Rosie's return to glory

[TorqueHorse]

Been doing stuff but forgetting to update. Now I've forgotten what all I've done.

Replaced all the bushings, bearings, and ball joints in the front suspension. (Need come back and add photos)

Replaced the original rear dampers(one finally started leaking) with some GAZ units. Have some for the front too, just haven't gotten there yet. I've got new bearings in the rear on both sides now. Got one of my rear rotors skimmed because it had a high spot (thank you o'reilly). But my brake sliders keep binding and I'm really tired of taking the brakes off to try and get them moving again. Both sides are acting up.

Had to respool one of the window regulators. Took both sides out, cleaned all the tracks, replaced the plastic bits, changed out all the rusted fasteners with SS, installed new guide sweep "caterpillars" at the top inner edges of the windows. Installed the windows. Ready to put on the new window seals at the top outer edges. Worst part was one of the bobbins had seized on there and had to drill it out. Worried about breaking the plastic or the glass, or the aluminum holder, but got it all out. Replaced those bolts with SS. But now for the first time since I bought the car, the windows work

Replaced the hood, and cleaned up, treated, and painted the rusting frame. Put new stretchy straps in on top too, but they've already gone limp in less than a year. Now I've been continuing to get the fabric to lay the way I want around the back edge. Bloody hard to get it down around the bottom, right at the B post. I had gotten it close, but it still needed about 3/4" more so I took it to a Top Shop, and they didn't really want to touch it either. They thought I had done well enough with the rest of it, and I just needed to "pull more" to get it done. So now I'm back to pulling for dear life to get it around the bottom. I took out the "mucket seal" at the deck lid at B-post and that gave me more room to work. Got one side looking right now. Need to have a span of free time (and weather) to get the other side done. Started putting in new falling b-post seal in the aluminum channel. That was a 2 day nightmare getting one seal in there; can't wait to do the other side .

Had a hail storm that made the original windshield (which was already cracked) completely shattered, so I finally got around to installing my replacement windshield...and then managed to break it while installing it The beta seal I bought from a window shop was probably old because it was extremely hard to get out, and I was doing it all by myself so I was tired and making dumb decisions by the time it came to place it in there. Bottom line, don't use a vice to hold your glass in place. Now I've been waiting since March for another one to get made and shipped from pilkington (they keep having delays). I can drive with the cracked one that I installed (thanks to crazy Texas), but I'll be happy to have a clean one finally, hopefully by end of the year.

Finally got her painted though, so that has been a highlight.



Coming up:

Fix the back brakes (again, again).
Get the new, new windshield installed.
Finish fitting and trimming the convertible top fabric and new seals.
Ceramic coating the plastic trim and reinstalling it all and making the trunk(boot) water tight (lots of leaks around the lights and license plate now).
Taking out the engine again, again and cleaning up/replacing the cylinders and pistons again. I have a lot of blow-by and still burning oil and my fuel efficiency is only around 21.5mpg (chipped), and it could be happier at idle at cold start, so I think I have some work to get it really humming.
Get the new front dampers in.
Change out the AC compressor, drier, and condenser.
Put in the new seats, and retrim the interior leather.
Try and fix the original head-unit (shorts out after 20 seconds of playing).
Work on cleaning up the wheels.
Cruise around and have fun

Hope to be back soon with more updates.

[FunElan]

Wow that's a lot of updates!! You work faster than a factory!

[TorqueHorse]

You work faster than a factory!

Only if we are talking about Emira deliveries, I'm afraid

[Saltire]

Great work, Matt!

One point on the windscreen that the workshop manual doesn’t mention: my new one came from the factory without the drop-down black strip behind the mirror plinth. Not a problem in itself, but when you refit the plinth, make sure you bear in mind that the top plastic windscreen trim will need to be refitted inside the car (the one that holds the A pillar trims in).

That means you need to fit the mirror plinth a touch further down the screen than you might think. The fitter didn’t allow for this on mine, so I had to fit the mirror before fitting the trim, and it slightly restricts the adjustment range of the mirror. Not a huge problem, but one to be aware of.

On the other hand, if you’re going fast enough, you don’t need the mirrors anyway [ducks for comments from pinky ]

[Tuga2112]

MAtt.

i think your in the same position as myself (and many of the folk here who figure stuff for themselfs) and just get on with the work without thinking of updating others, and then months down the line a very long update appears.

worth saying most of this comments are just observations and they certainly apply to myself as well.
we then suffer from the TLDR post factor, where theres just too much, without any detail and not enough pictures for people to really engage.

to make it easier for people to engage with the post. it probably would be easier to number list the tasks done. you partially did this but heres an idea for future

Replaced the original rear dampers(one finally started leaking) with some GAZ units. Have some for the front too, just haven't gotten there yet. I've got new bearings in the rear on both sides now. Got one of my rear rotors skimmed because it had a high spot (thank you o'reilly). But my brake sliders keep binding and I'm really tired of taking the brakes off to try and get them moving again. Both sides are acting up.

1- Rear dampers Replaced (one finally started leaking) with some GAZ units.
2- Front dampers purchased, not fitted yet
3- Rear bearings replaced
4- one rear rotor was skimmed (had a high spot)
5 - brake sliders have been binding repeatedly, need to address

this has 2 advantages in my opinion.

the first is that anyone looking at your post will get a better grasp of the amount of different tasks you done and how much effort you put into it at a glance. it will also help you realise that althought its been 5 months since the last update. you done a hell of a lot.
the second is. anyone commenting. can pinpoint the reply like

5 - sliders came from the oldsmobile cutlass supreme rear. the rebuild kits are cheap from rockauto, and you being in the US are in a advantageous position to just replace them. and btw i made a second video on the rear calipers rebuild. so theres at least 3 videos on youtube to help if not on the technical aspec, which i suspect you dont need that help. at least will encourage you a bit

now as far as thinks you mentioned

Taking out the engine again, again and cleaning up/replacing the cylinders and pistons again. I have a lot of blow-by and still burning oil and my fuel efficiency is only around 21.5mpg (chipped), and it could be happier at idle at cold start, so I think I have some work to get it really humming.

bloody hell. thats a task and half. are you sure this is needed again ?

Try and fix the original head-unit (shorts out after 20 seconds of playing).

this is quite an interesting project by itself. i think John, myself, and very likely Ron would be following a thread like that carefully and trying to help at every step. personally if i did such task it would be a very disappointing and boring post. mostly because there would be a lot of detail missing and simply 3 pictures saying "opened it up, 'x' looked odd, tested 'x' 'y' and 'z', replaced 'A' 'B' and 'C' and its now working!" and it would be missing all the details about reasoning for the investigative process.

Work on cleaning up the wheels.

i found in my experience taking them out. pressure washer, degreaser soak and a brush on a drill like this has worked very effieicntly.
i know wheels can be a very time consuming task. and althought this approch is not necessarily much faster. it really cuts down on the effort. specially the part of removing the wheels from the car.
on a personal note. if you drive it often. brake dust jsut builds up within weeks, and honestly the effort aint worth it

[378S2]

That red finish looks so wonderful - well done Matt.

[TorqueHorse]

Here we go again

Another engine pull and rebuild coming soon. Hopefully with some other upgrades this time. Stay tuned.
For reference

[TorqueHorse]

Making some progress on the engine again (finally). After months of searching for a machine shop that would be willing to take on my job, I finally found one about 1.5hrs away I still needed to order the overbored pistons for them, but they did a good job of taking care of the block and head. After adding lightness to my wallet, I've got all the parts back and am starting the rebuild process.


Painting up the happy little block today. First coat of primer on.


During the waiting time while the engine was at the machine shop, I saw on one of the FB groups that the perennial head gasket question came up. What was new this time is that Dave had found a photo of the elusive "turbo" headgasket with the enlarged water jacket passages. Reposting Dave's photo here since I'd never seen it before (non turbo on top, with the smaller areas circled in orange; turbo version on bottom.

What's crazy is that I had received and installed the Lotus labelled A100E6104S headgasket on my engine when I redid it just 2k miles ago, and it has the (to the naked eye) same coolant passages as the non-turbo, 6103S version. In the photo below which I took a couple months ago before I dropped the engine off at the machine shop, you can clearly see that the passageways are not enlarged like Dave's photo. In fact, you can see evidence of my rusty coolant leaving traces where those enlarged holes would be.


Now I know I had other issues with my engine leading to it's most recent blowout, but as I've dropped some real coin this time, I am wanting to do everything I can to make this gasket last (well, everything aside from driving more conservatively ). Since I bought the Lotus labelled Turbo version last time, and it didn't look any different than the non-turbo version, I'm debating if I shouldn't worry about it, or if I should try and drill out more holes in the next headgasket to more closely match what Dave has in his photo.

[FunElan]

ok that's a big update! I could see how that would contribute to some of your problems...

[TorqueHorse]

OK, a little bit of progress, but not too much.

Got a nice delivery today. Now to find a mobile installer so I don't break it doing it myself like last time.


Also, took a plunge and worked at opening up some of the coolant ways in the headgasket. I got some scrap aluminum to make a jig for a hole and then used a drill bit and then finished it off with a step drill and even some snippers to take off a hanging chad.


Seems like the results haven't made it any worse at least You can see the enlarged holes on the right side.

[Tuga2112]

do you know what did you break when you did it last time ?

its the kid of task i would not hesitate to take, but may change my mind given more information

[TorqueHorse]

do you know what did you break when you did it last time ?

its the kid of task i would not hesitate to take, but may change my mind given more information

It's more that I'm gun shy since I did break such an expensive piece last time. Actually, if I were in England and only having to pay for the glass and not the enormous shipping cost, I'd be up for doing it again.

The problem was that I was tired, by myself, and trying to hurry up, which led to bad decisions.

I think the sealant had gone bad and was really hard to get out. I should have stopped there. In addition to not really making a good line around the edge of the glass, I wore myself out fighting with the cannister while trying to balance the glass all by myself. Then the critical error was using a vice to hold one side of the glass in place while I tried to work on the other side. I told myself before I started the job "don't use a vice" but I forgot and was flailing around, desperate to get it all aligned before it set, and just grabbed a vice without thinking. Then I just tightened it up quick and tight and CRACK that was that.

[Tuga2112]

ohh. you were refering to the glass.. yes thats something i wouldnt dare do.

i thought you were saying you were going to pay someone to re-install the engine

[TorqueHorse]

ohh. you were refering to the glass.. yes thats something i wouldnt dare do.

i thought you were saying you were going to pay someone to re-install the engine

Haha, yeah, no. Engine is fine.
Finally got the windshield installed! Took calling 5 maybe 6 different shops before I found someone who would do it. OK, as an update to my last opinion, I would NOT attempt the glass again by myself. I helped the professional do it this time, and it still took two of us to get it on there. I'm pretty happy with it, but I am a bit nervous because while it looks centered, with the doors closed, one side is tighter to the rearview mirror holder than the other. It'll be VERY tight once I get the aluminum seal carrier channel on there too. Another day another problem. At least it isn't cracked and I've got the right edge trim all around (was the last pieces Dave Bean had in supply at the time). Finally got to install the corner trim pieces at the top that I'd bought from Mark Elvin (years ago now at this point) too.

Got the new Coolex radiator and the new AC condenser installed in the front too. And I got a shop to swap the pulley and clutch off my old AC compressor and swap over to the new compressor I found at Summit racing. Even if I'll never be cool, at least the car will be.

I'll update with photos when imgur is working again

[TorqueHorse]

Forgot to add photos from the previous work

New Coolex rad


New AC compressor w/ old clutch & pulley


New AC condenser


New glass installed


FINALLY found all the main bearings (Blacks and Browns) Shout out to Classic Team Lotus for the hard-to-find Brown grade


New big end shells too with the pistons


Installed

[TorqueHorse]

A year ago yesterday was when my car went kaput.

Its been a long year tracking down parts and a machine shop willing to do some work, but I was finally able to put the last piece back on the car yesterday!

(still working on adding back the AC, hence the bumper off, but don't mind that)

The problem today has been getting it running...
Compression and leakdown test numbers look good.
No fluids leaking anywhere, and oil and coolant look good.
Ran an elanscan and all the signals seem to be signaling.

25_sept30-wont start-TH.zip

(14.69 KiB) Downloaded 55 times

(Not really a zip file. Just change the file extension from .zip back to .ecu using your file browser)

I unplugged all the injectors and then plugged them in one by one and was able to get the "click" by tweaking the throttle for each one.
(Just realized that I didn't do them in their circuit pairs so maybe I still need to that?)

Dumped the old gas and replaced with new gas in the tank
I can hear the fuel pump running

Car turns over, but it won't catch.
I did a spritz of starter fluid in the intake and it started instantly! (but wouldn't stay running)

Bit of a head scratcher. I'm thinking tomorrow I need to pull the injectors out and try to observe their actual spray pattern?
Any thoughts in the meantime appreciated

[FunElan]

This is a great update!! Is there a way to register fuel pressure??

[TorqueHorse]

This is a great update!! Is there a way to register fuel pressure??

Not an easy way that I know of. I had tried to install a custom takeoff point where the supply comes in behind the intake, but it always leaked, so I had to take it off. Whatever the gauge/thread pitch of that connection is, I don't know, so it's hard to order the right piece, and the one you can rent at autozone doesn't fit.

Today I took all the injectors out and cleaned them.
https://youtube.com/shorts/dn79Oh-g9cU?feature=share

I don't know if that is a good spray pattern, but they all pretty much looked like this by the end.

While one of the injectors was out, I turned the car on to prime the pump. Fuel came out of the rail and soaked the rag I had, but I don't know what kind of pressure it was. Hard to be in two places at the same time to observe and turn the key.

I also did the noid light test on each injector connection and they all were getting signal. My Ohm meter is out of battery, so I'll replace that and check resistance on the actual injectors tomorrow, but I'm thinking if I could get them to work via the battery spray, then they are OK, but I can double check.

After repeated starting attempts with the now "clean" injectors (and still nothing happening) I took the spark plugs out. Dry and clean as a bone, and not much of a fuel scent if any.

I think tomorrow I'll

check the injector resistance
Drop a boroscope down the intake and see if I can get confirmation that they are/aren't spraying fuel when they are getting the crank signal
Then I guess I'll have to pull the fuel pump to check and probably disconnect the feed line behind the intake and try and airhose out the line.

[Fredjohn]

Torquehorse
Don't know what media storage you are using, but I am unable to see any of your recent photos (24th July 1st Oct).

Or is it a forum problem or my phone?

[Jamie N]

Torquehorse
Don't know what media storage you are using, but I am unable to see any of your recent photos (24th July 1st Oct).

Or is it a forum problem or my phone?

Gov ultimately to blame.....

viewtopic.php?f=79&t=18679&start=200