I always have trouble getting the Lotus started after it has sat awhile. Yesterday I decided to try an experiment and possibly save the battery at the same time. Without even trying to start it using its own battery I jumpered it with my trusty old Toyota Camry, clipping the positive lead to the connector right where it clamps to the wire. Sure enough, it cranked just fine. It didn't want to start, which meant lots of cranking and waiting, but eventually it coughed and sputtered to life. Water in the carb floats, I suppose. This eliminates everything else, like replays, grounds, and the ignition switch. The battery was new and is still good. The problem seems to be the cheap, after-market terminal I used when I switched back from aircraft type connectors to standard battery terminals. Yes, I actually used to use a 12 volt airplane battery, very light and spill-proof. Also very expensive. I really need to make a new cable.
Once I had the engine running I discovered another problem. The clutch was frozen. Luckily both my sons were home, so I had them rock the car while I sat inside with the trans in forth and the clutch in. After that it was fine, so I drove around the neighborhood for an hour to see if anything would fall off. Hey, its a Lotus.
This morning the car started just fine, and I made it to the meeting without a hitch. I never have time to attend the Saturday tech sessions. In fact, the only activity I've done so far with the group is the annual British Car Day at Kapiolani Park, so it was nice to hang out in a more social setting.
After the meeting there was still enough time to get some work done on the E9. I actually made it to the shop by 1:30. I started out improving the fit of the patch I cut out last week, but then I realized that the opening I had cut gave me unique access to a tight spot where the spare tire well, in the floor of the trunk, meets the rear panel. The area was covered with a thick, rubbery coating, but the area where I was had broken down, perhaps as a result of previous read-end collision damage, and light surface rust was spreading. I changed course and set to work scrapping off the loose, dry, cracked coating, finishing with the usual POR-15 prep treatment of a wash with Marine-Clean followed by an application of Metal-Ready. I took a picture of all the crud I scrapped off, and that doest include the stuff that ended up stuck in my hair or went flying off into unknown nooks and crannies. I'm not going to strip off all the undercoating. Some of it still looks good, even after 30+ years. When the exterior body work is mostly done I'll put the car up on a lift and look for more bad spots. At least for now I can get to one a lot easier before I weld on this latest patch, and POR-15 will be the perfect treatment for these areas. Maybe I should experiment with getting a heavy undercoating to stick to POR-15.
On the way home I rendezvoused with Patrick Casey, who has been holding onto the fire system I purchased for the Lotus. In the box was a bottle, nozzles, tubing, and a mechanical pull trigger. I have yet to study the installation instructions, but when its in I should be able to pull the handle from inside the driver's compartment and set off the fire extinguisher in the engine bay. Lotus Europas are famous for bursting into flame due to the lousy original plastic fuel lines, but then I changed all that. Still even a small fire in a fiberglass car can cause major damage. The smart thing to do would be to install that and the battery cable at the same time.
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