Yella Fella

[nitroman]

I'll get to the engine today if my back's up to the task... it's been bothering me lately. The doc's taking his sweet time scheduling me for a foraminotomy.

Stated more correctly: God hates me, and thinks Hell is too good for me. Will sell my soul for methylprednisolone.

[tigerdog]

Interesting photo. I wonder if the Kia coolant header tanks crack frequently.

[nitroman]

I'll get to the engine today if my back's up to the task... it's been bothering me lately. The doc's taking his sweet time scheduling me for a foraminotomy.

Stated more correctly: God hates me, and thinks Hell is too good for me. Will sell my soul for methylprednisolone.

I think I'll go to the emergency room tomorrow to see if they'll give me a Medrol dose pack (anti inflammatory). That's the only sensible way I can work on the car. Even drinking a whole bunch of booze I'd still end up inflaming my left L3/4 nerve ganglion without a strong anti inflammatory. Unfortunately my doctor & his staff are gone until Jan 5.

Interesting photo. I wonder if the Kia coolant header tanks crack frequently.

Tigerdog, it's interesting to note all the tooling & licenses which have been sold to other countries (primarily China). Many parts including whole car lines routinely are sold complete, and production begins anew of models discontinued here. The old MINI 1.6 engine was bought by Fiat of Brasil, and they will resume production of it this year. The Chrysler Sebring, etc., is now made 100% complete for Chinese consumption. As too the former Chrysler 3.3/3.8L engines, 2.2/2.5L K-car engines, and soon the current/former 2.0/2.4L Dodge/Chrysler engines.

[nitroman]

Washed & waxed & started on the engine today. Can do great things on presciption anti-inflamatories! Both headlight motors need replacing. Even carefully replacing the bolts with stainless ones got them 'endlessly' cycling. I guess after 18 years the plastic dowels are shot regardless of how little the motors have been used.

[bobbrown]

Washed & waxed & started on the engine today. Can do great things on presciption anti-inflamatories! Both headlight motors need replacing. Even carefully replacing the bolts with stainless ones got them 'endlessly' cycling. I guess after 18 years the plastic dowels are shot regardless of how little the motors have been used.

I had to do mine recently and the fix is straight forward and relativley cheap $19.00 USD for both
http://www.rodneydickman.com/retail_new.html

87-88headlight.jpg (3.35 KiB) Viewed 6491 times

Bob

[nitroman]

Washed & waxed & started on the engine today. Can do great things on presciption anti-inflamatories! Both headlight motors need replacing. Even carefully replacing the bolts with stainless ones got them 'endlessly' cycling. I guess after 18 years the plastic dowels are shot regardless of how little the motors have been used.

I had to do mine recently and the fix is straight forward and relativley cheap $19.00 USD for both
http://www.rodneydickman.com/retail_new.html

87-88headlight.jpg

Bob

Yeah I had the kits & old motors standing by. I did any "assembly-line" and rebuilt 3 motors tonight... without even removing the 2 from the car yet! You can rebuild a motor in 20-minutes after you have the experience of the 1st behind you, as long as a helper is standing by to drop in the motor-shaft whilst you hold the brushes apart with two metal toothpicks! I used clear silicone grease to lube everything with, cleaned-off any small bits of rust & replaced most bolts with stainless ones. A couple I didn't have the right size (stainless) for as they are SAE.

I wonder what one of these motors runs from Lotus these days? Just like to know how much money I've saved.

[lotos]

Did you just get this:

1987-1988 Headlight Actuator Rebuild Kit (pair) 88-02 Lotus $3.00 S&H* $10.00

Or do you need the side and motor gaskets too?

[nitroman]

IIRC I bought 3 "dual motor" kits, each with 6-dowels & 2-gaskets. I did not use the gaskets as they are cork, and the original rubber gaskets were still in great shape. I tend to be overly cautious sometimes when it helps to justify the shipping costs. It turns out in this case I'll have parts for only a single motor still unused.

The nut on the end of the motor shaft is 1/4" while the nut which "orbits" on the end of the lever is 6mm. A weird combination of metric & SAE. The 3-screws holding the gear-cover on & the 2-screws securing the cover over the copper winding are both size #8.

Here's my 'Captain Obvious' question: Why not make the delrin bushings out of the same plastic the motor gear is made out of, eh? That is DESIGNED obsolescence if ever there was an example!

[nitroman]

Here's my 'Captain Obvious' question: Why not make the delrin bushings out of the same plastic the motor gear is made out of, eh? That is DESIGNED obsolescence if ever there was an example!

What a genius! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UPGRADE- ... dZViewItem

[Doug]

Here's my 'Captain Obvious' question: Why not make the delrin bushings out of the same plastic the motor gear is made out of, eh? That is DESIGNED obsolescence if ever there was an example!

What a genius! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UPGRADE- ... dZViewItem

looks like a solution at an appropriate price!

That is DESIGNED obsolescence if ever there was an example!

I just had another example yesterday = my color Dell laser printer at work was fine and just stopped suddenly yesterday and displays "replace drum"

a little WWW research and I learn the secret = it has a microchip on the side that blows after a certain # of pages.
$200 for the new drum they want you to buy VS. empty the waste toner from the drum and order a $20 replacement chip to allow the perfectly working printer to pick up where it left off

I chose the latter option! What a bunch of BULL!!

Probably not too long before BMW puts in a chip like this so you are mandated to turn your car in for a new one . . .

[tweetdriver63]

Probably not too long before BMW puts in a chip like this so you are mandated to turn your car in for a new one . . .

Funny, I've always wondered why cars always seem to start having problems right after their warranty runs out. I thought it was Murphy's Law, or the makers were just really good at predicting the right time/mileage to make the warranty last through, but now I'm sure they're really conspiring, with all the computers in cars the last 20 years, to program the failures. BWAH HA HA......




(That was supposed to be the automaker's evil laugh.)

[nitroman]

Well there's some satisfaction tonight. Both my headlights now go up, lock & STOP in about 2 seconds. Now I just have to look forward to cramming those two fender-liners back in tomorrow or ASA I can do it.

BTW both those lock-nuts I mentioned 2 days ago are 6mm, none are 1/4". One of the nuts just didn't want to go on readily. I'll probably rebuild the 2 motors I just removed while my skills are still hot. It'll mean less work for me when I'm 60!

[Paul.P]

Probably not too long before BMW puts in a chip like this so you are mandated to turn your car in for a new one . . .

Your probably not far off the mark there Doug !.
Well done again Matt, although i don't post that often on your threads, i always read & find them very informative & sometimes quite funny !

[GeoffSmith]

I guess it was the best cheap, low friction, wear-resistant thermoplastic available at the time (for all you Australians, Delrin is often referred to as POM ) - Matt, my question about replacing them with metal ones would be: what would wear out instead? I would have thought that PTFE (not a thermoplastic so not ideal for mass production back in the 70's/80's but suitable for small scale production) would be better or even HPPE (some interesting applications for anyone interested in orthopaedics).

[bobbrown]

Geoff great minds think alike

I did think that may be nylatron as it is easy to obtain and no problem to machine, in this case just a length of the right diameter and part off to length easy, costs around 6p each or 18p a set
blimey cost more to post them

Bob

[Doc Fizzix]

Matt

Hare you ever compared the Lotus yellow next to Ferrari yellow? I am thinking about a re-paint job this year and I am not sure if I will do a full color change or keep it red, I sure like the Ferrari yellow but I wonder how close that it to the Norfork yellow

[nitroman]

Matt

Hare you ever compared the Lotus yellow next to Ferrari yellow? I am thinking about a re-paint job this year and I am not sure if I will do a full color change or keep it red, I sure like the Ferrari yellow but I wonder how close that it to the Norfork yellow

All of the Ferraris I've seen have been a true yellow, hold the mustard.

[nitroman]

http://www.aldn.com/prograbit/
This worked GREAT on removing the two brake caliper screws, which I had totally given up on using only standard implements. They came out just like they show in the video, quickly, with NO DRAMA at all. ProGrabit size #3 was all I needed this time (I bought the four-pack). For once, "As Seen On TV" really worked that way!

[lotos]

Sears has their version of this too. I agree with most reviews that I've read of these devices- they work when they work. I had to remove two screws from my scooter a few years ago, and one came right out, the other only stripped to a nice rounded dome, I had to grind the head off with a Dremel to get it out.

Matt - where are the engine bay pictures? I'm turning blue holding my breath this long

[nitroman]

Sears has their version of this too. I agree with most reviews that I've read of these devices- they work when they work. I had to remove two screws from my scooter a few years ago, and one came right out, the other only stripped to a nice rounded dome, I had to grind the head off with a Dremel to get it out.

Matt - where are the engine bay pictures? I'm turning blue holding my breath this long

Well it's like this, I'll find out Thursday whether I'm having back-surgery next month. If so I'll probably do as much as possible thinking it is the perfect time to damage human body parts, just prior to the application of the magic scalpel.