D19 TUS - Elan SE Cam cover "isuzu" removal & paint

[Rob P]

Great looking car Andy, just one question. You mentioned in your first post that the Cam Cover was powder coated, I'm looking at that option for mine but the few people I have approached have all said they would do it but that they couldn't guarantee powder getting inside the Cam Cover and I'm sure I've read somewhere that there is an issue with getting stuff inside the Cam Cover for a specific reason

Yours looks terrific so I really want to get this done on mine but just a tad nervous

where was it done by the way, I'm not too far from Chester so it might be my option to use the same supplier

Thanks
Rob P

[Artaban]

Rob,
Sorry for the delayed reply, I've been moving house to Gillingham in Dorset for the past week. The cam cover was blasted and powder coated by a firm in Carlisle when I lived in Dumfries. I think it was this one http://www.powdercoatingincarlisle.co.uk I seem to remember a cash price of about £40.
A local engineering firm in Dumfries removed the "Isuzu" and two lugs with their milling machine and they also removed the baffle plate inside which was riveted on and replaced the rivets with machine screws. Its what hides under the baffle plate after blasting that you have to be careful of. Being able to remove it meant I could be sure no blast material was lurking waiting to cause damage when the oil started flowing again. It only cost me £25 and I am sure there must be some firms in Preston who would do it for you. I understand some baffle plates are already fixed with screws so you may be lucky. The powder coated finish hasn't shown any sign of deterioration since it was done a few years ago so the concerns I had over its ability to cope with the heat weren't warranted. Bear in mind the whole top is powder coated so you will need to gently sand down, with a sanding block, the Lotus logo and either leave it shiny or paint it by hand. The rubber gasket was in very good condition so I was able to use it again.
Show us a pic when you've done it.
Andy

[Jamie N]

so I really want to get this done on mine but just a tad nervous. Rob P

Andy, doing cam covers is simple stuff, no need to waste money getting Companys to do stuff like that, the main criteria is getting it completely sanded of all previous coatings and oil / contaminant free, then use aerosol VHT paint which can yield some impressive results, been using it for years on Hondas mainly and even on hard driven track cars it has been very durable , and at around a tenner a tin its cheap (one tin will do 3 rocker covers) . This is mine i did with the red wrinkle finish, or you can get the smooth as well in different colours, the white above looks really good. You can Grind of the Isuzu logo with a sanding disc then smooth sand by hand.

[Rob P]

Cheers Guys,

I am in the mind to go down the aerosol route and have purchased a couple of tins but having let the lad loose the results weren't great, I'll have a go myself this weekend if I get and hour to play and see whether I can make a better job of it.

Rob P

[dapinky]

Rob,

I've done about 6 Elan ones now, and always used rattle cans (except for one, where I tried 2-Pak due to the colour requirement).....

......mixed results - always dependant on the paint used.

Main thing is to follow the instructions for individual brands, and prep the surface properly.

(once it's clean, it'll fit in the dishwasher when the missus is out )

If you're spraying slightly downwards, there is no need to mask it up underneath - I just wrap a bit of tape round the breather pipe, remove the breather valve/grommet, stand it on a couple bits of 2x2 timber and away you go (on the workbench / newspaper - not still in the kitchen )

As Jamie says, removal of the ISUZU & 2 extra lumps of metal is easy with an angle grinder/sander - there will be a small hole left at the site of one lug, but chamical metal or even simple bodyfiller will sort that out - not much needed, but it does tidy it up a lot.

If you are using VHT paint, you *may* need to bake it in the oven afterwards unless it's going straight back on the car and engine run to get warm - I found that the paint is a bit 'soft' straight away, and i either bake it for half an hour (if wife is still shopping!), leave it a few days, or heat with a hot-air gun. Maybe I'm just a clumsy git, but if I try and fit it back to the car before it hardens, I leave fingerprints on it.... not always a problem as the paint will still 'flow' a bit as it cures. (anyway, I've got spare ones to work on to keep the car on the road).

Use a suitable primer (for Aluminium) - it will make a big difference.

Lastly, 2-Pak is going to be the best, but is not worthwhile in small quantities. The best rattle-can paint I tried was a Plasti-kote one (but there are so many ranges of that stuff these days) - and a perfect match for Calypso red.


Jamie,
I noticed when I got back from Brands Hatch that the crackle-black on mine has started to lift just in a small area just by where it would get hotest (near the exhaust manifold/turbo) - it is still intact, but seems to have 'shrunk' on the radius of the corner and lifted from the metal. Have you ever had such reaction with yours?

It isn't noticeable at all, but i caught it with a finger whilst wiping up spilt oil from an oil change. Careful examination shows it all still looks good, but will no doubt spread and eventually flake off.

Do you recall what brand of paint you used? I think I'll do a spare one and swap them over.

lifting cracle black.jpg (59.29 KiB) Viewed 12389 times

[Tuga2112]

I don't understand this fixation of removing the Izuzu badge. its probably the reason the cars still run after 25 years =P
In fact, the izuzu engine was an incentive for me to buy the elan over an Mr2 .
In Portugal Izuzu engines are regarded as extremely reliable same level or even higher than Toyota's.

[Jamie N]

Never had any issues Dave, only seen it lift on ones where they clearly never prepped it properly. The stuff i use is actually called VHT, type it in Ebay there is loads of it. With the wrinkle finish i find its very dependant on how you dry it, if its left just to air dry on a cool day the wrinkles will be quite large and obvious and dont look so great, but the very best way i found was to wait until its sunny and warm, spray it fairly heavy with about 4 coats and then sit it on a newspaper on a dashboard in the sun with the doors shut and it will bake really well with a nicely textured even finish, (does help if it a scrap car as it might get a bit sniffy in there ), then once its back on the engine a couple of good runs will see it properly cured . AND DONT FORGET TO WEAR A BLOODY GOOD MASK!

[Artaban]

I didn't see that doing the job myself would save any money. By the time I'd bought the angle grinding discs, sandpapers of various grades, chemical metal or other filler, primers, top coat, machine screws, screw tap set, correct drill bits etc I'd have spent more than it cost in getting someone else to do it and I wouldn't have done as good a job. Factor in the time it would take me and that it only cost me £65, I personally thought it was a bargain. I suppose it depends how much of what is needed for the job you already have. I was advised by the powder coater that the hole left by the lugs being ground off should be welded and not filled with chemical metal as it wouldn't survive the powder coating process. That was his experience anyway when he had tried to powder coat things in the past.
Grinding off the Isuzu logo is a personal thing and saves that conversation at car shows about the Isuzu link. After the first few times it gets a bit tedious so grinding off the logo avoids the conversation.
The great thing about this forum is that there are so many different ways to do the same job and its great to see how other people have done it. It certainly has given me more confidence as time has gone on to tackle some of the jobs myself.
Andy

[mitreklov]

I agree with Tuga2112, I don't feel the Isuzu logo is detrimental to the Elan, if anything these engines are a real bonus to our cars. There is a lot to be said for some Japanese engineering.

I hadn't realised Isuzu had so many facets and associations until I looked this wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isuzu_Motors

of course if the cam cover had GENERAL MOTORS - LOTUS on it, that would be a different matter

Tim

[dapinky]

Andy,

It's a good point about using metal filler if you are having it powder coated (and one I hadn't considered before) - for the powder spray to stick to the base material it relies on an electrical current to be present so that the fillaments of paint attach before the baking process - whilst some plastics can be coated, and we're only talking of a small area, I can understand that for the best finish it would be better to fill the hole with a blob of weld. (I'll try it on another top and see if it really matters too much).

Jamie,

I think my issue with the lifting paint was that it may not have been applied thickly enough in that area (or maybe too thickly) and lost adhesion during the curing process. (probably down to me touching the bare metal after cleaning it). It's only about 1cm sq and not visible, but I know it's there so will do the whole thing again. I can't remember what brand of paint I used, but it wasnt VHT make (although it would have been 'vht' paint). I've done plenty of crackle finish stuff in the past without issue - one I did 30 years ago for a twin-cam engine is still in great condition, so it was either a poor paint, poor prep, or a poor painter.....

Joao/Tim,

It's not just about 'removal' of the ISUZU link - a batch of cam covers made had just LOTUS on them, but I haven't been able to establish if they were originally spec'd that way, or re-made that way...... When we bought up the remaining few that they had at the factory (at the Lotus 60th event) 2 had no ISUZU on them, and it is obvious by looking that they were cast that way, but they still have the 'useless' lugs (useless on an Elan, anyway, but probably used on other vehicles) - no-one knew why, or who ordered them like that, and they have the same part number.

I just think it looks cleaner without the lugs.

[theelanman]

I sanded mine down and used a tin of the crackle finish paint as used on the original twin cam engine.......

[LeedsMike]

lifting cracle black.jpg (59.29 KiB) Viewed 7444 times

Randomly resurrecting this post as I found it after Google searching M100 cam cover painting..... I'm just about to start a project to "bling up" my engine bay and saw your picture with the HT lead cover in carbon fibre..... just curious - did you make that yourself or buy from somewhere?

If made yourself..... please can you offer a little advice on material sourcing / gauge of CF sheet and cutting? Thanks!

[dapinky]

Hi Mike,

I purchased a sheet of CF from eBay (no idea of size or price as it was many years ago!). I know it was big enough to make 3 of the covers and a couple of blanks for the ashtray hole.

Again, I can't remember the thickness but it was probably about 1mm????

It doesn't need to be thick as it isn't load bearing at all.

I cut it with an angle grinder with a thin disc (wearing a mask & goggles as the fibres get everywhere!) and drilled the holes with a normal drill. It is simple to use the OE plate as a template and a quick rub-down of the rough edges with sandpaper finished it off. I also made a cover for the oil separator as you can see in the picture - same method, but a bit trickier to get the shape and a lot of airborne fibres!!!

[LeedsMike]

Brilliant, thanks!