wdb's little yellow journey

[JohnCh]

Beautiful Elan!  The seven and Elan make a great garage pair.  I'm sure you're already aware of the LotusElan.net forum, but if not, check it out.  It's a great resource. https://lotuselan.net/forums/  

[wdb]

Thanks @JohnCh I do hope they will behave themselves when in the garage together. And yes, I've already gotten some good advice on that forum. I'll start a build thread or whatever they do there, once I figure out their ethos; quite a mix of Brits, Americans, and others on there and a different vibe than most forums I frequent.

[wdb]

A quick update on my abysmally slow progress getting the dry sump system sorted and installed. After a LOT of measuring, a LOT of arranging, a LOT of study of the Pegasus website, a LOT MORE measuring, and a couple of orders to Pegasus (and others), I believe I have all the bits needed to assemble the system. A lot of back-and-forth went into arranging the bits where I thought I could fit them, finding places to run the oil lines, realizing that the arrangement wouldn't work, and starting over again. I finally gave up trying to fit everything down the right side next to the engine, which required me to find a different catch can that I can mount on the front face of the cowl. That brings a handful of hoses out of the space under the carbs and allows the oil lines to bend gracefully -- I think. It's kind of cool, and very handy, that hose ends come in a variety of angles; I believe I may be using at least one of each! When I start assembling the oil lines I'll find out how well I estimated those bits.

 

Here are some pics showing the oil filter temporarily hanging in its final location, then the oil tank sitting in behind it. The oil pump is jammed in there too, and all of the fittings and hose ends are in place to make sure there is clearance. The tank is sitting on a plate that used to hold the battery, which will also be going up on the shelf in front of the cowl. I reworked that plate today, drilling out the rivets so that I could reshape it on the bench. When I tried to re-install it I had an "educational experience, i.e. Se7ens are held together with 5/32" rivets, which are not stocked by any hardware store. McMaster-Carr to the rescue however that won't be for another day. Which is okay because I'm planning to fetch the 'spare' twincam engine that came with the Elan tomorrow, along with some other bits that are still at the former owner's garage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2024 by wdb
punctuation

[Vinman1]

Wdb,

 

Looks great! The thinking and fab work required with these cars will try your patience, but in the end, the perseverance is greatly rewarded every time you drive it!

 

Cheers,

Vin

[wdb]

  On 10/17/2024 at 2:09 PM, Vinman1 said:

Wdb,

 

Looks great! The thinking and fab work required with these cars will try your patience, but in the end, the perseverance is greatly rewarded every time you drive it!

 

Cheers,

Vin

Expand  

 

Thanks for the encouragement. To be honest I really enjoy the thinking/designing/fab stuff, although I must admit that I have some work to do the patience department. 

 

Yesterday I fetched the rest of the Elan bits home including this. I now have 3 of them!

 

 

[Vinman1]

And a 3 rail trans case to boot!

[wdb]

  On 10/18/2024 at 6:55 PM, Vinman1 said:

And a 3 rail trans case to boot!

Expand  

 

And a 3.90 diff for the Elan, and a couple of roll bars, and on and on it goes. 

[Vinman1]

Wdb,

Maybe someday we can get more Sevens together. These are from this summers Ice Cream Run in northern MA, and the Fall "Sevens in the Meadow" here on Cape Cod. 

Cheers,

 

Vin

[wdb]

Love all the yellow!

[wdb]

The plumbing is almost finished, woohoo! In the process I have become a world-renowned expert in AN fittings and assembly techniques literally overnight! 

 

I also finally threw in the towel and pulled the Webers off. I would have saved some skin and had fewer coins in the curse jar had I done that sooner. Now my problem is that the hoses touch one another, which ain't good. I kind of assumed it was not a good idea and a bit of googling proved me right. My problem is, how to separate them. There is spiral hose wrap, but stuff that will properly stand up to underhood temps is pricey. There are hose separators, but they assume the hoses run in parallel which mine do not. If I could find some slim separators that had a floating connection between the clamps, I'd be a happy camper.

 

Pic below is looking forward from roughly below the oil tank; the red rectangle is the area where the hoses touch. (The yellow tape will be coming off eventually. It was there as part of the assembly process.)

 

Here's a better shot of the oil pump spaghetti monster. The compactness of the pump + the motor mount arcing through + the need for all the hoses to head in the same general direction made for tight-ish routing. I wish I could have come up with some way to put the filter forward of the pump, but I just didn't see any good way for that to happen.

[JohnCh]

  On 10/29/2024 at 1:13 PM, wdb said:

My problem is, how to separate them. There is spiral hose wrap, but stuff that will properly stand up to underhood temps is pricey. There are hose separators, but they assume the hoses run in parallel which mine do not. If I could find some slim separators that had a floating connection between the clamps, I'd be a happy camper.

Expand  

 

A quick fix is to cut off a short piece of rubber hose, split it lengthwise and attach to one hose with a couple of zip ties.

[Vinman1]

These worked well on my 31 Chevy Street Rod. Found on Amazon

[wdb]

  On 10/29/2024 at 2:25 PM, JohnCh said:

 

A quick fix is to cut off a short piece of rubber hose, split it lengthwise and attach to one hose with a couple of zip ties.

Expand  

 

That may be what I do short term. Or bite the bullet and get the PTFE spiral wrap, ouch.

 

  On 10/29/2024 at 3:52 PM, Vinman1 said:

These worked well on my 31 Chevy Street Rod. Found on Amazon

Expand  

 

I don't think I can use them because my hoses are: 1) pretty short runs, and;  b) not parallel. I may try to jury rig something to see if I could make them work though. 

[wdb]

I found something, I think. It's a sleeve meant for protecting wires. Abrasion resistant, flexible, 300+ degrees F high temp working range.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJ29G3H6?th=1

 

 

 

[Vinman1]

Looks like that will work...

[MV8]

Order a few based on the wire braid OD. Two clamps bolt together with one bolt, end to end or back to back when close together.

 

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/ms21919wh.php?clickkey=3764

[toldfield]

[wdb]

  On 10/30/2024 at 10:12 PM, MV8 said:

Order a few based on the wire braid OD. Two clamps bolt together with one bolt, end to end or back to back when close together.

 

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/ms21919wh.php?clickkey=3764

Expand  

Not a bad choice! I’d have to do back-to-back. Noted for future reference.

[wdb]

A milestone! "First oil pressure", w00t! One oil leak, easily fixed. I still need to do a bit more reassembly before we get to "fire in the hole!" but I suspect it's not far off.

 

 

[Vinman1]

Great to see! I still recall the anticipation and excitement of when they finally breath fire! Cheers!