LOTUS LIFE

One of the long-term residents in our workshop has been a lovely Lotus Elan.

- MICK MCCRUDDEN

It came from another workshop where it never got finished and it wasn't right, so it came to me. We've had to wait for lots of parts. Plus we're being extra careful not measuring once and cutting once, but measuring 13 times!

Vacuum-operated headlights have been around for many years and the version on this pops up when they lose vacuum, rather than the other way round. Which is very sensible. What's less sensible is the vacuum tank is also the cross member for the front end. We're chasing a leak at the moment.

Parts for these are hilarious as they're a niche car. They run twin Weber carbs, which is probably too much carburation for the engine, which is a double-overhead cam design on a 1600 Kent block. The big carburettors are good for the racetrack - brilliant, just drive it wide open. But around town it's a bit much and in its current state it tends to foul spark plugs. I'll sort that out once we get everything else done - we'll retune it for street use.

Because it's based on a pushrod Kent motor, the camshaft is still in there, driving the fuel pump and distributor. That introduced some wrinkles in setting up the timing and it's now fixed.

Meanwhile, we're making progress on Guido's Project VK. While the wheels (a set of Aeros) are off being polished, we got stuck in to the brakes and cleaned them up. You can do this at home. Clean up the calipers with a wire brush and a thinner such as turpentine. Then you get a good-quality Killrust-type paint, mask off the areas you need to and away you go.

We've got new springs and shock absorbers, plus I've set the ride height so it will sit nicely not stupid low and not so high it looks like you borrowed it from grandad for the weekend.

We'll fit new tyres and a set of locking nuts from the Lugnut King, as the Aeros are a bit of a target.