Lotus Elon

1969 Analogue Lotus Elan reborn without noise & smells. Same weight to keep handling balance

'Fuel' gauge, tacho and speedo all behaving nicely. Colin Chapman's signature steering wheel now very happy - proper 'hot knife thro' butter'. Ditto the nut holding it 😉 #LotusElan #steering #Elan #electricclassiccar #restomod #LotusElon #oldSkoolFitting #oldjoke
More Steering system honing... to carry Colin Chapman's signature aiming for #steering perfection. Now every joint and bearing between the wheels and the nut behind the wheel 😄 has been carefully 'run in' and aligned. Zero play, zero friction 👍. And yes it makes a huge difference - fingertip control and feel even the skid marks on the tarmac 😁. #LotusElan #lotuscars #lotus #restomod #electricclassiccar #light #LotusElon #colinChapman
A bit of 'steering UJ tweakage' extracting every last once of the wonderful 'knife through butter' #LotusElan steering feel. Yes - friction can change when clamp bolts are tightened. #LotusElon #electricclassiccar #restomod#oldSkoolFitting #RollsRoyceApprentice #MechEng #Fun #steering
200Miles Range Testing ! (keeping under 60, cross country, top gear, yet trying to average 59 🙂 light right foot, great handling and lots of regen!) "Look Ma, no exhaust" #netgainmotors #teslamodules #hyper9 #simpBMS #LotusElan #Tesla #LotusElon #nofossilfuels #nosmells #nonoise #diyev #electricclassiccar #diyelectriccar
Finally Persuaded 'Mrs Elon' to drive. Found it easy and 'cute'. #soundoff #windysmartphone #rpm #mph #volts #amps #kW #cantseeoverbonnet #lotuscars #LotusElan #LotusElon #diyev #electricclassiccar
Energy filling hole ! Both #Lotus and #diyev people will recognise this. #electricclassiccar #type2 #sunfiller #LotusElan #lotuscars #simpBMS #LotusElon #poweredbysun
Carpet in - with viewing windows for DC-DC mcb's and, of course, #Tesla battery. #morespacethanyouthink #electricclassiccar #diyev #LotusElan #LotusElon #lotuscars
Electric 2-Bike Delivery Device 🙂 #multimodaltransport #distanceDrive #urbanRide #4FootWide #electricclassiccar #Strida #foldingbike #LotusElan #LotusElon
Setting off in top (sensible) gear. No drama. Instrument view .. including correct tacho, speedo, and 'fuel' gauge plus Amps, Watts, and kW, #netgainmotors display (also set to 'rpm' using 84mm wheel diameter). More useful than an ashtray ! #TopGear 😆 #LotusElan #diyev #electricclassiccar #simpBMS #Tesla #lotus
#LotusElon in Lilliput ! #4FootWide #MonsterSUV #electricclassiccar #netgainmotors #diyev #LotusElan
Boot Sorted, with fuse and battery viewing windows - carpet next. Only added 0.85Kg by using bonded ply and aluminum. More space than original. #electricclassiccar #LotusElan #electricvehicle #diyev #LotusElon #addedLightness #Tesla #Lotus #interlocking #structure
Finally getting round to finishing inside the boot. 1st stage, with hidden tool storage - plywood , just like the original. Next stage carpet ! #electricclassiccar #LotusElan #diyev #electricclassiccars #LotusElon #Tesla
After several recent suspension tweaks I'm happy with 'The Stance' ... As there is no exhaust to grind on the road, the ride height can be optimised .. nice parallel wishbones as Colin Chapman intended. With low rolling centres and negative camber. Still got several more tweaks to play with .. it's amazing how much small but interrelated details like stiffer ball joints, tyres, pressures, shox, springs (rate and length), tracking etc ALL have effects. All this is also SO subjective - many owners just want to go as fast as possible eg on track, but I'm more interested in steering feel, balance and controllability at sensible, legal speeds - for example I prefer lower grip tyres (and not just for hooning about in empty car parks 😆) .... Each to their own.
After the hooning, it's more tuning .... This time bedding in 2 of the new ballpoints and 2 track road ends for more of that lovely buttery legendary fingertip #LotusElan steering feel. #electricclassiccar #LotusElon #steering #gordonmurray #diyev #electricclassiccars
"How come your batteries are not sealed in metal boxes ?" Good Question. EV conversion companies use heavy metal, crash, fire and water resistant battery boxes, as they are selling a product. The 5 #Tesla battery modules used here, (3 front, 2 rear) are mounted structurally, and are only water resistant (in polyprop boxes). They are also internally water cooled, and every 2220 cell has its own fuse. As #Classic #Lotus owners know, the lightweight 60's Elan relies almost 100% on its primary safety - brakes and handling - eg it has zero side impact protection, fire protection etc. etc. Before conversion to the front carb float valve was stuck - running rough and literally pouring petrol onto the distributor ! So, in this case, the battery boxes are the least risk! Their low weight to power, and minimum volume are key to the project primary aim: same weight and balance to keep the #Elan #Handling #electricclassiccar #LotusElon #1960s #electriccar #riskassessment
"How come your batteries are not sealed in metal boxes ?" Good Question. EV conversion companies use heavy metal, crash, fire and water resistant battery boxes, as they are selling a product. The 5 #Tesla battery modules used here, (3 front, 2 rear) are mounted structurally, and are only water resistant (in polyprop boxes). They are also internally water cooled, and every 2220 cell has its own fuse. As #Classic #Lotus owners know, the lightweight 60's Elan relies almost 100% on its primary safety - brakes and handling - eg it has zero side impact protection, fire protection etc. etc. Before conversion to the front carb float valve was stuck - running rough and literally pouring petrol onto the distributor ! So, in this case, the battery boxes are the least risk! Their low weight to power, and minimum volume are key to the project primary aim: same weight and balance to keep the #Elan #Handling #electricclassiccar #LotusElon #1960s #electriccar #riskassessment
"How come your batteries are not sealed in metal boxes ?" Good Question. EV conversion companies use heavy metal, crash, fire and water resistant battery boxes, as they are selling a product. The 5 #Tesla battery modules used here, (3 front, 2 rear) are mounted structurally, and are only water resistant (in polyprop boxes). They are also internally water cooled, and every 2220 cell has its own fuse. As #Classic #Lotus owners know, the lightweight 60's Elan relies almost 100% on its primary safety - brakes and handling - eg it has zero side impact protection, fire protection etc. etc. Before conversion to the front carb float valve was stuck - running rough and literally pouring petrol onto the distributor ! So, in this case, the battery boxes are the least risk! Their low weight to power, and minimum volume are key to the project primary aim: same weight and balance to keep the #Elan #Handling #electricclassiccar #LotusElon #1960s #electriccar #riskassessment
"How come your batteries are not sealed in metal boxes ?" Good Question. EV conversion companies use heavy metal, crash, fire and water resistant battery boxes, as they are selling a product. The 5 #Tesla battery modules used here, (3 front, 2 rear) are mounted structurally, and are only water resistant (in polyprop boxes). They are also internally water cooled, and every 2220 cell has its own fuse. As #Classic #Lotus owners know, the lightweight 60's Elan relies almost 100% on its primary safety - brakes and handling - eg it has zero side impact protection, fire protection etc. etc. Before conversion to the front carb float valve was stuck - running rough and literally pouring petrol onto the distributor ! So, in this case, the battery boxes are the least risk! Their low weight to power, and minimum volume are key to the project primary aim: same weight and balance to keep the #Elan #Handling #electricclassiccar #LotusElon #1960s #electriccar #riskassessment
Testing - it's all rock and roll. Thanks to @garryrobson for Video, Music and Laughs https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yjyNBd5jjsT_-PcPGX2AziD8mix93xe0/view?usp=drivesdk #LotusElan #hyper9 #simpBMS #Tesla #netgainmotors #electricclassiccar #nutdoh #electriccar #testing #roxy #donut #bruce #poweredbythesun #feelslikeweonlygobackwards
Father's Day Picture Thank you @arianejsanders Fab Design. #LotusElan #icon #photoshop #fathersday #electricclassiccar #yellow #diyelectriccar #classiccars #classicev #simpBMS #netgainmotors #Tesla #tinycar #wholovesyababy #LotusElon
Somehow, I don't think this Hard top will catch on :-) #LotusElan #LotusElon
Back to a toothy smile... numbers back on with blacked battery radiator behind. #LotusElan #electricclassiccar #batterypowered #poweredbythesun #LotusElon #smile #Tesla #diyev #diyelectriccar #1960s #evconversion #evclassiccar
Added radiator and air ducting to water cooling/heating system. Super light (ex Formula Ford race car). This will keep #tesla batteries and #netgainmotors controller nice and cool when pushing and pulling amps. Nearer winter I'll add an immersion heater, before cabin heater and batteries to warm me and them up 🤟 #LotusElon #electricclassiccar #diyev #evconversion #LotusElan
Lovely B roads, in a tiny, #Electric 140cm wide #LotusElan 🤟 Testing doesn't get much better. 63 Miles used ~10kWh .. not bad, as not taking it easy.. #electricclassiccar #diyelectriccar #diyev #LotusElon #Tesla #hyper9
I now appreciate the constant wh/mile and range read outs of modern EV's. #netgainmotors hyper⁹ is an unusual motor with peak mid throttle efficiency at quite low rpm. VERY crude calcs seem to show I'm getting c200 wh/mile @60/70mph but suspect that's not very accurate as having way too much fun to watch the gauges 😉 #electricclassiccar #diyelectriccar #LotusElon #poweredbythesun
The Sweet Sound of Amps In the sun, from the sun. 3rd Gear, 30 to 60mph #LotusElan #CountryRoad #Sun2Fun #LotusElon #netgainmotors #electricclassiccar
Wag in carpark "who loves ya, baby" 😆 #austinpowers #LotusElan #electricclassiccar #diyev #LotusElon #babyelan #itjustworks #Silent #clean #poweredbythesun
Thanks for the Juice @Tesco and @pod_point - 40mph free charge in Blandford #electricclassiccar #LotusElan #simpBMS #netgainmotors #LotusElon #sustainableliving
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