29 Nov 09 ...... Taking the old engine out

The plan today is to take the old engine out. Before I could remove anything, I spent a good hour taking loads of photos of every pipe and cable connection and then labelling up with masking tape so that i would have half a chance of putting it all back again. 

As you can see there is plenty to take notes of. This does take a while but I will be glad I did in a few months time when today will be a distant memory.

I wqasn't sure I liked the red hoses but I have sinced realised they are silicone and will be perfect for racing (plus they retail for about 150 quid!!). First real job was to disconnect all electrical connections and move the loom out of the way followed by the plumbing

There is not much room behind the engine for access to the exhaust manifold. The nuts came off easy and I was able to ease the manifold out. The following were then removed easily in quick     succession - 

• alternator
• starter motor
• clutch slave cylinder and gearbox bracket
• gear selector cables and brackets 

Finally with everything out of the way I could get the engine hoist into place. I had arranged to borrow one from work and had picked it up in the van earlier in the day 

It is supposed to be a portable hoist but is in 2 parts, a heavy base and an even heavier column. Eventually got it all set up and in position. Had several straps handy which would be double wrapped around the gearbox end and another under the sump towards the crank shaft pulley end. Took the weight and removed the 2 engine mounts. Strapposition was ideal as I found the balance point first time and it lifted straight up about 200mm then swivel the whole lot 45 deg. clockwise and backed the hoist out - easy peasy!.

Dropped the engine and box down on the floor and then whipped out the 6 bolts holding the gearbox in place. A quick tug and it was free. Thats as far as I wanted to go as I will come back to these at a later stage. I will be fitting the c/r box so this one will either be an emergency spare or I will sell it.

It was then time for a tidy up as there were more bits lying around than garage floor. So with eveything pit in place it was time to stand back and admire the handywork. I had pretty well finished the 'taking apart' bit for now, at least for the chassis/body anyway. With everything removed and the bulkhead completely clear it was easy to admire the simplicity and beauty of the elise design.

The first part of refettling the engine bay area, after giving the ally a good clean, is to remove the remnants of adhesive stuck to the bulkhead from the original factory covering which had long since been removed, perished or fell off. I plan to fix nimbus on the bulkhead so will need to get some sheet on order.  I will also check over the hoses where they enter the pontoons, replace the hoseclips and check that the grommets that are meant to stop the hose chafing on the hole in the ally of the pontoon are in position.

It's going to be a few weeks before I can get back in the garage but that will give me time to pick up the remaining bits from junks that he forgot to bring over and place some wanted ads on Seloc/Lotus Central for the front o/s corner parts. I have a feeling that Geary of Eliseparts is going to be getting a shopping list from me in the week! 

The other thing that will be occupying my mind over the next few weeks is which engine to re-fettle. Much standing back and looking at the 2 engines lined up and rubbing my chin looking studious didn't help so I willput a call in to Dave Andrews at DVA in the week........

....... and finally.... got my medical for my National B race licence on Thursday. Lets hope they can find a pulse! and that will be another thing ticked off the list.

28 Nov 09 ...... Rear suspension removal

The aim today is to get the rear suspension stripped down and all components separated and ball joints removed ready for the metal parts to be cleaned and re-finished.

The standard rear suspension and brake set up is pretty straightforward with floating brembo caliper acting on a vented disc, top and ottom wishbones with an aluminium upright connected to the wishbones with a ball joint. An adjustable tie bar connected between the lower upright and inner rear wishbone mounting keeps everything pointing in the right direction.

Handbrake cable off first, then 2 bolts holding caliper. Loosen the flexible brake hose and the caliper can be unscrewed off the hose. The disc can then be lifted off and chucked. The Koni spring damper unit is next off and that goes straight in the bin too. 2 bolts holding the upper plinth to the upright loosened next followed by the 4 bolts holding the lower plinth in place came out pretty easily (see photo). Screwdriver between the CV joint and gearbox casing frees the inner CV and drive shaft. 6 Bolts can then be taken out and the whole upright with driveshaft removed. 

A quick trip to the vice to split the plinths from the ball joint and it was out with the Eliseparts bj removal tool and they were quickly removed and dispatched to the bin to join the brake disc and spring damper. 

Then repeat the whole thing on the other side. All went ok, everything came out pretty easily with no seized bolts. Only whoopsie really was that I slightly damaged the gearbox oil seal carrier when I pryed the driveshaft out on the n/s. Doen't look like the seal itself is damaged so I might have got away with it. Not that it's a problem anyway cos there is a new close ratio box going in. Just don't like damaging anything but will probaly sell it some point later.

So, only eleven o'clock and all the rear suspension is out. Had a coffee then demolished the last of the mince pies I had sneaked out of the house and it was on with removing the old exhaust. Not too long before it was out although I did have to cut the flexy pipe between the cat and the manifold as the nuts securing the cat were just a rusty blob with no discernable flats to even attempt getting a socket on. The silencer was soon out and joined the other bits in the bin. 

Next to come off was the rear subframe which was easy enough giving access to the engine which I am planning to remove tomorow, day 6.

Access to th engine and gearbox is excellent with the rear subframe out of the way. The plan is to take the standard K16 out and fit the VVC. Not sure yet what I am doing about a rebuild on the VVC and some trick bits. Junks assured me that it was out of a low mileage car and should be good for a while in std. spec. Will think about that and maybe have a chat with Dave Andrews and see what he recommends. Plenty of time for that as there is quite a bit of work in the engine bay to do to tidy things up and fit some nimbus to the bulkhead.

Got to pick up an engine hoist from work in the morning, I think I have got some straps somewhere which should do the job.

With everything I had planned to do at the rear finished it was then on to the front end. First to come off was the steering rack which is missing a steering arm, Phil did know about it and promised to let me have a recon unit he has.

The pedal box also came out complete with brake and clutch master cylinders, both of which I will be replacing. You can just see it to the left of the rack in the photo. Pedals have already been modified to help heel & toeing. but I will have a look at the bushings before it goes back in and replace any that are worn.

Then it was the turn of the radiator having first drained everything down (by pulling off the hoses and some careful placing of a bucket). The rad doesnt seem too bad tbh but I will replace it with pro alloy jobbie and new fan and keep the other as an emergency track spare.

With the rad out I could have a good look around the front structure. I tucked the loom back into the the footwell to gmake it easier to work in the area. The wiring look to be in a bit of a state and I am not looking forward to sorting it out, there is even a suspoicion of a small fire having melted the cable sheathing. I will come back to that in a few months time when I am feeling brave!

Apart from a good clean, there wasn't much needed doing. Next to take out was the heater and fan, I say take out, it pretty much fell apart. Good job I am leaving it out to save weight. The whole area around the heater was filthy and full of years worth of muck and leaves. Took a while to clean out but after I had spent a good few hours wiping down the ally and front crash structure with WD40 it started looking distinctly improved.

 

In summary a good day with lots done although with so many bits taken off so far, the garage is laready starting to look cluttered. Mmmm, I wonder if my gf Emma will notice if I store them in the house......  I will let you know in the next post. Finally last photo of the day gives you an idea of how it now looks and I am reminded that there is still much to do and a very long way still to go before I can start putting bits back on. 

        

27 Nov 09 ...... First view of the car

the first of the significant days in the project has arrived ....... the base car is being delivered by Phil today.

Jobs for today are to get the garage that will be home for the build for next 6 months cleared and ready for the car to go in. Usual thing - throw out the crap that you have convinced yourelf is worth keeping, sweep out the leaves, put away the tools that are still lying around from the last few months worth of diy and stand back and enjoy the space.... be the last time i can walk around easily in it for a while.

Phil had managed to load everything onto his trailer in the morning and driven over from Norwich. First challenge was to try and reverse his trailer up the (quite) steep gravel drive. This was a real challenge for his auto Audi trying to reverse up the driveway, not helped by the trailer brakes cutting in as soon as he hit the incline. After he had a good run at it he managed to get almost to the top, so it was just a short push into the garage which now suddenly looked pretty full once the other goodies I had also bought from him had been offloaded.

I should just mention that this was Phil's ET project car so he had started to pull it apart. He couldn't find the front o/s wishbones and upright so there were only 3 wheels on the wagon which we thought might be a problem. Turned out fine in the end as the car sat nicely on it's three wheels and we were able to push it easily the rest of the way up the drive and alongside the house into the garage.

I am lucky enough to have a garage that is pretty long and wide enough to work easily all around the car. There is a full width workbench at the back and enough room between the car and bench to work comfortably on an engine on a stand for example. I invested in a decent compressor and a range of airtools which are a godsend and the pillar drill gets a fair amount of use too.

Phil hadn't managed to bring everything over so he will need to make a second trip at some stage but there is no rush for things like the new screen, roof and other bits and bobs. You can see some of the bits he did manage to bring over in the photo below. The VVC engine looks pretty tidy and the PG-1 c/r box looks like it has come straight out of the Rover dealers parts department (it is brand new after all!). You can also just see the nitrons and tucked down by the engine is the new lightened flywheel, vernier pulleys, emerald ECU and Janspeed s/s exhaust. As you can also see I have already managed to get the front clam off.

With Phil on his way back to Norwich it was time to get to work and quite quickly the rear clam was off and dispatched to it's temporary home in the garden. Everything will need to be painted so there is no problem leaving the clams out in the elemts and covered over with a tarpaulin until it is their turn for attention. I am going to focus on all of the mechanicals and get the rolling chassis, engine and gearbox sorted before I think about bodywork and aesthetics. It was really helpful that Phil had made a start on stripping the car down for himself as all the hard work getting the seized clam fasteners had been done and they came off like a dream.

There were all sorts of bits and pieces laid inside the car that needed sorting out so that was the next job which didn't take too long and it gave me a good opportunity to have a good look around the car and make a mental list of what needed doing. The electrics are going to need some work as well as adapting the loom for the VVC.

With that job done I set about stripping down the front n/s suspension. The caliper bolts came out easily abd I just cut the original brake hose as I am replacing with goodridge s/s braided teflon brake hoses all round. The plinth bolts were a bit tight and as usual the plinth had welded itself to the upright. A sharp tap with a mallet sorted that. The top ball joint came apart swiftly again with a sharp tap on the bj splitter.

The original Koni shock top and bottom mount bolts came out easily enough although I wont be refitting it as the nitrons are going on. Similalrly the top and bottom wishbone bolts came out easily, noting the position of the spacer washers as the wishbone was withdrawn from the mounts. I split the lower ball joint to plinth in the vice when the wishbone was off as it was easier. Finally the top and bottom ball joints were pushed out using gearys superb bj tool/ The wishbones are now ready for cleaning and re-finishing although I haven't decided how I want them finished just yet. I will see what they are like when the paint (that looks like porridge) and rust are removed.

And that was it for the first day. It is great to be working on a Lotus again and I really enjoyed the day. Tomorrow (day 5) I plan to strip the rear suspension and depending on how I get on (i.e. how easily it all comes apart), I may move on to the removing the old exhaust and disconnecting the ancillaries in preparation for taking out the original engine.

..... and so it begins

well here goes ..........

my first attempt at writing a blog, come to that it's my first go at putting things that i have done down in chronological order for my future reference and to provide interest to others....

so today I waved goodbye to the S2 Exige as it was driven off into the grey cambridgeshire flatness on it's journey to a new home in Belgium.

Nice fella who bought it. Belgian ex racer called Hermes Delbar. Could have listened to him all day talking about his racing exploits at Le Mans and Spa. He must be well into his sixties but loves his Loti. Bought mine and a number of others from thenUK to sell through his dealership due to the Euro being so strong at the moment.

Sad to see it go but go it had to....... to make way for the new project. Got on the phone the moment the nice lady behind the counter at HSBC had checked in the last of the £20 notes - "Phil" (fellow selocers will know him better as 'junks') "we are on, when can you bring her round".

The Project

A scan through the Pistonheads and Autotrader classified had not thrown up anything in the 2 weeks between taking a deposit on the Exige and when I would be getting the cash. The plan was to pick up a sound (read straight and not a rebuilt write-off) Elise S1 that over the next 4 months would be stripped bare and rebuilt for the Production Class of the 2010 LoTRDC Elise Trophy. Was happy to accept any condition, poor paintwork and mechanical condition didn't matter, just wanted a complete car. Problem.......... the supply of 'cheap' S1 Elises that seemed to have been around in late summer and early autumn had just dried up!! ......... Apart from the odd one or two cars between £9k and £10k that seemed to have been around for quite a few weeks, there was nothing around.

This was potentially a disaster with the project at risk of not even getting off the ground. I am on a very tight budget and was not planning on spending much more than £6k on a donor S1. What was I to do?.........

To the rescue 'junks'....... tucked away innocuously in the PH classifieds was an ET project car being offered by Phil due to a change of his plans. The car had the right history, 33k miles from new, already had the clams and 'difficult to remove on an older car' bits removed and comes with some race prep. bits ready to go on. A quick email reply to the advert to Phil and a short negotiation over some other bits that I would need and the deal was done............. perfect! the project is on!!

The donor car

Phil has very kindly agreed that he will bring everything over on his trailer on Friday cos I don't have a trailer of my own yet. What I have to start the project is :-

1998 Elise S1 (33k miles) with 'S' rear boot lid, new screen, Safety Devices A frame and petty, set of new Compomotive MO's, front ally bells. Plus afew other bits and pieces that I knew I was going to need and that he had lying around -

1 x VVC engine complete

1 x new PG-1 c/r gearbox

1 x lightened flywheel

pair of vernier cam pulleys

emerald ECU

janspeed s/s silencer

set of one way rebuilt Nitrons

ands a few other bits and pieces..........