Lotus Elan Central

by **Benmac** » Tue 14.11.2006, 10:47

I want to remove the upper part of the turbo heatshield and clean it up. I've had a quick go at the 3 bolts that hold it on and each of these is free so that's good. However I'm just wondering whether removing them and getting them back in (not the top one obviously!) is better done from below or is it something I can do just leaning in. Not a problem if I need to get underneath as I am going to do an oil change soon anyway. Any advice gratefully received.

Also how best to clean the heatshield up? I was planning on rubbing it down to get rid of the spots of rust and then just applying a load of elbow grease with some metal polish. Any better suggestions?

by **Sy V** » Tue 14.11.2006, 11:18

The one on top and the front one can be done from on top.
The one to the side, is best done from underneath.
I've tried cleaning them up before, without much success. Ended up using silver hammerite.

by **mikeydude** » Tue 14.11.2006, 14:01

I used a very high temperature silver paint (availalble from any car spares shop.
Worked perfectly....I am sure normal paint will just come off after a while.

by **Enright** » Tue 14.11.2006, 22:33

The biggest danger is the bolts shearing.
They are likely to pretty well corroded into place, remember they've had about 15 years of heat cycles to freeze them solid.
You could use plenty of easing and penetrating oil, but watch out for it catching fire if you go for a drive!
I used one of those polishing wheels in a drill - came up beautifully!

by **Benmac** » Wed 15.11.2006, 10:35

Hurrah, got it off. The bolts were fine apart from the tricky to get to one on the side. It came out eventually though but span for ages before actually coming out. Uh oh I thought (this was after using a load of penetrating oil and letting it soak for an hour or so).

When I got it off I found that the tab with the hole through it that means the bolt secures the lower heatshield had broken off with rust! The bolt was fine. Oh well, the lower heatshield is held on tightly still so no immediate rush.

Started on the heatshield with a wire brush attachment for the drill to get the crap off and its coming up nicely. Off to B and Q later to get a polishing attachment.

by **Benmac** » Sun 19.11.2006, 16:26

Polished it up nicely now. Question I have though now regards the heatshield that is behind the turbo and seems to be bolted to the block. Is this the case as I had a look at removing this too as its rusted up so needs some attention. Problem is the bolts are already nicely rounded of and are going nowhere. I've got some of those drill bit things that are a reverse thread so you drill into the bolt and eventually (in theory) they unscrew it. Dunno whether to try these as I've never used them or leave it for now.

With this in mind if I get the bolts off can I get the heatshield out with the turbo etc in place as it looks tight?

by **Dico** » Sun 19.11.2006, 18:27

Yes you don't need to touch the turbo. Iirc you just have to remove the dipstick bracket and slide it to the left,still a bit fiddly to remove but easy when youv'e done it a few times.

Good luck undoing the bolts :shock:

Can you not get mole grips on them?

by **mikeydude** » Mon 20.11.2006, 17:58

My heat shield could not just be polished as it was rusted so badly that any previous plating etc had rusted away!...Enright yours looks as though it is an alloy it has polished that well! ...as I said I had to paint mine

by **Benmac** » Tue 21.11.2006, 10:27

Arseburgers. No chance of getting anything with proper leverage or a tap in there and being able to turn it with the turbo in situ so I decided to leave it for now. May try molegrips another day. As a result I went to put the main heatshield back on. First bolt easy, bottom bolt easy, one on the front of the turbo seems to go ain and I'm tigetheing away with a small ratchet spanner so hardly massive leverage when 'ping' and it sheared. WTF? Inspection shows that only about 4-5mm has sheared off and I can feel it so very little must be in the hole which should mean the thread will be repairable easily enough. Just so so annoying as it felt fine and I can't get at it until I come to remove the turbo at some point in the future. In the meantime I'll make do with just the two bolts.

The car received much verbal abuse and also a swift boot on the wheel. The Elise thought he'd step in at this point to stick up for the old fella and his slightly turned front wheel tripped me up as I walked past. A quickly flung roll of masking tape saw to that behaviour along with some more swearing.

by **Enright** » Tue 21.11.2006, 13:28

Mikey, it's tarnished a bit since then - may need another quick rub!

Ben, can we have a warning next time please? That little comedy of errors nearly caused me to involuntarily cover my screen with my lunch! Watch out for things that go bump in the garage, they obviously think there's safety in numbers. :shock:

by **Benmac** » Tue 21.11.2006, 16:09

LOL, will do. I'll see what calamities tonight brings as the Elan gets pushed outside for a floodlit wash.

by **paulwatkins** » Tue 21.11.2006, 16:25

I had similar problems removing my heatshields - and the engine was out, and on my 'workbench'!

Had the same issues of a few bolts shearing. Ended up drilling them out, and retapping. Cant imagine how I would of done it with the engine still in the car though!

Good luck!

by **Monty** » Tue 21.11.2006, 20:51

Don`t worry to much, mine only has the one bolt the top bolt one :-D

by **joeisuzu** » Sat 02.12.2006, 19:47

I too was wondering about this heatshield and polishing it, butmine is a bit of a moot point, as the guy the owned the car before me saw fit to cut part of the shield away to get the O2 wire out of its hole rather than unplug the O2 wire! BUGGER!

by **isuzuimark** » Tue 05.12.2006, 16:26

hey joe isuzu are you on isuzone as "joeisuzu". if so where did you go?

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