Blog’s here to write about getting some components and others for my car.
Was here to collect a used headlight motor for the Elan, as the left-hand side motor has basically ceased to operate properly (Which you can see here (Trouble over the horizon, and over the cars)). An ex-Elan owner offered up his old motor a while back, and I suppose now would be due for me to have it replaced, since its pretty much a lost cause to try to get to use. Thank you Fai!
In addition to the motor, I was also provided a coolant tank cap, but neither of us are sure if it could fit as someone prior to my ownership had already replaced the tank, but I can do a test fit sometime soon.
We also noted that the throttle body likely needs more tension for a more responsive throttle, which should be manageable with the screws. I think. Sorry, as much as I can say that we have three cars in the household, all of them being enthusiast cars, I genuinely suck with any mechanical in nature. I’m sorry about this.
Oh, one more thing, the so-called “middle point” in the temperature gauge, where the temperature will rise to and maintain to maintain a stable temperature, in most cars would typically be in the middle point of the gauge. So anything beyond and you may be looking at overheating.
I’ve learnt through Fai that actually, the middle point for the Elan is actually at the 3/4 mark, which honestly, up until now, I really didn’t know at all. All this while I have been worrying sick over the temperature exceeding the gauge half-point and panicking about overheating, shutting off the AC and what not. This is new grounds now. At the very least, it doesn’t seem like the car has genuinely appalling overheating risks, but I will have to keep monitoring with this new benchmark.
Honestly, hearing that his Elan in Sepang was able to humble many Elise owners in the 2000’s really has me interested in one day paying a visit and doing a few laps. But I think for now, I still have other commitments before trying that.
Along the same errand was picking up a few litres of engine oil from ROAR Lubricant. ROAR is a local company and one that my father has been very enthusiastic about, having used it in his previous cars for its performance and durability. Subsequently, he and I opted to purchase a few litres for use in my car in a later but soon date. I do want to express my heartfelt appreciation to Roy, the boss of ROAR Lubricant, for having to personally drive down to where I was to pass me the oils. If you’re reading this, Roy, you have my gratitude. Thanks for also giving me a pair of octane boosters, I do appreciate it.
I do also note that having sat in his Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI with the oil and octane booster, wow the kick when accelerating is ruddy strong, definitely pulling harder than my car currently. Seems like quite the jump in performance.
Coming back I opted to do a pull to actually understand how fast the car can be pushed. Personally, I have admittedly ragged the car in more scenarios than I would like to admit (Uhh, does going up to 4-5k count as abusing it? Too new), but this little test is to see how fast exactly from a standstill could I go. I believe the front wheels lost traction in first leading up to shifting to 2nd, which would be why I didn’t rev it any higher. 2nd was definitely on the high side of the rev range though, higher than what I’ve done before. I suppose it has some go, then. I was initially thinking that there was a performance dip in 1st, which you can audibly hear, but honestly it sounds like it opened a cam, kind of like VTEC. That’s just my way of visualizing it, but it could be turbo lag that suddenly kicked in.
(Audio was recorded in a private road in a controlled environment)
Well, I suppose that will be it. With upcoming plans, the Elan and the C350 will both be in the shops to have their respective work done to them. For now, I think that’ll be it for the post. Thank you!
~Efini
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