Refitting ancillaries

Now the engine is in, refitting the ancillaries has started.
I've refitted the inlet manifold, which has had a bit of a clean. I also fitted a new fuel filter and connected the fuel lines.

I also bought some oil for the engine and gearbox. On the recommendation of fellow Lotus owners I bought Redline gearbox oil at $150 a can! Luckily the engine oil was on special. I don't have any coolant as I forgot to note how much I needed!

Marty should have the exhaust heat shield brackets ready tomorrow so I can fit the exhaust manifold and the alternator which also has a new heat shield.

Clutch fitted, gearbox fitted and...

I decided to try and fit the clutch and gearbox today. This meant getting the hoist out and lifting the engine off the stand so I could mount the clutch. I used a socket extension bar to align the clutch plate and the gearbox went on fairly easily one the gearbox was aligned with the correct mounting holes on the engine. I also fitted the clutch cylinder bracket strengthener.

above: Clutch fitted

below: Gearbox fitted

below: Clutch slave cylinder strengthener fitted

As that was done and the hoist was out, I thought I'd have a go at putting the engine in!

It really needs two people, but I gave it a go and apart from having to remove the new coolant pipe I'd fitted, it went in fairly easily. I'll have to look at how to mount the coolant pipe and maybe drill some new holes so I can relocate the brackets. Maybe it will be ok.

Anyway, the engine is in and it's on its mounts and supported by the jack until I can get all the mounts tightened.

Heat shield

Marty has offered to help make some brackets to fit the S2 heatshield to my exhaust. Some info here to help make them up. We can use one of the brackets by modifying the A/C bracket, but the other two will need to be fabricated.

First photo shows the old exhaust with two brackets.
One at the top between cylinders 3 and 4.
Second is on the lower flange next to the middle stud.
The third bracket is the ally part coming out of the head, top left. Only the right hand stud is needed, so either replace the whole bracket with a tube to space it out or cut/machine the bracket. The bracket on the top right of the manifold is tack welded on. This will either need removing or remaking.

Second pic is the heat shield in place on the old engine. The bracket on the left is for the aircon compressor which I don't have so it can be cut up or replaced altogether.

Third pic is the new exhaust where the heat shield needs to go. The lower bracket may be able to come from the threaded hole mid engine to the left of the manifold, half way down the engine.

All the time in the world

Well the last package of the rebuild (hopefully) arrived this week, which included the cam locking tool. This enabled me to start timing the camshafts, following Dave Andrews' instructions.

With the cam belt adjusted, cam timing adjusted and the pulleys tightened up, I could start putting the remainder of the parts back on the engine. The cam belt cover is on, the cam cover is on, although the plastic cover did need a bit of trimming to fit over the new distributor cap. The plug leads are wired up (plugs not in yet as I may need to turn the engine over by hand.

above: new distributor cap and rotor arm fitted, plug leads connected. The aluminium cam cover is a slightly different shape from the original Series 1 cover, and is needed to fit the plastic "Lotus Performance" cover.

above: cam cover fitted.
below: cam belt cover fitted.

Next jobs will be working out how to fit the new heat shield to the exhaust, which will mean making a couple of brackets; fitting the clutch, then the gearbox and putting the engine back in the car!

Unfortunately it won't be ready for the first sprint of the year, but should be ready for round 2.

Cleaning and glazing

This weeks work was mostly cleaning. With my box of magic sponges to hand, I have tidied up the interior aluminium and also the leather of the seats. The seats had 15 years of grime on them and the magic sponges did a good job of cleaning them up. I then gave them a generous coat of leather cream to protect and nourish them. I wouldn't like to use the sponges on the leather very often. Once in 15 years should be enough.

I lubricated the gear lever to help make the shift smoother.

Another job that has been waiting for some time was replacing the speedo glass. On most of these the paint on the inside starts to peel and look ugly. As a short term measure I cut out a sticker and put that on the glass. I bought a new glass a while ago and removed the old one, which is held in with a silicone sealant, and simply glued the new one in with some silicone. A lot simpler than I expected.

Still waiting for the cam lock tool.

above: the (not particularly good) sticker covering the peeling paint.

above: old glass carefully removed. Some of the silicone adhesive needs to be cleaned up.

above: old peeling paint on the right side of the top glass. New glass fitted below. Unfortunately a grey version wasn't available. Black will be fine.

Suspension upgrades installed

Whilst waiting for the last few parts to arrive, I can't do much work on the engine, so I finished installing the suspension upgrades. All four upper wishbone ball joints have been fitted. I replaced the lower ones a couple of years ago.

I also fitted the rear toe arm upgrade, which is pretty much obligatory for an Elise with sticky tyres or one used on track. Something I should have done a while ago!

I've also had an offer to buy some bits off the spare engine, which will help repay the cost of the engine. The alternator and engine loom will be heading off the Alice Springs in the next few days.

I've also painted the lettering on the cam cover. Below the plastic part of the cam cover is an aluminium cover, and as I have sold the wiring loom for the engine I now have a hole where the cam sensor fits.

This needs to be plugged to maintain crankcase pressure, so following what I saw on Seloc, I've filled the hole with 3 coins, held in place by the Greek goddess of stickiness, Araldite. I hope Mrs. Windsor doesn't mind being stuck in an engine. It is a British engine!