My Type 54 to sort of 47 Conversion

[EuropaTC]

And we have a two week trip to Scotland in August. 

Are you doing cities or scenery ?  Scotland is a great place to visit, for such a small country there's some amazing views.

When we lived further north we'd go twice a year to the highlands in  April/September, chosen because it's slightly better weather but before "midgie season" starts.  If you're driving, places like Loch Maree are picture postcard stuff and the coastal road from Applecross into Torridon is amazing. (if the weather is good    )

Back on Lotus - I'm looking forward to see what you make of the Elan, great little cars and like driving a roller skate !

[RoddyMac]

EuropaTC,
We're mostly doing scenery, but starting and ending in Glasgow.  Our route takes us through Fort William, Mallaig, Staffin, Elgin, then back to Glasgow.  It sounds strange but I'm looking forward to the Elgin part, mainly because we're going to visit the Moray Motor Museum.  The McWirters have a couple of Tojeiros that I'm interested in seeing up close.  Most of the places we're visiting are repeats from previous trips, but we'll hopefully be seeing new things while there.

As for the Elan, I'm looking forward to getting it finished.  My parents had one when they were first married, so it would be nice to them re-live the experience. 

[Chuck Nukem]

Wow that Elan looks great! What series is it? What color are you going for? Will it get a Zetec?

[RoddyMac]

Chuck,
It's a 1968 S4, and it's early enough that it's a Weber headed car.  It's going to be something close to Wedgewood blue, the right side of this photo:



And no to the Zetec, this one is going to be "stock".

[TurboFource]

What is the blue on the left Roddy?

[RoddyMac]

The one on the left is National Fleet Colour - Blue, Nason number 96581 IR. The "Wedgewood Blue" is actually General Motors Corp - Blue, Nason number 78387 IR.  I had given the paint supplier all the numbers I could find for Wedgewood, but none came up in their database.  I ended up going through the fleet colour pages to find some blues that looked close.  The paint chips for both of these colours looked very similar, but once sprayed out they were quite different.

[TurboFource]

I like them both!

[EuropaTC]

We're mostly doing scenery, but starting and ending in Glasgow.  Our route takes us through Fort William, Mallaig, Staffin, Elgin, then back to Glasgow.  It sounds strange but I'm looking forward to the Elgin part, mainly because we're going to visit the Moray Motor Museum. 

A good route, I always think that real Scotland only starts once you're past Fort William.

Staffin, in fact most of that area, has great scenery if you get the weather. Much better than Portree and less touristy than Dunvegan.  It's well over 10yrs ago now, but last time we were up that way there was a replica island village (stone walls/thatch roof/peat fires) on the coastal road just up from Uig. Flora McDonald of Bonnie Prince Charlie/Sky Boat Song fame is buried nearby and there's ancient castle ruins on the coast which made for some great photo shots.

If you're driving and taking the Mallaig Ferry across to Skye I'll mention an alternative ferry at Glenelg for the return.  It's a turntable ferry and the old military road into Glenelg is often used on old car rallies for the scenery, both on Skye & the mainland. If you're into old ruins then there's two unusual Brochs not far from Glenelg (Dun Trodden/Dun Telve).

We've only been to the East coast once (apart from Inverness a couple of times but I don't think that counts) so it'll be good to see the photos from the Moray museum...   

Brian

[RoddyMac]

I always think that real Scotland only starts once you're past Fort William

My mum is from Tighnabruaich, she might beg to differ

On our last trip we stayed a cottage very close to the Quiraing, so did pretty much all the major tourist things around the north end of Skye other than hike the Quiriang and visit the Black houses.  This time around we're hoping to see all the things off the beaten path (and hike the Quiriang at dawn provided the weather cooperates).

As for the ferries, we did take the boat from Armadale to Mallaig last time, this time it's the opposite direction.  I hadn't given much thought about the ferry to Glenelg, I'll have to see how that would affect the amount of driving.  Years ago we stayed at Ratagan but didn't take the road up to the lookout or through to Glenelg. 

I'll definitely post photo's of the Moray museum.  I'm toying with the idea of building a Jag powered special, so getting an up close look at the Toj-Jag in the collection is the main reason for visiting. 

[RoddyMac]

Yesterday I felt like a kid at Christmas, the wheels arrived.  Incredibly quick service from Retroford, they received them on Monday, shipped them Tuesday, and they were delivered to my door before I got home yesterday (Wednesday).  To say I'm please is an understatement.  In between ordering them and receiving them, I've picked up a set of alloy front hubs from Merlin Motorsports in the Ford PCD, bought a pair of Ford Contour front hubs, Ford Focus rear discs, and a pair of Contour CV axles.  It turns out that the Contour hub bearing has the same ID and length as the VW Golf bearings that I'm using, so in theory the hubs should press into the uprights with next to no modifications.  And, fingers crossed, according to the catalogues I've found online, the Contour outer CV has the same spline count as the VW axle.  I think I'm going to try to find a used VW shaft to experiment with before I start working on the car.  Other than that, the Miata calipers that I'm using still clear the wheel, even with the slightly larger Focus rotors.  Brake balance is going to be a bit off, but that's something to look into a little farther down the line.

The biggest hurdle now is finding suitable tires, it seems 175/70's and 185/70s are readily available.  But, I'd really like to find some 205/60's for the rears as the new rims are 6.5" wide.  I know a 185 will fit, but I'd still like something a bit wider.

Anyways, here are some pictures:

[BDA]

Beautiful wheels, Roddy!! Great haul of cool parts! 

[EuropaTC]

Those wheels are stunning, what a great find. Your car looks good with the minilite wheels but it'll look even better when you've got these on.

When you mention brake balance, what's the diameter of the Focus discs ? I took a quick look online but came up with 280mm, are they really that large and still fit under the rim ? If so, there are new rear discs in my future !

Brian

[RoddyMac]

Brian,
The discs are Focus rears (2000 to 2007), outside diameter is 9.95" or 252.75 mm.  I may have them turned down to 9.575" to center the pad on the friction surface.  But, unless you're already running the Ford PCD they wont be a straight swap for a "stock" Europa.

Rod

[EuropaTC]

Thanks for coming back on that one Rod, I was wondering how you'd get 280mm discs under 13" rims ! 

252 sounds far more realistic and if you can get it inside the wheel then you're probably not too far out on balance, the Elan has 254mm rears with 232mm fronts although personally I think it feels better with the GT6 245mm discs up front instead.

Brian

ps - still want to see pics of the car on it's new wheels 

[Chuck Nukem]

Wow!!!! Those wheels look great!! I also can't wait to see them on the car!!