Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Broadside on Saturday,November 14, 2020, 08:41:29 AM
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Thought I'd have a look at the engine today, put some oil in, rig up my 'external power supply' and see if I could get some oil pressure. After squirting some ep90 down the very dry suction port in the filter housing and cranking over without plugs the gauge came up nicely (80 psi) great I thought, I'll do a quick compression test (having already noted the valves looking a bit 'brown' through the plug holes) Oh dear, the best cylinder made 100psi, the worst about 25!!
So set back number one, next job is head off, I guess I'll probably drop the sump and get the pistons out while I'm at it in case the the rings are stuck.
Although the guy before me did a lot of work I think it's sat for the best part of 10 years, so who knows what it's like in there!
And there was was me thinking I'll just stick the carb on, rig a fuel header up and try starting it..........
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Hi Broadside, " So set back number one, next job is head off, I guess I'll probably drop the sump and get the pistons out while I'm at it in case the the rings are stuck."
You might would be better off pulling the motor / gearbox as the pistons come out thru the bottom of the liners, not thru the liners.. unless you want to remove the liners also from the block.
Dakazman
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Given the poor numbers you got, you’ll likely have to at least rebuild everything from the pistons up, but a leak down test might point narrow down the area you need take care of.
With 80 psi oil pressure, your bearings seem good and since it wouldn’t make any sense to use new bearings but not replace rings, they are likely in good shape too. So it’s likely that your problem is with the valves. A leak down test would tell you if that’s true or not.
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Broadside, given that the engine was rebuilt I think following BDA's advice is a great start. Some engines that have sat with some of the valves open may have slight rust on those valve seats causing lower compression. If your plan is to pull the engine anyway, I would first check and adjust the valve clearances, making sure all the valves seat, fire the engine up for a few seconds and recheck the compression. Might save a lot of work.
Sandy
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Yes, agreed, a leak down test would hopefully pinpoint the problem. I'll do that before I get carried away pulling it apart!
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Broadside, given that the engine was rebuilt I think following BDA's advice is a great start. Some engines that have sat with some of the valves open may have slight rust on those valve seats causing lower compression. If your plan is to pull the engine anyway, I would first check and adjust the valve clearances, making sure all the valves seat, fire the engine up for a few seconds and recheck the compression. Might save a lot of work.
Sandy
Yes, I think it may well 'clean up' if I can get it started. I did just back the tappets off to make sure they were'nt holding the valves open. I had to stop after that though as I think my wife thought I was never coming home ;D
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I was originally going to say that if it were me, I'd probably pull the whole engine apart and take a look. I thought that was something only I would do and maybe a bit extreme but Sandyman suggested there could be rust on the valve or seats and that got me to wondering if there might be rust other places. It might still be extreme and overkill but I would probably be more likely to do that now.
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I'd already resigned myself to pulling the head, sump and pistons but didn't realise that the pistons couldn't be removed upwards. Crank out makes it a bit more of a job that I could have done without, that's the joy of a Lotus............
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Cold compression tests on engines that have sat a long time are never going to be good. Is it runnable (carb/exhaust/coolant/etc)? If so, I would try to get it running, decarbonize, adjust the valves and do another compression test on a hot engine.
Don't use gear oil in engines. Many gear oil have additives that will "stick" to the main and rod bearings and cause a lot of grief.
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Is this the build your talking about?
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=4075.0
Dakazman
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Yes
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Better news today, I thought I'd just see if it would start with a spare DCOE I had in the workshop (of unknown condition and jetting). Rigged a temporary coil up, cleaned and set the points - got a good spark. Fitted the carb, hung a small tank up next to it, pushed the button and off she went! Only ran it for 2 or 3 seconds as no water in it, but it went on all four straight away. Left it a few minutes and tried again, started straight up, again just for a couple of seconds. Next job is get some water in it, service/jet the carb somewhere in the ballpark and warm it up and check the compression again.
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A bit of DCOE therapy this evening :)
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Well this week I have taken the body to be final prepped and painted, very exciting! :) :)
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That IS exciting!! Please show us some pictures when you get it back! What color are you painting her?
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That's looking great! 8)
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That IS exciting!! Please show us some pictures when you get it back! What color are you painting her?
Well it was red originally so I've decided to go with gold leaf colours to match the Lotus 72 poster that's been on my wall since I was about 10!!
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Nice choice!
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X2 , what BDA said.
It’s iconic!
Dakazman
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A bit of a progress update, body shell now resprayed and sat back on chassis (albeit more for staorage than final fit)
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The paint came out great! She’s really going to be a looker! :beerchug:
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Great work! Looks familiar. Is the red the Carnival Red or a less orange "Gold Leaf" red? What is the width of the gold stripe and does it have a name?
Sandy
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:trophy: :trophy: :trophy: Beautiful :trophy: :trophy: :trophy:
A timeless classic for sure.
Dakazman
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Beautiful. That's coming along nicely.
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Great work! Looks familiar. Is the red the Carnival Red or a less orange "Gold Leaf" red? What is the width of the gold stripe and does it have a name?
Sandy
Its carnival red L05 and Cirrus white L04, I haven't measured the stripe width
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:beerchug: She's going to turn a lot of heads.
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She certainly is beautiful, and will be more visible particularly at night than my Black Special....
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Wow. That’s looking great! Can’t wait to get mine resprayed.
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I managed to get first powered flight out into the yard the other day, thought I'd better post a pic!
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Outside! :trophy:
Still plenty of work to do though...........
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A bit more tidying up to in here yet but all working :)
And I've just worked out that the thumbnail option is the right size to use...........
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Really pretty!!! Congratulations!! :beerchug:
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Nice! 8)
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My goodness you work fast! That looks great!
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Really nice Broadside!
I see many nice touches added, rocker cover, throttle bracket and intake 👍👍😍
Dakazman
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Thank you. The original rocker cover had been beautifully crackle coated but it leaked terribly! so I bit the bullet and bought the nice ali one - wow that was expensive - made me feel a bit sick :huh:
I made all the throttle linkage as I didn't have the original and I wanted to keep it as neat and uncluttered as possible, there's already a bit too much going on in those Renault engine bays for my liking - mostly with the regulator/relay/coil area, it might be something to modify at some point in the future.............
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I made all the throttle linkage as I didn't have the original and I wanted to keep it as neat and uncluttered as possible, there's already a bit too much going on in those Renault engine bays for my liking - mostly with the regulator/relay/coil area, it might be something to modify at some point in the future.............
I agree with you on that . I hope to get regulator/relay/coil on backside of a panel I made to hide battery. another to hide the fuel tank
Great Job making the throttle bracket , I just ordered one off ebay made by weber that looks similar.
Once again, Beautiful paint scheme .
Dakazman
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Hi all, sorry for lack of communication lately, had a health issue which had to take priority but all good now and have been able to get on with finishing the car!
I took it to the rolling road a week or so ago to get it set up and all went well (baring in mind I didn't have the engine apart, so was a little apprehensive!)
With the Else manifolds and Weber it made a respectable 91bhp, not that I rely too much on bhp figures, but it does seem to be somewhere in the right ball park.
She was a bit smoky on the overrun so I guess it could do with a set of valve stem seals, but otherwise very good, and I'm sure it will never see the treatment on the road that it had on the rollers!
Hoping to get her on the road for a quick test outing very soon!!!
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Glad you're over your health issue and I'm hoping to read and see more about your car.
Let us know how your road test comes out!
Good luck!
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Great news.
She looks terrific, hope you get some meaningful 'seat time' before the weather turns…
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Congratulations on your milestone. :trophy: That’s my favorite livery. 👍
Glad your feeling better.
Dakazman
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Well I managed it! Finally got the car out on the road, after a quick local test drive I took the big step of driving it to meet some of the local Lotus owners for breakfast. It was a bit stressful worrying if anything would let me down, the 'add lightness' went out of the window as I took enough tools and spares to do a rebuild!
All went well apart from an annoying and very stubborn oil leak from the very expensive cast alloy rocker cover that I bought. I think it may need some re-engineering as I suspect something is out of true on it.
Other than that it went well and is a lot smoother on the road than my Elise S2 - much less crashy over potholes, also the gear change is much better, I spent some time modifying the linkage and it's worked really well, so I'm very pleased!
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Nice!
Go around the valve cover sealing edge with a feeler gauge. I think you'll find a place or two where the feeler gauge will just slide in. Oil-proof silicone sealer, used sparingly, is your friend.
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Glad you got your baby on the road and things went well! She looks great!
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It looks great next to those woopty-do big cars!
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It looks great next to those woopty-do big cars!
I was amazed how small it looked against the Elise too!
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Nice!
Go around the valve cover sealing edge with a feeler gauge. I think you'll find a place or two where the feeler gauge will just slide in. Oil-proof silicone sealer, used sparingly, is your friend.
I've already had two goes with some Wynns RTV which is usually pretty good. I'm going to do some measuring and find out exactly whats wrong, I suspect the casting is very out of true or maybe even bottoming out on the head studs before it seats. I also want to make a better gasket, it had a pretty poor looking rubber gasket which sits in a machined groove, I'm thinking of trying to make a better one with either cork or maybe neoprene.
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I took my valve cover to an industrial gasket maker and had them make up a bunch of thicker ones out of cork.
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That may be a good plan for me too. I've had the cover off this afternoon and I thing the casting is bottoming out on the centre post before it tightens down enough - it had a casting blob right on the edge of the hole. I've cleaned it up and countersunk all 3 holes slightly, refitted with a new gasket and some sealant. Fingers crossed now!
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Just a quick thank you for all the help and good advice off everyone during the rebuild of 54/1750, it's now fully 'on the road' (although I've sort of put it to bed for winter) it's just passed it's MOT (even though it doesn't actually need one) and everything works - well maybe the vac window washer isn't great but I wanted to keep it original :D
It's nice to know I can just jump in it and go for a spin whenever I feel like it!
Thanks all
Graham
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Congratulations on getting your baby on the road!! :beerchug:
Care to show us some pictures? :)
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:trophy:
Congrats Broadside.
Dakazman
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Is that your Radical next to your Europa? Just thought I would share a pic of my Ligier JS51 in the foreground of my 47R.
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Is that your Radical next to your Europa? Just thought I would share a pic of my Ligier JS51 in the foreground of my 47R.
Very nice. No, the Radical was a customer car.
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A couple of photo's. Just got to find a way of making wheel trims fit tightly - maybe some heat shrink or similar on the wheel bosses......
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She's very pretty! You've done yourself proud! :beerchug:
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Very sharp looking!