23 Mar 10 ..... More floor painting & fitting wishbone bushes

This week I have been mostly fitting the new oem wishbone bushes and ball joints. There are 3 different bush types to be fitted and generally they are inserted either from the outside in or inside out dpending on if they are upper or lower wishbones.

Fitting them requires a bit of care but can be done using a bench vice and a suitably sized socket. You have to be careful to make sure that the bush goes fully home as they can spring back a little.

The ball joints have to be pressed in using the special tool from eliseparts. Just a smear of grease is needed to stop the rubber boot tearing as the joint is pushed home. The tool has two b 

 olts that need to be tightened equally to ease the joint in squarely. I also put a smear of copperslip anti-seize grease on the wishbone joint face. Once you get the hang of using the tool, it is pretty easy and it didn't take long to fit all eight joints. I have fitted plenty of these joints in the past and have always put the new joints in the freezer for a few days beforehand to shrink them down a little and they fly in. I didn't do my preparation very well this time and forgot! but in the end they went in without too much extra effort. It is always worth checking that the new joint stepped face mates up with the mounting face of the wishbone. Sometimes thay can go tight and you think they are fuilly home and they aren't which can cause geo problems and poor handling. There is a small inspection hole on the outer face of the wishbone eye so that you can check.

Next job is to finish re-painting the last part of the floor. Same technique as my previous post for the footwell floors. Slightly easier to work on the floor arfea under the seats as it is easier to get to. Still takes a good 4 hours start to finish to rub down, degrease, mask off, metal ready and apply 2 coats of POR15 silver with a 2 hour gap between coats. The POR15 paint coats can be applied with a brush taking care to go round the edges and then finished with a small foam roller. 

Finish is as good as the footwells (well it would be really as it is the same process) and the whole interior now looks so much better. Not that I am going for looks as it is a race car but I know it will be hard wearing and wipe clean when it gets dirty.

21 Mar 10 ..... POR15 Weekend

It's been a busy few weekends working on the car during March. One of the jobs that I have been longing to do is to clean up the engine bay. The old heat resistant material off the bulkhead had disappeared long before I got the car. However what was left behind on the lower aluminium section that separates the fuel tank from the engine bay and the plastic bulkhead were both covered in the old adhesive which was well and truly baked on. Tried all sorts of liquids to dissolve it without any joy, all I achieved was to push it around a bit!. In the end I just used thinners, getting hi on the fumes in the process. Did the job though and the engine bay is looking good. I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

Next job will be to cut the aluminised cloth I have managed to obtain. This will be a tricky job as I have no template and ideally i want to fit a single piece to cover the whole bulkhead. Job for the week I think! Got the spray adhesive so shouldn't be too much of a job

 So, the plan for the weekend was to clean up and re-paint the suspension wishbones and floor of ther car. The wishbones were in ok condition with some light rusting with a few heavy rust areas. The floor was oxidised in places and generaqlly in poor condition.

Suspension Wishbones

First job was to strip off the old paint (where it still existed rather than rust). I had obtained some of the excellent POR15 products from Frosts i.e. paint remover, marine clean degreaser, metal ready and black (for the wishbones) and silver for the floor. All of the products turned out to be superb. It tool me pretty well all morning on Saturday to strip, rub down to get rid of the loose rust, degrease and metal ready prepare them for painting. After each stage the parts need to be rinsed and dried, all taking time. The metal ready kills the rust and puts a phosphate etch coating on ready for painting. 

By the end of saturday I had managed to get two coats on with a few hours drying time in between. In the end it took almost 12 hours for all 8 wishbones from start to finish.

I have to say that it was all worth it. The finish in a few places where there was really heavy rust was not brilliant but the finish was smooth and very glossy as you can see from the photo belowtaken the following morning in the sunshine. They were going to be left for the rest of the day to fully cure and if there is time I will fit the new oem bushes.

As it turned out i did have time as the last job at the end of the day. A quick look up of the SELOC techwiki to find out which bush goes where and which direction to press them in from was all that was needed. Then it was a case of pressing them in using a bench vice and socket having first wiped the bush outer with copper ease to lubricate and stop them rusting in. They went in a dream without any problems. Last job to do on them in the week will be to fit the new ball joints.

Painting the Floor 

I had been putting off this job for a whole host of reasons not least of which was the lack of space. Over the last week I have been stripping off the oxidation and adhesive remnants from the backing tape used to secure the carpets. In the end I had to resort to using thinners to remove the glue, not much fun with your head stuck in the footwell. Another night spent high as a kite!! 

Then it was a case of scrubbing with scotchbrite and turps to remove the oxidation and key what was left of the original coating ready for painting.

The shot to the left was the floor after removing the adhesive and scouring ready for the POR15 treatment. As with the wishbones, it was a case of degreasing with marine clean which you leave on for about 15 mins, agitating every few minutes. Then  it has to be washed thoroughly and dried. I used a heat gun as the liquyid gets iunto the seams at the edge of the floor and it it's not dry the final finish would be spoilt. After that it was the metal ready stage. It takes about 30 mins after which again it has to be washed off and the floor once more dried off well with the hot air gun. After that the area was masked off ready for painting with the POR15 silver. Painting takes a while because the POR15 has to go on thinly otherwise it 'pulls' quite badly. Started with the edges using a thin brush, then a larger brush in the centre followed by a small foam roller which left a really good finish.

A second coat went on 3 hours later, again using a roller to get a good finish. Again like with the wishbones i was really pleased with the finish and it should be really hard wearing and last a few seasons hopefully. I can definately recommend the POR15 products but you must follow the instructions carefully and take your time... and it will take you a long time!

By the end of the weekend I had finished both footwells. I still have the floor area beneath the seats but should be able to get that done during the weeknights.    

7 Mar 10 ...... Fitting the new Pro-Alloy radiator & Fan

There were a few jobs that needed doing today as I had a full day in the garage and was up for getting lots done.

First thing to do was to put the arb bushes in the right way round. During the week when i fitted the new Eliseparts competition arb i had fitted the bushes the wrong way round which meant that the bar could move longitudinally by a few millimetres. Didn't take long to whip out the clamp bolts and swap them around. 

So having done that, the plan was to fit the new Pro-alloy radiator and Spal uprated fan. I had managed to pick up a pair of used but good condition radiator hoses from a 340R off ebay. So whilst I was finishing off the anti-roll bar work, I whipped off the old whoses which were an odd assortment, one being convoluted and definately not ideal. It is an ewasy enough job from underneath and didn't take long to push them on having first put a spot of vaseline on the ally cooling pipes where they stick out of the sills to protect the hose and pipe. A nice shiny new set of wide jubilee clips were fitted to finish off the job. I'm not actually convinced the 340R hoses are quite right. Need the new radiator in first really to check everything aligns.      

New Pro-Alloy radiator fitting

First job was to unwrap the radiator and then stand back for a few minutes to admire the craftsmanship and quality. It really is a thing of beauty.

 

First thing to do was to rescue the fan mounting brackets off the old radiator. So it was off into the loft in the house to find it. Didm't tale long to find and I had been really good and bubble wrapped it to keep it safe. It is an original plastic rad but is not in too bad condition. Bad news was there were only 3 brackets, the fourth was missing! great. So I proceeded to drill out the rivets on the three which was easy enough whilst I thought about what to do. Do I make one out of steel plate or txt junks. No contest, txt junks!. Before I did I thought I would offer up the new uprated Spal fan (that I had also got from Pro-alloy) and three mounting brackets to the new rad. just to make sure everything lined up. And guess what, they didn't! The four mounting feet that are normally fitted to the Spal fans were missing! (not my day really so far!). So definately meant a txt to Phil as he got the fan for me and to ask him to look in his Aladdin Cave of S1 bits for a single mounting bracket. 

You can just see the sockets at 12,3,6 and 9 o'clock in the photo.

 

So I couldn't really do any more as I needed more bits. I spent a while de-rusting the three old mounting brackets ready for POR15 treating the next time I crack a pot of gloss black open.

Preparing and re-fitting the refurbished steering rack......

So as that job had come to an end, I thought I would have a go at preparing and re-fitting the refurbed steering rack. As it turned out the gaiters on the new rack looked a bit grubby as the rack had been sat around in storage for quite a while. So I decided to swap over the gaiters from the old rack which were like new, and put them on the new one. It's an easy enough job which involces cutting off the old cable ties that secure the gaiter at each end and slipping them off the steering arms. Greasing them up helps re-fitting and they went on easy enough. New cable ties on and the job was done. On went the new track rod ends and th erack could go back in. It's an easy enough job to slide the rack down the narrow channel even with the tre's fitted. It's best to fit it rotated 90 degrees clockwise (when viewed from the off side) and the rotate it back when the pinion shaft lines up with the bulkhead hole. 

I had purchased some rack raiser plates from Eliseparts as I will be fitting nitrons and running at the lowest ride height allowed in the regs. The plates have to be riveted in place inside the two brackets that are bonded on the interior side of the front bulkhead footwell. Looked in the footwell and one of the brackets is missing!! It definately was not my day. I don't remember it it not being there, but there again I can't say if it was when I got the part stripped car from junks. So I couldn't bolt up the rack in the end....

So that was the day finished really. It's off to Brands Harch tomorrow for the ET track day. Obviously not with the car but it is a good chance to introduce myslef to everyone and generally pick up tips. Might be able to collect the sponsor and series stickers to fit later when I am there and maybe a set of yokohamas ready to go on to the new Compomotive rims.    

03 Mar 10 ..... fuel system, ARB and Racewear

Busy in the garage tonight. List comprises a 2nd coat of POR15 gloss black on the cleaned up fuel tank, try and source a replacement fuel pump assembly and offer up the new Elisparts anti-roll bar...

Fuel Tank

Having cleaned up the tank using a wire brush to remove the flaking rust in a few spots where the original paint finish had deteriorated and stripped the old paint off. I had treated the bare metal and remaining rust with POR15 metal ready to neutralise the rust and put a zinc coating on in prep for the finishing coats of POR15 gloss black. Had already put one coat on and tonight a second one went on. POR15 is a great product and I will use it for all of the wishbones when they come back from the bead blasters (thanks junks).

Fuel Pump Assembly 

Generally the tank was not in too bad a condition. same couldn't be said for the fuel pump assembly. Much of the top plastic moulding containing the fuel and electrical connections was in very bad condition and looked like it had melted due to scarily what was probably a small fire under previous ownership. The wiring to the pump when i stripped the car down consisted of wires with spades just pushed on to each pin in the melted socket in the top of the pump assembly. I had already bought a new bare pump from Eliseparts but hadn't banked on having to replace the whole thing. 

So it was on to the interweb to consult the Seloc massive to try to find out where I could get one from. First probel is they are not available any more, second problem is that the replacement oem unit from Lotus neither fits properly nor does the sender work as it should. I have got quite a few leads to get hold of a second hand unit, so fingers crossed I can get one in decent condition and then fit the new pump from Geary.

Uprated Competition ARB

In the box of goodies I had received from Eliseparts a few weeks earlier was an uprated 1" dia. adjustable anti-roll bar. I have been looking at it for a few weeks admiring the awesome red epoxy coating a blue fishnet protective warpping. Time to undress her and fit her to the car.

     

As is usual from Eliseparts, the quality of manufacture is superb and it fitted without any problem. The original std arb was the early type that had a nylon mount that was held by the lower front wishbone bolt. The new one fixes to holes drilled in the chassis. As these had not been used before the upper hole neede a run through with a drill and after that the new arb went on liek a dream. The new bar comes with a pack of silicone grease for the bushings. Only took about 20mins in total to fit and looks the business when on.

Just noticed from the pic that I have fitted the bushes the wrong way round but that is simple enough to change tomorrow night as it is only fitted finger tight for the moment.

Next task is to make up some drop lonks from rose joints. Will have to source some LH & RH 8mm joints (already have the boots) and get a local engineering co. to make me up some interconnecting LH & RH threaded bars with a central adjuster. Spent a few mins. sketching up what I wanted.

That was it for tonight. Will take a few days for the POR15 on the tank to fully go off and hopefully I can get a pump frame and level sender unit for thr weekend so might get the tank in, yay!

Finished off the night by trying on the racewear from MSAR. Jen has been really helpful in sorting out what I need. Went for OMP nomex twin layer suit and nomex underwear, Alpinestars boots and nomex gloves and went for the Bell Sport 4 full face with clubman dark peak.

here I am in catalogue pose!