Has anyone ever..................

[Brit-Car-Nut]

I saw some pictures of Geos with the CS130 and it was doable but tight. The CS144 was shown and it is almost 50% larger and needs different mounting brackets. On the GEO there is a lot of space between the firewall and the engine. Not so much with the Elan. I saw your earlier posts and asked around to friends in the auto rebuild community and was told there was no way to use a stock CS130 housing and gain 100% increase in output. Trust your research and while you have the alternator off the car, you might be able to get to the starter solenoid from within that void.

If you want, I will measure the Alternator to Starter wire center of eyelet to center of eyelet for you and you can get a heavier wire made up but be sure to use the same size eyelets (I will measure those too) as usually there isn't much clearance to go much bigger.

[peteoddcar]

Hi
The link is not working for me.
Been a bit busy lately - doing up an 89 Mini with/for the young lad next door.
I recalled that Minis were a bit of a whatsit to work on ( last touched a mini seriously in about 1978 - how wrong compared to our chariots! They are a doddle and you can get every part for them by return postage for a pitance...
Back on subject
What do you want to run a wire to the starter or biding post for again? Is it to remote charge / jump start the car?

Pete

[dapinky]

Hi Blair,

I didn't know which one of your (relevant) threads to post on - so decided on this one

Whilst doing my suspension rebuild (which has expanded a hell of a lot from the original brief ) I decided to remove the prongeron to both straighten it out a bit, and allow me to clean 22 years worth of crap off the bottom of the engine & gearbox....

...whilst I was painting it today, I had a thought - so I went out in the wind and the rain to lie under the car with a camera in my hand....

....looking up into the void I was confronted with all the wires that you are on about - and with really easy access to the nuts for the cable

It also seems like an easy way to get a slightly larger alternator into the space where it is needed (if you havent got quite enough clearance) - or even if you just fancy being able to get to all the bolts to fit the cable and adjust the belt whilst seeing what you're doing

(and it seems a shame not to change the oil filter whilst there is such good access to it..... oh, and fit a sump guard....oh, and i might as well have a new radiator whilst I'm here, and fit the electric fans I've had for the past 6 years..... )

Removal of the prongeron is extremely straightforward (even though most of my suspension is still to go back on the passenger side, the drivers' side was complete - so i can say it isn't hard with everything else in situ.)

Just 2xM12 bolts (19mm spanner/socket) (captive into the chassis) at each side of the rear - one through the raft, one not.

At the front of the raft - 2xM12 bolts with nuts on the top holding the prongeron to the chassis strengthening/bracing bar, one M12 nut on the bolt which drops down from the raft (by the CV joint) - no need to take the bolt out - luckily - just take the nut off it. (same for the other side).

3xM5 bolts (captive) at the front - holding the prongeron to the radiator frame (8mm spanner/socket).

As a bonus, it will give you a real oportunity to clean off all the crap which has accumulated between the engine and the prongeron

starter wiring.jpg

[Elanlover]

Hi Blair,

I didn't know which one of your (relevant) threads to post on - so decided on this one

Are you implying that I have too many posts going on for this topic????? At least you didn't post in one of my "irrelevant" threads!

Outstanding Dave, thanks!

[Elanlover]

Now THAT was a royal pain to say the least. Prongeron removed - good thing I was able to take my time over a couple of weekends to do it slowly. The entire process only served to remind me that Lotus must have hired circus midgets and children under 8 to build this car as its the only way to access many of the fasteners, cables and hoses without completely disassembling the entire vehicle.

Years of crud indeed Mr. Pinky. All clean now though.

IMG_3906.JPG

Suffice it to say that removing the prongeron on a Fed car is NOT as straightforward as it is on the UK version. And the offending cable to which all this effort has been directed.

IMG_3907.JPG

I think I am going to order up some high temp cable to replicate this with higher gauge and also stay consistent with my over-engineering tendencies. It'll take a few days for it to arrive and then for me to take it to the shop to have the lug ends properly crimped so during that breaks I get to try and replace the alternator

[tigerdog]

Suffice it to say that removing the prongeron on a Fed car is NOT as straightforward as it is on the UK version.

Why not? What's different?

[Elanlover]

Suffice it to say that removing the prongeron on a Fed car is NOT as straightforward as it is on the UK version.

Why not? What's different?

Well, as you might expect, the Fed version has some extra pieces that complicate things. In the UK version, the front of the prongeron is attached to the "front frame" or radiator support frame via three screws which are relatively easy to remove. The Fed version has an additional component called the "V strut, underframe to transverse beam" (page 30.15A in the parts manual) which sits on top of the prongeron just behind (towards back of car) the radiator frame. Two additional screws drop down from this piece and screw into captive nuts in the top of the prongeron. The problem is that you can't see them.

There is a coolant hose runs along the top of this piece that conceals the screws. And, the parts manual only describes them as "screw, M8x16" which doesn't give you any hints as to what to try to use on them (once the entire thing was removed with the V strut attached I could see that they are socket cap screws). The hose is tie wrapped to this strut and even with the wraps cut there's almost no room to get a socket wrench on them and since you can't see them from the top you're guessing wildly at what to use if you can even get to them. Even if I knew what they were and what to use I don't know if I would have been able to loosen them from under the car. They were quite rusted (to be expected as water and crud naturally collect there) and it took a long wrench and copious amounts of lubricant to finally get them off. I've now got SS screws and will use plenty of anti-seize when I reinstall the prongeron.

On top of all that, the two screws that hold the V strut in place are very difficult to reach and trying to get a hold of the screw heads with one wrench and the nuts with another with limited room to turn the wrench was plenty of fun as you can imagine. It took over an hour to remove them and, if you've been following the weather lately, its ridiculously cold in the northern parts and frozen fingers don't always work well. Removing the prongeron with the V strut attached was probably a 3 hour ordeal in total (had to take a few breaks due to the cold). My biggest fear was how I would reattach the V strut since I've found that no matter how hard getting the screws out can be putting them back in is almost always harder. fortunately, I was able to reattach the V strut on its own in about an hour with some creative use of pliers, etc. to hold the nuts. If you can remove the prongeron without removing the V strut that would be best but you'd better give yourself an overnight soaking of the screws to loosen them first.