Time to shorten my To Do list ... Leaky Turbo!

[HJ2]

Small update and a new hope:

If all is well, I'll have one by tomorrow
It's a familiar one, namely my old one that's being refurbished @ the moment

[HJ2]

Today i picked up the refurbed alternator.
I had to take my trusty (ehrm... rusty) Long John Bicycle, as the car was immobile...



As expected it was in in just a couple of minutes.



Power steering stuff back, oil filter & oil back, wheel back and go!
After starting, the voltmeter staid rock solid Just below 14V. The new regulator works fine. Just as i expected. I also expected something else to go wrong as Murphy's just around the corner...
Thank god i was not dissapointed. The charging light stays on!

Possibly a grounding problem (the alternator's ground goes through the housing / bracket, does it?)
or the connector flipped out of it's socket...

Anyone else had this problem?

[HJ2]

It looks like the regulator pack isn't working correct. IMHO the 'L' does not come high as the alternator charges. So the alternator has to come out again
Meanwhile i had my first tour this year! Here's some footage:

I admit... not entirely the Elan's Natural Habitat between all these spot babies and expensive cars, but it was a fun afternoon anyway.
The car behaved brilliant by the way, so finally some fruit of my hard labor!

Here's some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhbyOyUt ... _embedded#

[HJ2]

Today i removed the alternator again. It only took me 45 min's this time I am learning fast this way
I brought it to my refurber who installed another regulator. This one has an active "L" pin, witch is strange, because as discussed earlier in this tread, there are no active components, just a lamp and a connector.
Another 60 minutes to assemble the lot again and Presto! Charging light goes of, and stays off!

Lessons learned: If your refurber is not sure witch regulator to use: It's 2-wire and an active Lamp pin.
As it tuns out there was a typo in the cataloque of replacement parts, just my luck! (NOT)

I came out a wiser man, so let's find out what i can learn about upgrading the front brakes!

Best regards and thanks for all the help, your Elan specialist to be.

[HJ2]

I did something stupid with the rear brakes.......Help wanted!


Isn't it handy for all you new tinkerers that there is somebody who makes all the mistakes for you, takes pictures of them, and posts it on the forum, for some just for a quick laugh, for some as a lesson how NOT to do things?That way you don't have to make the same mistakes I did!

So here's a new one:
Last week I replaced the front brake pads for Ferodo's. Left took me 3 hours, right 30 minutes (I learn fast). Braking is perfect after that, as perfect as standard callipers brake. The Wilwoods are in the progress of being refurbished, but I have to use the car, so therefore this intermediate solution.

However, after replacing front discs, I noticed that the RH rear brake tends to hang as is was getting hot and I could feel it when almost come to an complete stop when releasing the brake pedal.

So my initial thought was: Sticky Piston (Bob, are these part of your kit?). As I intended to change rear pads as well I had a chance to clean it up, grease it and put it back together. Of course I should have read the manual first (which by now I have in hard copy in front of me ) But I was confident that things would be simple. The plan was: replace pads, check piston moves freely, if not clean and reassemble.

The new pads:









Anti squeal shim:



Rear Caliper (before the tiny drama )



Removal of Caliper Bolts



Removal of Hand brake cable




So old pads out, new greenstuff pads in and push piston back in... no luck? All other sliders / pistons on brakes I have done so far (1x front Elan, 1x front Suzuki Swift and 1x front Lancia Lybra) this could be done with 2 thumbs, moderate force.

After 10 minutes I came to the conclusion that the piston must be really corroded and that is was stuck. No problem, I thought. Just use the brake pedal and gently push the piston out, till I can reach it with Scotchbrite and clean it up and push it back.
You guessed right. The brake pads are now almost touching (1 mm slack) and there is no way I can push the piston back in the calliper again.

Is this due to the check valve, or because I have to rotate the piston to get it back in the calliper? (My guess would be the latter )
I cannot remove the pads in this position. But if it is absolutely necessary because you need to rotate the bloody piston, I'm afraid I'll have to drill out the buttons on the outboard pad to get the pad out....

Is there anyone who did the same thing and has an alternative (easy) solution to get me back on track again?

[bobbrown]

The calipers have a multi start screw thread for the handbrake so you need to turn them back and there is also a spring inside pushing the piston out.
If you want to move the pistons back then remove the handbrake lever and while pushing the piston back turn the shaft takes a bit of pressure on the piston due to the piston retaining ring which is there to hold the piston in position but it should not be too difficult. Note the left and right sides are not the same one has a left hand thread but I can not remember which one, if you turn the lever shaft as if the handbrake was being released then if you do not push the piston in then the shaft will move into the caliper body.

Bob

[HJ2]

As always Bob, Great info, thanks!
I'm back to the garage for now...

[HJ2]

Another minor job done.

My interior fan made a little noise since I bought the car.
It could be very tiresome on long trips, so today I removed the fan assembly.

I was amazed how easy this is (3 Phillips screws).
Then I disassembled the assembly. Removed the hamster wheel and disassembled the motor by removing the back and the spindle.
It turned out that the interior was a little dirty with magnetic debris / scrapings from the permanent magnets in the housing that got caught between stator and rotor.

I cleaned all parts with brake cleaner, cleaned the rotor pick-up with a razor, oiled up the bronze bearings, cleaned all electrical contacts with contact cleaner and assembled everything again.

The result: Whisper mode engaged!
Well worth the 20 minutes of labour

[HJ2]

Well... it took me a little longer than anticipated, but I almost finished my list!
It's just the door sills that need to be done.... Meanwhile other tasks announced themselves to be placed on a list, so I will abandon this one and create a new one.

See you on the next list everybody!
Or shall I just continue here so all can learn from my mistakes in just one hilarious threat?

[Elanlover]

With regard to the alternator fitting issue here and in other threads (mine for example) you stated issues with fitting it in if its bit larger than stock. Do you recall if you had the prongeron off when you tried to do this? I ask because Mr. Pinky has recently removed his and says there looks to be lots of room to manoeuver in there when its off. I wonder of this is the secret to fitting a larger alt in there.

[HJ2]

Prongeron on, suspension not disassembled

[Elanlover]

Prongeron on, suspension not disassembled

Well then that may very well be the ticket then. Dave suggests that, with the prongeron off, there's lots of room to work around that area. Apparently, the prongeron is fairly easy to remove and (hopefully) reattach. I may try this myself if I can get the car jacked up and stable. I'm curious about one thing though. How did you re-tension the alternator belt? I don't have the appropriate tool to measure the tension. Did you use one or just go by "feel"?

[HJ2]

I uses a large flat head screwdriver and adjusted 'by feel'
Better do it not too tight and tighten it later than the other way around and the bearing of your new alternator is scrapped

[HJ2]

Today i finally replaced the float in the petrol tank, so now i can see again how much fuel is left
Also i changed the injectors. Not because it was needed, they were fine, but i had them and wanted to find out if there was an improvement after all these year.
There was! The engine runs smoother and what draws most attention: The PECO is less loud under load!

Ready for a summer of nice cruising!
Best of all: No damage on the Ypres Lotus tour this year

[Rusty Wishbone]

Is there a way to test good operation of injectors? Several people have recently commented that new injectors have significantly improved the running of their cars, and I would love to know if mine would be improved by them too.

If not, perhaps we could buy a new set and pass it from one to another to see if it results in a noticeable improvement, and the first to find an improvement buys them.

[HJ2]

There were absolutey no issues with mine.
I scared a couple of Exiges on Ypres. But when i swapped them i definitely noticed the difference

[HJ2]

Hurray! Someting new for my to do list

There was a strong oil smell on every trip. After checking all the obvious first I took the plunge and removed the turbo (again)
It turns out that the turbo has a leaky oil seal somewhere

I took the lot apart and am now off (by bicycle ) to my employer to clean everything in the ultrasonic cleaner.
I'll shoot some pictures of the rebuilt and share them here.

Wish me luck!

[ovi]

Much fun at work friend!

[HJ2]

As promised, please find the follow up here:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25030&p=315984#p315984