Valve Stem Oil Seal Replacement

[lotuska]

S#!t , anyone got a spare cam cover?

I've managed to snap a hugh piece off mine...everything was going fine, fitted cam belt, tensioned it, fitted cam cover, started to tight the bolts to the 26lbf.in (3 Nm) and in the order stated in the manual....bang, and now I have a hole!!

Should have really engaged brain...26lbf.in NOT 26lbf.ft, wish they'd stick to one standard in the manual.

Also I don't have the spring on the cam belt tensioner, is this normal?

[Dico]

Should have really engaged brain...26lbf.in NOT 26lbf.ft, wish they'd stick to one standard in the manual.?

I overtightened mine but fortunately 'only' rounded the head of the bolt. Should be fun trying to remove it when the time comes

Also I don't have the spring on the cam belt tensioner, is this normal?

Oh eck, thats odd? Has the belt been replaced whilst the Elan was in your ownership? (at a dealer?).

[lotuska]

Some tips for those people who might be considering doing their head gasket.

1. Reconnect the knock sensor wiring BEFORE you put the head and/or inlet manifold back on. Its extremely hard to reach and almost impossible to actually see.

2. When re-fitting the camshaft (the exhaust one) refit the caps with the CAS fitted. I didn't and couldn't get the CAS to fit, had to remove the cover and loosed the bolts, looks like there is the smallest of movement in the last one that is sufficient to make fitted the CAS impossible.

3. The exhaust manifold and turbo assembly is almost impossible to fit with the studs in place. I also suggest that you leave the oil feed and dip stick pipe off. It's also easier to fit as two units, the turbo and manifold in one and then the wastegate manifold.

4. Don't mount the PAS pump before fitting the exhaust maniflold, you won't be able to reach the last manifold nut.

5. When fitting the turbo assembly before you bolt it in place make sure you have connected the oil return pipe on the bottom. Again very difficult to so after.

6. The EGR pipe is extremely difficult to fit if connected to the exhaust manifold. And is really difficult if you have already fitted all of the water pipes, thermostat housing etc. My advice is remove, fit the exhaust manifold and then fit the EGR pipe before you start the pumping.

7. Take lots of pictures of the pipes, brackets, nuts and bolts etc. When faced with a bag fully if bolts some of which are different lengths a good picture is so useful. Also how pipes are routed and fixed.

Hope that helps.[/u]

[Doug]

good advice for sure !!!!

anyone who can add it onto this --> http://lotuselancentral.com/repair/pdf/ElanHeadGasketChange.pdf
so we can have an updated one?

[lotuska]

A good day...in fact a very good day.

I managed to get it to start, first time, and I have the video to prove it...

I can't believe it, I haven't even set the idle and timing properly.

Loads of smoke from the exhaust manifold and turbo and the alternator belt might be a bit too tight, but apart from that no leaks or horrible noises.

I do have one question for those of you who have fitted the samco hose kit, the top heat hose seems really close to the EGR pipe (just under the inlet manifold) is this normal? and ok?

[lotuska]

Car now timed and seems to be running fine...good enough to pass its MOT today.

Point to note for others is that after the initial start up and run I checked the head bolts and they did need to be re-torqued, interesting the outer bolts required more tightening...but only max 1/3 of a turn.

[paulwatkins]

......... after the initial start up and run I checked the head bolts and they did need to be re-torqued

What head gasket did you decide to go with? The kmc or the Lotus one?

Be interesting if it is the kmc one - especially after Monty's loose head bolt issue with his.

[lotuska]

Gone with the kmckmc gasket...generally it looked better quality.

[Enright]

Did you notice much of a difference with all the porting work?

[Doug]

do you think it's worth checking those head bolts again after a week of use? or will you sleep well at night already?

[lotuska]

I'm being a bit careful with the car at the moment and therefore I haven't really given it a good run...however initial feeling is that it's much smoother when revved and when at idle. I was going to do a run with elanscan, would this show any improvements?

On the head bolt issue, I’ll treat it like any other car that I’ve done head work on, and will re-check the head bolts after 500 miles. After that I’ll sleep better.

[paulwatkins]

It would seem that people who have used the kmc gasket are able to tighten the head bolts on re-checking.

I used a Lotus gasket (and Monty on his 2nd attempt) and on re-checking, the bolts were found to be still at the correct torque. I think this is true for Monty aswell

I agree that the kmc looks better quality when compared side by side, its exactly what i thought when i was doing mine, but i'm just wondering if the kmc gasket is made from a spongy type material that maybe requires a higher torque setting for the initial install.

I'm no expert, just thinking out loud, but a trend may be developing that people need to know about depending on what kit they use.

[GeoffSmith]

just thinking out loud...

Personally, I would never try over-torquing, especially with an ally head. However as Mark says....

On the head bolt issue, I’ll treat it like any other car that I’ve done head work on, and will re-check the head bolts after 500 miles.

I must admit to being negligent once before but it did not cause a problem. I won't risk it again however!

Geoff

[dapinky]

Just to throw another variable into this eclectic mix, the head gasket i used came from USA via Darren and then Sy, and was for the Isuzu. (i don't know what make it is!)

When i checked the head bolts after the first warm-up they were all equal and fine.

After 500 miles, the ones on the inlet side were still fine, but all of the exhaust side ones moved by a few degrees

[lotuska]

Been having difficulties with the cam belt today.

I was getting a rather worrying whining noise from the belt, which I normally assume is caused because the belt is too tight. So I decided to check it and re-tension, which I've done now.

However, I managed to mess up the timing in the process, so I set about sorting that.

Now the questions:

How do you know that you are tdc? (obvious answer is from the markings on the crankshaft pulley) My concern is that I might have set the car up 180 degrees out.

Ok I worked out that it doesn't really matter on the crank its the cam timing that's important. So I made sure that when at tdc that both the timing marks aligned on the cam shaft pulleys.

I decided to ignore the fact that you could turn the engine over one revolution more so that the crank pully again pointed to tdc but this time both cam shaft markings did not align.

But I decided that I'd check to see where the hall sensor on the CAS was, assuming that its would be somewhere near the hall sensor...how wrong I was, it's 180 degrees out (see pic).

Now I've got 2 CAS assemblies and they are both the same, they have an offset key that fits into the end of the exhaust cam shaft, so you can only fit them one way. It just seems really odd.

[Enright]

How do you know that you are tdc? (obvious answer is from the markings on the crankshaft pulley) My concern is that I might have set the car up 180 degrees out.

I found that the timing mark on the crankshaft pulley was so discreet that it couldn't be relied upon. So I removed Number 1 plug and dropped a rod down there to watch it rise and fall. When it was at it's highest point, lo and behold, there was the timing mark right opposite the 0 line!

[Doc Fizzix]

Now the questions:

How do you know that you are tdc? (obvious answer is from the markings on the crankshaft pulley) My concern is that I might have set the car up 180 degrees out.

Ok I worked out that it doesn't really matter on the crank its the cam timing that's important. So I made sure that when at tdc that both the timing marks aligned on the cam shaft pulleys.

Fear not, the bottom is not 180 out of phase, it can be set either way as long as the timming mark on the crank is set at TDC it does not matter.

I decided to ignore the fact that you could turn the engine over one revolution more so that the crank pully again pointed to tdc but this time both cam shaft markings did not align.

Sounds like you are off by a tooth or more on the pullies from the original set-up.

[lotuska]

Maybe my initial post wasn't that clear....so I'll try again.

I'm happy that as long as the crank pully points to TDC and the timing marks on the cam shaft line up that the cam belt is correctly fitted.

I'm also happy that when I turn the engine over (now the important bit) 2 FULL REVOLUSTIONS OF THE CRANK and get the crank pulley pointing to TDC that the cam shaft marks still align.

However what I'm not sure/happy about is that I have 2 possible situations:

Position 1. Crank pulley at TDC, cam shaft marks aligned

Now if I turn the crank 1 revolution I get:

Position 2. Crank pulley at TDC, cam shaft marks not aligned (or more correctly 180 degress out) i.e. the marks are not next to each other but are now at the outer edges...

Now I think the above is ok, that's beacuse it takes 2 revolutions of the crank to turn the camshafts once.

The bit that I have a problem with is the Hall sensor, when at Position 1 (see above) the Hall sensor is no where near the metal tab.

However when at position 2 the Hall sensor and metal tab do align.

A couple of pictures might help....

Do I have a problem or is it normal for the hall sensor NOT to align with its tab when the engine is at TDC and the cams aligned??

Could my CAS have been incorrectly assembled?? (I have not taken apart the one fitted to the car)

How does everyone elses align?

[paulwatkins]

With regards to the position of the connector on the end of the CAS, I took a picture of this before to help someone else figure out the correct position

Click here! Pic is 3/4 way down

I hope this is what you were looking for.

Paul

[Doc Fizzix]

This is now sounding like an episode of Abbot and Costello