Lotus Elan Central

Here's a list of all things to do till the Ypres Lotus Tour
I'll keep you posted with my experiences as a novice tinkerer
In bold the things i've done so far...

1. Finally port that wastegate (there's no excuse to postpone any more)
2. Get the radiator out and have the small leak fixed then reinstall
3. Install the new ignition cables
4. Install the Viton seals in CAS and Bung
5. Replace the Alternator
6. Install the Wilwood Callipers (front)
7. Change disks and pads (front)
8. Install SS Braking Hoses
9. Replace the plastic strips under the doors (dunno the correct translation of em... door sills? )
10 Clean and Oil Airfilter
11. Maintenance on shortshifter and replace the shifter mechanism (under the knob) for a brand new one
12. Replace blank position in dash with a switch so i can calibrate my navi (it needs to be grounded for this)
13. Swap Pink Longlife coolant for green coolant
14 Remove Gemini Alarm
15 Restore correct placement of PECO

i have a wandering exhaust, and i noticed if its just the position of the back box then theres a nut in the boot that once loosend should allow you to fine tune the position, so in theroy it should be an easy job. good luck.

MattDon wrote:i have a wandering exhaust, and i noticed if its just the position of the back box then theres a nut in the boot that once loosend should allow you to fine tune the position, so in theroy it should be an easy job. good luck.

A nut in the boot? Under the carpet. Is this the famous " rear hanger" ?
Sounds like an easy solution to my problem indeed!

hope this helps.

It sure does!

HJ2 wrote:13. Swap Pink Longlife coolant for green coolant

Whats the reason for this? I've just swapped mine for the longlife pink coolant. I seem to recall there was some discussion about not using but can't quite remember what it was. So I used it anyway .

Because it's bloody expensive.
And there's rumor about incompatibility with Cu, but that's not the main reason. Maintaining the lady is expensive enough!

HJ2 wrote:And there's rumor about incompatibility with Cu,

Yup. Coolant contains a corrosion inhibitor & this determines its life. The pink Organic Acid Technology (OAT) anti-freeze lasts for 5 years instead of 2 but does not inhibit corrosion on copper or brass.

If you are sure your engine has no copper or brass, then you should be ok. Copper is a very good thermal conductor (& brass is an alloy of copper) so these were used a lot for radiators, temperature senders etc. I believe new cars avoid it to allow OAT coolant to be used, but I'm not sure about ours.

Well, After a couple of days hard work the Rad is out and the Turbo almost.
If anybody's interested, i took plenty of pictures, all sharp, so you can see the details.

My rad will be receiving a new CU Core and collectors, but the plastic end caps will be reused (So + 1 KG in stead of +2 )
As i now have a mixture of alloy's i intend to use the green coolant as discussed earlier in this tread. Let's hope there will be no galvanic corrosion issues.

If i knew it was gonna be so complex to remove the turbo, i would have thought twice to start the porting job myself.
At the moment it is almost out, but i need a little LEC help to get the bugger out completely.

1. How on earth do i remove the oil line banjo that is on the block? It seems impossible to move the heatshield out of the way so i can reach it with a ratch.... What's the trick here? (see shining bolt in the middle of the photo below:



2. The same for the oil dipstick pipe. The upper end is loose, but how to reach the lowest bolt that secures it on the block? Also: Will i be spilling oil when removing this?



All help appreciated, as always

I can waggle the turbo and even lift it a little, but it seems that i need to remove the above items first before i can remove the lot. I presume it is not necessary to remove the prongeron!? (please say no)

HJ,

The dipstick tube is easy - it's an open-end spanner (22mm IIRC) on a fairly loose locking nut at the front of the block. Easy to get at from underneath - once you have done a couple of turns with the spanner, it will undo by hand and lift out.

The oil banjo is a bit more awkward - it is one of those that you can either see or reach, but not both at the same time.

Best got at from underneath, from the gearbox side.

It is a dome nut (19mm???) and difficult to get a spanner or ratchet near it - either use an offset ring spanner, or an open ended one.

Not a difficult job, but can take a while to work out how to approach it best! You may find it easier to remove the engine vibration damper (bottom end) and swing it out of the way to gain more access.

The Prongeron does not need to come off!

Alternatively, if you carefully bend the oil pipe it is possible to remove the manifold and leave the pipe in - you can then easily get to the fitting (from the top) with the manifold out of the way - possibly not a good option if you have to re-use the pipe, as it may split

OK cheers, i'll give it another go then!

You're almost there dude!

And it's out! (pictures follow soon)

I was not able to remove the dipstick tube as the aircon compressor was in the way The bolt was simply inaccessible! I slightly bended the tube towards the front of the car (ca 5 .. 10 mm) and after that i was able to lift the whole contraption over the dipstick tube without problems. The last thing that had to go was the wastegate actuator & bracket to gain just enough clearance.

As a novice tinkerer i seriously doubt if i would started this in the first place, if i knew what i was going to do..... And i had No problems with bolts sheering etc...
For now i just hope that i can put back everything the way it was when i started this operation Oh well, for everything a first time!

Tomorrow i will machine a larger hole in the wastegate, the reason why this operation started in the first place. I intend to do this on a milling machine.
I have been reading the forum well and plan to port to 21 mm.

My setup:
* Everest
* 2,25 PECO
* Empty pre cat housing
* No Main CAT
* Boost creep occurs only when air temperature is lower than 15 deg. Celsius

The alternative would be 20,5 mm, but since the whole exhaust is free flowing, i intend to be better safe than sorry.
What are your thoughts about porting sizes?

HJ,

Glad you got it out!

I never considered the fact that the Aircon would get in the way - I don't have it on my two.

My wastegates are ported to somewhere between 20-21mm (grinding stone is ~20mm diameter) and ended up as a lose fit in the hole. I don't think the exact diameter is important, as the standard hole is ~16mm, and we only just get boost creep. Just don't go too big, or it won't seal when shut.

as a comparison, 16mm diameter = 201 mm2, 20mm = 314 mm2, 21mm = 346 mm2

However, due to the angle of the pivot, it all gets more complicated in working out the percentage of extra flow that you will get with the wastegate ,say, 5mm open

I have never heard of anyone getting boost creep (at least to the point of fuel cut) with any sort of increase in the wastegate diameter.

If you are having it acurately milled, then pick a number you feel like! (I would have gone for 20mm if i had the accuracy to do it).

Thanks Dave.

What is your setup / vs. port diameter?

Henk,

Like yours really....

2 1/4" Piper with PCE, Elysium Switcher, no cats (but running closed loop with an O2 sensor).

Angies is running a 2" stainless free-flow exhaust (no idea what make), Everest, no cats.

OK...

Since the lump is out of the car anyway... Anyone has a stiffy lying around doing nothing momentarily?
I'd be happy to take it of your hands


Cheers!
HJ

Now that the lump is out, i noticed an oil trail @ the No 4 cilinder.
Could this be the result of the leaky bung / CAS seal?

Today was D-Day. After all the preparation it was finally time to port the wastegate.
After i managed to remove the turbo & exhaust parts up to the pre cat, i now had the parts in my hands to get to the job done.



first job was to separate the turbo from the rest which was a fairly easy job, but as posted many times before, the nuts stripped the tread of 2 the 4 bolts. The other 2 came out including the stud without any problem.

After cleaning the parts a little, i took the turbo + connected exhaust manifold to the friendly tool-shop to machine the hole to 20,5 mm.





We had a little trouble mounting the bugger to the milling machine and decided to use the exhaust manifold as mounting interface. Alignment was done by Center-fix and a metal plate pressed against the head of the milling machine and the flange of the turbo exhaust. (I don't know how to describe exactly, but the pictures will tell the tale )





After alignment a 20,5 mm tool was found (razor sharp, HSS) and we tried to drill ... without success. The material is so hard, the tool melted without even scraping anything off the surface!



Then i decided to port the regular way and went to the store to buy the grinding stone (i bought 2 of them for 4 Euro, finally something cheap again! )
The turbo was removed from the machine and i then screwed the manifold on the workbench with 2 woodscrews & two big rings. I took my Metabo heavy duty drill and started grinding the old fashioned way. 15 minutes later it was done! Real easy The only thing that i did to speed up the process: Remove the metal that tends to get baked on the grinding stone every 40 seconds or so. If you don't do this, you'll be only generating heat instead of cutting the metal.

After this it was time to remove the studs. I tried to remove them with mole grippers (is this the correct technical term?) I could see the stud twisting and almost snapping without any movement at the turbo housing end... After applying a little heat with a blow torch i could remove them (barely) with brute force! (thank god). I then cleaned the thread by inserting a M8 handtap and did the same to the pothole with a machinetap (by hand). I replaced all the studs (with help of Bling bling Geoff!) with brand new Stainless ones, garnished with a little copaslip.



Then i re-united the exhaust / pre-cat lump using the original metal to metal seal and that was today


And now for some questions:

1. I used a very thin film of copaslip on the metal to metal seal between Turbo and exhaust lump. Was this wise? If not, i can remove it, as i did no reassemble the lot yet.
2. Can i re-use the gasket for the exhaust manifold? (I cleaned everything thoroughly ) Is it wise to use a thin film of copaslip here, or some sort of exhaust cement?
3. The same questions for the rest of the gaskets, as i never have done anything like this before in my life!

To be continued!

Henk,

Glad to see that you are getting there!

To try with the latest questions,.....

1) Not sure if you need copaslip between the turbo and wastegate manifold - i didn't, but i cant see it doing any harm. (I have used a smear of exhaust paste on other ones i've done, and on Paul Watkins', I used a smear of Blue Hermetite......... (It was all I had on a rainy, windy Saturday afternoon in a bleak carpark in the middle of nowhere on the Isle of Mann )

2) If the exhaust gasket to cylinder head is undamaged, i have cleaned them up with a rag and re-used them. (only ever had to use a new one once). As you probably found, the studs/nuts are not done up tight anyway, so the material doesn't get compressed and deformed. Do not put anything (sealant wise) on this gasket, it should be used dry.

3) as for the rest of them, if they are thick copper, they can be re-used - if they are paper, they can't. Rubber can be re-used if it isn't deformed - but worth a smear of silicone on the joint faces (once clean and dry).

Specifically, the copper washers on the banjo unions on the turbo should be replaced with new ones. They will only cost you a few cents each (10mm diameter hole copper washer). As they are soft metal designed to deform and seal imperfections, once they are disturbed they may not seal again. That said, when the shops are shut, and I'm in the middle of nowhere, I've been known to wipe them on an oilstone (or wet & dry paper), clean them up, give them a smear of silicone and re-use them.

BEFORE ANYONE MENTIONS THE WASHERS ON BRAKE SYSTEMS, PLEASE NOTE, I ALWAYS USE NEW ONES ON HIGH-PRESSURE BRAKE SYSTEMS - i am talking an oil and water system here, not a safety-related system