Lotus anti-roll bar

I got my Moss Motors order this week, tie rod end bearings and upright rebuild kits, so I was going to take Friday off to work on the car, but things got complicated. A bunch of folks heading to Japan, and they need laptops and BlackBerrys. Not only did I have to come in, I had to work late, which blew away my chance to attend the First Hawaiian Bank Auto Show. Oh well, at least I felt like I was doing my little part to help Japan.

Would you believe it takes longer to set up a BlackBerry than a web server? Four hours minimum!

Today began with taking pictures of the Lotus fuel lines, something I promised the mailing list. The Europa Twin Cam has two fuel tanks. Lotus ran 1/4 in. hard plastic lines through rubber grommets in the frame, with press-on rubber fittings. Those fittings eventually deteriorate, causing fuel leaks. Many a Europa has met its doom from fuel fires. I replaced the plastic hoses with stainless steel brake lines, connected by short lengths of fuel line and clamps.

The consensus of the mailing list was that I should be able to straighten my bent anti-roll bar. It took longer to set up the press than it did to straighten the bar. I did it in many small steps, moving the support blocks to avoid too much stress at any one point. Piece of cake.

I spent the remainder of the morning between painting the bar and disassembling the LH suspension. Before painting the bar I had to remove the remaining drop link. I cut away as much of the rubber bushing as possible, at which point the link practically fell off. The picture only shows the bar painted primer, but I did shoot one color coat before leaving.

My goal for the suspension was to measure the length of the spring, so that I can order shorter replacements. I bought a pair of rachet tie-downs to use as spring compressors (another list recommendation). Maybe I can cut out at lunch time next week and see if this works.

posted from Blo

Lotus lower links, part 4

What a week. A bunch of parts arrived for the Lotus so like I mentioned last time I put in for some leave, the idea being to bring the car in, put it up on jack stands, and get it done without it becoming a permanent shop fixture. On Sunday I hurt my back replacing a toilet, and was not up for working on the car until Friday. Then Thursday night the tsunami hit Japan, setting off Civil Defence sirens all over the island to get people to evacuate low-lying areas. The whole family stayed up to watch the outcome on TV. So Friday did not get started much before noon. I did spend what was left of Friday at the shop.

After putting the car up on jack stands and removing the front wheels I got to work disassembling the suspension to see if there were any surprises. There were. Getting the anti-roll bar off was a challenge typical of crash damage, the bottom end of the damper is bent aft so much the bar would not swing down.

Upper bolts are 1/2 in., bottom two are 9/16. Bottom forward is long and takes a nut, the other three tap into the upright and take split washers. Note seal on inboard side of caliper mount.

Trunnion threads onto bottom of upright until just snug. Washers and bushings are a maze. Rubber boots missing from the ball joint and tie rod end. Not a trace.

Removing the ball joint is easy on the bench. I painted the caliper mount and the ball joint before deciding to order new ball joints.

Saturday was the usual three hour run.

I started out taking pictures of some parts to ensure the LH and RH versions do not get mixed up during painting.

The caliper mount is positioned with raised bosses and gasket inboard, felt seal outboard.

With the anti-roll bar finally off the car I could tell it was too bent to re-use as is. Could not find a way to get rubber bushings on and off. Just for fun I split open the damaged drop-link, its bushing was already split and unusable.

Looks like I'll need a new anti-roll bar, the bushings, and new front shocks. Might change the springs while I'm there, to lower the ride height.

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.