ELM327 CAN part:
How can it be so simple, I took the reference design from the PDF and removed the non CAN stuff, here is the result:
The chip need more power than what the 78L05 from the duino (100mA) can provide so I will replace it with a 7805 (1A).
Basically there is the ELM327, the MCP2551, a crystal, 3 resistors, 5 capacitors.
This will be my starting point. Note that I will not use a MAX232 or transistors to convert the rx/tx to RS232 level as I will use a direct connect to the pin 0 and 1 of the Arduino, it should work, isn't it?