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):