping for a few more weeks of good weather to do so. Thrilled the La Nina may mean a milder winter, so also hopeful for scattered opportunities throughout the winter. Thanks to all who contributed advice and guidance along the way!