XIL - A Rolling Project

[cliff]

Cleaning & painting finished.

Raft fitted.

Upper wishbones.

The anti roll bar will be coming off for blasting when I strip the other side

I am having some issues finding the correct size & spec bolts over here, so at the moment some of this is a temporary fit as I need to turn the car around to strip the other side, double garage but winter coming and I want both cars in the garage. More work I know but this way I can place one large order and get everything right.

When I removed the lower bolts from the old TCA to rack control arm, found this!

A bit of poking around left this.

Admittedly, I have not done a detailed search, but I have not seen corrosion mentioned at this part of the TCA before. I don't think this would cause a catastrophic failure but would certainly affect the handling. Something else to keep an eye on!

Lower wishbone fitted.

Almost rolling tonight, these arrived but my spring compressors are in the UK.

Hopefully can get them fitted before work rears its ugly head tomorrow night. I am having some issues with my camera at the moment, seem to be getting a purple haze and the colour is off on some of the pictures (memo to Casio, it's gray not blue). Hopefully will get that sorted soon

[DaveB]

I am having some issues with my camera at the moment, seem to be getting a purple haze and the colour is off on some of the pictures (memo to Casio, it's gray not blue). Hopefully will get that sorted soon

I am glad you pointed that out...


... the pink stuff looks like the ultraviolet DNA testing they do on CSI.

I was worried that you were having far too much 'fun' with your Elan...

[cliff]

Thanks Dave, a blue haze would have been more apt though!

[cliff]

LH spring & shock fitted.

XIL started first turn of the key & actually moved under her own power for the first time in too long (very slowly with only the handbrake working). Car turned around and work started on the RH front.

Usual story of grime and corrosion, also some of the wheel arch liner missing.

Shock removed & started on the wishbones, drive shaft has come out as well, not intentionally.

Only the raft left to remove.

All gone, this side went very quickly, less than an hour. Having the driveshaft out of the way made it much easier to take the forward lower raft bolt out. The power steering pipe has seen better days though, not impressed by the price of a new one either - it's for a car not a 747!

This side is in much better condition, the damper yoke bush has gone as have the upper wishbone bushes but the wishbones themselves are really good. Once again, I had to drill out the bolts for the upper ball joint. This seems like a common theme but as they are available on the aftersales list for £15, it is not too painful.

De-greased and ready to go for cleaning.

[cliff]

Cleaning progressing, there has been an oil leak and everything is coated especially in the area of the steering rack.

More cleaning

Until we get to this.

Motivation can be a bit lacking when you wake up to this and no heating in the garage!

Only solution is to buy a heater on monday and do the painting inside.

Blasted, painted and waiting for the new bushes to arrive. Removal was easy enough on the TCA, right size socket, a large vice and a jacking handle! As has been posted before, for the upper wishbones, burn the rubber out, a bit of gentle hacksawing closely followed by a bit of not so gentle hammer and chisel work.

[cliff]

My new best friend.

The reservoir to steering rack pipe has been leaking at the crimp between the solid & rubber pipes, this has caused the oil slick underneath.

It came off the rack with a bit of persuasion, the high pressure pipe to the pump was badly corroded as well. That one decided to shear.

Amazingly, Lotus have made the pump return pipe quite easy to reach under the light pod - they must have been having an off day. The hp side was easier after removing the heatshield, O2 sensor and using a 19mm ratchet ring spanner.

3 pipes needed, talk about rapid project creep!

It's not over yet, that is not a pretty alternator! Might as well change it while I have good access.

Looking on the brightside, thats 1 problem solved and 3 future problems avoided, doesn't look like being finished before the end of the year though.

[HJ2]

OMG... somebody's got to tell him!
Help me!

STOP STOP STOP!

[cliff]

Why? I actually enjoy doing this.

Doing this corner was meant to be the last bit before rebuilding. Plan was for MoT (yearly inspection) and off for respray before the holiday.

Finding the corroded/leaking pipes was just one of those things and better to find it now than later. The alternator is oil contaminated and would most likely fail soon, at the moment, with the raft off and pipes out of the way it is quite easy to get to.

With most of the important jobs done, shiny new suspension, brakes, paint job etc, I will use her all next year. As the belts are due at the end of 2013, I want to pull the engine, overhaul it and do all the stuff I can't get to at the moment.

Not so much a stop as slow down (much easier with new brakes!)

[cliff]

With the garage at -5 this week, things went even slower, it warmed up yesterday but still needed the heater for the Fe 123 & POR 15, got it done though.

The engine needs a good cleaning & painting but that will wait until I pull it next year, I will change the oil filter while it is easy though!

Took the old spring damper assy apart as I needed the top plate, the other three were fine but this one!

The top rubber and isolator are deformed, along side the new one for comparison.

There are wear marks on the old damper strut as well, I have no idea what has caused this. The tracking has been out on this wheel since I bought the car, this was one of the reasons for doing a full rebuild. I can't see any other damage to the other suspension parts but this has obviously been like this for a long time!

All theories and advice welcome

[cliff]

Not so much progressing as collecting everything needed for the rebuild.

New alternator - ordered Monday, arrived Wednesday, that's the kind of customer service I like! Well done Wood Auto.

Not impressed by the state of the jack shaft.

Bought a new one from Brammer Parts in Mettmann for €30

As he didn't have a spring damper top plate, he let me have a damper assembly. Looks like this one has come from a pre-production car and specially made by Armstrong Patent Co. I am almost sorry to take it apart.

Project creep is always lurking though, the metal dust cover is missing from the RH drive shaft.

So do I fit the new jack shaft and risk damage or leave the old one on and carry on regardless?

[cliff]

Todays project, replace the Brake Master Cylinder.

With the power steering reservoir, bracket and pipes already removed, access is poor but ok. With 11mm & 13mm pipe spanners, 13mm crows foot and a 1/4 drive ratchet handle it is fiddly but not too bad. Helps to have the wheel arch liner off for the outboard bolt as well.

There has been some leakage or careless filling as the paint is flaking both on the servo and the chassis under the BMC.

After some cleaning looked like this.

More cleaning and some black & grey POR 15.

I have just protected the chassis under the BMC. The rest of it can be sorted when I pull the engine later in the year.

Just comparing the old & very cheap new BMC.

I have removed the pipes but they are in surprisingly good condition, just some corrosion on the fittings. Will probably replace them anyway.

Hopefully BMC back on & rebuild soon.

[Steve A]

as always

[cliff]

Time to refit the BMC. Reservoir & 2 pipes fitted.

Connect the pipes, leave them finger tight then gently push the BMC into position on the servo. This makes the inboard nut a bit fiddly but means that there is less chance of cross threading the pipes as the BMC can be moved around to allow the fittings to be screwed in. 13mm crows foot and 1/4 drive ratchet makes tightening easy. Torque to 15 to18nM

Tighten the pipes & connect the plug. In hindsight, it would have been much easier to put the plug on before the pipes! I know Lotus recommend a torque figure for the pipes but nothing fits. They must have a special breed of Dormice, trained to torque brake pipes.

Earths cleaned and reconnected.

I thought I would something easier and change the oil filter while there is plenty of access before I fit the alternator. Couldn't move it! FFS these are only supposed to be hand tight, off to buy a strap wrench tomorrow.

[cliff]

Alternator & oil filter replaced.

Time to re-bush the wishbones, M12 bolt, some washers, nut & 19mm ratchet ring.

Similar theme for the TCA, M12 threaded bar, 1" socket, 21mm socket fitted the bush perfectly, washers, nut & ratchet ring. It's important to make sure that the bush is central on the TCA.

Worked for the raft as well.

I ordered a new raft from the aftersales as according to the IPC, it comes with bushes, sadly it didn't!

No pictures, but for the larger bush, I put the raft in the vice and used a wooden block to push the bush in. The wooden block will shape itself to the bush and using the vice as a press, it goes in easily.

All done.

Power steering pipes painted.

Last job of the day, change the track rod ends. Febi Bilstein 04452, as per the Wiki, ordered from http://www.parts2go.de/ . €24 for 2, delivered, can't go wrong at that price.

They come with a plastic cover to prevent damage, so have left it on until I fit the suspension.

[RayD]

Well Done Cliff,

Ray

[cliff]

Re-fitting the power steering pipes was a pain, worse than the BMC. They only go in one way and if you have the first pipe wrong, it throws everything out. After several tries, all done.

Reservoir & boost sensor refitted.

Raft built up.

Raft & upper wishbones fitted.

As mine was badly worn, I got a spring damper top plate from what looked like a pre-production damper assembly. There are a few differences though.

Looks like it had been strengthened by the time it went into production.

It will do to get the car on 4 wheels and will be replaced by the correct one as soon as possible.

[cliff]

More progress, TCA etc.

A few bits to torque but nearly there.

Had to try it for size.

Tomorrow is brake day!

[HJ2]

When is it up for sale?

[cliff]

Let me get it finished first.

[cliff]

A bit of rust protection.

Disk assembled, doesn't need to be wire locked but I like it.

Mounting bracket fitted & torqued.

Disk & caliper fitted.

Wheel on then almost on 4 wheels for the first time in ages.

Not for long though, the front is back up on stands to fit the LH brakes and to do all of the little jobs that seem to take forever.

Everything else looks nice so time to give the wheel arch liners a bit of a clean.

A couple of coats of Tetra Schutz and they look like this.