Never a straight line

[BDA]

Thanks, Bainford! Feeling like an idiot is a small price to pay.

I spent a bit of time talking with him and was more impressed with him than before. He's getting shafted by the Porsche dealer where he's working and he's considering opening up his own shop. If he does, I'll definitely try to throw some business his way.

[Europaforever]

Hi,

Congratulations on the progress- my manager at work has an MG and has had
no end of trouble with his gearbox and 'specialists' so I have witnessed the pain it causes!

I have the 365-34 gearbox and as I haven't driven the car yet
apart from into the garage in first I would like to check I have all gears too! (No brakes at the moment so I can't take it out).
If I take the linkage off the end of the gearbox and manually move it I can
get first neutral and second, that is if moving it forward and back is those gears.
To try 3rd and 4th 5th and reverse, whats the technique- do I pull the 'lever' out
then forward and back, is that 3rd and 4th etc?

Regards, Mark

[BDA]

It's been a while since I've had a 365 and I don't know that I ever sat down and thought about how the linkage works but I'll give it a shot.

First, moving the shift lever forward and back will move the gear selector shaft in and out (it should be opposite to the direction you move the shift lever). Moving the shift lever left and right should rotate the selector shaft. I believe it should be in the same direction.

Maybe somebody can help me here: there is a cam and detent under a plastic cover that makes it harder to get into reverse and 5th (had always planed to file down the 5th gear detent so it would be easier). It would be helpful to know which cam presses the detent for reverse and which for 5th to provide verification for what I've said above and which end of the pattern you're on.

There may even be some clues in the workshop manual (http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/tcwork/f/tcf.pdf).

Does that help?

[Grumblebuns]

BDA is right on with his explanation. Use my picture of the rear of my 365 for reference. I hope I'm using the correct terminology.

When the tranny is in neutral and you move the selector shaft at the rear side to side about 10 deg, you can see the cam wiggle back and forth between the two ears against the detent.

When 1st gear is selected, the selector shaft is rotated counter clockwise until the bottom (?) detent is contacted, then the selector shaft is pulled out. In shifting to 2nd, maintain slight pressure against the detent and move the selector shaft out.

Selecting 3rd and 4th and is similar except the selector shaft is now against the upper detent of the cam.

In selecting reverse or 5th, the cam and detent have to overcome spring pressure of the ball and spring.   

[BDA]

Thanks for the picture, Joji. It was worth at least 1000 words!

[BDA]

For those following the saga of getting my Europa on the street (and ready for LOG 34), I have an update.

I got my master cylinder and rear calipers back from White Post. It looks like they did a great job. I did have a little trouble installing the master cylinder. The rubber boot that covers the open end of the cylinder wouldn't fit in the spacer so I just took it out. If I really feel uncomfortable about it, I still have the old one and though it's a little torn, it could be used. Not much to say about installing the calipers. I went to bleed them today. The push rod seems to be rubbing on something (I guess the rubber seal to keep outdoor dirt and grime out of the car. Maybe I didn't really need to rebuilt the M/C after all. The funny (?) thing is I know I didn't have this problem when I built the car. It's a little different now as it makes a rubbing noise where it didn't before I sent the M/C to White Post). I'll have to investigate that further. The front's seemed to bleed fine but the rears wouldn't bleed at all. No matter how much fluid I pumped through them, I still had bubbles coming out of the bleed valve. After I tightened the bleed valves, I didn't have a pedal. Unless somebody else has a better idea, it seems clear to me that the booster for the rear brakes is leaking and needs to be rebuilt.  It looks like another package sent to White Post. It probably makes sense to have them both rebuilt at the same time (unless they are cheaper to buy new).

My wife is concerned about the reliability of my car but I don't know why. By the time we go to the LOG, everything will be new (again)!

[Grumblebuns]

The first thought that comes to mind is bench bleeding the MC prior to installing in the car. I hate to say this but you may have to pull the MC out and perform the bench bleeding to get all of the air out of the MC. I believe this what is happening to you. There is still air in the MC that is trapped. It  will also give you an opportunity to figure out where the rubbing is coming from by stroking the pushrod by hand on the vise during the bench bleed.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca 

[BDA]

Thanks for the tip Joji! I didn't need to do that the first time. I'll give it a try tomorrow and see how it goes.

[jbcollier]

You can simply bypass the booster and see if that solves your problem.

[Grumblebuns]

If you do decide to pull the MC to do a bench bleed, try one more test prior to re-installing the MC again  after ensuring all of the air is out of the MC, plug both ports with bolts and see if you get hard resistance when you push in the primary piston by hand. If you don't get  hard resistance, this will tell you that you probably have a bad re-sleeve or seals.s

One thing about having boosters is all the loops and bends the brake lines make in the engine compartment and the additional air that have to be pushed out. The last time I replaced my MC and rebuilt my calipers, I used a homemade power bleeder, It worked OK, but not as convenient as a commercial one.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca   

 

[BDA]

If you do decide to pull the MC to do a bench bleed, try one more test prior to re-installing the MC again  after ensuring all of the air is out of the MC, plug both ports with bolts and see if you get hard resistance when you push in the primary piston by hand. If you don't get  hard resistance, this will tell you that you probably have a bad re-sleeve or seals.s

One thing about having boosters is all the loops and bends the brake lines make in the engine compartment and the additional air that have to be pushed out. The last time I replaced my MC and rebuilt my calipers, I used a homemade power bleeder, It worked OK, but not as convenient as a commercial one.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca   

 

Thanks for the good advice, Joji!

Part of my confusion is that when I filled and bled the brakes for the first time, I had none of these problems! I guess I was just lucky then. When the rear calipers would not bleed, I figured they needed a rebuild (they were used when I got them so besides being of unknown age, they were ugly). I don't have any reason to think that White Post didn't do a good job - there were no leaks around the calipers, etc. so I suspected the boosters. Your right, of course about the rather circuitous route for the brake lines. I tried to straighten that out as much as I could. I mounted my boosters behind the rear wheels so I don't have the loops the stock setup has. About now, I'm wishing I had just done away with them as things would be much more simple!

I have a pressure bleeder but I've been too cheap to buy the adapter for reservoir. Well, that's not entirely true. They don't list Europa so I'd have to guess that the MG or Triumph adapter would work. It probably would... Again, the first fill and bleed was pretty effortless without such nice tools so why worry about them.

[BDA]

You can simply bypass the booster and see if that solves your problem.

Good idea JB. If I still have problems after bench bleeding, etc. I'll try that. Thanks!

[BDA]

Ok. I feel better now. 

I was finally able to bleed my brakes. I think I was probably my biggest problem. I think what was causing the pedal to stick was that it was rubbing against the steering column. I was all read after I bench bled the M/C but for a long time, I couldn't get any fluid out of the rear calipers. I think what was happening is that the front port on the M/C feeds the rear brakes (it's been so long since I built the car, I wasn't sure which was which). If you don't push the piston all the way down the M/C, the fluid doesn't get pumped out the front port. A guy at White Post told me that after you get the front "primed", you're good to go. To make sure the front would get full travel, I adjusted the clevis on the push rod back from where I had it. It seems to be pretty good now. I'd like a little more pedal but it's probably the same as it was before it went on stands this time.

I guess those are pretty amateurish mistakes - my only defense is that I don't remember having any of those problems when I first filled the brake system, nor do I ever remember having any such problems on any other car I've filled or bled before. But then, now that I'm officially a geezer, I'll take that as an excuse! 

Next stop is getting my radiator and fan put together. I got one of those Chinese aluminum radiators on ebay and a 2000 CFM fan from Amazon. The fan attachment points on the radiator look like the were set for this fan except that two of the aluminum bolts for the fan are about 1/4" off! I found a radiator shop that also does fabricating so this should be an easy job for them.

After that is installing and hooking up the electronic speedo. That will require a mount for the sensor. Maybe the radiator shop can help there, too.

Well, things are moving a long again...

[BDA]

In case anybody is interested, I thought I'd post some pictures to show what I've done recently.

I got the radiator in the car but it's not completely hooked up because I'm waiting on the fan switch. I hope it works, my last radiator had a bung for a fan switch but it would never turn the fan on. I think it may have been an issue with the radiator and the switch was just in a cold part of the radiator. In the picture, you can see the Kenlow fan switch I used before and when I'm satisfied the new switch does what I want, I'll take it out. Otherwise, I can still use it. It works by putting the bulb in the radiator hose. My old radiator was custom built and was thinner than the stock radiator. That required a frame made of aluminum channel that I put threaded inserts in to hold the screen in front of the front wheel. Obviously, the new radiator doesn't need that frame so I wasn't sure how I was going to attach the screen. Well, there is a thick 'lip' on the top and bottom of the radiator so I CAREFULLY drilled and tapped holes in that lip and attached the screen that way.

The other picture shows the bracket for the electronic speedo I'm installing. It's stainless steel and I made it by hand (no band saw, shear, or sheet metal brake - just a Dremel tool with cut off wheels to cut it out and I bent it in a vice). Obviously, I had the gussets welded. You can't see it very well, but under the sensor is a CV joint and I've glued magnets on it to help trigger the sensor. I don't work with stainless steel much and I wasn't prepared for how tough it was. I ate up several cutting wheels and burned up a few drill bits and ended up having to get cobalt bits ($$). The nut and screw you see on the right side of the bracket props it against the top of the gear box. I didn't feel it was stiff enough even with the gusset but with the screw, it is very stiff.

[Grumblebuns]

With my new aluminum radiator and fan installed, I've always wondered about the amount of "bounce back" of the air you feel in front of the radiator with the fan with the car idling. The denser the radiator core and the more marginal your cooling system is, the worse the problem becomes.   

Just wondering if anyone has fabricated a working front shroud for the radiator in gaining greater cooling efficiency by forcing more out.

Another thought I had was to replace the OEM style pusher fan with a puller fan. Putting it behind the radiator in the wheel well exposes it to road debris and possible tire interference. The other possibility is to move the radiator forward in the front nose area. The only problem there is the very tight interference with the headlight bucket.

Once the car is moving all of this is moot, but in stop and go traffic every little bit may help.

For a bracket made by hand from SS, it looks damn good. I know how tough even thin grade SS is to cut sheet or mesh.
My sender bracket is made from regular steel, a lot easier to work with. The pickup is magnetic, sensing the toothed wheel attached to the CV joint.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca