Lotus back on the road

At long last the Lotus is finished. I took some time off this week to get it done.

Installed the LH backing plate, steering link, caliper mount. Packed hub bearings, installed hub.

That all went without a hitch, but there are always things that take a lot longer than they ought to. Installing the new tie rod bellows (the English call them gaiters) was a battle. These are genuine, made in England replacements. Problem was, they were a tight fit on the inboard end. I wasted a lot of time getting them on.

It was now time for paint. Having already washed the frame cross member inside and out with POR-15 Marine Clean and waited a few days for it to dry, I stopped by Thursday afternoon to brush on a coat of Metal Prep to some rusty places, especially on the bottom where it attaches to the body. Mostly it was still good from the last time I painted it. When that was dry I applied a generous coat of Rustoleum.

On Friday, with the paint dry I could finish attaching the new brake lines. Very nice set from Dave Bean. Next I used the shop's dandy vacuum brake bleeder on all four wheels, making sure to keep the master cylinder topped off.

I decided to take some time to raise the rear spring mounts. I did not want to make a mess of the handling so I just raised them 0.75 in. I also adjusted the new front spring to match the RH side.

Spring length

Front, free: 10 in.

Front, mounted: 8.25 in.

Rear, mounted: 12.5 in.

I decided to soften the front damper settings from 22 clicks clockwise to 15.

The last time I went through the front suspension I tightened everything with the car on the jack stands. I was told that this was why the front seemed too high even with the AVO shocks at their lowest setting. This time I used a pair of jacks to lift the front wheels until the body was clear of the jack stands before tightening everything. Pulling 50 Ft. Lbs. with the car teetering in the air was nerve racking.

The last thing to do was treat the inside of the frame cross member. Paint was out of the question because of over spray, and brushing would be useless. I chose to blast it with LPS-3. I lost two of the little red tubes inside the frame until I figured out than the cool WD-40 top could fit. I emptied the entire can in there. After shooting the LPS-3 I cleaned the area around the openings with naphtha, then covered them with black Gorilla 200 m.p.h. tape. At that point the car was ready, but I decided to sleep on it. Sometimes something will come to me after I get away from the job at hand.

Today, nothing new came to mind so I put on the wheels, took it off the jack stands, and went for a test drive. I like the softer shock settings but that needs more tweaking. Brakes are good, but the pedal is still lower than I like. Need to adjust the MC push rod. Steering is a bit stiffer, but with new ball joints and tie rod bearings this should be expected. Suspension worked fine. The front is a little lower, but still not as low as I would like.

Nice to have the car back on the road in time for All British Car Show at the end of the month.

posted from Bloggeroid

Lotus back on the road

Next Sunday is the Honolulu Century Ride so I won't be working on cars. All the more reason to get the Lotus back on the road today.

After putting the rear wheels on I decided the LH brakes were a bit too tight so I removed the drum and turned back the adjuster a couple of turns. The wheel turned easily after that, but it will take a lot of handbrake pulls to adjust it back. I miss the old MG way.

With the rear finally back on the ground it was time to lift the front and repair the peeling tape. The best place to lift the front is at the frame. The trick is to get under the anti-roll bar. The shop's floor jacks are pretty standard, too high to get under the bar. The solution is to use two jacks. Use the first to lift the nose just enough to slip the second under the anti-roll bar and under the frame cross-member.



The tape was easier to repair than I thought. After cutting away the damaged tape and washing the area with a wet rag I just tore off strips of 200 m.p.h. tape and stuck them lengthwise to cover the brake lines. While doing that I noticed that I need to get some Rustoleum on the frame nearby.



The car started right up and passed its safety check with flying colors. Nice to have it home again.

Lotus odds and ends

The wheel bearings are done so I am not including this in the series, however I still spent the entire day working on the Lotus. Nothing that warranted a picture, so no new pics today.

The reason I decided to replace the drive shaft u-joints was a broken nipple. I think the grease gun was the culprit. The first order of business today was greasing the four new u-joints. Rather than take any chances I used an odd-looking adapter the shop has. It does not clip to the nipple. Instead, you just press it really hard against the nipple. Sort of like an aircraft style needle fitting only the tip is concave. It did require a lot of pressure, and a lot of grease leaked out, but it worked.

During the time the car has been up on jack stands it leaked some oil onto the floor. Today I checked and it was transmission oil (the smell is the give-away). I still had a fresh quart from when I switched to Redline 70W90, and I was surprised that it took more than half to top off. I need to keep an eye on that. After the oil was in I washed the transaxle, first with solvent, then with a strong batch of POR-15 Marine Clean. Now maybe I can tell where it is leaking. After that I mopped the floor.

With the wet and messy stuff out of the way I could hook up a battery charger. At that point I thought I might be taking the car home at the end of the day, but it had been raining all morning and I hate driving the Lotus in the rain. After lunch it was still raining, more than ever, so I decided to install the LH rear side marker light assembly and get the RH one, which I had already installed, wired into the harness. To get these after market pieces to fit required cutting away some of the brass that forms the receptacle for the ground wire and filing the holes in the body to get more clearance.

There are two more things I really ought to do: fix the rear license plate lights and repair the loose duct tape at the front of the brake line access bay, which runs under the car right down the center. Lotus used some really sticky, wide tape here. Good old duct tape is the best thing that is readily available. I wonder if there is any difference between duct tape, gaffer's tape, and 200 m.p.h. racing tape?

The rain never stopped, so the car is still there. Next week, for sure!