Відео

Steel Bros series 4s are about 20 kgs heavier than the Uk built versions. They were forced to reinforced the chassis’ to withstand the rough NZ roads. Highest chassis number I’ve seen was 3095, built in 1979.

We have so many cars in common!! Ahhh!!! I love your collection :)

In the early 1990s at a car show, I spoke to Graham Nearn, then owner of Caterham Cars. In passing I referred to the 100 Twin Cam Lotus S4 Sevens made by Steel Bros in Christchurch NZ, under licence from Lotus. That all the tooling was supplied by Lotus, along with the parts kits. He bristled, and said that HE had the licence, and NO-ONE else ever had a licence from Lotus. I simply said check with Lotus or with Club Lotus in New Zealand. He wasn't happy. Furious.... I had read of the 907 powered cars, never actually seen anything before. Surprised to see the single-choke carburettors and that it is lhd.

I would tend to agree that those welded on tabs are the remains of something that was used to straighten the chassis, either during production or post crash.

thank you for sharing. following

Thank you for posting these videos. Interesting stuff. You have a really nice collection there. The Seven fits in well. I'm in the UK. I have an S2 Esprit which I purchased about a year ago after it had been sitting for about 25 to 30 years, so I'm working to get it back on the road. I also have (the remains of) a Dutton Phaeton S2 which I've had from new. It's very similar to the Seven. Unfortunately, I think it's probably beyond repair in terms of time required. Looking forward to the next installment of your Seven restoration. Cheers Darren

Thanks for sharing. I have question. I replaced all vacuum hoses, new switch and new vacuum solenoid but headlights still up..? Any suggestion. Thanks

Hello from the UK I have a 504 and there is that unit you are Describing also a smaller one at the side. ? . and the Passenger side just 1 smaller one . the pip's are not connected and one pipe is Blanked of . in the manual only one solenoid per side so I don't Know where the pipes go . cheers .....

Many thanks for doing these videos. I've got a 1974 Elite and have a new problem after refitting the engine and gearbox after a gear lever failure. One of the new issues I have is the left hand headlamp is VERY slow to lift, but goes down OK. So I suspect that the solenoid has an issue. So it's great to see your video on how it works as I've not really touched that system before apart from a vacuum leak on one of the solenoids once. My car has modern Burkert solenoids fitted, but the original solenoids are still installed, just not connected. Would like to know more about your smoke generator, I've thought about making one rather than buying one and i like the look of yours. Cheers!

Great video, thank you😊

I stumbled upon one of your videos about rebuilding your Elite transmission which led me to your channel. I see that these videos are a year old and this one has only two comments so I thought I would chime in. My interest is multifaceted. First, for some reason, I sometimes enjoy watching people work on cars. I don't know if that is some sort of vicarious pleasure or just being lazy because I could be working on my own cars. Second, I've always liked the 2nd gen Elite. It's too bad that they weren't more popular. Third, a friend of mine recently bought an Elite project so I was considering sending your videos to him (but I might not because I don't want him to be worried that his transaxle might only last 18,000 miles!). Fourth, I'm in a rather long process of rebuilding the transaxle on my Europa. I have a Renault Fuego transaxle in my car and I had a devil of a time finding all the bearings (I changed the synchros, seals, and as many of the bearings as I could find). Of two bearings I'm short, one is on its way and I am told it has been found and ordered so hopefully I'll get it in the not too distant future. We'll see... I enjoyed your videos. It made me glad that I have a transaxle rather than a transmission such as yours since it seems a lot easier! I didn't expect that what you did would have much relationship to what I have and will do but there was much less than I expected. I don't know about Strombergs on the Elite but on the Twin Cam Europa, there isn't that much difference between them and Webers. Admittedly not as sexy as Webers but they are very serviceable. As I mentioned, you did the work in this video more than a year ago so I hope everything worked out well and you are enjoying your Elite!

Great turnout!

I love how the headlights go down when you start the engine. Those vacuum headlights are so cool.

whats the device you have for holding your trunk lid struts up ?

nice video friend , a have a 1978 white 504, SUBBED !

just bin the system its crap and put mr2 headlamp motors in or do what ive done and put cupboard door gas struts in and some little electronic door latches in to hold them closed .....it does mean i have to manually close the pods though ! i press a momentary switch inside the car when it gets dark and up they pop !

Really helpful, I will have to do same for sure. Thank you

Thank you so really helpful as I have both mine to do on my Elite 1974

I'd have got rid of those Strombergs, they will get you nowhere

Surprised to see nylon stuck to the rack.

Lots of people switch to electric motors to raise and lower the lights. Great to see you fix the vacuum system instead!

Thank you for making this video. Now I know what to do when I begin restoring my 1977 Eclat. Looks like you have the same engine as me.

V. interesting. I have the Eclat ('77) which had rusted out pods. After repairing them, the headlights actually stay down for several hours. I like your idea of introducing smoke to check for leaks in the rest of the system and wonder if you could tell me more. "smoke generator" on Amazon?? Also, bought 2nd hand untested 1 way valve from the UK and wonder where you sourced yours - I assume you bought new? In N. America? Thanks, and good work!

Thanks great video. I replaced one of my vacuum pods a while ago but still have a slow leak. I’ll try the smoke idea to see if I can find the leak. Cheers

I worked at the dealership in 1974 when these came out. We found the problem with the front end was the lower control arm was moving front to back on rough roads, like railroad tracks. It would shake so bad your wrist watch would pop. We tried a couple of things to fix this but nothing we tried solved it. The one thing I wanted to try was the lower arm mod. Make the inner end like a Y, bolt it up to the frame outside in stead of in side. The factory tried replacing bushings on the sway bar but this didn't cure it all the way. I have seen cures from euro owners of adding a bar from the lower arm to keep it from moving. Later cars had power steering which I think was the factory final fix. Have you found this problem on your '76?

Any discussion forums for Type 75’s?

It's a good idea to dress the edge of the pipe sealing face whilst you're at it because these also corrode and can prevent a vacuum forming

Great - thanks, wouldn’t have known about the seat screws. I can’t get the outer bolts loose - do you have to hold the nuts on the back?

Lotus Emira delivery. ua-cam.com/video/o35Ftv0_sqc/v-deo.html

Hi , Thank you for this very good video, complete and well documented. I have a question: I have a 1974 Lotus Elan +2 S130, I managed to find a Lotus 5sp gearbox. At first glance, the main casing is identical to your gearbox. Can you confirm this? Thanks

why so slow?

all them lotus's and no one giving them the beans?????