Fuel flow lock!

The flowlock is threaded each side with female?M14 1.5 pitch threads bottoming in a flare. On the tank side this receives an olive which is compressed around the steel end tube incorporated into the "U" shaped composite pipe from the fuel tank banjo. The olive is sealed to the flowlock by an M14 compression nut. According to the various parts diagrams for the pre-86 cars,   on the pump side the flowlock is sealed to teflon pipe using an olive as well. However in the flowlock I bought, on this side the M14 thread is converted to 1/4 BSP by means of a double male adapter:  The M14 1.5 side of which has a terminal male flare to seal into the olive space inside the flowlock without an olive and converts to a male 1/4 BSP  male thread, again with internal olive compression flare. This privides the same thread as that on the pump where the internal (female) 3/8 bsp thread is converted to 1/4 BSP male,  by means of an adapter which seals by compressing the O ring on the pump against the  flange of the 3/8 to 1/4 BSP adapter,  again terminating the a 1/4 BSP male thread with an internal flare to take an olive.  This presumably allows a simple pipe with bsp 1/4 compression joints at each end to be fitted.  Although necessary to convert to Lotus compression unions this  although this . If replacing the M14 adapter in the flowlock with a sealing washer, the length of the flange to thread end cannot be more than 8mm or the thread will bottom out in the flowlock before it compresses the sealung washer. Similarly,  if doing the same in the pump the 3/8 BSP thread should be no longer than  0.7 mm and the flange should be larger than normal to compress the O ring evenly.


I sold the car before I solved this fitting conundrum!

Lotus Elite miscellaneous paraphrenalia

If I get the chance I like to collect any associated paraphrenalisa connected with my cars. This doesnt include purpose made models of any kind (personal preference) but just those instaces of the car impinging on society in other ways, stamps, cards etc. I've amassed a fair bit for the Elite (less for the Excel) so I thought I'd at least document what I have. There is no intention of suggesting that this is exhaustive!

Lotus Book of matches- Elite interior exterior on box cover.

Transport Ale- Pump head badge

Collectable cards- Lotus set featuring the Elite.

TopTrumps style cards
Issued by a number of companies.

Phone card (£20)

Collectable card (Denmark)

Also stamps Australia (not currently in my collection)

Farewell Excel

Well guys, this is my last post in this blog. I have now sold the Excel. I hope it will give the new owner years of service, he certainly hot a bargain with me losing some £1500-2000 on the deal, but then it was never really about money. Its been a journey, I've learnt a lot and I hope what I shared will help you. This has been by far the most popular of my blogs so thank you for coming with me.

I expect I will not be able to remain Lotus-less for ever but currently having a daughter at Uni is taking most of the dosh and Im backed up with bikes to fix anyway! Having said that I do expect to be back in something Lotus-shaped eventually although I may go to the dark side.... If anyone knows of a Europa or Esprit thats in need of a good home and some tlc please get in touch!
Cheers all
Mike

Alternator regulator swap Motorola 9AR2637P

 I was also under the impression that the internal regulators fitted in the alternator  couldn't be changed without changing the complete unit. However, the regulator can be replaced; its a small finned box on the rear of the alternator. 

At first it was hard to track down the necessary parts. The parts manual confirms that Lotus used two alternators in the Excel- mine being the earlier type. However, beyond stating that they are Motorola 70amp units there are no details on either. I couldn't see an alternator spec label on mine but found it hidden beneath; and this states that I have a type 9AR2637P of specification 14V, 70A, SEM45, AN8J (?). I don't know what many of these later designations mean' Motorola itself seems to be known as Valeo now.

Label- a little faded

A second shot of label

The regulator is the finned box located at the rear of the alternator.

Rear view of alternator- regulator unit

The regulator has been used in many models of alternator and car. Equivalents are manufactured by many firms- or rather "were" as they seem to be very scarce nowadays. Some selected regulator part numbers for my alternator are given below:
Lucas UCB500, 21229047, 21229114, 21229141; Motorcraft EGR305; Bosch F 042 320 290; Hella 5DR 004 241-041; Ford 5018316, 6048270, 77BB10316 (and ditto postfixed A and AA). Of these I could only find branded units by Hella and these were very expensive. Cheaper replacements  are available from a variety of suppliers at around £10 but these are smooth cased lacking fins. Further, their actual manufacturer isn't clear. However, this is what I can get so I ordered one of the these from VECO.

This arrived in due course and turns out to be branded "Cargo" and made in China.

Swap was straightforward.

Windscreen trim leather

Not much to say about this process, but the problem was that this year's ridiculous summer temperatures (and my own inefficient leather care program) meant the the leather windscreen surrounds had shrunk. The dash-top trim shortened and the  leather lining the side A pillars also shrank and shrivelled. 

LHS, leather trim peeled back from A pillar- this side wasnt as bad as the right.

I have previously made a leather coated plug to cover the side gaps between dash-top trim (see post) and A pillar- these are now too small and will need to be replaced.  The A pillar trim was more problematic- the leather was now stiff and hard so I treated it with conditioner every day for 2 weeks in an attempt to revive it and restore suppleness. The effect wasn't great but there was an improvement. I'd been told that repair of these pillars would be very hard because they were installed and bonded from the outside before the windscreen was fitted. I don't have that luxury but I managed to use Evostick impact adhesive using a small wooden spatula to spread a coat over the inside of the leather, the foam backing and the A pillar itself (wooden trim revealed here). You need to wait 5-10 min for it to go tacky before pressing the leather back into place. Finally I held the trim back in position using a strip of wood and a carpenters clamp. You may need to reach between windscreen and the face of the trim to push that short return into place. I clamped for 3 hours after which time the leather was stuck back in place. Its still more wrinkled than it was but its no longer the extreme eyesore I had previously.

Using a clamp to hold the trim back on the A pillar- note wooden strip to exert an even pressure.

RHS viewed from outside after repair- leather trim back in place.

I also bought some faux leather vinyl in blue to make any small patches required.

Rear brake problems, torque bracket bolts and replacement rear discs

As I think you will have gathered as an avid reader of my blog- I have never been too impressed with the standard of brakes on this car. By all accounts they never were up to much even when new,  but although  mine do work and have passed the MOT twice - I think they should be better. The brakes don't "pump up" so I'm dismissing air in the system and the servo does work, giving additional pedal travel once the motor is started.

I also have to report a second (related?) problem in that Miles Wilkins did comment on a vibration from the rear and a possible warped disc many moons ago when I had my rear bobbins fixed. Since then I have been intending to replace the discs when I got around to it- and I'd already done the fronts, but my hand was forced when descending a hill. Braking produced a loud thumping sound followed immediately by a metallic graunching and grinding - clearly something amiss. Braking efficiency decreased still further but I was able to limp home. Examining the rear brakes I found the the bolts securing one torque bracket were missing!


At first I though that they had sheared off but later it became obvious that they are simply absent! I am assuming that I put these bolts in (of course I did) and the car had passed 2 MOTs since I last visited the rear hubs. So assuming that no one has removed the bolts then I'm forced to conclude that perhaps they can unscrew themselves! Maybe any slight movement of the torque bracket when the brakes are applied can eventually unscrew the bolts? It seems far fetched although I do note that many cars have these bolts attached with tabbed washers that prevent the bolts from unscrewing- and presumably this wouldn't be necessary unless there is a risk of that?

I had no tabbed washers, my torque brackets were secured to the hub carriers with M12 bolts. These were fixed through both a flat and a spring washer on all 4. However, I can't tell if this is the correct setup because the bolts themselves are simply not illustrated in the Lotus parts manual; neither under "Hubs" nor "Brake's and calipers".

I will try to find out if tabbed washers should be present but in the meantime I clearly need two new caliper mounting bolts. The rear caliper bolts are unusual in that they are M12 fine (1.25) thread and although they are only 1" or 25mm long, they are threaded for only half their length. These are now very hard to obtain although PNM do sell a fully threaded bolt for this purpose. I suspect the unthreaded part is significant or Lotus would not have used such an odd bolt so I researched on the internet and found that this size is common for motorcycle brake calipers which are secured with titanium bolts, and at least some of these have an obvious unthreaded shoulder section- although shorter than those of the Lotus original. I need to rebuild my calipers with something so I ordered two of these.




 Use blocks to chock the front wheels and the opposite rear wheel. Release the handbrake and jack up the car. Support on an axle stand and remove the road wheel.

This gave me my first idea of the source of the graunching noise as the thin metal "flinger" (?) plate on the disc backplate had been bent over when the bolts fell out and the caliper moved. I've no idea what this part is for- I assume if deflects road muck but I don't know.

something is amiss behind the brake disc! A piece of metal from the "flinger" has been bent over backwards and probably accounted for the metallic graunching sound when the bolt failed.

Release the swivel lock bolt and remove from the caliper.

Removing the swivel lock bolt.

Lifting up the caliper

Hinge the caliper up and slide it off the slider, securing it with a bungey tie so it doesn't dangle from the brake hose.

... and suspending it from a bungey.

Loosen the two caliper mounting bolts (hub carrier to torque bracket) 17mm heads (in my case these were missing) and remove the torque bracket- the pads will probably drop out at this point.

Yep- pads drop out!

I checked the torque bracket carefully- it wasn't cracked and the threads for both missing bolts were clear and un-stripped.

Torque bracket seemed OK, pad clips all in position.

As the handbrake is off, the wheel should turn freely and the rear combination drum and disc should just pull off. To my surprise it did!

My first thought was that the handbrake shoes seem to have worn quite a lot since I fitted them... but they were probably rather thicker than the OEM shoes anyway. However the handbrake is working well so I'm not going to worry.

Disc/drum removed- shoes look very thin???

I could then straighten the bent part of the "flinger" and remove any loose sections before filing and bending it back into position.

Flinger section fixed- its going to be shorter than the original but is neat and out of the way.

The new discs had been obtained from Germany at about £70 for the pair which I thought was good value. I thoroughly de-greased these with carb cleaner, thinners and methylated spirits, cleaning both the discs and the drum sections.

I ordered these- described as Toyota Lotus discs.

Comparing them- they look right

The new discs slotted right on, I positioned them centrally with two wheel nuts before I adjusted the shoes and finally swapped the rubber cover plugs into the new discs.

New disc held in place with two wheel nuts prior to adjustment. The rubber plug was transferred from the old disc after the shoes were adjusted.

I refitted the shoes to the torque bracket which was, as ever, very fiddly before offering up the bracket to the hub carrier.

Fit the rear pad before offering the bracket to the wheel, insert the front pad when the bracket is on.

It helps if you fix the bracket loosely with the lower bolt so that you can swing it out from the disc and slip the caliper onto its slider (apply some corrosion block grease).

Both pads in

This shows why you must pivot the bracket on the lower bolt. Access to the slider is blocked until you pivot- or let the suspension hang to clear the obstruction.

You can then fold the torque bracket back up over the disc and swing the caliper down over the pads before fitting the top bolt. I found that if I fitted the caliper to the slider first the whole assembly was too heavy and awkward to position well and I tended to  knock the pads out again. Similarly, if I fitted the bracket with both bolts I couldn't get the caliper onto the slider because it was blocked from behind by the suspension. (Probably easier if you are not supporting the car under the suspension arm so that the wheels hang and give more room... although I am still unsure of how best to support the car like that). Finally I refitted the swivel lock bolt and tightened it before tightening both caliper retaining bolts to 45Nm and refitting the road wheel.

The other side was much quicker since I didn't need to worry about changing the bolts or repairing the "flinger". I fitted a new disc to that side too and job done. I'm pleased to report that my braking is now much smoother, both the vibration and the graunching sounds have gone. I realise that the pads will take some time to adjust to their new discs so things should improve. However pedal travel still seems very long and I can still not lock the wheels at any speed. I think whatever is responsible for the inefficient braking was in all probability a second problem unconnected with the bolt failure. I will tackle brake pedal rod adjustment tomorrow.


Just adding that the poor braking efficiency was down to servo pushrod adjustment. It needed to be screwed out about half a turn... A small extension but one which had great effect. Braking vastly improved! It's a simple adjustment to make and I have described how I did this in my post on swapping the Girling bmc for a Land rover unit. I don't know why the Girling literature is so down on anyone trying this, it's really no big deal.