Small (or maybe not) project. 91 elan

[Rambo]

When mine went wrong I managed to fix it (just came undone) so never got any of the uprated cables...... and the set of AB cables I did have ended up being fitted to a yellow elan up in Scottishland

[dapinky]

When mine went wrong I managed to fix it (just came undone) so never got any of the uprated cables...... and the set of AB cables I did have ended up being fitted to a yellow elan up in Scottishland

Nah - not yours.... Archies'

[Tuga2112]

just another update.

Took car for MOT last week.

failed with brakes efficiency too low all over,
hanbrake eff too low as well
one of the headlamp lights was not working
rear passenger side wheel bearing had a bit of play

I have took the car out for a bit of a drive aroudn the block with plenty of breaking to clean up the discs. (they were rusted after 2 months siting)

re-adjusted the handbrake cables.
before tightening them, i gave them full travel, and pulled the lever a few times to allow for the self adjustment to bring the pads closer. im not sure the pads got any closer, but after that i tightened the cables again and made sure that after 4 ticks i was not able to rotate the wheels by hand. so the 7 ticks limit waslocking them hard enough that they wouldnt spin when tightening the wheel bolts.

tightened both rear wheel bearing nuts (this time according to the book with Pinky's extra suggestions)
looked over for a connection problem in the headlamp and found that the spade connector was plugged in on the side of the metal, between metal and insulation instead of between the 2 metal plates as the figure shows.



and passed the MOT.
Im very pleased, as this is the first time since i owner the car when it passed the MOT with zero expence, just a couple of days messing aroudn with bits and bobs.

The Tester told me the rear brakes are a bit unbalanced, but not enough to fail the MOT.
im thinking about getting a set of front and rear calipers from rockauto (Pinky told me fronts are reasonably priced) and swapping the rear pads as well in the enxt 3 months (while the sun is out) to prepare for next year's MOT.

will also have a read about pinky's rear brake proportioning valves. I Heard they are cheap and an easy job. soudns like another task for this year.

also part of my plans for this year, is to install a 1 DIM android radio with flip out screen like i have in my Celica.
Install the reverse camera to work with the radio.

Also ordered a timing belt kit. which as soon as arrives will be fitted, I intend to do a lot of pictures of the job, and then double post it as part ofthe project as well as a "how to" guide

[Tuga2112]

So... the car developed a parasitic drain now.

Ive used the standard "check amp drainage while plugging fuses in and out" approach

the conclusion is that the interior lights are draining.

first thing i checked was the usuall suspect (boot light switch) which was already unplugged from 3 years ago
I have confirmed that the lights in the rear view mirror were switched off.
Removed the lights delay switch from underneath the steering wheel. and the drain is still in place.

Im currently in the process of taking out the driver side door card to replace the door switch. it hasnt worked for a few months but i only realised it now that im looking at the drain (i know it hasnt been working for months cus the projector light on the driver's side hasnt worked for a while, but i never realised the interior lights were also off, so i assumed the projector light blew, it actually still works )

I found on ebay someone advertising the rear door latch for the carlton being the same as the elan, instead of asking if that is true, i would like to know how can i confirm that by miself ? is there someplace with a parts cross reference i can access ??

according to my understanding of the wiring diagram there is only 4 things left that can cause the drain.
LH door latch mechanism
RH door latch mechanism
Alarm system unit (as far as im away my car does not have a factory alarm)
some drain happening in the rear view mirror electrics

The reason why i ruled out the lights switch is because from my understanding of the wiring diagram, the lights switch only completes a circuit after the current passes by the delay module.
i think its possible the door switches to be the problem because they are connected directly to the interior lamp and ground on the other side.

I also learn today the delay module position on the SE/NA is the same relay position as the buzzer on the S2, does that mean the S2 does not have a delay module ?

I have also dropped a question in the facebook group mostly out of curiousity, but for those who are not there.
does the delay module keeps the lights on after closing the doors ? i dont recall that ever happening on my car, and looking at the diagram i dont see how it could ?

[CalElan]

On my Fed car the internal lights stay on for a little while OR until I insert the key --- If I remember correctly.

[Tuga2112]

On my Fed car the internal lights stay on for a little while OR until I insert the key --- If I remember correctly.

10 seconds.
its the delay module working as usuall my issue is a constant drain with the lights off. something in the interior lights circuitry is drawing power. but i havent had any lucj finding out what exactly yet.

[Tuga2112]

well, found the culprit. but not really thanks to the wiring diagram or the fuse trick

after taking apart both doors, header board, disconnecting all connectors related to interior lights I still had the 0.6 drain.

As the radio was out, i noticed an oddity.
the constant feed wire in the radio is purple.
and the wires related to the interior lights at the door are also purple.

then i decided "just for fun" to unplug my USB charger that is connected in a split into the radio constant feed. aaaannnnddd... the amp reading gone from 0.6 to 0.03

after noticing that i had by pure chanse fixed the issue, i took a closer look at the USB charger, it was warm and a bit bulged. so definitely faulty.

I suspect the electrician that installed the alarm in the car crossed over purple wires from the interior lights circuitry and the radio feed. its the simplest reason i can think of that would explain how a wire from the radio would be causing a drain in the fuse related to the interior lights.

not bad for a week end, fixing a broken wire in the door friday after work (was nice to know i had a functioning door switch) and resolving the parasitic drain issue saturday.

lessons learned:
1 - avoid crimp connectors in electrical wires, soldering is much more reliable.
2 - remember to add a fuse for any aftermarket mods. (it would probably have solved the drain issue, as well as point out faster that the charger was broken)
3 - use the wiring diagrams only as a reference, since the alarm instalation in this car seems to have crossed wires between differnet circuits.

I think its about time to relist my do to's in this car for clarity of mind. but that will be done in another post someday when im not feeling lazy

[Tuga2112]

Just another update.

I now had the time to look into my water leak issue....

i tried some UV dye as there was nowhere to see the water leaking from.... and apart from some UV paint around the thermostat housing i couldnt find the issue.
then i decided to check the oil just for the sake of checking.... it turns out the oil now is florecent yellow...

im guessing i need to swap the head gasket ASAP

SJS supplies a kit for 88.98 + postage + vat. the kits i found in rockauto were either 30 odd quid or 89. so is there any other place i should be checking for these kits, or is my safes bet to get it from Steve ?

I read about the job. seems like the perfect time to do the timing belt change on the car as well. however the description that i read says i need 3 floor jacks + an engine hoist. which seems odd... mostly for the fact that i cant think of a way to fit 3 floor jacks underneath the car and still have room to reach anything at all ?

if you take into account my clutch took a whole week to swap, is a head gasket change something i should be giving to my local mechanic ?

Any input is welcome. Thanks in advance.

[Tuga2112]

The days are getting longer and warmer now, so i am back on the "active" as far as working on the cars.

Im posting as i have started the head gasket change today, with some help from pinky over the phone, i have achieved this much

in the engine bay
removed the bonnet to get some better access to the intake plenum/manifold
crakshaft pulley is broken loose using my 690nm air impact driver. i had a couple of issues with air supply, but after fixing those it was a relatively easy job.
removed 2 of the turbo shields in order to get access to exaust manifld nuts.
removed 8 12mm copper nuts of the exhaust manifold as well as the respective 8E studs, the exaust manifold is not somewhat loose, but it doesnt move very far.
underneath the car i also removed the 3 bolts that hold the downpipe to the exaust manifold, and a bracket that attached to the bottom of the engine and the downpipe.

I spent most of the day trying to get the intake plenum/manifold loose, as per a quick discussion with Dave, it seemed that separating the intake from the engine was the best option to proceed, when taking into consideration all i would need to worry about was bolts, and the end result would be a lighter head out of the car (which would be handy for the scenario of needing to skim it)
Now, i have taken every bolt i can find that is relevant, but the intake wont move. Ive asked Pinky for help, but i have dried up the pool of knowledge from him and still the intake is not moving.

this picture shows the bolts i *removed*. (saying that because, honestly i couldnt see any of them, but they were all 12mm and judging by location, i am pretty confident these are correct)
in red is 12mm bolts, and in orange are 12mm nuts

can anyone point out what else is missing so i can split the engine from the intake block?

[Tuga2112]

things are not well.

head gasket has been replaced.

things appeared to be fine when i finished, although the car seemed to be lacking power, it was running with a fairly stable iddle.
I took it to work, and made the trip fine, when at work,
i bleed the radiator again and tried to adjust the CAS by hear to get a smoother iddle, after that started the trip back,
while driving back home i didnt notice anything different for the most part of the trip, i did a fairly constant 50-60 mph on the motorway all the way
when i pulled to the exit, and gone into neutral, the engine died, after starting it up again, i noticed the noise wasnt right and it was struggling to maintain iddle.
if i rev it to 2k + the strange noise disppeared and as far as sounds, it sounds normal.
but when idling it just keeps on trying to stay alive barely and eventually dies out.
The strange noise seem to come from the top/middle of the engine. in fact, if i was to guess cilinder 2 seems like the exact source.
I took the spark plug of cilinder 2 just to be sure it was intact and it seems fine.

i just started it off to show the noise is making. and let it die off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DzaKt5 ... e=youtu.be
the oil is between the 2 holes in the dipstick, and i bleed the radioator again, there is still a decent amount of coolant in the reservioir.
the engine felt really hot when this issue happened, and even tho the coolant was hot, i would expect it to be pressurized considering how hot the engine felt to the touch.

ordered a compressor tester off ebay which should arrive friday or monday, planning to test compression on every cilinder when it arrives and post news.

im hoping someone can help out with ideas.

since i have taken the head out already, i am pretty confident i can swap the gasket again, under the assumption the problem was overheating and breaking the new gasket as well as warping the head but id like to know about what else to look for before ordering more parts?

[muley]

You think the timing belt is slipping? I suggest you get the cambelt cover off and check. Put no. 1 cylinder to tdc using crank pulley mark and ensure marks on camshaft pulleys are aligned, with the tensioner firmly holding the belt in place. In my experience the car will run quite well even if the belt is 1 or 2 teeth out.

[Tuga2112]

You think the timing belt is slipping? I suggest you get the cambelt cover off and check. Put no. 1 cylinder to tdc using crank pulley mark and ensure marks on camshaft pulleys are aligned, with the tensioner firmly holding the belt in place. In my experience the car will run quite well even if the belt is 1 or 2 teeth out.

Thanks for the info, I raised the issue in the engine area as well hoping to get help with more urgency, (after all not everyone has interest in other peoples projects) and same suggestion appeared.

I have done that and found out the belt was off, by a lot. in fact... i was pretty much in a unknown state, because when i started spinning it to tdc it skipped all the teeth available.
on further inspection i found the tensionser pulley spring broke.. so ordered anbother pulley from rockauto, im hoping someone has a spare spring that can part from (used is fine) so i can put the pulley back in and do a compression test, in order to get an idea of the extent of the damage so i can then either buy a working head, or the valves required to fix this one.

this is the other thread where im getting help with this

[Tuga2112]

Another improvement/ upgrade done while waiting for parts to arrive during the last week of decent weather.

this was done while i was fixing out the ghost lights. (turned out the issue was one ghost light broken and one wire in the earth badly connected on the other door)

Long story posted in the other car's project thread. but in short. rubber grommets suck, rivnuts have survived the past 2 years, so i upgraded all grommets in this car's doors with rivnuts now.
Note, this pictures are of this car, they are also posted in the other thread just for the visual pleasure effect.







ups.. now i notice from the pictures. only one of them as the new rivnut in. but rest assured, theres 8 of them per door

EDIT
if you look at the pictures in the next reply showing the outriggers fixed. you get to see some of the rivnuts in place... for those who need to see it to believe it

[Tuga2112]

another job done while i was waiting for parts (before the first head gasket change gone wrong) was to fix the outriggers.
i got this done at the same time for both cars to get a discount

in short.
used a flap wheel to remove rust.
neighbour welded plates in the places that needed it the most.
i then painted the whole area using anty rust hammerite black paint.
then i replaced the sound insulation with new material that is supposed to not soak up the water.

and some pictures!

[Tuga2112]

You think the timing belt is slipping? I suggest you get the cambelt cover off and check. Put no. 1 cylinder to tdc using crank pulley mark and ensure marks on camshaft pulleys are aligned, with the tensioner firmly holding the belt in place. In my experience the car will run quite well even if the belt is 1 or 2 teeth out.

Back on the timing belt story.

theres some good news on that side of things.

in short. there was no damage to any valves and compression test says everything is fine. fired up ok, so hoping the car is ready for the road for the rest of the summer (yes, very ironic considering next week its going to rain tigers and wolfs )

next update will be refering the interior. I have mentioned this a couple of times to people outside the forum. but i havent completed the fitting of my new interior so now posted on the forum yet.
i was missing the handbrake gaiter which should be now done, and with some luck ill have some pictures to show by the end of the week

[Tuga2112]

Hello again.. more problems here before managing to get the car on the road for the "summer"

i rebuild both rear calipers.
left the system to dry out while rebuilding the calipers.
put them back in and bleed the whole system.
then bleed it again just to be sure theres no air.

took the car for a spin... and well.. it barely brakes at all when the foot is in the bottom... so i need help with what else can the problem be ?
i dont see any fluid leaking from the 2 pipes connecting to the master cilinder. so... help ?

[RonR]

I had a similar experience when I rebuilt my rear calipers last year.

It seems that there are lots of places for air bubbles to hide in those calipers. I ended up undoing the bottom caliper bolts so they could be rotated to get the bleed nipple pointing straight up, then tapping the caliper with a rubber mallet while bleeding. If the system's been dry you might find the proportioning valves also need some persuasion to give up their air.

[Tuga2112]

If the system's been dry you might find the proportioning valves also need some persuasion to give up their air.

do you mean to just bleed the rear and let a lot more fluid run through the lines ? or something different ?
i will unbolt the caliper and try to bleed with it tilted tonight.

[alan e]

Buy a easybleed one man bleeding system it uses tyre pressure to push the brake fluid around the brake system, it makes it very easy when you are bleeding it on your own.

[RonR]

do you mean to just bleed the rear and let a lot more fluid run through the lines ? or something different ?
.

I meant to tap the proportioning valves with your rubber mallet while bleeding to dislodge any air in them.
Mine got better on the third full bleed, but I'd used well over a litre of brake fluid by the time I had a firm pedal.