1991 Lotus Elan M100

For auction is my 1991 Lotus Elan. I have owned this car for 13 years and driven it personally for over 50000 miles. If you are not familiar with the Elan, t is a truly great car, ith handling worthy of its namesake, he original Elan. It is the final evolution of the backbone chassis for Lotus and a tremendous amount of technology was incorporated in it. If you have seen any negative comments about its handling, et me assure you, hose commenters have never driven the car. It is truly the automotive version of 'The Matrix', oing the impossible without any effort whatsoever. Woe be it to the mere mortal that attempts to follow you down an exit ramp. In addition, t has a turbocharged 4 cylinder engine with more than adequate power, nd there are available updates that easily bring it within reach of many exotics. Here is a period Lotus sales document speaking to its many design features: This car has seen over 110 thousand miles, s quite presentable, t does have some paint flaws and minor wear. It has never seen any serious accidents or broken fiberglass. Since many cars of this vintage have seen paint problems[the infamous 'pinking'] all of the body has been repainted over time. The tires are good for at least another season and the rims are good with only minor curb marks. Has large diameter stainless cat back exhaust[2.25 inch IIRC] Virtually all of the known failures have been addressed over the last 13 years. Repairs and updates as follows: 2015: plugs and wires EBC green stuff front pads 2014 coil packs right front wheel bearing 2012 throttle position sensor headlight motor repair previous years: timing belt and water pump at 100k cam angle sensor 2006 and before: struts front and rear ball joints window 'bow ties' and adjustment roof seals O2 sensor cv boots timing belt at 55k Many cars with lower mileage will not have had this maintenance done Includes a spare steering wheel[complete] and used console The air needs a charge, he passenger window is starting to resist going down but returns up easily. Everything else works and it is registered inspected. All of the pictures are from this week The Lotus M100 Elan Factory Sales Training Manual The concept behind the Lotus Elan is a simple one. The car should be a lightweight roadster, ith a chassis that produces high levels of handling prowess and comfort. The car should be easy to drive quickly and therefore inspire confidence in the driver. Styling will be advanced, o exceed the current state of the art. The total package should be FUN and efficient, nd in the end, he Elan should redefine the capability of a sports car. This is the basis of the design brief that was presented to the Lotus engineers in the early 1960's. The original Lotus Elan met these parameters brilliantly and is often described as the definitive sports car. It proved that efficiency and elegance of design can prevail over brute force in an era when brute force was the norm. As the Lotus Project M-100 evolved in the late 1980's, he engineers discovered that the new vehicle also brilliantly met the original design parameters set forth some 25 years ago. This led to the realization that the name Elan stands not for a car but for a concept or system that allows such a car to exist. Hence the introduction of the 1991 Lotus Elan. The new car epitomizes the concept to the point that reviving the proud Elan name was the only way to properly describe what started out as M-100. ELAN IS A CONCEPT The Evolution of Project M-100 Lotus cars discontinued the Elan and Europa at the end of the 1973 model year. The new emphasis was on the more upmarket cars such as the new Elite and the soon to arrive Esprit. Colin Chapman felt that the company would do better with larger, ore luxurious cars. There were several people at Lotus who felt that a small affordable car that was pure fun and performance would be a good way to keep the Lotus marque popular and keep alive the Lotus version of the traditional British sports car. The uncertain financial conditions in the early 1980's did nothing, owever to further these wishes. Additionally, ompany founder, olin Chapman thought that the upmarket vehicles with better margins were more suitable for the Lotus style of hand manufacture. Nevertheless, he idea was kept alive over the years and went through several design studies. Projects M-90 and X-100 were developed to varying degrees, ut never reached the approval stage, robably due to lack of stable financing. These vehicles were small, wo seat cars that were powered by economical 4 cylinder engines from other manufacturers. EVOLUTION The year 1986 marked an important turning point for Group Lotus. General Motors purchased the Lotus stock throughout the year, o that by the end of the year, they were the sole owners of Group Lotus. Having General Motors as your shareholder provides a background of stability from which Lotus could develop new models and build a strong sales and marketing presence in the United States. Lotus Cars USA, nc. was formed at this point to achieve this goal The small car concept was again forwarded and designs were submitted to the board in late 1986. Lotus Design won approval for their design, hich was penned by Peter Stevens. GENERAL MOTORS M-100 APPROVAL IN 1986 The new M-100 design was radical in several ways. Lotus Engineering had just spent the past 5 years tuning and refining chassis systems for a variety of other manufacturers. They had the opportunity to be involved in many projects that allowed them to study a wide variety of platforms, nd many lessons were learned. Chassis rigidity was of paramount importance, nd since the new vehicle was a roadster, hey would use their experience with structures to apply some new manufacturing concepts to provide a roadster chassis that was as rigid as any coupe. Perhaps most surprising was the realization of the performance potential in front wheel drive. The ride and handling engineers found that for a given vehicle weight, ower and tire size, front wheel drive car was always faster over a given section of road. There were definite advantages in traction and controllability, nd the negatives such as torque steer, ump steer, nd steering kickback were not insurmountable. FRONT WHEEL DRIVE THE PERFORMANCE DECISION The powerplant would also be a main concern. Power and response would have to be excellent. Physical size would have to be very small, nd the engine would have to be mass produced in order for the car to sell in the class that Lotus wanted it fall. Lotus discussed the requirements with all of the small engine manufacturers in the world and eventually found that Isuzu was planning a small engine that nearly met all of the requirements, nd Isuzu was eager to be involved. While the engine was on the drawing board, otus was able to insure that the dimensional requirements were satisfied. The Elan was to be quite a small car, o the engine needed to be very compact. The finished product from Isuzu was very close to what Lotus needed. Exhaust, ntake plumbing, ngine mounting, nd ECM software were designed at Lotus to make the engine a perfect match to the chassis. The resulting car is powerful, efficient, riveable and easy to maintain. Our friends at Isuzu have made it possible for someone to own a hand built exotic sports car that can be driven every day for under $40,000, hich is quite an achievement. LOTUS-ISUZU ENGINE COMPACT AND POWERFUL With all of the elements in place, he Lotus Engineering staff went to work in early 1987 completing the design and building the prototypes necessary to transform the styling buck into a real car. The Elan nearly set a record for the shortest time needed to completely engineer, onstruct and prove a vehicle. The project M-100 received Lotus Executive Board approval in the late fall of 1986. The first dealer demonstrators were in dealer showrooms in the UK shortly after the start of the new year in 1990, aking the entire time from clay to Job-1 just slightly longer than 3 years. As is typical for most European car manufacturers, he U.S. specification car was planned for introduction the following model year. JUST OVER 3 YEARS FROM DESIGN APPROVAL TO PRODUCTION The British press once again heralded the Elan as the epitome of the British roadster, nd the Elan went on sale in the UK in late spring 1990. The US version of the Elan was introduced about a year later. There were many significant changes in the Elan before it made its way to the U.S. market. The most important is the structural changes that occurred while engineering the front chassis section to cope with the SIR (airbag). The new front section gave a significant increase in rigidity that allowed the chassis engineers to completely recalibrate the suspension settings. This Goodyear the necessary time to finish the design of the new GS-D tire, o the U.S. model was able to get 16 " wheels. As a result of the changes in the chassis, he U.S. version is actually a better riding and handling car. There were also styling changes. The interior was slightly redone to delete the accent stripes which had marginal attraction in this market. The seats were instead covered with a rich looking perforated leather. The rear quarter panels and decklid were reengineered to regain the smooth design of the original styling model. The European cars have the shut lines for the decklid on the quarter panel. U.S. cars have the shut lines for the decklid on the decklid, eaving the quarter panel free of seams. The decision was also made to import only the turbocharged version to the US market, ince the price difference would not be significant enough to offset the difference in performance. IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE US MARKET TURBOS ONLY FOR THE US MARKET The new Elan has been tested and proven by Lotus more than any other production vehicle built by the Hethel firm. Over a two year period 19 crash cars and 42 development vehicles were built and tested. Nearly a million test miles were logged from the Artic Circle to Arizona to Pikes Peak. Thousands of miles have been covered all over Europe and around the test tracks at Lotus headquarters at Hethel in Norfolk and Lotus' Millbrook Proving Grounds in Bedfordshire. The Elan also ran 250,000 miles on Millbrook's Belgium Pave circuit. This circuit replicates the cobblestone roads in old Belgium, nd these miles are the equivalent of 750,000 miles driven on normal roads. The Elan was driven at race speeds for 24 hours around the track at Snetterton. Finally each and every Elan is test driven for a distance of about 30-35 miles around the track and roads at Hethel to insure that everything is in order before the vehicle is shipped off to the US in closed containers. After preparation at the Lotus Cars USA headquarters at Lawrenceville, Georgia, he Vehicle is shipped to the dealer by Horseless Carriage in fully enclosed trucks. PROVING AND DEVELOPMENT DELIVERY TO US DEALERS The Elan-Investment in the Future Lotus has a huge investment in the new Elan, n excess of 35 million pounds ($58 million) of which over 18 million pounds was used on new buildings, tooling, quipment and engineering facilities for the building of the new car. This is the biggest single investment in Lotus history. At the same time, his sum is a small fraction of the money that it routinely spent by car manufacturers. One of the big three would spend more for a minor model year change. This is the kind of results that are achievable when you have a few dedicated people who are allowed to exercise their talents. The Elan is not built by a company, ut by individuals who are encouraged to express themselves in their work. Investment in new technology and facilities also allows Lotus to enjoy continued success in their engineering consultancy. Engineering and development projects performed for other manufacturers gives the engineering group a broad base of experience, ut designing a Lotus gives the team the opportunity to distill all of the lessons into one pure design. This is when Lotus can set new standards and push back the barriers of compromise. LARGEST INVESTMENT IN LOTUS HISTORY BUILT BY INDIVIDUALS NO COMPROMISE DESIGN Lotus has had to insure an easy adjustment for personnel and resources to enjoy the planned increase in production. It has been over 15 years since the Hethel company has produced over 2000 cars per year. Lotus production reached the 3000 car level during 1991. The production area in Hethel has been increased from 85,737 sq ft to a huge 290,635 sq ft over the past few years. A number of buildings have been remodelled as well. These include a new high rise unit for warehousing of all components for the manufacturing of the Elan. The building is located adjacent to the manufacturing building, inimizing transportation delays. This also allows Lotus to stock minimum levels of parts, early eliminating delays for slow or late shipments of components. Also a new building has been constructed for the manufacture of all parts and tools required for the new VARI process. Now, ll new VARI tooling can be made at Hethel. There have been many more changes at Hethel. Engineering has constructed many new test areas and have recently finished their new semi-anechoic chamber which will contribute to their industry leading position in the research of noise control. The Group Lotus property is hardly recognizeable to one who has not been there in the past few years. FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS The Elan Chassis-Backbone and Perimeter Frame The goal was to produce a rigid platform that was light and could be produced in numbers. Lotus used the classic backbone chassis design with some new developments and designed an extremely stiff platform for the new suspension. RIGID PLATFORM REQUIRED There is a deep central backbone that as in previous Lotus practice runs down the center of the chassis separating the passenger compartment into two passenger cells. The backbone chassis in the Elan is made of an octagonal cross section versus the box of the Esprit. This gives a stiffer structure and allows the chassis to have a lower profile, hus maximizing passenger space. The front section consists of two longitudinal members called longerons that join with a front transverse section that provides a strong box that holds the drivetrain and front suspension. The drivetrain is bolted securely to this front section and acts as a semi stressed member that adds rigidity to the chassis. The front transverse section mounts a special aluminum honeycomb structure that provides crash strength and assists in the functioning of the airbag. This front sub-assembly containing the drivetrain and front suspension bolts to the front of the main backbone section and can be removed easily to facilitate servicing and repair. The rear section of the chassis consists of two "winged" brackets that mount the upper end of the coil over shock units. BACKBONE CHASSIS All steel parts are "E" coated (powder coating) and box sections wax injected for maximum anti-corrosion protection. The Elan chassis is warranted from corrosion for a period of 5 years. 5 YEAR CORROSION WARRANTY ON CHASSIS All Lotus chassis designs since the early Elan use the backbone chassis and composite bodies as partners in generating the necessary rigidity. Since the Elan was to be an open car, nd new suspension designs and tires require such a stiff platform for best performance, t was necessary for the engineers to come up with some new techniques to get the desired stiffness. Production and styling factors required that the body's external parts be non structural. This allows the stylists to easily change the exterior shape of the vehicle, ithout changing the basic structural design. This also allows the body parts to be made in smaller pieces, herefore giving better control of waste during production. The Esprit's body is molded in two major pieces, hich is more time consuming and harder to handle. If one part of the body has a flaw, hen the entire body half must be discarded. This potential waste was not feasible with Elan production volumes. EXTERNAL BODY PARTS NON STRUCTURAL The structural part of the Elan body consists of a large floor molding, hich is VARI constructed and is 3mm thick. This molding incorporates the A and B pillars, he rear wheel arches and the trunk pan. The perimeter frame consists of several pieces of 18 gage sheet steel that are formed into a box sections and then bonded and riveted to the floor molding. This creates an outrigger style box frame that stiffens the floor molding, and provides a good mounting point for the chassis, eats and seat belts. The A and B pillars also receive the steel support sections. The A pillars are connected by the bottom member of the windshield frame, nd the B pillars are connected by a brace that crosses the car under the convertible top stowage well. This upper frame is finally connected by the door impact beams. The windscreen pillar is cast of high-strength aluminum and bolts directly to the tops of the A-pillars. This assembly is strong enough to support the weight of the car in the event of a roll over. ONE PIECE FLOOR MOLDING WITH BONDED PERIMETER FRAME The resulting hybrid composite-steel-aluminum chassis is very rigid torsionally. Stiffness measures at 6600 lbs-ft per degree. This specification is extremely high for a open car and serves for a very stable and rigid platform. The Lotus engineers now have the rigid platform that they need to make their new generation suspension work properly. CHASSIS RIGIDITY IS 6600 LB-FT/DEGREE The following diagrams show the construction of the Elan body and chassis. Note the shaded areas on the first diagram which show the steel parts that are bonded and riveted onto the floor molding. The second diagram clearly shows the perimeter frame and how it is tied together. LOTUS ELAN BODY COMPONENTS AND SUB-STRUCTURE LOTUS ELAN CHASSIS, POWERTRAIN AND SUSPENSION LAYOUT The Elan Suspension A front wheel drive configuration was chosen because of the clear performance advantage. Lotus Engineering has been involved in the design and tuning of suspension systems of all kinds. Their experience has shown them that a front wheel drive design is always faster over a given course if you compare two chassis with the same weight, ower and tires. The advantages are traction and controllability. The weight is mainly over the wheels that drive and steer, aking the existing performance very accessible and predictable. The disadvantages are torque steer, ump steer, teering kickback and road harshness. These bad habits are accentuated by high power output, hich is a definite requirement for a Lotus. Lotus felt certain that they had the elements of a new design that would solve all of the challenges that front drive presented and provide a true Lotus feel on the road. FRONT DRIVE ADVANTAGE AND SUSPENSION The Interactive Wishbone with Compliance Raft Roger Becker, John Miles and Jerry Booen developed a new, atented "interactive wishbone" suspension system to meet the ride and handling demands of the new Elan. It provides the ultimate in handling, omfortable ride, ood isolation from vibration, nd eliminates the torque and bump steer that plagues other front drive designs. The key to the system is the compliance raft, vertical sub-assembly that mounts to the front chassis member. The front wishbones in turn mount to the raft. The suspension is a full double wishbone design that effectively eliminates the power induced caster changes that cause torque steer. Since the upper and lower wishbones move as a pair. the steering axis angle (caster) remains constant and the car is not steered in that direction. Nearly all front drive suspensions use a McPherson strut suspension that poorly maintains caster under power. As the right front wheel (usually the driven wheel) pulls the suspension forward under power, here is an increase in caster angle because of the necessary play in the suspension bushings. The only way to control this in that type of system is to use unreasonably stiff suspension bushings, hich sacrifice ride quality and compliance. The Elan interactive wishbone design controls the critical suspension settings allowing the car to track faithfully under all conditions. The wishbone to raft bushings are quite firm and these assist in keeping the alignment true. The raft to chassis bushings are very compliant in certain directions, hich allows for good road isolation and excellent bump compliance. Thus, amber, aster and toe are carefully controlled by the bushings that are stiff in these planes of movement while bump compliance is provided by the same bushings that are soft and will allow the whole assembly to move rearward and upwards in the case of a sharp bump. INTERACTIVE WISHBONE COMPLIANCE RAFT TORQUE STEER DIRECTIONAL BUSHINGS BUMP COMPLIANCE Bump steer is controlled to maximize stability in transitions, urn-in and under braking. All steering components are carefully placed in order to give the suspension the proper input as it moves up and down throughout its range. On bump there is a slight amount of toe-out and on re-bound, toe-in is induced. Additionally, n the front the hub spindle is offset slightly rearward of the steering axis. This results in better stability under braking. The driveshafts are equal length for proper torque distribution and alignment control. BUMP STEER CONTROLLED The front suspension is supported with a coil spring over shock that is mounted to the lower wishbone. The driveshaft passes through an opening in the bottom of the shock assembly. An anti-roll bar is also mounted to the lower wishbone. COIL OVER SPRING SHOCK UNIT All Elans have power assisted steering. Various Ackermann values were evaluated. 60% Ackermann geometry is used, roviding the best compromise between high Ackermann values that give good front tire adhesion on tight turns at the expense of stability on sweeping corners versus smaller Ackermann values that give better high speed stability with the inevitable tire scrub and loss of adhesion on slow speed corners.