15 Apr 10 ..... Fitting Clutch, Gearbox and Installing the Engine

 

Main job for this weekend was to get the engine finished and installed in the car. I had decided not to strip and rebuild it as you would normally expect for racing, but the engine was low mileage and most in the trophy run the engines as they come.

The last few weeks have been spent fettling the engine. It's taken a while to get all the bits that were missing from the engine including map sensor, injector wiring harness and front timing belt cover.

The engine has had the VVC timing checked, new cambelt and manual tensioner and new plugs and leads. The timing was set following the instructions in the elise manual. Pretty simple job involving aligning cam pulley and crankshaft markings. Whilst the engine was up on the stand the sump was removed to fit the Eliseparts sump baffle. Comes in 3 aluminium laser cut parts that are assembled inside the sump and are interlocking to retain them. Required a small amount of hand fettling to fit properly but worthg doing. The sump was refitted with the appropriate sealant.

Next job was to fit the Eliseparts lightened flywheel. It's a piece of art so couldn't resist a few record photos. A new set of flywheel bolts were fitted and torqued up.

 Not  sure how much lighter it is but quite a bit of metal is removed compared with standard. Once the flywheel was on I could finally fit the crank position sensor by pushing it fully home and bolting up.  

The new AP uprated clutch was next to go on after degreasing the flywheel and pressure plate faces. I had also bought the Eliseparts alignment tool. The job is simple enough with the friction plate fitting between the pressure plate and the flywheel with the alignment tool inserted through the friction plate into the end of the crankshaft. The pressure plate is then bolted up using new bolts and threadlock. 

The engine was then lifted off the engine stand using my engine hoist ready for the gearbox to go on. The box is a new close ratio PG1 unit bought as part of the original project car bundle from junks.

The box went straight on and bolts torqued up. Then the whole assembly lifted into position and located on the new engine and gearbox mount. An eliseparts tapered bolt was fitted to locate the gearbox mount to the chassis. 

Finally the engine was in the car. Seems to have taken ages but it was worth all the effort to see it sat in the engine bay. The Janspeed large bore 4-2-1 manifold was fitted with a new gasket, then the silenced cat replacement pipe and Janspeed s/s supersport exhaust system was offered up and bolted loosely in place so that I could check the fit and alignment with the rear clam fitted. As you can see from the photos, it wasn't far off.