I just caught your video by accident and it brought back a memory. It's 1987, I'd been on a date with a lady down in South London. In those days I owned a '71 FHC sprint (i've owned a lot of Elans and Caterham's). And we had been out visiting friends. I was out from early in the day until late in the evening, and eventually had to make my way back home to North London. Just as I was approaching the Blackwall Tunnel I noticed the ominous glow of the ignition light. I pulled over as soon as I could (remembering to leave the engine running) and it all looked good. But, as soon as I switched anything on (lights, wipers) the light would come on. So it was either lights or wipers, always fun on a night of terrential rain! Even to this day I think the car was jealous! But it got me home and just swapped out the alternator. I used to commute into London for years in both my Elan FHC and +2S130, and also Caterham. Don't let anyone tell you they're unreliable. If you stay on top of servicing and maintenance and use them regularly (cars are made to be used not stored), no problems.

Great..!

belt tension? I know you run it quite loose to spare the water pump bearing

are you sure that the ignition live feed ( the one that energises the alternator) is actually connected? If not it wont charge. Otherwise yes it's a dud

Hi Oliver can we talk about smoking elans on start up? Does your elan have valve stem seals?

Is this a new finding or could it always have been like this? Any change to voltage through the rev range? Over 3k?