Rosie's return to glory

[378S2]

Hi Matt - she will be surely fixed now, it looks perfect. I am interested to learn about the assembly process; I have seen a few builds on YouTube etc. where they use regular engine oil and others who use assembly lube which seems to be thicker. When should you use each type?

At the risk of angering the Northern Hemisphere - it is too hot here for a convertible Lotus right now; it was 44C a couple of days ago and it's even too hot in the garage. Poor Steve isn't getting the miles in.

[FunElan]

I'm itching for an update here. How's it going, Matt?

[TorqueHorse]

Well, in contrast to sunny Perth or SoCal , it finally got cold here...and I'm waiting for some parts...and scope crept again...so progress has slowed down .

Over the break, there were a few warm days, so I was able to get some work done. On the to-do list has been to straighten out the suspension; namely the prongeron, raft suspension plates, and the diagonal support. I got everything aligned except ONE connection point on the right hand side. Annoyingly off by just a few mm. When it gets a bit warmer again, I'll try some heat on that corner and some more brute force.

camera under the catalytic converter, looking towards the front of the car

While the engine is out, and BCN has a few sport shift kits still available, I also decided to pull the trigger and pick one up. But before I could install it...what's that I see in the center of the chassis?


Just some of the rodent's paradise I removed.


While the head is off (and having watched too much youtube) I decided to try and clean-up some of the casting flash and transitions. Nothing aggressive, and it isn't much noticeable to the eye, but I can feel a difference of it being smoother to the touch now in places. I just used a grinding stone on my Dremel.

Left is the before, Right is after (same intake valve). Head is upside down, looking in from the intake mani connection; valve guide is sticking up.

At this point now, the main thing I'm waiting for is another bearing and another oil pump. I got paranoid about the oil supply seeing the wear on the new bearing, and the history of how bad that same piston was before, and how low the pressure was when at idle. I've checked all the oil jets and they all seem to pass fluid through, and the check valve ball bearings operate. I'll look again at the bearing clearances and I'll be doing a teardown of the old oil pump and the new one to see if the relief valve was stuck or something else unusual.

*edit: Wow 44 degrees, I just re-read that! That is like the all time record here. I think that means you just need to drive faster to increase your body's evaporative cooling, right? And I don't know why you are asking my advice on when to use oil vs lube...haven't you seen the (lack of) results here But I did just get more of the lube and am going to drench everything I can in it, and really focus on keeping the reassembly-to-run time window to within two weekends. Fingers crossed.

[378S2]

I should have converted the temperature to freedom units - 112F is pretty horrid. On those days the lotus stays safely inside and I take the new daily driver (a Mazda wagon with cooled seats!).

There are many things I don’t understand in life but especially the need to reduce the build to run time. Cars often sit for months or years and crate engines sit in warehouses for ages. So what are they putting in those crate engines?

[TorqueHorse]

No Relief

As part of the really digging into the oil system this time around I got obsessed with trying to get the relief valve out of the head, and finally have just had to give up. I was able to get the check valve out, but this relief valve won't budge. And of course I stripped the hex head. I couldn't tell if it was a Metric or SAE size, but regardless, its stripped now. So then I got out my rotary tool and cut a slot for a large flat headed screw driver.


I even put the whole thing on my outdoor grill to get the overall temp up, and then hit that one spot with my blow torch, but still no luck.

Maybe I didn't let it rest long enough?

So since the part is unobtanium anyways, and I don't want to damage whatever is in there anymore, I'm giving up. Now I just have to clean up the mess I made with all the baked on seafoam.

[TorqueHorse]

What's in your Chassis?

Continuing on the rodent nest removal from the firewall side of the engine bay, I took out the shift lever assembly and found that it was packed solid under here too. In fact the whole thing was stuffed the entire length


I ended up filling 3 shopping bags of scraps, dirt, detritus, etc.


Finally, after lots of time with the grabber arm, shop vac, wire brush I at least had the front/main part of the chassis cleaned out, and most of the rear part (I'll have to get the last bit of the rear from the back, once I get that end on a lift).


Lots of blind sprays later, the worst of the rust has a Rust-oleum coat on it. Should last me until the next infestation.

[Rambo]

Looks like you've been plagued with rats. I would check that your wiring hasn't been gnawed through too

[378S2]

…

[TorqueHorse]

Soon

[Jamie N]

So since the part is unobtanium

New space age material?

Tell you what though, not many things phase me but if I looked in there and seen that amount of nesting material I would be offski...see ya!.









Can't deal with rats.

[TorqueHorse]

Prongeron is ready!

Those who've followed this restoration journey know that the prongeron mis-alignment has been a bane from the beginning. Well, I think I can say that part is done now
The most recent advice I had was to heat the area in question and then apply force using parts of the frame for leverage. I had that area so hot that the oil and/or wax residue inside was on fire and smoking and dripping hot goop out of the spray holes, but still no budging.


So then I decided to just go all-in and hack and fab what I needed. First I had a cutting wheel liberate the tube section from the frame, then with everything in place how I wanted it, I tack welded it in place. This was only like my second time using the machine, so let's just say doing this under the car was interesting.


Then it was off to the races welding what I could, and stitching in more support pieces back to the main prongeron.


Finally, all cleaned up with some high-temp epoxy to fill in the gaps, and some coats of paint.


Result! Primed, painted, and waxed


I've probably spent 100+ hours in various stages of either working on this thing, or trying to think of how to work on this thing, so It does feel like a big hurdle done (and just try not to think of all the other big hurdles ).

[TorqueHorse]

I brake for M100's

In addition to finishing the prongeron, my stretch goal for the weekend was to get the BMC off. Wow, even with the engine out, it sucked. I mean the clutch cable is running between the reservoir and the cylinder for goodness sakes


There is some rust at the servo, but you all tell me if you think it is too bad.


I managed to get the BPV's off too, so now I'll be able to refurb these guys, and go ahead and finally get my SS brake hoses on too.


There was some tiny bits of gunk in the fluid and the pedal was soft last time I took it out, so just to be on the safe side, I've got the BMC in a box, ready to get sent off for reconditioning. The fluid that I pulled out of there when I got the car was literally black, so those seals could probably use some love. I'm going to call White Post in the morning and hopefully they can do magic. I've heard a couple other owners (FED's since replacements for RHDs are still available) have used them to refurb their existing BMCs. Wish me luck.

[378S2]

Nice to see your progress - just the small matter of putting it all back together now. You have reinforced my plans to ignore the new / slightly smaller diameter BMC I have not bothered to fit yet. If it's that hard with the engine out then it must be a nightmare with it still in.

Did you get all the parts of engine you need?

[dapinky]

You have reinforced my plans to ignore the new / slightly smaller diameter BMC I have not bothered to fit yet. If it's that hard with the engine out then it must be a nightmare with it still in.

George,
Don't forget that when the steering wheel is on the right side, the pedals are as well...... it is far easier to do a RHD brake cylinder than a LHD

[378S2]

Thanks Dave, maybe then… one for winter.

Matt keen to see how you go with your BPVs. I’ve still got the o-rings you kindly sent and need to do mine.

[TorqueHorse]

Can't deal with rats.

Yeah @Rambo and @Jamie, definitely some rodentia had taken up residence, but from the trash receipts and bags I collected out of there, it was back from when it was sitting in a field and forgotten. There are so many cats around my house now that like to hang out under the car, that I felt pretty safe there weren't any live ones in there.
As to the wiring, I have been VERY surprised at the lack of gnawing anywhere (knock on wood). At this point, I've gone over almost every section of the loom, and the only problems I've found have been the typical bad earths, and fuses. Actually the headlight wires inside the pods are knackered, but everything works.

And @George, yes it was a pain to remove the BMC, but if I'd actually read the wiki first, it would probably have been easier, and as Dave says, I think we have the worse end of it. You should go for it and yes, sounds like a great winter job.

[TorqueHorse]

Race to Which Mountain?

So my neighbor is sick of me always working on my car, and never being able to go out on actual drives. He's got an '89 Jag XJS that he is doing a rolling restoration on and to kind of goad us into finishing our projects enough to enjoy them, we have a friendly competition going. We each set out our list of things to do, so that the car is safe (and registered, etc.) to do a spirited 3 hr drive in the hill country, and we set the deadline for May 23rd. The loser has to wear gear with the other car maker's logo (whenever they are working on their car) until they finish. My neighbor has even threatened to have my kids sporting Jag caps too, so it is ON . The arbiter is a third neighbor (who has a misplaced penchant for German sports vehicles ) and he'll be going over each car, clipboard in hand ;P

Here's my list, and the (week of, or weekend) dates scheduled:

1. bend prongeron; 3/5-13/22
2. send BMC for refurb; 3/14/22
3. Rebuild BPV's; 3/14/22
4. Resurface flywheel; 3/14/22
   
5. Clean and prep booster; 3/19/22
6. Replace fuel pump (clean lines); 3/19/22
   
7. Rebuild oil cooler hoses; 3/21/22
   
8. Rebuild top end; 4/11/22
   
9. Clean bottom end; pistons; crank; 4/18/22
   
10. Assemble engine; shiftkit; samco; 5/2/22
    
11. Clean rotors, install BMC, bleed; 5/7-8/22
    
12. Install engine; 5/14-15/22
    
13. Tune idle, fluids; 5/16/22
14. Tires and alignment; 5/16/22

Oh yeah, and I have some Samco hoses getting made, so I'm crossing fingers they get here in time. Not a lot of wiggle room, especially with travel, work, and family events scheduled, but I'm hopeful. Here's to the cat on skates, taking on a big cat.

[FunElan]

now THIS will be fun. Looking forward to seeing your (quick) progress!!

Not sure when you ordered the Samcos, but they seem to take several months to make. I ordered mine in Jan and they should get to LA by April apparently.

[TorqueHorse]

Spring Brake aka Brake Proportioning Valves

Like passing out on the beach with no sunscreen. Ouch!


OK, got these guys taken apart, cleaned and put back together this week.

I used a 7/8" wrench and a plumber's adjustable pipe wrench to open these things up. And YUCK, what a mess. The one that seemed to be weeping had a lot more gunk/corrosion than the other one, but both needed cleaning


inside the main chamber


Then it was just lots of cleaning. Cleaning the outside and inside. i used mineral spirits, wire brushes, rags, and air to clean stuff up best I could. Then i finally could take a loot at the o-rings I had vs what came in it. The original ones are on the top, and the new ones are on the bottom. Under a magnifying glass, the small one did have some visible wear on the edges, but I couldn't see much wear on the larger one (same wear patterns for both valves). So, since RonR's chart from years ago in this thread indicated that the larger replacement o-ring was still a bit anemic for this application, I decided to only replace the little guy.


Now everything is put back together. Next up is to put an airline on the brake lines and clean them out. And then install the SS braided hoses .

And I was able to check the brake booster with the help of the Jag neighbor. I thought it was leaking at first, since I was trying to plug the hole with my finger and use the vac pump at the same time. But once I had an extra set of hands, we were able to keep a vacuum for 30 seconds, with no drop. So the check valve, hoses, and the servo all checked out

Also I called White Post and they weren't sure if they could refurb the BMC, but he agreed to take a look any way. Its on its way there and worst is I'm out the postage, and then I'll have to jury-rig maybe one of the RHD units to work with only my three lines. Fingers crossed.

[TorqueHorse]

Pretty Fly (for a white guy)

Also up this week was getting the flywheel resurfaced. Sad news was that my favorite machine shop seems to have closed down . But after calling all over town, I finally found another place that had a machine to do the job. The owner and I had an (what seemed to me) incongruous talk about our electric cars (I had puttered up in the Leaf and he had a Tesla), while we were trying to see how to get the "old" ('91 old?! :sob) flywheel setup on the machine.


But half an hour later that was all in the past, because the flywheel was living up to its name and looking great.

Let's keep these hits rolling (for a long time)!