1980 Lotus Elite 504
Discussion
Got my recond water pump back on Tuesday, been working silly hours this week though 10 am - 11 pm 
so spent a couple of hours on it Wednesday morning and got it back together, bonnet on, anti-freeze in and fired up on Thursday morning and test drove to work.
Drove great with no issues at all.
Had the rad and fans out while waiting on the water pump, flushed the rad, made up new rad top brackets as these were missing (the only thing stopping the rad flopping about was the top hose), could have gave the fan shrouds a coat of paint but decided to leave them as i'll probably be upgrading them (fans are an odd pair anyway)
Also checked all the hoses, fitted new hose clips and tidied up the wiring and hoses.
So it's been used regularly for the last couple of days, coping absolutely fine, even during biblical rain driving home last night and a shopping trip to Morrisons this morning, running and sounding great (had to tweak the carbs though), next jobs to tackle are the drivers door hinge, rear wheel bearings and new steering U/J's, still needs a fresh set of tyres too.
so spent a couple of hours on it Wednesday morning and got it back together, bonnet on, anti-freeze in and fired up on Thursday morning and test drove to work.Drove great with no issues at all.
Had the rad and fans out while waiting on the water pump, flushed the rad, made up new rad top brackets as these were missing (the only thing stopping the rad flopping about was the top hose
), could have gave the fan shrouds a coat of paint but decided to leave them as i'll probably be upgrading them (fans are an odd pair anyway)Also checked all the hoses, fitted new hose clips and tidied up the wiring and hoses.
So it's been used regularly for the last couple of days, coping absolutely fine, even during biblical rain driving home last night and a shopping trip to Morrisons this morning, running and sounding great (had to tweak the carbs though), next jobs to tackle are the drivers door hinge, rear wheel bearings and new steering U/J's, still needs a fresh set of tyres too.
The Elite is still running great 
(touch wood), using it regularly, reliability issues seem to be sorted, re-gained my trust/confidence in the car and starting to really love it 
Treated it to an oil and filter change over the weekend, Mobil 1 10/60 fully sinthetic with a Lotus filter, so full engine service is pretty much complete now.
Headlight pods are proving irritating/comical sometimes, right one raises off the switch ok, left one needs a helping hand, if i drive the car for a bit then stop (like when i stopped for fuel the other night), switch the headlights back on the left will raise and the right stays firmly shut (not even able to lift by hand), luckily i was driving on street lit roads so got by on the side lights.
Taken to carrying a small piece of hose blanked off so that i can unplug the vacuum feed from the engine when it happens in future.
(touch wood), using it regularly, reliability issues seem to be sorted, re-gained my trust/confidence in the car and starting to really love it Treated it to an oil and filter change over the weekend, Mobil 1 10/60 fully sinthetic with a Lotus filter, so full engine service is pretty much complete now.
Headlight pods are proving irritating/comical sometimes, right one raises off the switch ok, left one needs a helping hand, if i drive the car for a bit then stop (like when i stopped for fuel the other night), switch the headlights back on the left will raise and the right stays firmly shut (not even able to lift by hand), luckily i was driving on street lit roads so got by on the side lights.
Taken to carrying a small piece of hose blanked off so that i can unplug the vacuum feed from the engine when it happens in future.
Edited by Markgenesis on Monday 3rd November 19:58
skeggysteve said:
Couple of points:
Get a cam belt cover or at least the lower part. If a stone is thrown up and gets between the belt and pulleys it could snap the belt and you really don't want that!
I think/pretty sure the recommended oil for the engine is 20/50 and putting 'modern' oil in is not a good thing.
I know, a cam cover would be a good idea, the cam cover missing seems to be very common on the Lotus 900 series engines, also a lot of Elites and Eclats loose the radiator shroud.Get a cam belt cover or at least the lower part. If a stone is thrown up and gets between the belt and pulleys it could snap the belt and you really don't want that!
I think/pretty sure the recommended oil for the engine is 20/50 and putting 'modern' oil in is not a good thing.
Wasn't sure about the oil myself but Googled "Lotus 900 series engine recommended oil" did'nt find much but found the 10/60 grade recommended on an Esprit site so went for that.
Oil pressure if fine (even registers on the guage a bit quicker from cold start), engine is quiet (not tappety, no knocking on start), not leaking out anymore than usual so seems ok to me
So been bombing about in the old Elite pretty much every day in the last month or so, proving to be very reliable, starts fine hot or cold etc, sounds great love driving it.
Noticed the steering feeling wierd lately though, got more reluctant to self centre and a bit heavier than usual (power steering has been removed)
Whipped the steering rack out thismorning and found it was a siezed lower column U/J, think i mentioned a while back i thought i had a bit of play in the U/J's (could feel movement when shaking the intermediate shaft from the engine bay), the play turned out to be the lower steering column bush, hoping this will be ok greased and popped back in.
Good news is the rack, is fine so car just need a new lower column U/J, will probably replace the rack mounting rubbers with polly ones, will also clean the rack, give it a coat of paint and fill it with fresh oil.
First bolt i went to remove snapped, luckily the rest came out ok and this one is accessable so will drill out ok.
Noticed the steering feeling wierd lately though, got more reluctant to self centre and a bit heavier than usual (power steering has been removed)
Whipped the steering rack out thismorning and found it was a siezed lower column U/J, think i mentioned a while back i thought i had a bit of play in the U/J's (could feel movement when shaking the intermediate shaft from the engine bay), the play turned out to be the lower steering column bush, hoping this will be ok greased and popped back in.
Good news is the rack, is fine so car just need a new lower column U/J, will probably replace the rack mounting rubbers with polly ones, will also clean the rack, give it a coat of paint and fill it with fresh oil.
First bolt i went to remove snapped, luckily the rest came out ok and this one is accessable so will drill out ok.
Got my steering back together yesterday, if the weather improves i may take it for a drive later.
Cleaned up rack, new mounting rubbers, new U/J fitted to intermediate shaft.
Back in place, had to remove the bonnet to get to the mountings, found them impossible to line up from underneath or leaning over the wing.
Pointless garage shot.
Bought this new hinge pin and bush set for the sagging drivers door (which does my head in), i predict loads of fun fitting this, from what i can see the whole door will need to come off and the steel beam unbolted and withdrawn from the door (upon which i'll probably find it's rotten).
Cleaned up rack, new mounting rubbers, new U/J fitted to intermediate shaft.
Back in place, had to remove the bonnet to get to the mountings, found them impossible to line up from underneath or leaning over the wing.
Pointless garage shot.
Bought this new hinge pin and bush set for the sagging drivers door (which does my head in), i predict loads of fun fitting this, from what i can see the whole door will need to come off and the steel beam unbolted and withdrawn from the door (upon which i'll probably find it's rotten).
Since buying and running this Elite i've learned some of the common faults, one fault is sagging doors, either the bushes in the hinge wear out or the hinge pin siezes and turns in the brackets ovaling the holes.
The drivers door on my car was dropping about an inch, one thing i hate on older cars is sagging doors, would lift the door to close it when outside but that's not possible from inside so would cringe everytime the door catch banged against the reciever hoop on the door shut (could lead to stress cracks in the fibreglass)
Bit the bullet and ordered a new stainless steel pin and bush set, not quite knowing what i was letting myself in for :
I then found out to replace the hinge pin and bushes the WHOLE door has to come apart, the door has a box section steel beam running through it and EVERYTHING is bolted to this beam, so the window frame (with glass), door catch and electric window motor and regulator all had to come off, then the door shell removed from the beam so the beam could be removed from the car, sounds pretty straightforward but EVERYTHING mentioned above put up a fight or gave me grief of some sort (nearly all the window frame bolts snapping was the start), half way through the job i was REALLY wishing i hadn't bothered.
Window frame removed, no going back now as it all needs to come apart to drill out the snapped bolts in the beam or else i have no windows ever again.
Once i had all the parts stripped out the door there was only four M6 bolts holding the shell to the beam, once removed the shell was drawn off the beam.
Unbolted the lower bracket and removed the beam, found the pin had siezed in the beam and had been turning so top and bottom brackets had ovaled.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cABR0B5l.jpg[IMG]
The beam was also rusty (pretty common on S1 Elite's)
So just chopped it out and welded in some new steel.
Trial fitted the pin to the brackets, decided to use washers welded to the brackets to repair the ovaling.
New pin and bushes fitted to the beam, also drilled and tapped the beam and screwed in a grease nipple.
Refitted the beam to the car.
Decied to refit the catch to the end of the beam and adjust it to get it closing nice as the brackets are far easier to get to with the door shell off, still needed tweeked a bit once the weight of all the glass etc was back on though, but not much.
Went over the beam with red brush on primer.
Then paint, also doused it with Waxoyl before the shell went on.
Pretty much finished (belt line trim still to be fitted), the window frame still needs adjusting as it's not tight against to door seal but i need new door seals anyway so will wait till i get those, main thing is it's not sagging any more and opening and closing fine.
So there you go, quite a horrible job, now that it's done though i'm glad i did it as the sagging door was really spoiling my enjoyment of the car.
On the plus side the passenger door seems fine so i'm leaving that well alone
Since that job i've been using the car quite a bit, got new front tyres fitted last Friday (Falkens), also changed the gearbox and diff oils last weekend, it's running and driving great at the moment and proving to be absolutely reliable (touch wood), had an issue with the timing belt slackening off, would feel fine cold, would drive it, check it, it would feel too slack, i'd tighten it, then next time i check it it'd feel too tight, i seem to have that sorted now though (through trial and error)
Some latest pics, taken on Friday after getting the tyres Fitted, roads are still pretty filthy so the car is a bit grimy but i think it looks better for it, shows it's used, took it a long drive out the back roads thismorning, too cold to wash it so it's even worse now.
Also fitted this breather filter to the crank case breather, no longer a bare hose venting to fresh air.
The drivers door on my car was dropping about an inch, one thing i hate on older cars is sagging doors, would lift the door to close it when outside but that's not possible from inside so would cringe everytime the door catch banged against the reciever hoop on the door shut (could lead to stress cracks in the fibreglass)
Bit the bullet and ordered a new stainless steel pin and bush set, not quite knowing what i was letting myself in for :
I then found out to replace the hinge pin and bushes the WHOLE door has to come apart, the door has a box section steel beam running through it and EVERYTHING is bolted to this beam, so the window frame (with glass), door catch and electric window motor and regulator all had to come off, then the door shell removed from the beam so the beam could be removed from the car, sounds pretty straightforward but EVERYTHING mentioned above put up a fight or gave me grief of some sort (nearly all the window frame bolts snapping was the start), half way through the job i was REALLY wishing i hadn't bothered.
Window frame removed, no going back now as it all needs to come apart to drill out the snapped bolts in the beam or else i have no windows ever again.
Once i had all the parts stripped out the door there was only four M6 bolts holding the shell to the beam, once removed the shell was drawn off the beam.
Unbolted the lower bracket and removed the beam, found the pin had siezed in the beam and had been turning so top and bottom brackets had ovaled.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cABR0B5l.jpg[IMG]
The beam was also rusty (pretty common on S1 Elite's)
So just chopped it out and welded in some new steel.
Trial fitted the pin to the brackets, decided to use washers welded to the brackets to repair the ovaling.
New pin and bushes fitted to the beam, also drilled and tapped the beam and screwed in a grease nipple.
Refitted the beam to the car.
Decied to refit the catch to the end of the beam and adjust it to get it closing nice as the brackets are far easier to get to with the door shell off, still needed tweeked a bit once the weight of all the glass etc was back on though, but not much.
Went over the beam with red brush on primer.
Then paint, also doused it with Waxoyl before the shell went on.
Pretty much finished (belt line trim still to be fitted), the window frame still needs adjusting as it's not tight against to door seal but i need new door seals anyway so will wait till i get those, main thing is it's not sagging any more and opening and closing fine.
So there you go, quite a horrible job, now that it's done though i'm glad i did it as the sagging door was really spoiling my enjoyment of the car.
On the plus side the passenger door seems fine so i'm leaving that well alone
Since that job i've been using the car quite a bit, got new front tyres fitted last Friday (Falkens), also changed the gearbox and diff oils last weekend, it's running and driving great at the moment and proving to be absolutely reliable (touch wood), had an issue with the timing belt slackening off, would feel fine cold, would drive it, check it, it would feel too slack, i'd tighten it, then next time i check it it'd feel too tight, i seem to have that sorted now though (through trial and error)
Some latest pics, taken on Friday after getting the tyres Fitted, roads are still pretty filthy so the car is a bit grimy but i think it looks better for it, shows it's used, took it a long drive out the back roads thismorning, too cold to wash it so it's even worse now.
Also fitted this breather filter to the crank case breather, no longer a bare hose venting to fresh air.
rallycross said:
Looking good keep up the excellent work
Cheers man Forgot i took a video over christmas, the vacuum operated headlight pods are a bit of a comedy/lottery.
When i put dipped beam on the right raises ok but the left needs a helping hand, once i stopped at a petrol station at night, turned the lights off, turned them on again to leave and the oposite happened, the left pod raised fine and the right refused to budge (even trying lifting it by hand), luckily i wasn't far from where i was going and got by on the side lights.
Taken to carrying a short bit of blanked off hose in the tool box so that if that happens again i can unplug the vacuum port on the engine, blank it off and the pods will be permanently up.
Also if the car is left idle a couple of days the right pod looses Vacuum and slowly raises, looks rediculous
They can be converted to electric S2 motors or even MX5 motors can be used but i can live with it the way it is (adds character).
I'm just glad the pods are able to stay closed as i hate the look of these cars with them up unless the headlights are on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmndFwXzqMk
Ozzie Dave said:
If my memory is correct to raise the lights there was a large spring for each light, and then the vacuum bellows to suck down, this was controlled by a vacuum solonoid that vented to air , one in each pod, could be one of these is not moving correctly (its 25 years ago though since I had the car).
This is 100% correct Dave, that's why the default setting for the pods is raised, incase a fault developed in the Vacuum system.May get around to removing the L/H headlight and spraying some GT85 into the workings to see if that helps but it's no big deal.
Berw said:
I've race'd a 910 turbo and ran Lotus Sunbeam on the road for many years, I've never meet anyone in the know who recomends running the cambelt cover, At one time Skip brown would not fir them as a matter of policy, and removed them from cars that had them.
Why is that then ?, the sight of a 900 series engine with a cam belt cover is a rare sight, i didn't realise there was something sinister in it. Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff