Links1. Removed brake boosters from the engine room. Strangely, no fluid leaked out. Gave me the opportunity to put a nice heavy coat of truck bed liner paint on the sidewall to match (for lhd) the offside. Photo of the removed boosters down below. Free for cost of shipping, if anyone wants them on this side of the pond.
2. Can of truck paint was open, so…started with freshening up the forward nose area. Need to vacuum out the dust that I brushed down into the lower area and keep going. You can see the difference. Amazing what a coat of paint will do, eh?
Note to self: get a fan going when using that paint. The fumes are strong, and don’t need a college flashback…lol.
3. Don’t remember whether I posted a photo of the S2 steering wheel installed, just to see how it looks. It's in good condition...and IIRC, was current for the early TCs. Have the original (as I've posted before)...decisions, decisions... If so, sorry for the dupe.
4. Obviously got the beast up on jackstands so i can get underneath to mount the new starter; need to get to lower bolt, and it’s hard from up top.
5. Didn’t shoot a photo of using tapered wheel nuts on the diagonal studs to stud-center the wheels when mounting; when you get the two proper nuts on in the other studs and torqued, remove the tapered nuts and replace with the proper fitting. So, just screwed the tapered nuts on and took a shot.
6. Replaced the oil cap gasket; the one on there broke apart when I tried to take it out. Guess it was time, right? Still no mayonaise on the cap inside.
In the queue for this week:
1. Replace starter.
2. Remove valve cover and old gasket. Find the true TDC based on cyl 4 lobes and use a mirror to find sprocket timing marks. Paint a line on the flywheel to give me a TDC reference for the timing gun. Check head torque. Check chain adjustment, new gasket, new selocs, new nylocs for cover.
3. Freshen wiring to coil to remove bodged existing wiring and install new low resistance pertronix coil.
4. With TDC established, install new dizzy and wires. Connect up the Ignitor module to new coil, and time this sucker. New dizzy is mechanical advance curved to the TC engine. Should (I hope) work better than the tired Lucas dizzy that's been in the car since it left Hethel.
If I have time:
5. Mix up the washing soda and water solution. Fill one of the gas tanks to brim with solution (capping off the outlet). Ground tank. Suspend positive lead with length of iron bar in solution. Turn on 12V supply at 2 amps. Wait a day. Supposed to work well. Alternative is 5 gal of white vinegar, topped off with water and soak.
Have new fuel level sender and some various brit 3/16 pipe fittings warming up at the usual suspect…and Greenstuff pads for front. Speedbleeders for brakes, Gunson pressure bleeder, and air/oil seperator to plumb into the head and return the air to the carb air box (will hide in front of right tail light). Have all the rebuild stuff to build a new set of calipers (including the cross-half quad seal) with stainless pistons; yes, the spare calipers I have were split (and I have the break away torque for the bolts written down in my 693R journal online...), so, may paint them up with caliper paint and build a fresh set and install those in place of the existing ones. Also have a fresh set of disks that I had bought still in wax paper stored in a dry location, so may throw those on while I have the fronts apart.
Oh, and a coolant overflow/reserve tank.
If I keep "freshening up" stuff...it will be a little patina-ish on the outside...but under the covers will be presentable, right?
Enough for now, I think.
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Had the opportunity to stop by RD this morning to replenish my 'to be installed' parts stash...nice to catch up after a few years, pandemic, detour to an MGB...good to see old friends...I've been dealing with him for over 40 (!) years...and trust his insight as to what I need to have on hand for the near future.
New valve cover gasket...going to check the head torque and it's weeping oil anyway, so no time like the present...Pertronix distributor, low-resistance coil, new plug wires...high-torque starter...pair of stainless caliper pistons (I have a spare pair already)...caliper rebuild kit..."D" plugs for the head...seloc washers...caliper half seals...oil cap gasket. I'm sure I'll need more, but for today, that's enough flogging of the checkbook...
25' of cu/ni 3/16" brake line, and flare tool.
Pretty sure the OEM dizzy, after 50 years, and been hacked apart and so forth, is probably in need of attention...having an electronic ignition and high-power coil is probably not a bad decision; the starter sometimes seems to strain to turn the motor over...other times spins just fine...same thing...original Lucas starter...the high torque replacement worked well for me in the S2...so, why not? Brake piping and flare tool was recommended by a couple of folks here, so, will be interesting to use it in the car to rip out the boosters and replumb the brakes (for now, all in the engine compartment to get on the road and bled...will work in the future on simplifying the piping, thus having a stock of piping...)
This should keep me busy as I move forward on getting her back on the road
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I know it's a bit down the road for my ride at this point (my quick trip around the block did not reveal any steering or alignment abnormalities...yet...but Fall River MA streets are bomb-cratered, so no doubt it will happen at some point..).
Was used to using the parallel string method, but converting from/to angle vs inch measurements was a bit confusing.
Ran across this website that allows you to calculate angles from the length measurement if you are interested.
https://robrobinette.com/DIYAlignmentCalculator.htm
HTH.
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Well...got new cold start cable (it's not really a choke) in with zero issues (except for making another blood offering through the chassis access hole in the cockpit...). This is what I did...
1. Remove the inner cable from the new sheath (carefully...don't want to kink or start separating the strands at the cut end...), and put aside.
2. Remove the old cable assembly from the carbs and the mount under the armrest. Toss in the bin.
3. Push the new sheath in through the front mount, slip the lock washer and nut over the sheath, and thread the sheath through the backbone out the back, tighten the nut down on the cockpit side,
4. Go into the front of the engine room, making sure the cable misses the pulleys and belt, and gently pull the end up along the passenger (right) side. Now, the universal fit cable assembly that Ray sells is meant to be cut to length. So, keeping a nice sweeping arc out of the chassis bulkhead (and supporting it with an adel clamp set on the cross-tube where the catch can would normally be) down to the front carb. I used a dremel with a cut-off wheel to cut to length (using a set of dykes would crush the sheath), and then ran a needle file through the cut end to clean up any swarf.
5. Threaded the lightly lubed (I use LPS #2 from my days in an aircraft maintenance hangar...) inner cable through the sheath and out the other side in the engine room.
6. attach the cable to the clamp in the front carb, ensure the inner cable is pulled back all the way, and thread through the cable attach fitting on the cold start lever and tighten down the capture nut, leaving an inch or so past the fitting, again, using the dremel, cut off the excess inner cable.
7. Check operation. Pretty basic but still good to check that it works both all the way out (and the capture nut is tight) and all the way in. (Just a note, you never set a cable up so that when you push it all the way in, the knob bottoms out on the ferrule; leave a little gap so that the controlled lever is at its stop, not limited by the cable bottoming out. Just how I was taught when restringing control cables in airplanes...;))
Done. Now, on to the throttle cable. I'm thinking of leaving the existing sheath in place and just replacing the inner whilst lubing as I did with the cold start cable so I don't have to pull up the carpet on the driver side for now. I'm going to ruminate on it a bit.
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I thought of back-threading stainless bolts through the mounts (mine have welded nuts on the tank straps) and using fender washers and stainless nylocs on the inside the fender side to re-attach.
Of course, getting the car up in the air high enough to drop the old tanks (I picked up a set of tanks this weekend...just need to get some of the surface rust on the inside off...) so I can get to this stage will be a project in itself. I've done it on an S2 and it was not the simplest task to accomplish. Lots of cinder blocks, jack stands...and incremental lifting to get it high enough. loosen everything up first, raise the car, drop the tank, install new one, then lower. Keep it in the air as little as possible....
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Finished first carb (rear carb...the front is almost there.) New gaskets where needed, temp compensator checked and they're close, need to find proper size drift to set the butterfly shaft seals, needles set correctly, float level set for 11/16", but for now...polished (I know, geeky) the top cap...and need to set the initial settings on the bench per the manual.
Waiting for the gaskets for the base of the secondary throttle block to the head, and have new viton o-rings to set the adapter plates at the proper clearance on the secondary with new thackery washers and have ALL the proper 5/16x24 nuts and washers at the ready. New teflon-lined throttle and choke cables coming...pretty sure that snaking the new cables will be a messy exercise...but needs be done. More as it happens, stay tuned. Headed towards seeing if I can get it started this weekend or next week.
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The needles in my car are the Euro taper, but whomever (and it wasn't the PO; going to start saying PPO, since the gent I bought the car from admitted that he was in over his head and was hoping someone like me would take it off his hands...) replaced them in the piston and never set the height correctly (there are a few other gotchas that I'm discovering...like 2" long idle adjust screws, which are just 6-32s but a case of the originals probably rolled off the bench, so the wrench just pulled something out of the parts box that fit..). Just taking my time, correcting the issues, using new rebuild kits (from Joe Curto), and setting up per the manual as the starting point.
Once that is done...on to mucking with the brakes. And, oh, yeah...got new throttle and choke cables. Thinking replacing them is going to be a goat rodeo...a lot easier when the lump is out of the car, but not there yet, so...
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Was just spitballing (poking a stick in the cage?). Have the intake down to the head flanges all apart...finding all sorts of DPO happiness (like no nuts on the 2 bottom studs holding both of the carbs on the adapter plate to the secondary throttle assembly), copious amounts of RTV squeezed out of joints, thackery washers torqued down tight, idle trim screws set vastly different between front and rear carbs, 2 different tapered needles (I have their mates in a box of spare parts...) in the pistons...So...back to 'stock' (except for the lack of secondary throttles) and set up per the book.
Have cleaned up the threads on the pile of 5/16x24 nuts, ran a die down all the studs to clean up those parts, have a stack of new split and flat washers to use where needed, new thackery washers, new gaskets, new diaphragms, new o-rings, new floats, new needle valve, a gallon can of carb dip and a couple parts brushes. Time to dig in, clean up, rebuild, and reinstall...
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Hope I'm not starting a religious war here...but probably talking heresy regarding the braking system in US JPS 142.
IMHO, a 1500 lb car with 120(?) HP in this day and age...it's over-engineered a bit to put double boosters in the circuit, aside from the piping complexity. Like...I'm not going to autocross, not doing hot laps at Jersey Motorsport...I'm going down to Dunkies for my morning caffeine fix, driving the SO to Second Beach in Newport, or carving some corners in the backroads of Bristol County MA. So...the unworking boosters, assorted vacuum lines, and other items are coming out. That's a given; while waiting for the various bits and pieces of interior stuff to come back...figure it's time to sort the brake system out (along with overhauling/cleaning up the pedal assembly, replacing the original clutch and accelerator cables, etc.) before assuming the Lotus Position and cleaning up the 'back of the dash' from 50 years of unconcerned mucking about back there. And, to be honest...the S2 got away just fine with an unboosted system, and it's within a couple hundred pounds of its later sibling.
So...what to do?
As a starting point (the rear cylinders were replaced recently, along with pads, so, assuming the job was done correctly, going to leave sleeping dogs lie after inspecting)
After this?
1. Open the taps and drain the system, disposing of the existing fluid.
2. Disconnect and remove the vacuum units, patching the holes in the fiberglass, and repainting the side wall on that side (truck bed liner paint, minus the grit which I filter out is my preferred finish for the engine room and wheel arches).
3. Remove the flex hoses from the front and rear. They are original...and will be replaced with armored hose replacements.
4. Rebuild front calipers with stainless pistons (have a set left over from my own stock), paint calipers, reload with fresh pads.
5. I have new disks I was going to put on 693R but never got a round tuit...so, might as well use them here.
6. Remove the MC. It's a girling unit, looks like the original...but who knows? Mucking through the extensive records I have, don't see any indication that it was replaced along the line, but, pretty sure not every bit was recorded in the POs OCD record keeping.
Now...it's all in bits...where to go from here?
There are a lot of thoughts about which direction to travel; let's face it, some of the parts, while made by Girling, were made to Lotus' specs and are not current production. There are docs on the manuals site (either Dan's or my mirror) that go into gory detail about decisions: Nissan/Tilton/Spitfire/you name it. Some bits are still available, some not. It seems at this point it will be pretty much narrowed down to either a Tilton or the Spit master...(in my mind...).
Removing the boosters means that the bore size of the master and travel will need to be somewhat different. In the S2, for instance, the .70 bore took care of the fronts, and the stepped-down bore (don't recall offhand the size) at the rear of the cylinder took care of the rears. Fair enough. The replacements today have a constant bore in various sizes...Tilton, being a universal fittment, is available in multiple bores: 5/8, .70, .75, etc. Generally, the larger the bore, the less travel to fully engage...the smaller the bore, the more travel. Basic fluid dynamics, right? Coming up with a compromise between feel, travel of the pedal, and force applied becomes a question to answer.
Aside from the physics of fluid travel, pipe bending and terminating, etc., and accounting for the removal of the boosters (which modulated the feel of the brakes and balanced the force needed), I'm in the range of thinking that moving from an assisted to a non-assisted system is pointing towards ensuring that the front-rear balance is maintained properly...which means that
1. the fluid force applied to the rear will have to be moderated by a proportioning valve to make up for the larger MC bore feeding them and
2. using the same bore size as the unboosted cars used for the fronts will provide both the right travel as well as fluid force for the calipers (which are the same on the TC as were on the S2).
Am I off here? For the record, I'm basing this on reading Aaron Hines' work done in the early aughts, as well as Dave Maugham's document on his changes...and some of the Lotus West material (thank goodness for the archive, right?).
Where I'm leaning towards (yeah, using a heavy iron speed shop...) is:
1. Tilton 74-700U master cylinder (https://www.jegs.com/i/Tilton/454/74-700U/10002/-1) with reservoir remote mounted up on front trunk bulkhead and front line direct connected to fluid T on front of frame, removing the back-and-forth piping to the removed booster. That means the PDWV goes away. Simplifying the piping means fewer points of failure, which the valve was meant to monitor. (I realize this may result in some comments, so be it...I'm open to reasoned arguments to keep or not)
2. Jegs Proportioning Valve model 63020 (https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/63020/10002/-1) in place of the rear booster (in essence)
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I'll just let the photos tell the story. Didn't use foam padding, just flexible leatherette from the local sewing supplies store. Dipped into my store of aircraft upholstery supplies for the cement, which is a high-solids, high-tack cement used to finish aircraft interior panels. Seam was tightly sewn to the edge as close as possible then trimmed carefully.
Key is to let the cement flash off completely, and use a sharp razor knife to point the leatherette as you go around curves or inside corners. It's fiddly (no doubt the ladies in the trim shop at Hethel were a lot faster), but if you take your time, it all works out well enough.
Fiberglass base was stripped of all the old cover (which I used as a general pattern...), foam, then sanded lightly to remove the old cement. Luckily it was in good shape and ready to receive the cement. I did one panel at a time, starting with the front, and stretched the leatherette as it was smoothed down on the base after the cement flashed off.
Think it came out OK; it only has one attachment screw in the front face that goes into the switch mechanism metal flange. Thinking, for sturdiness sake (and to give the switch gear a little more stability), I may put two holes in the bottom that align with the base of the dash, and use some #6 black trim screws up from the bottom, and build a short flange out of aluminum and do the same for the top. We'll see when I get back to MA and keep working on the car...
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