Maintaining Ruby

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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Tue 07.06.2016, 20:24

Tuga2112 wrote:I had the same problem with the window. but none of my drill bits was thin and long enough to reach and drill through the old rusty screw.

do you have some special longer drill bits that i never seen on sale or did i miss some cruxial part of the job when i did mine ?


Hi Tuga, i have just used normal length drill bits - you're only drilling off the head of screw. once i drilled them enough, i gently used a chisel to lever off the head, then once the trim was off, i used pliers to twist and remove the screw body. it's a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end. took me about 90 minutes to get all 4 rusted screws out.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Tue 07.06.2016, 20:30

well, tonight i have managed to remove the door seal after a bit of a struggle with the rusty screws.

victory is mine.jpg


once the seal was off, i noticed all 4 window guides (with furry bits on), were worn, rotten and falling apart, so i took them all off, to refurb (only one rusty screw to deal with here). you can see here the new butterfly clip with broken one.

various bits.jpg


and finally, i cleaned the naked door and will hoover all the bits out tomorrow (when er indoors is at work :mrgreen: )

naked door.jpg



hopefully, tomorrow at work i'll have time to rub down the metal strips, paint and fit new furry bits.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Rice crispy » Tue 07.06.2016, 21:11

Where did you get the new furry bits please as mine are looking tired and I have new inner and outer seals to fit so might as well do the furry bits as well
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby dapinky » Tue 07.06.2016, 22:18

Paul,

Just a bit of a 'heads up' for when you replace the rubber strips - I used 1/2" #8 stainless screws, and they were a tad too long - i noticed when i fitted the first one that they were causing the outer door skin to 'bulge', and i'm faily sure that if i'd left them like that they may have burst through the paintwork.

Easily sorted by fitting a thin M4 washer between the screw head and the rubber strip (well, the metal bit of the rubber strip, but you know what I mean!)

I wouldn't want anyone to tighten up the screws as listed in the parts manual and having them emerge through the doorskin :shock:

Dave,

For the small furry bits i just cut a bit off my old long furry bits (which i was replacing anyway) - they are listed at SJs but I'm fairly sure that any old trim will do the job (Woolies, eBay etc l=have various stuff for sale by the meter)

I just used epoxy adhesive to attach the new furry bits to the cleaned and painted metal strips, and cleaned rubber blocks (they have a self adhesive backing but I wasn't convinced that they would be secure enough without a dab of glue, ( maybe I was being unecessarily paranoid, but better than having to take it all apart agin to fix something simple) :roll:
Dave

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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Rice crispy » Tue 07.06.2016, 23:25

Cheers Dave I must do the seals this year as they have been in storage for 2 years waiting to go on. Keep putting it off as I suspect there will be some rusty screws to sort out :lol: and a couple of loose sliders
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Wed 08.06.2016, 10:37

Rice crispy wrote:Where did you get the new furry bits please as mine are looking tired and I have new inner and outer seals to fit so might as well do the furry bits as well


i bought two new strips of the furry stuff (don't know the correct term for them) and they are about 5 inches longer than needed, so i can cut the ends off and use this. i also have the old furry strip i took off the door, and most of it is in good condition, so if you want some of the smaller sections, PM me your address and i'll post them to you.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Wed 08.06.2016, 10:41

dapinky wrote:Paul,

Just a bit of a 'heads up' for when you replace the rubber strips - I used 1/2" #8 stainless screws, and they were a tad too long - i noticed when i fitted the first one that they were causing the outer door skin to 'bulge', and i'm faily sure that if i'd left them like that they may have burst through the paintwork.

Easily sorted by fitting a thin M4 washer between the screw head and the rubber strip (well, the metal bit of the rubber strip, but you know what I mean!)

I wouldn't want anyone to tighten up the screws as listed in the parts manual and having them emerge through the doorskin :shock:


hi dave,

thanks for the tip, as i have bought those size screws. fortunately i have also got a bag of washers as well, so i should be ok. i will also fit washers on the four guides i took off as they didn't have any. will be sanding down the two metal strips, painting them and aralditing the rubber blocks to them today. glue new furry bits on tomorrow and refit over the weekend, along with the wndow and door seal.

will post pictures at weekend.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Sat 11.06.2016, 15:02

well, i've hoovered the door out, vaselined the guides on the window, and cut the door weatherseal strip to size and shape, but, and this is a warning for others - on my car the screws are half inch number 6, not number 8 (thank you lotus).
so i've had to buy more screws and now it's persisting it down. will try again tomorrow.

anyone else doing this job, make sure you get the right screws.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Artaban » Sat 11.06.2016, 16:33

The weather is warm now so vaseline in the guides will work but I suspect as winter comes along the windows will get slower and slower. When I did mine Steve at SJ's advised to thoroughly clean the guides and channels but not use any lubricant as it attracts dirt. I used dry PTFE spray in the end as it lubricates and doesn't seem to attract the dirt like a grease does. Where grease is needed I tend to use lithium grease that doesn't alter too much with temperature.
Just concerned about how vaseline will perform at winter temperatures. Unless your car hibernates of course. :asleep:
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My wife's just divorced me because I wouldn't open the car door for her!
To be fair I panicked and swam straight for the surface.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Sat 18.06.2016, 12:22

after 5 consecutive nights of rain, today ive managed to work on the door again. i've fitted the new door seal strip, and managed to re-fit the window with help from the missus. fitting the window went surprisingly easier than i thought - took about 10 minutes of fiddling.

new strip and fixings.jpg


thanks to peoples advice above, i cleaned the guide rails and used dry ptfe, plus i wiped all the vaseline off and used silicone grease on the window guides. re-fitted top window guides, both stop bobbins, and clipped new butterfly to window successfully.

WORD OF ADVICE: if anyone is going to do this kind of work, it may be best that when you have re-fitted the window and clipped the butterfly clip in place, tighten up the middle rail (regulator rail) BEFORE you lower the window to its lowest position. i didn't and the curly bit of the butterfly clip caught the bulkhead rail in the door and snapped (good job i had a spare).

however, this mishap may be helpful for others as i have seen posted elsewhere on the forum, that they get a crunching or grinding sound when they operate the window. i believe it is down to the curly bit of a broken butterfly clip catching the bulkhead rail and catching the bottom of the door when the window is in its lowest position.


old broke butterfly clip.jpg


my window now operates smoothly and no rattles - the door shuts with a satisfying thud, rather than a rattle. will finish putting the door back together later when i have retrieved my rivet kit - pictures to follow.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby JoeD » Wed 25.01.2017, 05:38

nice progress. keep up the good work.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Mon 25.09.2017, 11:47

Hello All. long time no post, but i have been enjoying going out in my car when possible, but today, i have finally fit my new gear lever and handbrake gaiters i bought off ebay (from topgaiters, but they may have changed name).

after searching the forum for advice, i followed enrights simple but effective write up on how to remove the centre console etc (cheers Neil :cheers: ), and the job only took about an hour to strip, clean out the dust and fit and assemble.

1.jpg


2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg


i am quite pleased with them.

my next job is ideally to get the seats re-trimmed and have the seat foam of the drivers side replaced. can anyone recommend a company in Notinghamshire / Derbyshire who can do this?
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Wed 09.05.2018, 12:45

AAAARRRGH!!!! Disaster. Oh, and hello everyone. :D - long time no post.

so, last week when the 'forever winter' finally ended, i got the car out the garage to giver her a run. i decided to put the roof down, so wound the drivers window down - all ok. pressed the switch to wind the passenger window down, and window got halfway down and then an almighty crunching sound was followed by the window dropping out of sight. oh crap what's wrong now?

took the the door panel off etc and found the slider block on the middle rail had snapped which in turn broke the butterfly clip (earlier in this thread i stripped this door to tighten the window blocks and fit a new butterfly clip. perhaps i should have also fitted a new slider block due to the age of the plastic component) - luckily the window was ok.

broke 2.jpg


broke 1.jpg


the HUGE headache now though was that the window cable was severely kinked and had part wound in to the motor mecahanism. so i took the window out and managed to remove the motor mecahnism and middle rail. cleaned up the rail and fitted a new slider block - all nice and free running.

stripping the motor unit showed me the cable was beyond saving, and to be honest i did not fancy fitting a new one.

SJ Sportscars don't repair these units any more, but luckily i saw in another thread that PNM Engineering do. so the whole unit is at PNM now. will let you all know how good a job they do etc when i get it back.

cars eh, don't you just love em.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Mon 25.06.2018, 13:09

well, i finally got my motor assembly after about 3 weeks (to be fair PNM did have people on holiday and they were busy).

must say it looked very good (cost £95.00 plus vat).

so, last Tuesday night after work i got the car out to fit everything. the whole assembly went in quite easily, bolted in place and pop riveted the plastic cover over the motor.

but, could i get the window in? could i heck. needed two sets of hands (one to guide window back in and one to keep the door weather strip seal out the way).

though i'd leave it till Saturday when the missus can help. So on Saturday, before the missus got dressed, i thought i'd try again, and the window went in straight away. :?: :?:
re-assembled the whole door and everything is great again. unfortunately i broke the orange clip, so two are on order.

point to note though, if you struggle to get the window in, i did find that if you loosen the bolts on the 2 guide rails too much, then not only do you have play side to side but also the rails can twist slightly, away from the door body. tightening the bolts enough so that only side to side play happens, then the window guides will slip in quite easily into the rails.

edit: didn't rate my helper though. she just sat there watching me.

new helper.jpg
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Tue 18.06.2019, 14:46

hello all. long time no post, but still here, enjoying life and the elan. no major problems since last time, but a couple of weeks ago the drivers side headlamp pod failed to raise, and the motor was just spinning around.

i had a feeling it was the bushes in the motor, so after purchasing a repair kit, and waiting for the rain to stop, i finally had chance today to repair it. i followed kens video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTjPoKfafSY

on my car it was easy to remove the wheel arch liner and the two motor bolts you need to access from inside the wheel arch, but the top nut and bolt would only come out if you remove the two bolts holding the headlamp pod in. i could then lift the motor slightly to remove the bolt.

once the motor was stripped i could see the issue:

RH pod motor.jpg


the crumbs are the remains of the three bushes. i cleaned all the crumbs out of the motor unit and used an old toothbrush to fully clean the gear and internal drive gear.

taking the motor out took 45 minutes from wheel off to motor out. strip and refurbish the motor took about 20 minutes and re-assembly took about 45 minutes again. quite an easy job. if only they were all like that eh.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Paul Alexander » Mon 04.07.2022, 19:47

Hi All. As previously mentioned in another posting in the brakes section, upon advice i bought a breaker bar to remove the front calipers as both are binding. I have removed and stripped the passenger side and from the photos below do you think i need a new piston and / or caliper body?

hub.jpg


piston.jpg


caliper.jpg


the piston is smooth apart from the lip where the seal goes around. but i am concerned about the caliper.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby dapinky » Mon 04.07.2022, 19:54

Paul,

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it doesn't look too bad to me.

The corrosion inside the calliper isn't relevant, as it is the seal between the rubber ring and the piston which counts - the rest is just packaging!

I'd clean up the piston with scotchbrite (not sandpaper) - or use a dish washing scouring pad (not a brillo pad!) to get it smooth, and then if you can't feel a groove as you run your finger nail along the piston, it should be fine.

That said, I would probably just replace it anyway, because I do! (but it probably doesn't need it).

The calliper itself you can clean up with sandpaper; as said, it is the rubber seal which is important (and the groove it sits in) - should be fine.
Dave

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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Rambo » Mon 04.07.2022, 20:37

I agree. The caliper doesn't look too bad so clean up as Dave says.

You can get brake repair kits and pistons, if required, from SJS or similar
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby Tuga2112 » Fri 08.07.2022, 14:09

my opinion is.

caliper is fine. (i never seen a caliper that needed replacing in my life)

piston looks reusable as well.
BUT a new piston is close to 15 quid delivered.
https://brakeparts.co.uk/shop/Lotus/Ela ... rs/BCP5201

personally i would use a dremmel with a brass wire brush (NOT the iron one, cus thats too harsh) to clean the rust off the piston and put it back. unlike Dave, i would risk using something more abbrasive

then order a full rebuild kit to completely rebuild the calipers (both sides) for the next time it fails the mot.

as far as the caliper is conserned, depends on what you are focusing about. if its functionality, i would probably not do anything to it. if it was functionality AND looks. then theres the options of sandblasting or phosphoric acid treatment prior to a coat of brake caliper paint (or other high temp resistant paint)

I Have very recently found the wonders of 81% concentrated phosphoric acid on the hinges and brackets of the bonnet and pod motors and suddenly EVERYTHING that is rusty in my car has a date with the magic liquid please note that this is an extremely dangerous liquid that misused will cause serious injury, but certainly efficient at treating the rust.
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Re: Maintaining Ruby

Postby dapinky » Fri 08.07.2022, 15:11

Just a couple of comments on Joaos post......

.... the only time I've met a calliper that was beyond repair was one that had a cross-threaded (or incorrect thread) bleed nipple rusted solid - otherwise, they rarely get 'too' bad to refurb.

.... Phosphoric acid is marvellous stuff (and I've been banging on about it for years, so I'm surprised it took Joao this long to believe me :lol: :lol: ) - it can be purchased online at loads of places, and can often be got from a 'local' pool/spa/hot-tub/aquarium/hydroponics type place where it is sold as "Ph down" or similar, where it is generally 81% purity.

Although any concentrated chemical can be dangerous, this stuff is actually quite mild (compared to many) as it is used in the food industry... which is why Coca Cola works well as a rust remover. I would always recommend using rubber gloves, and keeping it in a plastic container. If diluted to 10% it is great for soaking rusted parts, or just paint it on - rinse well with hot water when done, and you'll see when it's done as the brown rust will change to black Iron Phosphate, and the 'clean' steel will be matt grey in colour. It will take paint without any special treatment after that.

At has a bit of a habit of dissolving some metals, so take care if using it on zinc-coated (galvanised) bolts etc, and any chromework..... basically, if it fizzes, the metal is dissolving!

I only caustion against using anything too abrasive on the piston as and deep scratches can give a pathway for fluid to get past the rubber seal and leak..... but as long as there is no damage, there is no problem (but I'd still just chuck a new piston in anyway!).
Dave

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