Windshield washer bag idea

My windshield washer bottle is a tight fit under the hood. I've been thinking of converting to a windshield washer bag. This old Ford Thunderbird model should do the trick.

http://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_thunderbird/ford-thunderbird-windshield-washer-bag-see-clear-exact-reproduction-1957.html

Progress

More progress on the Lotus today.

Last week, I torqued the head down to 65 lb/fts over several days (25, 45, 65 & 65). This was a tip from the lotuselan.net groups, and although it may be overkill, it certainly helps you feel confident that everything is tight & right.

The next step was to find and mark TDC. I purchased a DTI dial gauge and base from Burton Power, and it made the job very easy; it should also help with the valve timing.

While I was checking the distributor, I noticed that 2 plug wires came off easily. And what's worse, on cylinder 4, the wire was broken inside the distributor connection. This would certainly explain some of my misfire issues. I'll order some new Magnecor wires this week.

Finally, I fished out the chain and secured it before calling it a day. I'll try to continue tomorrow.

Head back on

The head is back on. I've used a Percell copper-aluminum head gasket from Burtons with copper adhesive spray this time - let's hope this combination will solve my oil leak woes. Installation is a two person job, and an awkward one, with the engine in the car.

So, what went wrong? I don't know. The head and block were both checked and looked perfect. But I did find that 3 bolt holes (in the block) had a substantial amount of oil in them. My guess is the Cometic gasket (stainless steel / composite) allowed oil to weep between the head and block.

I spent about 7 hours cleaning the the block and front housing. An exercise I do not want to repeat...

Here we are today:

Made guide pins

The plan is to put the head back on this Friday. I made some mounting pins by cutting off the heads of the old bolts and filing the edges.

UPDATE: Be careful what you read online. Whoever suggested cutting the old head bolts, to use as guides, has given some bad advice - they aren't long enough to remove! Long wooden dowels from your local hardware store work perfectly.

British Car Day at Bronte Park

The British Car Day at Bronte Park was excellent: beautiful weather, nice cars and a great crowd. I picked up a few Lotus parts, a Smiths negative earth tachometer and a gear shift assembly for a baby Elan.

Delays and more delays

The weather in Canada has been unbearably hot recently, and I've been preoccupied with some house renovations. My plan is to get the twin cam back together in the next two weeks. I would really like to put more miles on the car before the winter arrives.

Ready to go back together

The head is back and the new gaskets and bits are here. It was a major job cleaning the block and scraping the old gasket off. I hope to put the engine back together in the next few weeks.

Head and valves OK

The machine shopped checked the head and valves - everything looks good. So, we're down to replacing the head gasket.

Much to my chagrin, the MLS gasket that was used is probably the component that failed. So I think I will go with a copper gasket this time.

Head off

Some pics (that is not a valve hitting the piston, it's a little finger scratching to see the build up).

Head strip down

Stripping the Lotus Twin Cam head down is a fairly straight forward process. With Miles Wilkins book in hand, and some tips from the community, it takes about 4 hours. It's now ready to go back to the machine shop.

The camshafts and the exhaust valves all look good. I was concerned that cylinder 3 exhaust valve was sticking, allowing oil to leak into the cylinder, but the port looks clean. I imagine oil was leaking onto the hot exhaust and hopping up onto the block.

I have ordered new gaskets from Burton Power in the UK. The new head gasket, made by Cometic, is composed of stainless steel and has bonded membranes so that adhesives are not required.

Engine problems

I finally fixed the vacuum leaks and took the car for a drive. It was running beautifully until it didn't.

When I got the car home, I found oil leaking from the exhaust manifold on cylinder 3 and the back-left of the engine. This is most likely two separate problems, a stuck exhaust valve and a blown head gasket.

Electric headlight motors

My headlight vacuum pumps are suspect, so I've decided to convert to MX-5 electric motors. There will be quite a bit of fabrication work involved, but these should be a nice upgrade.

Discussion link:

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-chassis-f36/electric-headlight-lift-t36805.html

Quote:

"...using MX-5 motors is much cheaper and simpler. You can use the existing attachment holes in the pods, and the wiring needs no extra switches on the dashboard - it all operates from the existing headlamp rocker switch through a changeover relay. Switching the rocker to the headlamps position actuates the motors and the pods are fully raised in less than one second with the lights already on."

Another drive, made it home

Drove the car around the block a couple of times today.

The car ran great going down hill, but driving up was a different story. I am beginning to suspect a fuel delivery problem.

Car running again

A couple of weeks ago, after pushing the Plus 2 home, I decided to take a break from the car. This afternoon, I started poking around with a flashlight and found that the plug wire for cylinder 3 had come off! Once I reattached it, the car started right up.

Back to the hesitation & bucking problems. When I was driving the car, after using the brakes, the engine would run rough. So the cause was likely a vacuum leak. To diagnose the problem, I blocked off the headlight and brake servos and found the engine ran much smoother.

I'll do another test drive in the next few days...

Paint ideas

I really like this yellow (Norfolk Mustard):

Pushing the car home

I installed a set of NGK BP6ES spark plugs this afternoon. These run hotter, and my hope is they will not foul as easily as the NGK platinum plugs. The engine seemed to be running better, so I took the car for a spin around the block.

The Lotus made it half-way around the block, bucking and hesitating, before it quit. Some of my neighbours helped me push the car back to my garage. There is definitely a problem I have not been able to track down.

My first guess is a vacuum leak in the brake servo or the headlight system. I'll block them off and give it all another go.

More miles on

Took the car out again today - drove about 3 miles. The brakes are getting better with each run. The engine is still hesitating and bucking off the line; and had to be limped back home. Lots of exhaust popping. I'll check the timing and try hotter spark plugs (on order).

Leaner jets in

I changed back to the standard Weber jets today, and the difference was amazing. The engine fired right up and ran beautifully - smooth and no blue smoke billowing out of the tailpipe.

2016 maiden drive

First drive of the year done. Travelled about 7 miles. The car felt very good, and the engine is very strong.

There is some low-end hesitation and it's still running too rich. I'll have to investigate those issues further when I have some time.

Making a crankcase breather filter

While inspecting the carbs, I found the rear air filter was saturated with oil. It looks like the suction of the carbs is pulling too much of the oil mist out of the engine. This could eventually lead to a fire.

To solve the problem, I decided to vent the engine gases to the environment instead of the carbs. Another option would be a catch can, but there isn't a lot of room for one. I constructed a breather using a K&N filter, some aluminum pipe and 1" fuel hose.

Product info:

http://www.knfilters.ca/news/news.aspx?id=4389

Here's the final product:

Running again

I got the Lotus running last week, it ran for about 10 minutes and died suddenly. A couple of things went wrong.

The car ran out of fuel and air was sucked into the lines. I filled the tank with new fuel and ran a hose from the electronic pump into a canister. It took a few minutes to clear the air pockets.

Next, the car would not start. I checked the timing, wires and plugs and everything looked good. After several hours of frustration, I found the engine was not getting spark.

If you remember from an earlier post, the cap on the Pertronix 3 ignition had a problem. It took 3 months to order a new one, so I purchased and installed an Accuspark unit. I put the Pertronix 3 back into the car and it started right away.

After about an hour of fettling, balancing the carbs and adjusting the timing, the engine is running beautifully.

My plan is to drive the car for a few days and then tackle some of the smaller jobs.

New servo vacuum hose

The warm weather is finally here and I'm back at my +2 project. There are a lot of small projects on my list before I drive the car.

In the fall, I replaced the brake servo vacuum hose with silicone fuel line. Unfortunately, you could see it flex and pinch when you applied pressure to the pedal. So I needed to change to a hose with stronger walls.

A local hydraulic shop suggested using high pressure fuel injection line (rated for 800+ psi). I purchased a short length and installed it this afternoon. The brakes should feel "right" now.

I'll post another update on the brakes when I start the car next week.