1970 s2 0453R Reassembly

[dakazman]

 Dilkris, First pic , I was thinking about adding hylomar to the o ring and when I put the original gearbox back in I will do.
  Second seal is my addition, but I’m thinking of adding in its place a Teflon flat seal so the the nut has a better surface to trap the oil.
  Second pic your absolutely correct no shims installed but I did use a machine screw in lieu of the roll pin .  That’s one job that is a PIA.
  I was following that thread awhile back but I was not quite ready for it. I’m learning fast.

   Another road test tomorrow to test out the shifter linkage . After that re check timing and my valve train, then start tuning the Weber Fake .
 Dakazman

[dakazman]

  After my drive carriers no longer leak but the new input shaft seal leaking. I’ll work on that when I put back in the original gearbox.
  Moving along I set the timing again but had the same problem seeing my mark on flywheel. Engine settled in at approximately 1200 rpm, no vacuum leaks . I’ll try to do a compression test on the cylinders then proceed to adjusting the carb.
  I spent the rest of the day rehanging the rt side door that had a hard time closing with the door seal in. All good there now.
 So with sweat pouring I cleaned up the car a bit.
  The shifter is coming along and I’ll set up a few videos I did getting all 4 and reverse until I didn’t… so maybe one of you with better eyes and experience can see the problem if any on the linkage at gearbox.
  Again I had an encounter with a large truck coming at me on my side of road so sorry about the language in advance.
 Posted this plus two more

https://youtu.be/7FVevNx_9Jg?si=AkihZtHwTx4WkqX8

 https://youtube.com/shorts/MMoA6c1K8aY?si=hoz-9tauaNxqkXhi

https://youtube.com/shorts/yy7dD8OhIwU?si=-meYlXdJN9HYf99S
Beware Language just once at end . 😳

  Dakazman
 

[TurboFource]

I have no advice ….. just wanted to say your dash etc look great!

[dakazman]

Thanks turbo. 😄. I posted the videos.
Dave

[GavinT]

G'day, Dave,

In your first video, the cross-shaft extension bracket (the triangular appendage) seems to flap around on it's shaft quite a lot. I reckon that's a fair bit of slop that could be reclaimed towards productive gear shift movement.

It's also fairly common to see the cross bolt having flogged out the hole in the thin walled triangular bracket and I've seen instances where a second bold is added. Be careful, though; this shaft has also been known to break.

Gavin

[dakazman]

 G’day Gavin,
  Thanks for clearing that up, I’ve never saw a 336 linkage in motion myself and you verified my suspicions. I’ll get on the aft plate first , I may have to sleeve that piece. The bolt that holds it on is tight but the piece is loose .
  The other rod , that supposed to stay vertical does rotate a bit in the plate, two new rubber gaskets there so tightening that bolt doesn’t do much. I have noticed other members on Facebook have beefed up that rod and added additional support plates. 🤔
 Dave
   
 

[Bryan Boyle]

G’day Gavin,
  Thanks for clearing that up, I’ve never saw a 336 linkage in motion myself and you verified my suspicions. I’ll get on the aft plate first , I may have to sleeve that piece. The bolt that holds it on is tight but the piece is loose .
  The other rod , that supposed to stay vertical does rotate a bit in the plate, two new rubber gaskets there so tightening that bolt doesn’t do much. I have noticed other members on Facebook have beefed up that rod and added additional support plates. 🤔
 Dave
   
 

Where to start?

First...I'm going to assume that all the heims/rod ends are fresh. 
Second...make sure that you have a short spacer at the BOTTOM of the heim on the actuator adapter (see photo) otherwise the joint will bind, and you'll never get a 'solid feel' because the joint will be busy threading itself in and out as you move it. (Part 16 on page FG...everyone forgets it...and I've never seen it on cars I've worked on...until I put one on there...see the photo)
Third...resist the urge to somehow 'solidify' the location link on the top of the case (part #11 on page FG).  New top-hat grommets and heim work here.  Trust me.
Fourth...the actuator (part 18 on page FG) mounting sleeve gets honked out and floppy after *mumble mumble* years.  PLEASE resist the urge to drill a cross-hole in the internal tranny rod (I've seen that...not pretty) to somehow tighten it up.  You really really don't want to have to disassemble the rear case to replace that piece, if you can find it.  Somehow, what has to be done is eliminate the 'slop' between the through-bolt and the mechanism and actuator, and size the ID of the actuator to be more closely fit to the OD of the cross-rod from the tranny.  Whether that means machining a brass sleeve for the tranny rod or somehow putting in a thin shim (we're talking thousandths here, but multiply that by the slop all the way to the front...and you can see where it might be an issue in reality)

Assuming the location link sets the left-right of the stick in the cockpit as described in the manual, the spacing of the parallel arms at the front of the engine to transfer the motion are correct, the bushings at the bottom of the shift lever are not perished (and the tang arms are parallel...what a mickey-mouse arrangement!) then all the slop you may have at that back end is where you're going to find the best return on getting the shift to work, since that's where the most complex part of the mechanism (turning what is, in essence lateral movement of the shift into rotational movement of the actuator on one plane and the opposite on the other) is.

Just some thoughts...it will never be Elan-precise (neither is the TC, if I'm honest...), but you can get it pretty close.

OH, yeah, that ring clamp you see on the actuator?  A PO somewhere along the line put 1/2" long slits in the side of the actuator tube about 1/4" outside of the holes for the cross-bolt, and used that clamp to close up the tube so it didn't wiggle on the actuator rod.  Seemed to work, but never saw another clamp like that again. 

HTH

[dakazman]

  Thanks Bryan for taking the time to document the potential problems.
    Your item 1 , all original,  so I’ll be ordering them soon.
 
    Item 2 , bingo no spacer and there is evidence of contact on nut. Problem is now I’ll have to replace the bolt that was in there also because it doesn’t have the length to add a spacer and have the stop nut catch the threads. See pic. ( these items were all put back as they were originally by PO’s.
  Item 3 , not gonna happen unless it all comes out.
 However I did manage to get the slop out a bit and by shortening the 3.5” on the gear change unit linkage. It also made the ball joint miss my crankshaft pulley , and by cutting away some material on the pulley and bolt head .
  You tube video of interior shifter posted here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/oQr1diQsAjg?feature=shared

  So I went for a drive, no grinding, hit all four gears and reverse and the haft shaft seals stop leaking, but after the ride the output shaft still leaks. So I’ll try to hurry and order my parts for the original gearbox and do it again.
 
  Then I glued in my headliner and trimmed it up. Thanks to the member who suggested this contact cement.
 I’ll post pictures asap, since there stuck in space right now.
  Dakazman
  P.s.  I’m not making track nigh in Daytona today but it may be postponed due to weather rainstorms heavy in area .


 

[BDA]

Congratulations on your fixing your shifting situation and good luck on your leak... 

[Kendo]

D'man, if you have pictures of that headliner install, please detail how you did it. I have that job coming up.

And congrats on getting that shifting to work.

[TurboFource]

 

[Bryan Boyle]

YAY!  Glad I could be of some small assistance.

One suggestion...I've found over the years that the Europa mechanism works best if 1) you're precise and deliberately gentle in where you're moving the shift (forward and back should only take a couple fingers to move it...!!!!), and 2) you imagine there is a gate at the base of the shift like that prancing mule marque...when going cross-gate, go forward to neutral, cross the gate, then up into the next gear more than thinking you can go diagonally across from 2->3 or 3->2.  Just less wear/pressure on all the moving parts you have to get through to get the motion you need. 

The TC isn't much better, and they only really got close when they were well into the Esprit formula, IMHO.

Again...YAY! 
(the old joke was that the easiest way to find reverse in a Europa was to disassemble the transaxle...not really, but the gent who got me into Lotus back in the late 70s used to say that all the time...)

[Bryan Boyle]

D'man, if you have pictures of that headliner install, please detail how you did it. I have that job coming up.

And congrats on getting that shifting to work.

From my 693R blog from October 12, 2007:

Removed the visors, headliner (it came off pretty much in two pieces), with a THICK coat of factory foam. The new headliner I ordered 2 days ago came in with the headliner cement. So, to take my mind off the windshield in the basement with the big crack, I replaced the headliner. It only took about an hour or so, including cutting, trimming, etc. Need to pick up some edge molding the finish the top of the opening; still need to trim the front edge afterwards.

Hint for installing...start at the rear of the ceiling and work forward to the windshield opening.

You need to take off the cantrails, the visors, and carefully (CAREFULLY) set the headliner into the rear up above the rear window trim.  Take your time. 

Other than that, it's just carefully pull down, clean up the remnants of the toasted foam on the ceiling, start at the back, and go a bit at the time, working forward.

it's helpful if your windshield is out, since you want to fold the front edge over the opening flange.  I used a strip of black door edge molding to capture the edge; when putting the windshield back in (assuming direct bonding), the bead is 1/2" thick, so the edge molding barely intrudes into the mount area.  If you've the rubber gasket mounting (pre-1/1/1970), ignore this; the rubber windshield mounting will take care of that.

Some photos here:
http://www.lotuseuropa.us/0693r/photos/index.php/2007/10-13-07-Headliner

[dakazman]

D'man, if you have pictures of that headliner install, please detail how you did it. I have that job coming up.

And congrats on getting that shifting to work.

 
   I documented my headliner assembly awhile back. I’ll post it asap , but you can see the outcome here. Pee
 Thanks , still have a way to go but it’s nice to get here out on the road.  Still needs a shot of starting fluid but then fires up for hours afterwards.
 Kendo , Found it , https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=2058.msg52210#msg52210

 Dakazman

[dakazman]

Bryan
 Here is that actuator lever and my outing around block at friends house .
  Like you also mentioned, I need to learn and finesse it to those locations.
 
  Both my wife’s and  my phone couldn’t send emails today but they just fixed it again.

Dakazman