Fathers Day Ride

I usually think of a ride as a group activity. The annual Toys for Tots motorcycle ride, or the HBL Honolulu Century Ride for bicycles. If I waited for such a ride to take out my Lotus I doubt it would ever move.

Today is a beautiful day, and I decided as soon as I got up to take the Lotus out for a spin. I had to clean it up a little, mostly the wheels and windshield, then we were off on a south shore loop. "We" being me and the car.

I pulled over in Hawaii Kai to take some pictures. As soon as I got out of the car I was set upon by a delightful family; mom, dad, son and grandfather. Obviously out to celebrate Fathers Day. I said hi, and the questions began.

"What kind of car is that?"

"A Lotus? What year?"

"Is that the first model?"

"Why does it have two gas fillers?"

"What kind of engine does it have?"

"That must be the only one in Hawaii."

"What is it made of?"

I love it when that happens. Total strangers see my car and feel compelled to react. They wave. They honk. Or, like today, they overcome their deeply ingrained conditioning to mind their own business.

I sure hope that family will remember this Fathers Day as the time they saw that little yellow car.

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All British Car Day 2011

This is just a quick note that today was All British Car Day. I barely got the Lotus back on the road in time. Weather was nice, as always. Every year there seems to be a few less cars. I suppose as we get older that we eventually give up the hobby, while very few young guys take it up. Sure would be sad if some of these cars ended up homeless. A big mahalo to all the guys at British Car Club of Hawaii for putting on the show, and to the JN Group and Moss Motors, and anyone else I failed to mention, for sponsoring the event. And congratulations to my good friend Patrick Casey, who won Best in Show for his freshly restored Jag. Patrick has a whole stable of Lotus Europas, and has helped me with mine on several occasions. One of the replacement lower links came from him.

Pics on my Flickr site in a set: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjuLyqcT

Lotus tie rods

Yet another short session today. But the good news is that the shop was even open.

First order of business was to remove the tie rod end bearings. Easier said than done. I had to use a really big crescent wrench across the top and bottom of the bearing and a long 3/4 open end on the lock nut to break the nut loose.

In the midst of that battle I was distracted by the arrival of a very nice BMW, a Z4 M coupe. I offered to trade for my E9 but the owner turned me down. Just as well. The trunk is too small to store the junk in my van.

Before I forget I need to record the number of turns to remove the rod end bearings. LH 22, RH 21.5. Surprisingly similar.

I wanted to remove the tie rods for painting and to lube the ball and socket, but the RH was so tight (yes I folded back the locking tab) that I decided it was not worth the risk of breaking something else. I ended up cleaning and painting in place, after slipping a sheet of plastic over the ball and socket to keep it clean. Same for both sides. After studying these photos I realize I should touch up the frame here, too.

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Lotus lower links, part 3

I'm calling this part three because last week counts as part two.

During the week I got two more parts shipments, a nice set of anti-roll bar drop links from a Lotus Europa list member and four new bushings from Dave Bean Engineering. I also purchased front brake lines from Bean, having done the rear when I replaced the hub bearings.

On Thursday I stopped by the shop after work to spray the links with black Rustoleum. On Friday I went back for a second coat even though it was raining. For whatever reason -- I suspect the humidity -- I got runs. Oh well, the links are not out in the open.

All I did to the Lotus was replace the bushings and touch up the paint. Even that consumed most of my time slot. I plan on taking at least one day off to do the whole job.

After that I sanded down the filler applied to the E9 nose last week. In the process I exposed a joint where the lower nose section is joined to the upper. This could be from the factory, as these panels would be difficult to form in one piece. I spent the last thirty minutes treating the exposed metal with POR-15 Metal Ready and filling with Technifill. I did not have time to get a last picture.

E9 nose, Lotus ground

My plan was to get a batch of Technifill on top of the fiberglass put on the E9's nose last week, then work on the Lotus ground issue. Maybe even jump back and forth. It sort of went that way, but now there is so little time.

Trimmed the glass cloth and blended the edges with a sanding block. Roughed up the area with Scotch Brite pad. That's when I discovered my big can of Technifill is going bad. Last week I bought new activator, now I need the filler. Mixed up a batch with what I had and the new activator did its thing.

Switched to the Lotus. Jacked the rear, found the engine ground strap at the RH engine mount. Removed, wire brushed the connectors and the chassis connection points, reassembled. No improvement, starter only cranks enthusiastically with the booster grounded to the alternator mount.

The next link in the chain is the engine mount. I don't way to remove that, so I am considering adding a second ground connection directly to the bell housing.

At that point I was out of time. Bummer. I guess three hours is better than no hours.

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The Lotus runs again!

I was right. I had the static timing completely wrong. Probably because I was "thinking" about the distributor going the other way. Sort of like when you are trying to loosen a bolt upside down. This puts the points on the wrong side of the cam lobe, which puts the body out of position, which is why the primary wire connector was close up against the intake runner.

The ironic thing is, setting up the distributor on this engine is easy. Pull the plugs, raise the rear end, put a 4x4 under the LH wheel and lower the rear so that the tire sits on the board. Select 4th and use the RH wheel to turn the engine. Stick a clean Craftsman screwdriver into #1 spark plug hole and turn until screw driver starts to rise. Turn the screw driver around so that the end of the grip is sitting in the spark plug hole and turn the wheel some more. If air chuffs out of the spark plug hole #1 is coming up on compression. If not, watch the large alternator drive pulley and turn the engine until the pulley has gone half way around. Looking at the flywheel timing mark, set the engine at 9 deg. BTDC.

I position the distributor body with the primary connector at about 2 o'clock and the notch on the shaft at 12 o'clock. This puts the #1 lead at 6 o'clock. Connect a continuity meter to ground and the primary connector, then turn the distributor body until the points just open. Snug down the clamp and double check buy turning engine once around and slowly up to where the points open and check the timing at the flywheel. Repeat until it's right. DO NOT start with more than 9 deg. static advance or you could find yourself in the pre-ignition zone. DO road test and listen carefully for pinging.

The car started right up and flew around the test road with plenty of power. The idle was up, just over 1500, so I dropped it down. The thing about old ignition systems is that the deteriorate slowly. I am the kind of guy who will drive the car as long as it runs, and with this car just being a little off means it won't run. In other words, it needs regular attention.

Got Lotus spark, but no Lotus love

Last week I checked for spark without turning on the ignition. The first thing to do today was to repeat that test, the right way. Still no spark.

Not surprised, I jacked up the rear end, blocked the LH wheel and with the trans in forth and the spark plugs out I turned the RH wheel until #1 was coming up on compression and the flywheel mark was just past the 10 deg mark, around 8 or 9. Then I pulled out the distributor cap and rotor. Both looked perfect. I pulled the distributor and noticed right away that the point gap was nearly gone. Not from badly worn points, but more likely from wear on the plastic cam follower.

After resetting the point gap to .015 in. I installed the distributor, but during an initial position setup discovered the points were not making good contact -- my multi-meter beeper was reluctant to beep as the points closed. Out came the distributor. Removed the points and sanded with #180 wet/dry even though the points were not burned or pitted. After that they were fine.

I had a hard time getting the distributor body oriented the way I wanted. I ended up with the ignition lead way up near the intake runner, where it usually is around two o'clock. I recall having a similar problem the last time I did this, coming out of restoration, and that the cause was I was on the wrong side of the cam lobe. At this point I was running out of time, so I tested for spark and had it, nice and strong. I figured either it would run or it wouldn't, so I put in the new NKG spark plugs I picked up at Larry's and gave it a go. Not a sputter. Net week begins with checking the static timing setup procedure.

Lotus - Not the carbs

It's rough only having three hours to work Saturday morning. The last time the Lotus ran poorly it was one carb -- the rear one -- with a stuck air piston. The difference was that this time it quit cold, while last time it limped along on two cylinders.

I pulled the spark plugs and they all looked wet. #1 looked especially bad, but not terrible. I cleaned them up but I'll look for new ones this week. N7Y.

I went through the Zenith Stromberg carburetors and they look perfect. Pistons dropped without sticking, no tears in the diaphragms. Definite odor of gas on the needles. Very clean.

In order to use the shop's remote starter switch I had to make an extension out of a quick disconnect terminal, because the Denso starter has a male terminal inside a hard plastic housing where the alligator clip on the switch couldn't reach. I should buy one and modify it. Anyway, without plugs the starter turned nicely on the car battery.

I stuck a phillips screwdriver into the #1 spark plug lead, held it close to one of the cam cover studs, and cranked. No spark. There was not enough time to raise the rear end, set TDC and tear into the distributor, so I gave it a quick wash, pushed it back outside and put on the cover. Besides, it could be the vintage 70's MSD box. Or the tach wiring. The coil. It's all about elimination, one step at a time.

It was not until later this evening that I realized that I forgot to turn on the ignition switch while checking for spark. Doh! Fooled by the remote starter. So the spark status is still undetermined.