Mike's 1964 Elva Courier MkIV Build Thread!

[ELVA164]

I knew the name Elva sounded familiar because of this thread. I came across this the other day on my local craigslist.

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4373935063.html

That car is the real deal, and a very cool piece. Elva made most of its cars with fiberglass bodies, but produced two aluminum-bodied prototypes of each model for both testing and body finalization purposes. Unlike some other manufacturers of the period who would then update the prototypes when the production run started, Elva kept the cars as they were. I've seen the other MkII prototype before and it's a very "50's space age" looking car. Unless it goes into a museum, that car will require a complete teardown and restoration.

[Nick_S]

I knew the name Elva sounded familiar because of this thread. I came across this the other day on my local craigslist.

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4373935063.html

[ELVA164]

150 horses in a car that little will be seriously awesome.

Fingers crossed! :twisted:

[mulletman]

150 horses in a car that little will be seriously awesome.

[ELVA164]

It's just a dummy setup to make motor/trans mounts in the car, but I'm planning on building a warmed-over ~150hp motor from a different set of (less rusty) parts.

[mulletman]

I'm going with 106 horses, for an actual guess.


How close am I? Awesome build, by the way!

[BlackbirdM3]

Nice try on the motor... April fools I'm sure.

Good progress with the rest of the car however.

Will

[ELVA164]

Small update! I found the original steering rack off the Courier:


But it's a little...bent.


I was going to have it repaired, but I took a quick look on Ebay UK and found a remanufactured RHD Spitfire rack for just over $200!


I also dug up the radiator, which appears to be perfectly fine and useable:



And I got the motor back from the dyno, too! Came out just under 300bhp, should be a lot of fun!

We removed the valve cover, oil pan, and gearbox internals to save weight. Should make a big difference. :)

[ELVA164]

Stopped by the shop where the Elva currently lives for other business and found a bit more progress!

The front chassis rails are all welded in!



We also have the Spitfire towers tacked in place for the time being...need to find some Spitfire front control arms first. Anybody have any?

[ELVA164]

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. As pretty as a Ferrari 250, but unfortunately not nearly as quick.

[flyboyx]

what is this beautiful car?

[ELVA164]

Post-Sebring update!

We've been gone to the races for a few weeks now, and when we returned I was surprised with some pretty exciting progress on the chassis!

A new setup to replace the destroyed front section of the frame:


Complete with the Spitfire suspension towers, which just need to be perfectly aligned and attached:


A great-looking new rocker panel to replace the old bent/warped one:


A new steel floor, both for a bit of added stiffness and some extra protection:



And a good amount of work un-twisting the chassis, which is almost straight again. You can see where the frame was cut at a damaged weld near the trans mount to allow the chassis to get happy before re-welding:



One interesting detail was the...odd angles the rear shock mounts currently have:



I think I'll also be either cutting the bottom halves of those huge trailing arm brackets off or just making new, proper mounts to replace them.

Some of the next things to do are bring a dummy engine block/transmission over to start figuring out mount locations and disassembling the rear end to replace any seals/gaskets and check the condition of the hubs, hub bearings, and diff internals. Pretty exciting stuff! :D

[BlackbirdM3]

It's too bad how many of those things are the case. Guess they might be saying that about E30's someday, huh? Sounds like a worn/loose steering box to me in the Alfa.

Is this the color?


Or maybe this:

On the Alfa, no, not a worn steering box, everything is new, as in NOS. I have no clue what it cost to restore, but its like a new vehicle. This is the only pic of it I have on line.



The Aston Martin color is darker than both of those, almost a BRG, but more blue, like periwinkle perhaps?

Will

[ELVA164]

Sprints are cool. I agree, they look better than the spiders. Sadly in the '70s and '80s everyone stripped the Sprints for parts for the spiders, and threw the remains away. Now finding parts for one is both hard and expensive. I'm curious if they drive any differently. My Datsun shares a garage with a flawless (99 point car) 65 1600 spider. The owner can't drive manual transmissions now due to a health issue so it does a lot of sitting. Still, every so often when I go up to get my car I take him for a spin in the Alfa and the thing is scary to drive. The steering is more than a little vague, feels slow initially then way too fast shortly there after. I can't think of why. Its always a relief to jump in the Datsun that is only 4 years newer. It drives right, and its got nearly twice the power of the Alfa. I really hope my Sprint doesn't drive this way should I ever get it back on the road.

When I was getting the Datsun painted, the painter had a sample of an early Aston Martin color that was a metallic blue-green. I think it was a late '50s color. I think that could look good as well. I'm considering it for my Alfa. No, I don't have a clue what the real name is or the paint code.

Will

It's too bad how many of those things are the case. Guess they might be saying that about E30's someday, huh? Sounds like a worn/loose steering box to me in the Alfa.

Is this the color?


Or maybe this:

[BlackbirdM3]

Thanks for the input, I'll have to add that to my list of considerations for sure! By the way, I know someone with a '59 Giulietta Sprint road car that has sat unused for years, and I can't help but think about how cool that would be to drive around. Close to stock because it wouldn't matter one bit how fast it was. I like them a lot more than the convertibles aesthetically.

For any potential photoshoppers: I found a good amount of photos of the car online last night! Here are some, I can provide more if you would like!

Sprints are cool. I agree, they look better than the spiders. Sadly in the '70s and '80s everyone stripped the Sprints for parts for the spiders, and threw the remains away. Now finding parts for one is both hard and expensive. I'm curious if they drive any differently. My Datsun shares a garage with a flawless (99 point car) 65 1600 spider. The owner can't drive manual transmissions now due to a health issue so it does a lot of sitting. Still, every so often when I go up to get my car I take him for a spin in the Alfa and the thing is scary to drive. The steering is more than a little vague, feels slow initially then way too fast shortly there after. I can't think of why. Its always a relief to jump in the Datsun that is only 4 years newer. It drives right, and its got nearly twice the power of the Alfa. I really hope my Sprint doesn't drive this way should I ever get it back on the road.

When I was getting the Datsun painted, the painter had a sample of an early Aston Martin color that was a metallic blue-green. I think it was a late '50s color. I think that could look good as well. I'm considering it for my Alfa. No, I don't have a clue what the real name is or the paint code.

Will