Driver's seat out, floor almost out

Having ascertained the condition of the passengers side floor -- not good -- I decided today was the day to explore the other side. The work went much faster, a natural result of having done it once. I found the same shoddy floor repair panel and was trying to get it removed, but ran out of time.





Found $3.96 is loose change under the rear carpet, and a Honolulu newspaper from 1999 under the front carpet. What was that for?




The funny part was how the original gas pedal mount was accommodated. After pop-riveting in the new floor, having cut out the original mount, they riveted what used to be the old floor to another piece of sheet metal, then riveted that to the new floor. No sign of rust prevention. The original piece is all but disintegrated. I'll need to get creative to repair this.

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Removed the tar, found a lost eco-system

This was one of those days when I felt like an archaeologist on a dig in ancient ruins. I set out to experiment using my Craftsman Multi-Tool to remove the thick layer of tar covering the passenger's floor. Worked well. A bit slow at first, but after the scraper blade warmed up from the friction the tar would melt and progress was much more rapid. After that the only problem was tar build-up on the blade. I made a video of the tool at work, at the bottom of this post. It works a lot better than a held held putty knife.



Not long after starting I dug up a rubber plug. There was another just like it under the first. Eventually I pulled it out and could see the shop floor through the neat hole. Must have been a factory drain hole.

A little later I found a seam. As the sheet metal was exposed I could make out the outline of yet another patch. This was was professionally welded in, unlike the entire floor already removed, and the patches I can see at the rear side of the front wheel well. Obviously this coupe sat out in the rain a lot, leaky rubber window seal and all. That, or a PO enjoyed driving around with the windows down regardless of the weather, something I can sympathize with having driven this car on Hawaiian rainy days. That is when you really miss air conditioning.

There is still a thin layer of tar which will take a lot of elbow grease to remove. Along with a pile of rags and a large bottle of acetone. Next time. I did spray the entire area with POR-15 Metal Ready, to stop the rust from spreading.

Got the heater out

With help from my friend Carl I managed to get the glove box bracket off, which was blocking the heater control cables. I had given up breaking the screw loose and was setting up to drill when Carl happened by. He tried a left-handed drill bit (Snap-On) but it would not bite enough. Next he tried an easy out, but that would not hold. Finally we ended up drilling off the head.

With the support bracket out of the way I could get the RH side of the heater free, but the LH side refused to drop down. Eventually I realized that I had never disconnected the heater hoses. I loosened the clamps with a 6mm socket but the hoses refused to budge, so cut them off. One more thing to deal with in the future.

I had ten minutes left, but I decided to call it a day.

Not sure I want to bother putting the heater back in, because in Honolulu it is never used. But the heater is also the fresh air vent system, and without it the interior will be even stuffier than it is, especially in the rain. Maybe I can work out a simple substitute.

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Heater almost out, door skins ordered

I went back to removing the heater. Removed the plastic flex tubing, one clamp each side (one end not clamped). Disconnected the wires from the brake light switch. Removed the fan motor, which does not turn. Removed the four 10mm nuts that should have released the heater. Had to tap with hammer and pry with screwdriver, finally came free. But not out.

Some of the heater control cables run over the bar that sports the glove box. The bar is attached with brackets, with two Phillips head screws on the outboard end. One screw is frozen. It does not look rusted, so the problem is probably whatever it is screwed into. Even an impact tool would not budge it. Shot it with PB Blaster and called it a day.

Last week I sent some money to England for new door skins. Shipping what it is these says I'll be lucky if they arrive by spring.

The Lotus is going to need a new water pump. A big job on that motor. I would like to have the doors fixed on the E9 before I push it outside to make room for the Lotus this summer.

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Lotus at BCCH tech day, hard starting diagnosed

I volunteered my Lotus for the January BCCH tech session. We met at the Boys Club on the 21st, which was perfect for me because Patrick works on his cars there. Patrick has just restored a Jag, but he also has three Europas under restoration. (See, I'm not so crazy!)

My main issue was the hard starting. Ever since I put the car back on the road it has been hard to start. When I turn the key the starter makes a lot of noise, but it is reluctant to catch.

My original cure was to replace the original starter with a geared down Denso, specially prepared for the Twin Cam. I got mine from Dave Bean. Still had the catch problem, but it cranked with a lot more authority.

Every once in a while I noticed another thing. The starter would not turn the engine over at all. The only sign of action was the pitch coming from the Holly fuel pump dropped a bit. Wait a bit and it would be back to normal.




All this time I thought I had a bad ground or a faulty relay. Saturday's session revealed two things. First, the starter is being cooked by the exhaust pipe that runs directly under it, which causes it to stick. Once it cools, it comes back to life. I wrapped the starter in a heat shield for just this reason, but to do it right I need to fabricate one out of aluminum. Second, the teeth on the flywheel ring gear are hammered flat, making it difficult for the pinion to engage. The rattling sound is the pinion bouncing back and forth.

At this point I need to mention that lately the engine has been making a noise that sounds like a failing water pump. Could be the timing chain tensioner, but the water pump is much more likely. To fix that I will need to pull the engine and transmission, remove the head and oil pan.  (Did that back around 1979, just before the car went into the barn.) Time to restore the engine color back to the proper grey. New clutch and throw-out bearing. New timing chain. Install the new coolant pipes I bought a few years back. There goes my summer.

I want to thank all the guys from BCCH who participated in chasing after this daemon. Special thanks to Patrick, a wealth of knowledge. Good pizza, too.

Heater blower, part 1

I started on deconstructing the dash and glove box area in order to safely repair the rust-throughs at the rear of the engine compartment. Having gotten this far I decided I should extend my reach by removing the hard plastic coating in that location (same stuff as on the floor?) and to the rust breaking out around the blower motor mount.




According to the manual, removing the blower  requires removing the blower duct under the dash, and to do that requires removing some of the controls. Unfortunately the manual was not entirely clear as to what gets removed.







The control panel was attached to brackets on each side with a single bolt, head facing outboard. I thought I needed to disconnect the control cables, and did disconnect one, but in the end I left the assembly in the car. The blower duct was coming apart at the upper seam on the LH side. Looks like it can be glued.