XIL - A Rolling Project

[cliff]

A little further.

Turns out the teeth on the Elan flywheel are almost the same as an Alfa Romeo twinspark. I do have to admit that I got the initial hole a bit wrong but that is why dremels were invented, so slight modification of the Alfa locking tool later.

P9201665.jpg (68.62 KiB) Viewed 20944 times

A couple of washers and a gearbox bolt, just needs tightening to lock the flywheel. The Alfa tool comes with a nice spacer but I didn't want to cut that down.

The Sachs clutch kit even came with an alignment tool although the friction plate was wrapped in a Valeo bag. As Valeo clutches are OEM for Alfa's, I am not too unhappy about that.

With the flywheel locked, torquing and fitting the pressure plate was easy. The white mark is to align the flywheel and pressure plate to their balanced positions. I don't think this will make much difference but as the flywheel had to be skimmed anyway, worth a go.

The inside of the plenum is a mess, left soaking in gunk overnight before some serious cleaning tomorrow.

[cliff]

Timing belt fitted, had a problem trying to get the marks lined up after tensioning the belt. Aamir's write up on Isuzu zone mentioned rotating the crank one tooth in the opposite direction then re-tension. Worked a treat.

http://www.kact.co.uk/lec/replacing_timing_belt.pdf

Then disaster, the pulley slipped out of my hands.

Something else I need to buy.

More cleaning.

Manifold and other bits fitted, starting to look more like an engine, plenum and cam cover have gone for powder coating.

That's it for a few weeks, going to Cyprus this afternoon.

[epipete]

Already here, the sun is warm and the Keo tastes good!

[stuartm]

[Manifold and other bits fitted, starting to look more like an engine, plenum and cam cover have gone for powder coating.

That's looking great. As it happens, I've just taken my cam cover off for powder coating and I've come to a bit of a standstill with the baffle (and whatever might lie behind it). What is your powder coater doing for surface preparation? It would ruin your day to get a piece of shot behind there, yet removing (or more particularly reattaching) the baffle doesn't look like an option.

[dapinky]

Stuart,

I have never done it myself (as I haven't ever media-blasted the cam cover), but other people have drilled out the rivets which attach the baffle cover, tapped the remaining holes, and re-attached with short setscrews.....

I may do it at some point, but it seems a lot of hassle unless it's going anywhere near a blasting cabinet. If it were to go away for any preparation, I would definitely do it though - can't be too carefull!

[cliff]

Already here, the sun is warm and the Keo tastes good!

Keo always tastes good.

Let me know when your car gets here, I will have to come down for a look. The state of the roads around Ayia Thekla and some of the high kerbs means it is very unlikely I will bring mine over.

[cliff]

That's looking great. As it happens, I've just taken my cam cover off for powder coating and I've come to a bit of a standstill with the baffle (and whatever might lie behind it). What is your powder coater doing for surface preparation? It would ruin your day to get a piece of shot behind there, yet removing (or more particularly reattaching) the baffle doesn't look like an option.

Thanks Stuart, I will speak to the guy doing the work when I am back in the UK in a few weeks and see what he has done. Using a good cobalt drill it doesn't look very difficult to whip that plate off, I ran out of time to do it before I left.

[epipete]

Already here, the sun is warm and the Keo tastes good!

Keo always tastes good.

Let me know when your car gets here, I will have to come down for a look. The state of the roads around Ayia Thekla and some of the high kerbs means it is very unlikely I will bring mine over.

Yes, the Keo becomes more quaffable the more and longer you drink it for, nearly a week now and it's going down easily!

Here at Epi, the bumps are quite high but I think manageable, down in Erimi (on the Limassol Road) and the other way through Paramali (on the Paphos road) they are terrible both in quantity and height, but I'll get by somehow, maybe I have to reverse over them!

Perhaps, like those giant monster US trucks, I could instal pumps on each corner to raise it up!

[cliff]

One of these maybe?

http://www.roughcountry.com/suspension-lift-kits.html

[cliff]

More project creep. The exhaust manifold is cracked, not unusual but the one at the rear is too much.

Out of curiosity, I called a couple of companies specialising in cast iron weld repairs, after a quote of over £300, found one on ebay for a very good price. After blasting and a coat of POR 15 manifold grey, hung it out to dry.

Had a couple of bits back from powder coating.

Not clear from the picture, but done in the same colour as this.

Almost too nice to fit. Thanks to Steven at Frears Wheels in Scunthorpe, beautiful work, really looking forward to seeing the cam cover..

[danbrown100]

Cliff,

As a new Elan owner, I have scrolled through your 9 pages of rebuild detail with tremendous admiration and inspiration! I know where I will be looking for information or guidance next time I undertake a minor or major task!

Surely you have little left to do now...

and well done,

Dan

[Artaban]

Love the shiny look
I'd be interested to know how the Turbo heat shield powder coating copes with the heat. Was it a special high silicone content powder or just a normal one? I was told normal powder coating wouldn't be able to cope with the heat on the heat shield.
Andy

[cliff]

Cliff,

Surely you have little left to do now...

Dan

If only!

Thanks Dan and good luck with your new purchase.

[cliff]

Love the shiny look
I'd be interested to know how the Turbo heat shield powder coating copes with the heat. Was it a special high silicone content powder or just a normal one? I was told normal powder coating wouldn't be able to cope with the heat on the heat shield.
Andy

I had the heat shield powder coated a couple of years ago and have had no problems. I only had it re-done as I wanted it to match the plenum and spark plug cover. Yeh, I know.

[cliff]

I finally had time to collect my gearbox from Alan Voigt in Wallasey. Third gear synchro and drive shaft seals replaced, the rest was in good condition. Thanks guys.

This bit of the build always seems to take ages, finding stuff and poring through the myriad of pictures to see where it goes.

Injector rail cleaned up nicely with a bit of Autosol.

Injectors and pressure regulator replaced with parts from Rock Auto.

Coil packs replaced, this requires a 5.5mm socket. The back plates were quite corroded but cleaned up nicely, there were new seals in the box so it was silly not to replace them.

All done

Some progress.

[cliff]

Tangible progress today, power steering pipes. mounting and coil packs fitted. Engine bay almost ready.

Nice view of the secondary throttle reservoir & solenoid valve, vacuum hoses replaced as well.

Plenum and gearbox fitted.

A few little things to sort out but almost ready for refit.

[cliff]

Word of advice, fit the engine wiring loom before the plenum.

The new fuel pressure regulator PR92T has a straight connector for the manifold pressure pipe, this will not clear the forward engine hanger. The old one was working fine so I have refitted it for now.

It's in.

Fiddly but straight forward except for the forward gearbox mount. If I could have got my hands on the designer this morning, he would be walking funny for a while - there would not have been any lube involved. Who specifies 3 shims and 2 extra plates ffs! Basic rule of design, keep it simple.

Work tonight so that's it for now, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel.

[cliff]

I fitted the Elise steering wheel some time ago but after using XIL for commuting from Frankfurt to Liege last year, I started to find it a bit too small for comfort. While it works well and is from a Lotus, I wanted something different and to be honest a little larger. At speed on the autobahn, I want to feel comfortable and the Elise wheel is not for me.

Momo have also been standard fit on Lotus so not too much of a stretch when I found a Momo Millenium Sport:

Larger circumference, and should be a straight swap for the Elise wheel, plus the red matches my car.

Might have an Elise steering wheel for sale soon

[tigerdog]

Amazing work - so good to see your progress. Thanks for documenting this wonderful rebuild!

[cliff]

Thanks, all I need is some time to be able to get it finished.