Restoration of 2358R

[jbcollier]

Don't media blast an assembled steering rack.  The rack's seals and boots will not seal against high pressure abrasive and will quickly wear out if the abrasive gets inside!  Clean it as best you can with mild solvents and a wire brush and then paint it.  Fit new boots and work in a semi-viscous grease from either end.

[FranV8]

The rack celans up nicely with a wire cup brush in an angle grinder - that's how I did mine.  The alloy casting which is the pinion housing will clean up nicely like this too.

[Certified Lotus]

JB, no worries.....I'm disassembling the rack and rebuilding it. I did same on both my Elan's. Want to ensure the steering is silky smooth ;-)

[Certified Lotus]

My Friend Drew and I got an early start on the final stage of removing the body from the chassis with no major issues. 

When we removed the rear carpet panel so we could remove the upper seat belt bolts I found another number inscription 2358 (see photo below).

I had printed out a couple of the chassis removal write-ups, made quick reference to them to confirm we had everything removed (of course I had forgotten the two bolts that are on top of the tunnel that hold the dash panel in place) and placed the jack stands under the chassis while lifting the body off.  Everything went fine and after inspecting the body from underneath (the middle tunnel area looked brand new) and satisfied there was no damage we moved our attention the chassis and engine/transaxle removal.

The inside of the chassis is very clean (meaning no rust and still painted black) with the opposite ends of the chassis having a fair amount of exterior surface rust.  It was evident that mice had a BIG stash of acorns in this car as it took me over an hour to vacuum them out of the chassis areas. 

We removed all the drive train and rear suspension components and then pulled the engine and transmission.

My next stage of the rebuild is to remove the entire front suspension and then bring the chassis to a facility that does large structure media blasting and powder coating.

Made a list of bolts, nuts, hoses, hose clamps, bushings, bearings and other parts to order. 

Also decided I will rebuild the trans as the rear seal is all gummed up with sealant meaning it was leaking.  Plus I want to soda blast the aluminum housing to remove some of the pitting and refinish it. The list continues to grow ;-)

[blasterdad]

Great progress! (envious)
Gotta love those mummified mice, I found one in ours too, but yours was in better shape!
Him & his buddies had chewed up firewall insulation & turned the bellhousing into a vermon condo.

[andy harwood]

You have a well stocked shop! I'd like to have a lift, but have wondered about clearance - are your ceilings 8ft?
And is that a Jimi and the Experience poster I spy on the wall?

[BDA]

That is a great shop! I'm envious! In addition to Jimi, I see several LOG panorama pictures! Are you planning to got to Birmingham?

[Certified Lotus]

Blasterdad, Thanks for the complement. I always make a plan on what I want to get accomplished before I start any work in my shop. It usually works out that I get done what I had anticipated. There are the usual hang ups of unexpected surprises......but then I redirect to make the time useful.

Andy, thanks for you appreciation of my shop. I was a track rat (Lotus Exige S & karts) for 10 years and when I "retired" from track days I moved my track side garage to my house and started restoring classic Lotus cars. The ceiling hieght in my home garage is 9 ft. Just enough for a 2 post hydraulic lift ;-) Yes, that is an original Jimi Hendrix Elan poster.

BDA, several LOG events over the years and the panoramas to go with them!  I was Co-Chairman of LOG36 in Princeton this year. Were you there? (I'm on the cover of ReMarque with the LOG36 recap). I will be in Birmingham this year, but unfortunately had already been invited to a wedding the same weekend before LOG37 was even announced (what a coincidence!). Might be able to sneak away to be at the reception on Friday night.

[BDA]

Great picture on the cover of ReMarque! I didn't make the last LOG. The last one I got to was the Asheville LOG. I'll be driving my car to Birmingham (my second LOG there). I hope to see you at the Friday reception!

[jbcollier]

Dunno what it is like in your neck of the woods but here mice bring the risk of the hantavirus.  Best to wear a proper mask, vent vacuums to the outside and pack and seal debris for disposal.  Doesn't happen often but one chap died last year in our area after cleaning out an old mouse nest.

YMMV

[BDA]

Yikes! Who knew that restoring old cars could be more hazardous to restore than to drive?

[Certified Lotus]

JB, hadn't even thought about the removal of mouse debris being dangerous....... too late now but I will be very careful from now on. Every old Lotus I have ever restored has had mouse nests, old nuts and a few dead mice. Yikes!

By the way, I use an ultrasonic device in my garage to keep mice away. Work extremely well and I have never had any mice in my garage ;-)

[Certified Lotus]

Got the front suspension off the chassis.  It was all going fine until the left lower control arm bushing refused to come off. Used lots of PB Blaster,  no go. Used a torch (that smelled up the garage with burning rubber bushing), no go. Finally dug out my bearing puller and between that and the torch the control arm can off......but not the metal sleeve for the bushing. Finally brought out a pipe wrench....nope. Resorted to the cutting wheel carefully slicing it off and using the pipe wrench to remove. That did it 

My friend Drew brought his metal working tools to straighten out the bends in the rear of the chassis. The PO had used a jack in places he shouldn't have and there was bent metal that needed straightening before media blasting and powder coating. 

All of the above was simple until I got to the shift tubes and the removal of the various u-joints.  As most of you know, the entire shift tube assembly must be well assembled with new bushings and u-joints in order to function properly.  I have read enough posts and articles to know this is the biggest weakness of the Europa. Needless to say the removal of the u-joints was an all day task and there were many complications. Bottom line is someone had blind drilled a second pin in the bolt holding the u-joint into the threaded part of the shift tube. I couldn't see it until I media blasted the end of the tube and saw a second hole with a pin. Getting it out was impossible and now I have a broken bolt with a pin inside the short shift tube (the one that goes to the transaxle).  Question......does someone make a replacement part for this before I go crazy trying the restore the one I have?  I've got another tube, but it is also damaged in the area where the u-joint attaches. Double trouble.......

Almost done prepping everything for the media blaster to take over. 

Happy New Year Everyone! 

[BDA]

Great work! This is the first time I've heard of an A-arm piece not coming off the pivot bolt!

I think you can get new u-joints, but I think you're going to have to find a used one somewhere. My first call would be to regogoracing (972-620-7285). They bought out Sports Car World's inventory. They used to have a very good supply of used parts. After that, I'd check with Ray at r.d. and Dave Bean. You never know but Richard may make a replacement! You could post on the yahoo group - somebody may have one lying around. And then there's always ebay.

Good luck!

[blasterdad]

I feel ya, the DPO of ours did some "amazing" things to ours too.
I'll keep an eye out on this end for linkages...
Great pics & progress, keep 'em both coming in 2017.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!