Lotus Elan Central

by **Rambo** » Fri 04.05.2007, 08:05

Monty wrote:France this saturday will be a good test for Pinky

Bon voyages Monsieur Monty - hope you and the silver fox don't need that relay cover after all your head gasket work. Which circuits are you going to ?

by **Monty** » Fri 04.05.2007, 10:34

Rambo wrote:
Monty wrote:France this saturday will be a good test for Pinky

Bon voyages Monsieur Monty - hope you and the silver fox don't need that relay cover after all your head gasket work. Which circuits are you going to ?

Sunday is Folembray and Monday at Abbeville, actually the Folembray ones looks a little scary as i believe it set in a forest, so on certain parts of the circuit there are trees fairly close to the blackstuff :shock:

I`ll be taking it easy on that one then :roll:

by **Monty** » Mon 02.07.2007, 10:44

Managed to get 2 spare S2 wheels which i`ve refurbed myself in Metallic Graphite Grey and they`ve come out quite well. 1 wheel had 2 small parts that needed filling on the rim, so used Araldite multi-purpose putty which sets in minutes and can be sanded, u can even drill and tap this stuff :shock:

I manage to get 3 brand new KUMHO V70A ECSTA trackday tyres of ebay for a bargin price, Camskill also sell them www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m12b102s690p0

I will take these with me on my next dry trackday and put them on the front to see if i can get more grip at the front to combat understeer.
I can get one in the boot and one on the passanger seat :-D

by **Monty** » Sat 27.10.2007, 17:19

Well head is off for the 3rd time this year :twisted:

On my last trackday at Aintree i started to get slight temp issues again and colud smell fumes in the coolant. When i did the last gasket i enlarged some of the water holes in the gasket to match the head and block, which was difficult to cut and though that must be the reason why it`s failed again

well with the head removed it`s gone in a completely different place, the failure is at number 1 piston :roll:

Also checked my torque wrench against Dico`s new halfords one and mine seems to be out about 3Nm at a setting off 78Nm, but last time i set it to 80Nm so that should of been fine

So tomo`s a new gasket will be going back on but but this could happen again :twisted:

by **Rambo** » Tue 30.10.2007, 18:46

3 head gaskets in a year !! :banghead:

What's going on ?? Sounds serious ?? Are you skimming the head each time ??

by **Monty** » Tue 30.10.2007, 19:05

Rambo wrote:3 head gaskets in a year !! What's going on ?? Sounds serious ?? Are you skimming the head each time ??

Tell me about it :cry:

Don`t know whats going on

Don`t remember seeing anything in the history file about the gasket ever being done, so 17 years isn`t bad.

So the 1st gasket I did was with Kmckmc`s gasket, which IMHO was a softer material and as i didn`t recheck the head bolts after 500miles they came lose :roll:

2nd time, i used the Lotus/Isuzu type and don`t understand why that failed (maybe a bit of Kak was in there)

So now i`m on the 3rd :shock:

Was speaking to a mechanic today and explain the situation, he said when rechecking the head bolts did i crack them open a 1/4 turn then reset them to the correct torque :shock:

but i always believed that u do not loosen of the bolts

If thats the case, what i don`t understand is do u loosen them all by a 1/4 turn or one at a time? if one at a time what sequence do u use as you`ve got 2, 1 for undoing and what for tighting :roll:

by **Doug** » Tue 30.10.2007, 19:18

well I certainly wouldn't undo more than one at a time, though I'm not sure they really need to be backed off, but just torqued to be sure they are tight.

by **Rambo** » Tue 30.10.2007, 19:29

Monty - I'm certainly not an expert (awaiting comments from yer pal Dico !) and I don't have the manual at hand to check but torquing/re-torquing info should be in there? If not, check the right procedures with Christopher Neil/Paul Matty etc...

PS Did you skim the head last time ?

by **DeeAitch** » Tue 30.10.2007, 20:31

Monty, something not right here

I would check if the head and block are flat before sticking it all back together.

by **Paul.P** » Tue 30.10.2007, 20:38

DeeAitch wrote:Monty, something not right here
I would check if the head and block are flat before sticking it all back together.

You could have a good point there

, but think its back together again :?:

by **Specky** » Tue 30.10.2007, 20:50

You're right Monty....

It's a TQ Check... If it fails... carry on torqueing to the correct amount. in sequence.....

if she fails and post re-torque, do another Tq check later, do this two to three times and she should settle...

TTFN

by **Rambo** » Tue 30.10.2007, 21:22

DeeAitch wrote:Monty, something not right here
I would check if the head and block are flat before sticking it all back together.

Exactly my thoughts Dave

by **Monty** » Tue 30.10.2007, 22:02

Rambo wrote:Monty - I'm certainly not an expert (awaiting comments from yer pal Dico !) and I don't have the manual at hand to check but torquing/re-torquing info should be in there? If not, check the right procedures with Christopher Neil/Paul Matty etc...

PS Did you skim the head last time ?

Sorry, i did mean to answer that :roll:

Yes head was skimmed last time

Nope there`s nothing in the manual for backing of on the recheck

but if thats a normal procedure then it may not mention it

Think i may ask the guy who skimmed my head as he builds engines + i`ve got to nip to CN`s since i nicked pauls spare head gasket :lol:

I`m with u Doug, but i do remember Doc (?) mentioning about backing off before rechecking

But if u do need to crack them open one at a time which order do you use as you could warp the head

by **Monty** » Fri 28.03.2008, 12:38

BTTT

by **Paul.P** » Fri 28.03.2008, 13:40

You lost your stripes Murph ?

by **Monty** » Mon 31.03.2008, 16:54

As some of you will know Pinky looked slightly different at Donny as Pinky has gone Hard lol

The carbon fiber Hardtop was fitted just over a week ago down at SPC Design courtesy of Simon

The wheels were resprayed to Graphite grey and the cat design center caps were fitted. Also fitted the Silver Lockwood dails :-D

Edit, photo`s added for Gareth showing the bracket for the rear clamp on the hardtop (R/H side)

by **Gazza** » Mon 31.03.2008, 17:12

Looking good Monty, any pictures of the dials.

Gazza

by **Doug** » Mon 31.03.2008, 17:35

Nice one, Monty. :smt023

was hoping to get some pics/stories/feedback about lapping Donington from ya . . .

will check other threads for these answers though . . .

by **Dico** » Mon 31.03.2008, 19:54

Yes he got lapped a few times :-D

But as always, once the rain came the Elan came into its own and Pinky slaughtered the Elises ;-)

by **Monty** » Mon 31.03.2008, 22:09

Gazza, I`ll get a photo soon.

In bright day light conditions it`s difficult to tell that there silver, almost look white :roll:

and you have to look carefully to tell that i`ve still got the white dial boost gauge.

Doug wrote:Nice one, Monty.

was hoping to get some pics/stories/feedback about lapping Donington from ya . . .

will check other threads for these answers though . . .

Doug,

I`ve got no video as i wasn`t allowed to use my suction mount on the camera :twisted:

so i`ll have to invest in a clamp mount :roll:

Had a good day, no spins and kept it on the black stuff. Bought some Hankook trackday tyre for the front after the others were worn and they were squeeling like a pig (or should that be a Dico) and weren`t gripping like the Kumho`s that i had on before :roll:

The morning was dry and there were some very fast cars out there and some were race drivers from the Elise trophy so i just kept out of the way. Then the rain came in the afternoon in which i started to get past a few Elises :-D

and the track became very quite as the RWD don`t like a bit off dampness :lol:

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