The revival of 650143R, 1970 with TS.

[GavinT]

Turbo,
Nah . . . I doubt you've upset anyone - certainly not me and I hope we aren't all too precious to accomodate different perspectives.

I reckon we all have far more in common than we have differences.

[Richard48Y]

Nothing directly noteworthy on the Lotus this weekend but I did remove the old two-post lift I had.
Turned out it was junk, someone had badly overloaded it, or just loaded it wrong.
I will be taking a trip to get a used replacement lift in the morning.
I now know what to look for so I do not get burned again.
Lift is a necessity for me to get the body on and off the Lotus as I work by myself.

[Richard48Y]

Got the new lift home, much cleaning and some repairs to be done.
Appears to be a GM Dealership take-out.
Benwil TP-9 with actual roller bearings instead of cheap plastic slides.

My build is clearly taking too long, Iv'e forgotten what these tools do. 
I know they came in the set I bought for fitting the head.

[GavinT]

Those look like tools to hold down the liners using the stock head bolts.

[Richard48Y]

Raised some funding, not enough to just buy a new body as I would like.
But should be enough to complete my engine? 
Certainly hoping so, head and rockers shipping to specialist in the morning.
Found oversize thrust washers at Dave Bean for $5.50 and ordered them along with some other small parts.
I may not need oversize but they will at least give me something to measure from.
All I want for Christmas is a running engine! 
If it were not for the bodywork being SO onerous the Lotus would be the simplest car I have to complete.
Instead I may have to set it aside for a while and try to complete the El Camino.
Sold my big truck and now have nothing to run even small loads with. 

[TurboFource]

I second “all I want for Christmas is a running engine”!

[Richard48Y]

Head and rockers shipped.
Now to wait for the work to be completed.

Back to the bodywork grind.

[Richard48Y]

Lotus seems to be taking a holiday while I wait for the cylinder head to be completed. Might be Christmas, but I do hope this year.
Going to try to get back onto the body soon but at the moment all my time is going into putting up the used two-post lift I bought.
Most service work for these requires pulling them down and apart, so I am doing all I can before putting it up.

Looks like I also have to throw my Morris Minor PU together ASAP, even an undersize truck will be better than the current none.
It will be getting the Kent 1600 and a T9 box, along with MGB suspension.
Yah, that will simplify assembly. 
But it will get me big brakes, a much stronger diff, and wire wheels.
Around 100 HP and OD should make it very practical to drive.
Even when the Europa is finished the Morris will be the daily driver, particularly in winter.

Had hoped to focus on the El Camino, but the engine I am building is NOT a DD type and there is a lot of fabrication to do for the Jag IRS.
MM is the only really practical car I will have.

[Richard48Y]

Not much directly Lotus related in a while.
But I do finally have my two-post lift standing upright and close to the final location.
It's going to need some repair, I am anxious to get it into service as it will make lifting bodies off and on much easier by myself.

Also built one of the notched beams to use at the rear for two jack-stands.
It may also come into play for the lift.

[Richard48Y]

I may get some relief from the current holding pattern next week.
My TS head is to go on the workbench at HBR.
I enclosed a note with it but hope to get a call to make sure he understands exactly what I want done.
Unlike the cam debacle I see the head as irreplaceable.

[Richard48Y]

HBR did call to discuss the head build. 
I had to dig through some notes from Salv but it should be all good for completion now.
Fitting up the light valves and spring setup, plus mild porting.

[Richard48Y]

Spending money equals progress, right?
Got the cost for my head rebuild and mild porting.
$700.00, paid half today.
Work should be done in a couple more weeks.
So it looks like except for the rockers rebuild I may indeed have my engine almost ready to assemble before Christmas.
Rockers can go on after the main assembly.

[BDA]

I hope your $1400 does equal progress. I’m not up on what head work goes for nowadays but even if that represents a ridiculously cheap price, it’s still $1400!

I hope it ends up being a ridiculously cheap price for you!

[Richard48Y]

Not tracking exact cost too closely so that I do not scare myself.

About $700.00 for the whole job, put down $350.00 today.
This includes labor for replacing all the guides and modifying the spring seats in addition to a regular performance valve job and mild porting.

I will be close to $1,400.00 if the tricky valves, springs, guides, and rocker shaft/rockers rebuild are included.

I am sure a normal valve job would have been much less.

[BDA]

Ahhh!! I misread your post. You paid half of the $700 bill not that $700 was half the bill! Jeez..

My comment still applies. $700 is not an insignificant amount of money, especially when there is still a lot of other things you’ll be spending your money on.

Good luck!