Author Topic: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...  (Read 6450 times)

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Offline Chuck Nukem

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #15 on: Friday,December 26, 2014, 07:47:26 AM »
Make sure you disconnect all the cables and pedal assembly completely.

Offline Chuck Nukem

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #16 on: Friday,December 26, 2014, 07:49:25 AM »
My Lotus wanted to be de-federalized for christmas! I ordered a set of Lucas L734 turn signals like on my s1. Lots of fiberglass patching to do!!

Offline BDA

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #17 on: Friday,December 26, 2014, 01:37:55 PM »
Me to get off of my duff and begin the restoration.  There is a huge sale at Harbor Freight on New Year's day and I'm going to buy the racing jack and another pair of dollies so I can stuff the Lotus in the back of the garage if I need space there to work on the MGB.  I had a friend point out to me that although the Europa as is has the extra radiator to accommodate the extra heat of the Mazda rotary, there isn't a suitable way for the from the extra radiator heat to vacate the nose area.  I don't like the idea of louvers...  Still another reason to move forward on restoring the car to its original Renault engine...  Has anyone here tried a block and tackle arrangement to pick the body up off of the frame?  Got pictures of the process?
I've seen at least one Mazda rotary engine swap and I'm sure there are others. You could hook a radiator to exhaust under the driver's side wheel well. I've seen some put a long (or wide) radiator across the front and exhaust it out the bonnet lid. For example, 7upJohn's (the Europa done on Overhaulin) was done that way. It's not uncommon when extra cooling is required.

Using a block and tackle to pick the body off the frame sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Pulling up on the body just about anywhere opens the possibility for cracking the fiberglass - not that it's that hard to repair. I would jack the car way off the floor (higher than the height of the frame) and support it on the frame. Disconnect everything. Support the body and lower the frame. I don't remember exactly how I did it but it was something similar to that - and I did it completely myself.

Good luck! The journey of a Lotus restoration begins with a single wrench turn.

Offline Serge

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #18 on: Friday,December 26, 2014, 02:52:29 PM »
My S1 wanted a high volume oil pump for the wedge-head engine and a home-made aluminium coolant tank! She also wanted an aluminium radiator, but santa appears to have some trouble to get it through customs...

Serge

Offline BDA

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #19 on: Friday,December 26, 2014, 07:20:55 PM »
Very nice Serge! Did you make the header tank?

I hope Santa gets your radiator through customs soon!

Offline Serge

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #20 on: Saturday,December 27, 2014, 12:33:22 AM »
Yes, I made it myself! I bought the CNC'd filler neck off ebay and the rest are just some pieces of tubing and plate.

The first part I made in aluminium, so it wasn't plain sailing. TIG welding aluminium is a lot more demanding than welding steel, mainly because the aluminium is really sensitive to any particles. So it has to be completely clean, if not it all goes down the drain. So I always wirebrush it a couple of times and then use acetone to remove most of it. But it wasn't always enough. The beads aren't exactly stacks of dimes, but it's getting closer.

Serge

Offline blasterdad

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #21 on: Saturday,December 27, 2014, 06:01:14 AM »
Impressive work as usual Serge! Stack of dimes or not, VERY nice!
Santa left me a note informing me that his elves do not make Lotus parts, nor do they work on them.
But, being the great guy that he is, he left me some cash to buy some!  :pirate:

Offline Grumblebuns

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #22 on: Saturday,December 27, 2014, 09:24:31 AM »
I would jack the car way off the floor (higher than the height of the frame) and support it on the frame. Disconnect everything. Support the body and lower the frame. I don't remember exactly how I did it but it was something similar to that - and I did it completely myself.

Good luck! The journey of a Lotus restoration begins with a single wrench turn.

I did my body removal the other way around. Used two floor jacks to lift the body as high as the jacks would lift, then support the body with four jack stands. I would then slide wood cribbing under the floor jacks to lift them higher and continue jacking the body until it was clear of the frame. Again support the body with jack stands and slide the frame from under the body. I have some pictures of the process here:

http://www.lotuseuropa.org/gallery/0934R/Frame_removal_002

It helps to have the interior stripped. Having the engine previously removed reduces the height that the body has to be lifted. Four people could have lifted the body at this point but I was by myself and the process worked beautifully.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca


 

Offline BDA

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #23 on: Saturday,December 27, 2014, 10:06:08 AM »
More than one way to skin that cat!

Offline Mecky

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #24 on: Monday,December 29, 2014, 01:41:45 PM »
My S1 wanted a high volume oil pump for the wedge-head engine and a home-made aluminium coolant tank! She also wanted an aluminium radiator, but santa appears to have some trouble to get it through customs...

Serge
Love that water container. I would love one, too, but our Europa has other problems. It's getting a big body repair :(

Offline Serge

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #25 on: Monday,December 29, 2014, 03:29:07 PM »
Love that water container. I would love on, too, but our Europa has other problems. It's getting a big body repair :(

Thanks Stefan,

I polished a small area by hand this weekend, just to check what it looks like. I will probably polish the rest if I have some spare time.

Serge

Offline Chuck Nukem

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #26 on: Monday,December 29, 2014, 04:34:35 PM »
My S1 wanted a high volume oil pump for the wedge-head engine and a home-made aluminium coolant tank! She also wanted an aluminium radiator, but santa appears to have some trouble to get it through customs...

Serge
Love that water container. I would love on, too, but our Europa has other problems. It's getting a big body repair :(

Eveything OK Mecky??

Offline BDA

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #27 on: Monday,December 29, 2014, 06:18:46 PM »
Yes, I made it myself! I bought the CNC'd filler neck off ebay and the rest are just some pieces of tubing and plate.

The first part I made in aluminium, so it wasn't plain sailing. TIG welding aluminium is a lot more demanding than welding steel, mainly because the aluminium is really sensitive to any particles. So it has to be completely clean, if not it all goes down the drain. So I always wirebrush it a couple of times and then use acetone to remove most of it. But it wasn't always enough. The beads aren't exactly stacks of dimes, but it's getting closer.

Serge
I think it looks great! Especially for your first attempt at TIG welding aluminum!

I hope you and everybody had a great Christmas!

Offline Mecky

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #28 on: Friday,January 02, 2015, 03:27:01 PM »
My S1 wanted a high volume oil pump for the wedge-head engine and a home-made aluminium coolant tank! She also wanted an aluminium radiator, but santa appears to have some trouble to get it through customs...

Serge
Love that water container. I would love on, too, but our Europa has other problems. It's getting a big body repair :(

Eveything OK Mecky??
I'm fine, but the Europa is struggeling a bit. After the crash at the Nürburgring, three wheel-arches are now broken (one was already damaged during the previous race). We are going to do a big body repair with new paint and new bubbly arches.

Offline EuropaTC

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Re: What does your Lotus want for Christmas?...
« Reply #29 on: Tuesday,January 06, 2015, 02:13:29 PM »
Well, Santa duly arrived and as hoped bought a trimmed centre console from Richard at Banks Engineering. After looking at it sitting in the spare bedroom since Christmas day, I finally got around to fitting it this week, and it looks great.

Whoever does Richard's trim work is first class, it's exceptionally neat and there's no way I could ever hope to reach the same standards.  For anyone else curious about such things, this is a heavyweight reproduction fibreglass console which looks to have been molded from an original ABS one and has been trimmed in black vinyl (looks grey in the photo, but it's black). There are no holes drilled but there are indications on the ashtray where to drill. The cut-outs for the window switches just needed the vinyl cutting back, otherwise it's all ready to go.

It's a reassuringly tight fit and I had to cut out some of the insulation from under the carpet as this doesn't flex as easily as the originals, but hopefully it won't crack as easily as the ABS one did !

Brian