XIL - A Rolling Project

[cliff]

The rack was put on the test rig and worked fine, no stiffness, the adjustment was checked and set correctly after my messing around. Installed today, I did pay particular attention to the position of the UJ's on the intermediate shaft, pretty sure I just put it together last time.

UJ's.pdf

(328.47 KiB) Downloaded 1300 times

Not sure how much difference it will make but a good reminder to RTFM!

Column and fluid in the morning.

[cliff]

Its been a long time coming but finally got there.

Not all good news though.

It will not idle properly despite setting the base timing and many adjustments, it passed the emissions test easily but doesn't sound good. The only obvious thing I found was that the knock sensor is disconnected, not sure how much that will affect the idle. I have tried to reconnect it but no joy so far, it is in a horrible place!

Leaving the testing station, the gear problem raised its ugly head again, stuck in a forward gear! I got the guys to push me backwards with the clutch in then limped the short distance home in what feels like 2nd. I had the gearbox overhauled to cure the crunch into 3rd gear, since then going from reverse to a forward gear causes an intermittant lock out. I have replaced the selector, the whole gear lever assembly and adjusted the cables more times than I can count. The cables are the modified ones from he who shall not be named. I had no gear problems before I took the engine out and it worked fine when I took it for a run prior to the MoT. Maybe the orientation or positioning of the cables could be causing this.

I really am sick of this car at the moment, I have never worked on anything, car or airplane, that has fought back as much as this one.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Cliff:

It sounds like the 5th gear retaining nut has come loose. It is an easy thing to check, but will require draining the gearbox or it will dump the lube when you remove the 5th gear cover plate. Maybe, the repair shop didn't dimple the nut flange enough and it has "backed-off" allowing the gears to "float" more than acceptable.

Look at John_W's write-up here: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=14484&p=346995#p346995

I have no suggestion about the knock sensor, but it is something the ECM checks frequently, so it might cause poor running. You could drop the Prongeron

To gain better access. You don't need to support the suspension as far as I can see. It is easier to do it from a lift, but I actually replaced an oil sump on one of mine while it was up on the car trailer. There was enough room under the trailer for my fat butt... Took about an hour or so, so not a huge project.

[cliff]

Hi John,

thanks for the input. I had the 5th gear issue a few years ago and it was sorted by Gerald at GST, this one can be reset with a screwdriver and is intermittent. Reading John W's write up it points to the selector box issue. If all else fails, I will open it up for a look.

I checked the closed loop manual for info about the knock sensor, it says remove the prongeron & starter for access (EMJ3 page 27) The prongeron is easy, takes about 10 minutes, certainly on my car, it's been on and off more times than an ex Suits actresses underwear!

Just need a little enthusiasm.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

If you find you need a shift selector box, I have several used ones that came off working GEO Storm gearboxes. They are the same...

I also have a NEW one (from a new NA gearbox) but it won't be any better than one that hasn't been played with.

Have you verified that the shift cables are allowing the selector to go into absolute neutral? If one is a bit tight (short or long) it might confuse the selector.

It took me around 50 attempts to get one of Bob B.'s kits assembled correctly and actually shift the gearbox to my satisfaction. I made a "jig" out of shift lever parts to create a starting point for assembly. Then I just have to tweak the fittings at the gearbox. (this is why I pre-assemble, install my cables and adjust them before I ship them).

If you want to "talk" about this and you have a UK 01 phone number, I can call for free, so I can answer any questions. Just email me the phone number and let me know what would be a good time to call. (I am 5 hours behind the UK...).

[cliff]

The selector box is a 'new' one so I will concentrate on the cables initially, even though they were fine before I removed the gearbox.

Thanks for the support, I came to Cyprus yesterday so that and our new project further south, means I probably won't be able to do anything with the car until after the new year. Several hours of cable adjustments is not something to look forward to!

[cliff]

Gearbox put back into neutral, it seems to be working fine now.

New knock sensor coming tomorrow. looks like a fun job.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

email sent.

[cliff]

Knock sensor time. Prongeron off, can just see it with the camera but not physically.

Oil filter off, still can't see anything, but can feel it just above the oil filter and below the secondary throttle actuator.

A 22mm socket fits over the sensor, but a standard 1/2 inch drive is too big. A 3/8th drive 22mm with a wobbly extension does the job.

Be careful when refitting it, dropping the new sensor behind the starter will lead to a lot of swearing!

The car is running much better, I went for a 20 mile drive around the country roads and she ran nicely, a little hesitation sometimes but that could be down to old fuel.

[cliff]

Turning the car round in front of the garage the gears jammed again. It only seems to happen when manoeuvring at low speed! More investigation required.

Pushed it back into the garage to cool down and fitted this.

I fell out of love with the Elise wheel some time ago, I find it a little small so have had the original one on for a while now. This Momo wheel is bigger than the Elise but slightly smaller than the OEM.

[cliff]

The Alfa's front spring gave up last night, too many speed bumps!

So, reset the Lotus gears and did a 100 mile round trip to Sheffield to pick up some parts, no problems except for a bit of initial rough running. The new Momo steering wheel is a delight to use, but the steering is still heavier than I would like, I guess the only ball joint I didn't replace is the most likely culprit.

Feeling happy and confident in the car again.

Fitting Jamie's handbrake lever is the next job.

[cliff]

Jamie N's handbrake mod.

Modify the existing handbrake mount.

Paint and install the cables.

I had to remove a small amount of material from the centre console to allow smooth operation.

Looks good, just need a better fitting gaiter, the lever works really well, much better than the original.

Windbreaker fitted as well.

[cliff]

A little drive out this morning.

[cliff]

Managed to get an early Christmas present on the 23rd, just need to keep to my new years resolution and drive her more this year.

[Steve A]

Jamie N's handbrake mod.


.

Much better than the standard set up

[cliff]

For a while now I have had a problem with the car over revving on first start. After checking the obvious causes, vacuum pipes etc, I had a look at the electrical connections and found the connector to the knock sensor hanging on by one thread. Prongeron off again and reterminated the plug.

After putting it back together, the first start was normal, no over revving. Took the car on the shopping run, horrible when cold but ran beautifully when warm. Back in the garage, next day the start was normal with no hesitation and poor running when cold! The only thing I did was leave the battery isolator on, so can only assume that the IAV and other sensors stayed in position instead of being reset. Surprised the knock sensor had this much effect on the start but happy if this cures it.

While the prongeron was off, I noticed that the gear cables were twisted where they come through the bulkhead. I straightened them and the gear shift feels better if somewhat looser, more importantly it has not jammed in a forward gear since. Hopefully this is solved

[cliff]

I have done a 100 miles since repositioning the gear cables with no reoccurrence of the problem so I think this one is solved.

I have felt the car was not really producing the power I had hoped for since the rebuild, for the first time yesterday, there was an audible air leak, it still went pretty well though. Back home, I found this: The turbo pipe was just resting there.

Another jubilee clip and road test, now I have power and boost up to 0.85 smoothly without over boost.

Off to Iceland tonight for a few days, then Belgium for a month but when I get back it is time for a visit to the rolling road.

One downer, I tried to adjust the suspension but could not move any of the adjusters, to be fair, that was with the wheels still on so that needs a bit of looking at, it is a little too firm for the roads around Lincolnshire.

This rebuild has been a long process with quite a few ups and downs but ultimately worth it. Still some little things to do (there always will be) but I would say to everyone, keep at it! Even when you feel like pushing it off a cliff or torching it, a blast along a windy B road with the top down is the ultimate reward and has a way of banishing the tourette's outbreaks, the scars and back pain from assuming the Lotus position for too long.

[cliff]

Took XIL for her MoT today and had a fail for emissions, this garage have done the car for the last 3 years and knew there was no cat fitted.

She didn't run very well going to the test centre, I still haven't got to the bottom of the poor running when cold, so checked the base timing, but could hear an air leak from the rear of the engine which needs further investigation. A job for tomorrow when the engine cools down.

Having a look through the emissions print out, I saw that the car failed the first test as the CO was 0.81 against a max of 0.30. On the second run, the CO was 0.17 but failed as the lambda was 1.04 against a max of 1.03. This is a little strange as my readings after I fitted the O2 sensor were recorded with a max of 3.5 and no lambda reading. Time for some investigation.

The UK government website has a link to a pdf document.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... d-vehicles

On page 6 there is a flow chart which clearly shows that cars used before 1st August 1992 have different limits to built cars after that date. I always thought that the difference was if a cat was fitted or not, obviously this is not the case as there must be some none cat SE's registered after that date. Perhaps Specky can clarify this for those with later cars.

So, back to the tester tomorrow to get my Pass cert.

[Fredjohn]

Sounds like the tester was using the S2 figures, ie the wrong parameters. Only S2s were fitted with cats, no SEs.
Pass limit as you suggest is 3.5 for all SEs.
It's build date that should be used not reg date.

Your car should have passed. Good luck when you go back and complain!

[dapinky]

The 'standards' for a pre-92 car (ie, any Elan before the S2........or something kept unregistered by the factory) are simple, and the fitting of a Cat is irrelevant to the numbers needed to achieve.

It has an upper limit of 3.5% CO, and 1200ppm Hydrocarbons.

There is no relevant test for Lambda values, and the only thing that matters for a Cat is that if one is fitted, it needs to be correctly fitted and not leaking.

It certainly sounds like he was testing it under the S2 standards (and they are arguably wrong anyway, but that's another subject, covered elsewhere!).... maybe he just saw the S2 wheels and O2 sensor and assumed the date???