The latest

[cal44]

Lads and Ladettes,

Since things are dragging around here I thought I would post a few pixs of the latest addition.  "Brian....ignore".
I was trolling around the net last month, as usual, and found another one.  They are my favs and I have owned a considerable amount of hobby cars.  Sooo I couldn't resist...that and willowy redheads.

Don't be fooled, the paint is DOA, suspension dead, tires dead, shift knob wrong (looking for a factory correct), radio wrong (only listen to classical and western anyway) but take joy in listening to the engine, cooling fan bearings dead.  I am sure I will find more....wrong. 
Upside...........this thing was so dry.......not one flake of rust can I find.  The fellow owned it almost twenty years and is very close to the way it came from the factory. 
I will install new adjustable suspension (don't know which...AVO or Spax), Vredestein tires, all rubber suspension bits, have the wheels powder coated silver (black doesn't look right).   Won't paint, at least for a couple of years.  Interior is driver quality.
Here da' kicker.  The guy mentioned the brakes were a little spongy.  I took a peek........they look like the original hoses but I can't prove it.  Gosh......I wonder why the spongy feel?..............
Will rebuild the calipers with stainless pucks.  Check the rotors for factory tolerance.
So, if any of you have a Plus 2 sitting around....and it's doing nothing.....tell it to give me a call.  I have a nice warm place here in SoCal.  Rusty frames are not invited.
Mike

[EuropaTC]

I see you've started making "lists" Mike.....   

The forum has been quiet of late, and I'm just as guilty as everyone else for allowing the tumbleweed to grow. 

My reason is that I've not touched the car for a month now, it's sitting covered in dust in the workshop. For once, it's not broken    but I started to remodel the doors on the Elan so they fit with the body (it's an S3 with the famous warped doors) which didn't go exactly according to plan,  and then I got caught up in the grand kitchen project. 

Which has basically stopped all my playtime, 2 weeks in and the kitchen looks like something from a war zone.  It's like camping......

catch up with you folks later....

Brian

[Bainford]

Very cool aquisition, Mike. I love the +2, though to be honest I've never seen one in person. There is very little Loti in this area. I hope to check a few out at LOG33 and maybe even persuade somneone to take me for a ride in one. I've often thought that when I become too old and decrepid to drag myself in and out of the Europa, I'd trade it in for a +2.

[cal44]

Trevor here you go.  Good entry level.  I reckon it can be had for less.
http://cedarrapids.craigslist.org/cto/3690074963.html

I made mention of the brakes that were a little strange on the latest buy.  We have the front suspension torn down.  Turns out two of the pucks in the calipers were frozen.............so the brake pad was only pushing on one side on each side in the front.

Holy smokes............the PO didn't notice that only one pad on each side on each side was wearing down?................really?
People amaze me. 
Just ordered new AVO adjustable platforms front and rear to include springs.  And....you got it.....some brakes parts............

Mike

[cal44]

After getting jiggy with it, this is what I found while removing some paint on the upright.  Although not a picture of a plumber but a Lotus, one can see some unpleasant cracks.

I was curious why the car had the updated Lotus wishbones on the passenger side.  I am thinking the originals gave way and caused the upright damage (other opinions are welcome).  So we made up some supports to place inside.  Drilled holes in the cracks so the upright will be welded nice and tight to the supports.

It is folly to try and get my big German head with an arc hood inside the wheel well, but I managed.  Will dress up the welds with a sanding (metal) disk on the 4" grinder.  Can't do much dressing in the upright.  Then a nice thin coat of under seal.

Funny thing is........all I wanted to do was install new shocks and springs.........

Next project, make a spring compressor to install the adjustable springs on the AVO's.  Material will be 4" channel steel, 1/2" threaded stock and some other stuff to shim the springs within the channel for safety.  The springs on a P2 have a larger circumference than the fronts so the compressor needs to fit both sizes.  Some ABS or Polyethylene will be the shim material .

[Bainford]

Wow! Glad you found this problem sooner rather then later, Mike... could have been disastrous. I've been considering an invasive inspection of my frame in critical areas for this reason. I've been putting a lot of miles on rough Nova Scotia roads (and who knows what the car has been through in the 36 years before I bought it) and have recently started to become concerned that the sheet metal chassis may be fatigued in critical stress areas. Your post is making me think that I should not put this off too long.

[cal44]

Since I have the wishbones off I noticed more cracks in them.  So I have just finished welding in washers for support.  Geez, it seems as though I keep stepping forward one and back two. 
Had to strip off a bit of the Por-15 to get a good tie in.  I need a blast cabinet.............

The washers from the factory had fallen away from supporting the wishbone on the bolt to the spindle so they were not doing much in the way of support.

It's always a somthin'..........

[cal44]

Next saga.  I bought new front  shocks and springs.........the shocks leak.  So back they went and I just ordered a pair of Spax adjustable perch for the spring and of course the shock is adjustable.

gawd..................

mike

[EuropaTC]

Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious   

Heck Mike, you're having a good time with this one, eh ?  I've bought bearings in the past that I've decided not to fit because of free play but I've never had dampers leak from new, so you are allowed to feel a little hard done by.

But hey, if you didn't have these little challenges to amuse you, you'd just be sitting back on the porch drinking beer and watching the sun set. Now who wants to do that ? 

Brian

ps I've just started the long-delayed Elan respray this week, I'd forgotten just how messy it is to take paint off.....

[cal44]

Small update.  Got one side done, then I thought........crap........which way did I point the darn felt and steel ring to keep the rear bearing clean..............  Tear it down tomorrow to see ...............couldn't find the proper info in the Lotus manual so I went over to the Triumph GT6 writings to get my mind right.
mike

[cal44]

I just had the wheels done at the powder coaters.  If the chrome is good then it can be blasted and coated.  If blistered or peeling....not so much.  Since the car is red I didn't want chrome rims and certainly not black centers.  So I went with a silver to go with the top to try and break up the red.  I think it works.  Some may think me nuts to get the chrome and black gone...so be it.


The rear is being messaged with new CV joints and hardened axles.  Gone......are the PITA donuts, I have donated them to the police.



Made up a round plate o' steel and gave it a notch so I could pull the stub axles out with a slide hammer. 



Joe, if I'm posting to much with pictures just let me know.  I will stop.  Since the Europa is in the back of the garage I can't get to it to work on.  And, while looking for a new place to live time is used up.  I need to get this Plus 2 back on the ground so at least is rolls in case of a last minute move.

mike

[LotusJoe]

No worries. We have unlimited space on this server.

[EuropaTC]

Looking good Mike, it's coming together well.

Is that a DIY CV conversion ? What makes me ask is that on mine the adapter plates are bolted directly to the 3 eared shafts at both the diff & hub end, not spaced off like the last picture shows.  I've no doubt that a spaced version will work, but remember everyone on Elan.net going on about the operating angles of the latest CV joints ? Having a spacer in there will remove the advantage of longer shafts/lower angles that the +2 has over the 2 seat elan.

Brian

This is what mine looks like....

[cal44]

Joe, thank you.

Brian,
this is just a pulling tool I came up with as my slide hammer kit didn't have anything that would work.  So, in order to have equal pull on the three ears I wanted the plate bolted nice and tight all around.  the spacers are to keep the plate out a tad so that I could attach the slide hammer shaft with the large nut on the back.
Gawd.....did that make sense?
I went full Monty and purchased the CV joint axle kit.  Already engineered and made to go with the stub axle into the differential.  More pix on that when I get a few things buttoned up this week....I hope.

[EuropaTC]

Right, I see now. After seeing all the other tools you've been knocking together, I thought you were about to start on your own CV kit.....

Which one did you buy then ?  Over here they are expensive I suppose, but it's so much nicer to buy yourself a kit of parts that just clicks together without any hassle of making something else fit, so I think you've done the right thing.

Brian