LinksI'm continuing my quest to return 3291R to decent mechanical condition (acknowledging that I'm also working on renovating the interior to some extent...). Somewhere along the line, a (d)PO thought it was a good idea to remove all the fuel vapor containment devices...the catch can, charcoal canister, and the VCG breather (PCV, after a fashion) gubbins and throw them in the packing cases of parts that I'm digging through.
In doing so, they just cut the vent lines from the fuel filler necks and left open to the atmosphere. Accordingly, I get a whiff of gas smell in the cockpit from time to time. And, to be honest (though I'm not a tree-hugging ecomentailst), it does bother me a bit that I'm just venting hydrocarbon vapors to the outside world when I don't have to. So...I'm starting to assemble the bits to put things at least back together to close off the system to free atmosphere.
To that end, I've acquired a nice air/oil separator for the PCV system (and will go about plumbing that in, mounting the can in the right rear dead space next to the boot and running the air back to the backplate of the carb air box), and would like to plumb the fuel vapor containment system. For that, besides a healthy run of hose to run back and forth as per the diagram in the parts manual...I need to source a charcoal canister...if not to feed back to the base of the carbs (the ports for that are capped off right now), at least to filter the vapor from the ports on the filler neck.
So...has anyone sourced a useable charcoal can? Is my idea without merit? z
Heretical, I know...putting emission stuff back on...but, thinking of doing my small bit (not to mention not getting fuel vapors in the cockpit...).
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No, not talking about finding things under your skin that need removal...but that big honking power unit behind your behind.
Basically, the good book says (eliminating the stuff at the beginning...):
Raise the rear of the car and place a stand beneath each side of the chassis at the rear.
Remove the rear road wheels.
Disconnect the clutch cable from the lever at the bell housing.
Remove the silencer (muffler) assembly.
Remove the bolts securing the silencer (muffler) mounting bracket to the gearbox.
Unscrew the bolts retaining the lower suspension links to the gearbox bracket, allowing the links to drop clear.
Drive the roll pins from the inner universal joints on the transmission shafts by means of a drift (Part No. X046F6171Z)
(I have a set of roll pin drivers...)
Free the drive shafts from the gearbox output shafts by withdrawing them outwards from their splines noting the spacers and shims fitted on the output shafts.
Remove the starter motor.
Place a jack under the rear of the gearbox.
Remove the reverse indent cover.
Remove the two bolts from the rear cross member, lower the gearbox, and remove the jack.
Remove the bolts from the clutch housing, and pull the gearbox rearwards until clear of the clutch shaft.
Basically, disconnect everything, pull back. Is there enough space to pull out and back? Would seem that it's going to tilt the engine back...anything I should be aware of? Or is it just easier to go even further and drain the coolant, strip down the engine to a long block, and pull together?
Just spitballing; I like to have a strategy before diving in. (pulling the whole lump would let me attack all the aged cooling hoses, leaky gaskets and seals and clean up the back end of 50 years of spooge.
Of course, this means I would not be driving her until the end of the summer. But that's ok. I stripped down 693R and built up from a bare frame in 5 months back in 07...so, I don't waste time thinking about how long...just how well I can get the job done.
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This is so important, I hope Joji doesn't mind that I lifted it from Joe's site:
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Joji Tokumoto's Remove Brake Booster Documentation:
Overview of the Europa brake hydraulics
Before removing the brake lines from the booster, it would be best to mark and tag the lines to and from the boosters both from the PDWV and to the connections at the “manifold “(the collection of fittings on the top left frame rail) as front brake circuit or rear brake circuit. I’ve also included the federal dual brake system diagram for reference, Pic 1. It has been colorized to make it easier to follow the convoluted mess. Since the replacement master cylinders are usually single bore 0.70” 0r 0.75”, it may not matter if the connections are swapped. However convention should be followed by maintaining the stock configuration.The only exceptions are if using the S2 tandem master cylinder. Stock configuration must be maintained.
Following the diagram, this is the flow path of the front and rear brake circuits from the master cylinder, to the boosters and back to the front and rear brakes. The front circuit has been colored in RED and the rear in Yellow.
The brake lines from the master cylinder are continuous until they terminate at the area I call the “manifold” on the top of the left frame rail where the lines transition to two female tube nuts coupled by a double male connection. At this point determine the lines for front and rear brake circuits. On my TCS the two bottom lines came from my master cylinder. Physically tracing the lines determined that the second line from the bottom was the front circuit and the bottom line was the rear circuit, Pic 2. Both lines continue to the PDWV, Pic 3.
At the PDWV, the lines for the front circuit enter the rear port at the bottom of the PDWV and the rear circuit enters the front port. Both lines exit the respective top ports of the PDWV and connect to the boosters above. The bottom servo serves the front brake circuit and the top servo, the rear brake circuit, Pic 4.. The PDWV maintains the difference in thread size for front and rear brake circuits, ⅜-24” threads for the front port (rear circuit) and 7/16-20” threads for the rear port (front circuit).
The outputs from both servos return to the “manifold” on the left frame rail. The line for the rear brakes connects to a four way junction where the lines split up to supply the rear brake drums and a brake light. The front line connects to a double male coupler where the line continues to the front of the car to supply the front calipers via a three way junction on the front “T“ section of the chassis, Pic 2.
Running the jumpers:
There are a couple of ways of running the bypass jumpers, either keep the PDWV in the system or totally get rid of it. Although I decided to keep mine and the directions are for this method, I’ll also describe how I would run bypass jumpers with the PDWV removed.
In bypassing the boosters, the brake lines exiting top ports of the PDWV to the boosters and the lines exiting the boosters to the “manifold” are disconnected and removed .Measure, cut and bend enough tubing to reach from the PDWV ports to the respective line connections for the front and rear brake lines at the “manifold”. As stated in the intro above, the line from the front port of the PDWV connects to the rear brake four way junction while the rear port connects to the single line connector going to the front of the car, Pics 5,6,7..
The hardware required are:
(1) male tube nut, 3/8-24 with a bubble flare on the PDWV end
(1) male tube nut, 7/16-20” with a bubble flare on the PDWV end
(1) female tube nut, ⅜-24 with a double/inverse flare on the “manifold” end
(1) male tube nut, ⅜-24” with bubble flare on “Manifold” end
Appropriate lengths of 3/16” Cunifer or steel brake tubing
Keeping the PDWV in my view makes for a neater looking engine layout and arguably maintains the brake failure warning light feature. Others however may prefer to bin it for simplicity and fewer complications. I see a couple of ways of doing it this way. First way is to run jumpers from the couplings on the incoming front and rear circuits directly to the outgoing front and rear circuits on the “manifold”, Pic 8. If using jumpers at the “manifold”, the front brake circuit jumper will require two ⅜-24” female tube nuts. The 3/16” tube on both ends will need to have a double/inverse flare to mate with the male couplers in the existing line. The rear brake circuit jumper will require one ⅜-24” female tube nut with a double/inverse flare on the existing male coupler end and a ⅜-24” male tube nut with a bubble flare on the four way junction end. I would recommend making the jumpers long enough to allow a gentle bend on the tubing without kinking.
The second way is to connect the fittings at the PDWV with unions, Pic 9,10. This may be the easier option if removing the PDWV. The original fittings and lines use bubble flares at the PDWV. Ensure that the unions also use bubble flares. The rear brake lines uses the ⅜-24” fittings. The front brake lines unfortunately use the 7/16-20” fittings at the PDWV. Finding unions using 7/16-20” fittings for 3/16” lines may be difficult. If unable to locate the correct union, the only option may be to convert the front brake line circuit to and from the union to ⅜-24” fittings with new brake lines.
Final thoughts. I traced the lines from the master cylinder back to the rear "manifold", the PDWV, boosters and back to the "manifold" on my TCS and I'm fairly confident that I did not cross lines but who is to say that I didn't make a mistake. I really urge anyone doing this modification to trace the lines back personally to ensure that the info on this write up is accurate.
Please take extreme care when modifying the brake lines. When forming flares, use the proper tools to ensure that the cuts are straight and square and that the ends are deburred properly. Doing that and using a good quality flare tool should allow you to make acceptable flares. Also please make sure that you are using the proper flare for the proper application, bubble vs double/inverse For fittings and cunifer brake lines RD Enterprises and Fedhill USA are good places to check. For flaring tools, a good quality tool and an “on car” flaring tool sold by several vendors is the only way to go. I used the one sold by Eastwood although Amazon has several similar ones.
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Practice on some scrap 3/16 line so you get the feel of it. It's doable; the brass fittings can strip, so use good ones (ie the amazon cheapies will fail...I went through 5 couplings until I got smart and went to the local NAPA store and got decent quality fittings). First time through, took a couple hours and choice anglo-saxon metaphors...when I got all the right parts...took longer to bend the pipes than to flare and fit.
And it's easier when the lump is out. I did mine bent over the rear quarter and paid for it at the chiropractor over a couple visits...lol.
Oh, yeah, when you go to bleed the system with all the spaghetti in place, remember that the furthest wheel is actually the front left. Front left, front right, rear right, rear left in terms of distance from the MC. I'm a big fan of the Eezbleed kit...did a complete bleed out and flush of the system in a half hour (and that included 3x around the car in order to ensure that the air was gone, and the old fluid was flushed.) Nice hard pedal now, with about 1" of throw.
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BDA (on Irwin's site) said:
"Congratulations on your progress and making your list. Have you gotten your Pertronix Ignitor (dizzy module) yet? If not, you have a choice to make: the Ignitor I can burn up if you leave your ignition on too long (I have no definition for “too long”) but it can be statically timed; the Ignitor II is protected from burning up but it can’t be statically timed. There is an Ignitor III but for whatever reason I didn’t consider it but I’m pretty sure it can’t be statically timed.
I started with an Ignitor I and later got an Ignitor II thinking I would like the protection from burning up so I got an Ignitor II. I was able to get my motor running with it pretty quickly but then my timing light died and I happily went back to my Ignitor I. I may get a spare Ignitor I in case the one I have dies. I’d even be able to replace it and if necessary, I can time it on the side of the road."
I replied:
I believe it's the Ignitor II that's in the dizzy; it's the whole assembly put together by them. I know it takes the .6 ohm coil, which I have on hand too. Busy with the brakes right now; I want to get pedal; It looks like the MC is ok (it's holding fluid....); I was going to get creative, but decided instead to just build patch lines to plumb the front to the front return and rear to rear return, removed the PDWV (I know that's going to start a religious war....but for now...I'll save it, and perhaps mount it up front when I fully replumb the system) and try bleeding it out (I have the Gunson pressure bleeder that you hook up to a tire set to 20 lbs) after I put in speed bleeders. It's just me, so, it is either use my mitivac to suck it out or use the pressure system to push it. One thing for certain, the fluid will probably be mostly flushed through the system by the time I get it all together and bled out. (if the MC is too hard...I have a .75 dual circuit MC on hand to reduce the bore...but am going to put greenstuff pads and a new set of disks on the front when I finish with the rear end of the car.)
The new flaring tool seems to work a treat. I'm doing inverted in the patches and will invert flare the lines in the car to match the double female couplings. If I really wanted to get creative, I'd pull out my 37 degree tool from the airport and do AN fittings everywhere...but that's a bit over the top for a street car (though, sometime down the road, I may go for the armored flex lines to the wheels. I figured that I'd just do the patching now; if I have to put a proportioning valve in for the rears, then I've already put the fittings on to splice it in.)
Can you tell I'm having fun? I can see the end of the initial resurrection on the horizon...and perhaps actually get the car sorted enough for inspection...famous last words, eh?
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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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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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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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