Attempting to build the world's quickest UK road legal Elan

[nalesutol]

Jul 2, 2016 7:39:18 GMT fer4l said:

I've heard Clio wipers are light, be worth checking out those and a few other light moderns inc Honda Insight etc. Possibly consider rear units?

Or vacuum units off old Yanks weigh pretty little (I've got one you can have if of interest but it won't do much wiping under what conditions!) - or maybe just delete the whole system if you don't need an MoT (but that won't do much wiping under any conditions!

Cheers

Matt

Hi Matt

The car will be road legal so has to be MOT compliant. It won't be used in the wet so the wipers just have to work at MOT time :-)

Have you got a photo of the Yank Vacuum unit?

Regards

Steve

[duggers]

As someone else said size up a rear wiper motor unit of something small.

[fer4l]

This is roughly what it looks like

[Darkspeed]

It may be that an MX5 headlamp lifter motor may work - rear motors are nice and small, I have a MK5 Escort one around here somewhere and it was small and light.

[nalesutol]

Jul 2, 2016 14:41:46 GMT fer4l said:

This is roughly what it looks like



Thanks. Looks a tad complicated :-) How much does it weigh?

[nalesutol]

Jul 2, 2016 12:16:31 GMT duggers said:

As someone else said size up a rear wiper motor unit of something small.

Had a look at these. They would require new mounts and (I think) wiper actuator. Although I am not afraid of a little modification/fabrication, If I can avoid it I will. In order to stick to the mantra KISS whenever possible I will simply lighten the existing motor, should be able to remove over 300gms. Also, thinking about it, the motor is one of only a few parts left of the original car :-)

Thanks for your suggestions guys, they helped me to decide on what to do.

Started on motor case, managed to reduce one side from 4mm to 1.35mm before one of the mill's nylon drive cogs shed some teeth. I thought I had a spare but can't find it, so that was that for the day.

Yes, I know that I am nuts, but I am simply following the advice I got from a successful race car builder many years ago. Once you have removed all of the easy weight, the only way to remove the next lb (told you it was some time ago) is to remove an ounce from 16 places. With my car's present (estimated) power to weight ratio on race fuel (around 0.92bhp/Kg) each further Kg removed is worth almost 1bhp/tonne. A few more Kgs and I will be approaching 1000bhp/tonne in race trim :-)

[bmwmaniac]

MAN this is an awesome build, lovely bit of kit you have there.

If you looking to paint it black, with a modern twist, have a look at ETNA black.

[nalesutol]

Thanks.

Certainly an interesting colour. Took me a few minutes to work out the significance of the name.

[bmwmaniac]

I feel the elan has the correct curves to show off a colour like that

[Darkspeed]

Jul 5, 2016 7:19:55 GMT nalesutol said:

Thanks.

Certainly an interesting colour. Took me a few minutes to work out the significance of the name.

Took me a while before the penny dropped regarding the association - that one was certainly an acquired taste.

[nalesutol]

Jul 5, 2016 16:58:48 GMT bmwmaniac said:

I feel the elan has the correct curves to show off a colour like that

Yes, there isn't a flat panel on the Elan, apart from the rear light panel.

[The House]

Could you not leave the wiper motor as is, fit it for the MOT, and then just remove it and not run with one at all untill MOT time next year?
You said yourself it won't be used in the wet, and you'd be saving yourself 2.7kg...

[nalesutol]

Jul 5, 2016 20:01:24 GMT The House said:

Could you not leave the wiper motor as is, fit it for the MOT, and then just remove it and not run with one at all untill MOT time next year?
You said yourself it won't be used in the wet, and you'd be saving yourself 2.7kg...

I could, but the car wouldn't then be road legal which is the whole point :-)

If the car achieves what I hope it will, there will be people claiming that it isn't road legal so it has to be 100%.

[fer4l]

Afterthought - simple manual wiper?

Cheers

Matt

[nalesutol]

Jul 5, 2016 23:31:12 GMT fer4l said:

Afterthought - simple manual wiper?

Cheers

Matt

That thought has crossed my mind, Chris, however........

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

Windscreen wipers and washers



34.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), every vehicle fitted with a windscreen shall, unless the driver can obtain an adequate view to the front of the vehicle without looking through the windscreen, be fitted with one or more efficient automatic windscreen wipers capable of clearing the windscreen so that the driver has an adequate view of the road in front of both sides of the vehicle and to the front of the vehicle.

[georgeb]

Don't come much smaller.



Manual override as well.

"Land Rover - Yesterdays technology today"

[nalesutol]

Can't find this on his site, have you got a link?

[fer4l]

Jul 6, 2016 8:24:35 GMT nalesutol said:

Jul 5, 2016 23:31:12 GMT fer4l said:

Afterthought - simple manual wiper?

Cheers

Matt

That thought has crossed my mind, Chris, however........

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

Windscreen wipers and washers



34.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), every vehicle fitted with a windscreen shall, unless the driver can obtain an adequate view to the front of the vehicle without looking through the windscreen, be fitted with one or more efficient automatic windscreen wipers capable of clearing the windscreen so that the driver has an adequate view of the road in front of both sides of the vehicle and to the front of the vehicle.

Might just be worth checking what the equivalent regs said when the Elan was built - the 1986 regs won't have had retrospective effect!

[flyingphil]

Hi
That type of wiper motor is fitted to MGTCs, Bentley (Old style) etc so are available from Holden Classics? and others.

[village]

If the windscreen is removable, that will satisfy the requirement as the drive does not need to see through a wet screen.