Exige S1 over-winter Refresh

[Esprit]

Well so long as the engine doesn't throw itself to bits on the dyno or the first trackday I'll be happy enough

Next big milestone is to get the car rolling again. I want to get the interior built back up and the front end finished (lightweight battery plus some tidying up) so I can get the front clam back on... that'll all be SO much easier when the car's rolling though so I'll get it rolling first

Oh and fear not there will be full video provided when things actually move

[Esprit]

Another cheeky hour or two out in the garage tonight... now have the right rear looking suspiciously like the left rear! Note toelink boots missing from this side as they're currently in transit. These will be added later.





Also snapped this pic to show that after about 11 months, my engine bay is now officially no longer empty! It contains driveshafts! (and an old, dirty tee-shirt) Of course these will be removed prior to the engine going in, but will sit there until then to hold the hubs together while it's being wheeled around.



Next job is to measure up the wheels and tyres to get some idea of what the wishbone angles will be at ride height. This weekend when my powdercoating is back, I'll be able to torque the wishbones in place. Then I can move on to the front as I'll have my missing balljoint by then to press in.

Then attention will shift to cleaning up the brakes so that they can be bolted on and then the old LSS shocks will then go back on as a placeholder until Randy can get me some nice shiny Nitrons sorted *hint hint Chris* This will allow me to put some air in the tyres and then drop it down off the axle stands and she'll be a roller! God that is going to be a momentous day! will give me a chance to clean the garage out!

One thing I've noticed (happily) is that my hands are staying a LOT cleaner bolting all this together as they were when it was coming apart!

Edited by Esprit on Monday 11th May 14:07

[Esprit]

Right, not quite as much progress as I'd hoped this weekend due to the garage being a bit of a mess and also because I spent a lot of the weekend tinkering with my new toy, a Peugeot 306 GTi6. This will take the daily driving / Lotus parts-hauling duties from now on

I DID however get the left front corner hung on the car. This took a bit of mucking around as anyone who's done it before will attest to. Getting the castor shims in just right was a little bit tricky, but I managed it in the end, the anti-roll bar mounting particularly proving to be a pain in my asshole.

But a few hours work yielded a VERY fine-looking front left corner and it's turned out looking even better than I thought it ever would! I'll do the FR corner another night as that's currently buried in a very packed corner of the garage and I should clear some space first. One of the bits in the way is the fuel tank, which can now go back in so that might be a job one night after work this week as I can't think of any good reason not to get that done.

Pick my powdercoating up tomorrow, although in typical fashion, I found one bit that I left out of the consignment that I'll have to get done this week... such is life

On with the pics! (ignore the random crowbar... it was just there to brace against while I was torquing up the plinths and anti-roll bar drop-links)

[Esprit]

Thanks guys, your kind words keep me going at the times when I look at the "to do" and "to spend" lists and realise I've still got a LONG way to go Fingers crossed I'll have a free evening this week after work and I'll be able to get the other front corner hung, then next weekend can be all about getting the brakes cleaned up and then I shouldn't be far off getting it back on its wheels for a bit!

Will be a good thing too because then I can square up the garage a bit and make a bit more room to work on the old girl.

Hoping to organise a new battery soon (lightweight) so I can make up the bracketry for it. Then I'll be able to think about putting the front clam on (and get it out of my bedroom from where it's sat for the past year!

[Esprit]

MORE BLING!

Got a batch of stuff back from the powdercoaters today. Here's a random assortment. The silvery stuff is ceramic coating (for heat shielding/retention purposes) and the black stuff is all done in satin black

Came up nice.... although I think I may need to hack apart my exhaust flexi and weld in a new flexi section (and re-coat) as it looks a bit fragile in one place... had hoped to make it go again, but I guess it'll need to be replaced... ho hum

[Esprit]

Gooby said:

I really wish I could see this car in the flesh when it is done.

Haha won't be much to see really.. the depressing bit is that after all this, the clams/body is going back on just as it came off... stonechips and all! It won't look AT ALL different from when it came apart... all the good stuff will be hidden away under the skin.... will probably do a full respray / armourfend next year on the clams to bring them up to the rest of the car's standards, but until then it'll stay looking like a regular S1 Exige.... sometimes I ask myself why I bother

Anyone want to do a group-buy on some polycarb clams so I can show off all the shiny goodies?

Edited by Esprit on Monday 18th May 13:26

[Esprit]

CooperS said:

Can i ask; will you be taking the calms off to clean on a regular basis?

I shouldn't think so... the car's being built to be used. I'll probably pull the lams off from time to time for maintenance and I'll clean up then, but I won't be doing it specifically for cleaning. All I've done thus far is to try and make the tidy-up I've done as long-lasting as possible from a corrosion-protection point of view... fingers crossed, other than a wipe-down, everything should stay looking fresh


And Gooby, there's a cold beer and a hot pie here waiting for whenever you want to come over mate

[Esprit]

I please to aim!

Another night and more chipping away at the Exige. Right front suspension is now hung on the car so all four corners are now hanging off the tub. Some calculations and measurements are now necessary and I'll have to jack and torque the wishbones up at the correct angles and that's that done!





In typical fashion though, it's all finished BAR ONE NUT! I realised that one of my steering balljoints didn't have the nyloc nut on it that it should have. Now either it didn't come with one or I've pulled it off at some point (for god knows what reason) and put it somewhere. Bugger is that it's a fine-pitch one so I'm going to have the devil's own job to find a replacement. Does anyone have any idea where I might find a M10x1.25 nyloc nut? Will have to have a ring-around the fastener suppliers tomorrow I guess. No huge hurry for it I guess but I'd like to get it signed off Given that everything's gone so smoothly so far, I should be thankful that this is the first truly missing bit that I've had thus far

[Esprit]

bencollins said:

Reckon one of your parts is missing a washer.

Hahah don't worry... that's a spare... when I did my ordering, I made sure I had "bakers dozens" of most things like nuts and washers where I was bound to lose one

[Esprit]

Got my fine-pitched nyloc nuts now so should be able to finish off the suspension this weekend.

This weekend's job-list (not sure if I'll get through all of it):

- Finish suspension assembly
- Calculate and torque wishbone pivots to correct height
- Finish off corrosion-proofing fuel tank cavity
- Run oil gauge sensor lines to engine bay (through fuel tank cavity)
- Install fuel tank
- Begin cleaning up brake assembly and begin hanging brakes on car
- Install old LSS shocks
- Reinflate tyres
- Install wheels
- Get car back on ground!

[Esprit]

Well today, thus far, I've been cleaning up the brakes. Like everything this is turning into a slightly bigger job than I'd imagined, but meh, I'll get there in the end

Discs have been cleaned up/degreased and are sitting on the car. I've spent a few hours cleaning up the front callipers and have used the excellent POR15 "Marine Clean" product for this... it does a great job at removing all the in-ground brake dust, grease and road-grime that builds up on the calliper. Here's some before/after shots:







I've made the decision to rebuild the callipers with new seals as they've been off the car a year and I've made the mistake of not rebuilding callipers in the past when they've been sitting empty for a while. For the $80 or so a seal kit costs, it's worth doing while they're off the car. I'll have to wait a month or so for the kit, but that's no biggie, don't need the callipers on the car right now anyway.


I'll give the callipers a second bath tonight to get them really clean before giving them an external acid bath (vinegar!) to brighten the alloy on them and de-scale them. I'll then pop the pistons out and remove the seals in preparation for giving them a rebuild once the kit arrives.

Front right suspension is now finished and tonight's job is to reinstall the fuel tank.... wish me luck..

[Esprit]

Well, tonight I've got carried away with cleaning up the front callipers.... now they're as shiny as I can be bothered getting them. I don't want them to look bling (hence why I've not painted them), just like new.... so that also rules out polishing (I like the cast look).

So after several hours of careful acid and alkalai baths, followed by a few hours of light scotch-briteing and then filing and buffing (of the LOTUS and AP Racing emblems to make them stand out a little, the callipers are now clean!







All that remains now is to pop the pistons out and put a new seal kit in them. I'll probably also replace the bleed-nipples as well, just because I can get these at the same time as the seal kit and it's easy

[Esprit]

Kylie said:

Good stuff George, the AP's have came up looking sexy. The bleed nipples ive just lighty sanded off the rust very carefully to make them shiny again, but new ones would be better

Refurb kit comes with new ones

[Esprit]

Hmm... funny thing. Was working in the garage tonight and something just looked different.... I couldn't quite put my finger on it!!!

[Esprit]

Glad you enjoyed reading Tom!

Absolutely LOVING the GTi6... after spending the last year without anything nice to drive, it's a revelation. I've always loved them and I've actually "had" one in the past, as I managed to convince my ex-girlfriend to get one a few years back when we were together. Ever since, I've really missed it and toyed with the idea of finding my own.

They're pretty rare over here and getting a good one can be a mission, I've been looking for the past 2 years! A task made that much harder when I've had very little to spend on one given that the Exige is eating all my money! Ended up scoring a mint, low-mileage, one-owner car that would have ordinarily been WAY out of my price range.. however, this one was up at auction after being vandalised and has roof damage from an idiot jumping over the roof... the damage isn't bad, but detracts from an otherwise showroom-condition car. I'm happy with the car as it is, but will be fixing the roof in the Spring, once I've more free money and time with the Exige in the home-stretch





Tested it out yesterday with 4 Exige-wheels in the back, and it performed admirably!

[Esprit]

TIPPER said:

George, as ever your work on this car is both an inspiration and frustration.
Frustration? I'd never have the patience to spend hours cleaning a brake caliper let alone the rest of the work you've done.
I'll be keeping this thread and the Seloc one bookmarked for as long as I have an Elise/Exige and will pass them on to the new owner if/when I sell up. A mine of information in here

Cheers Tim, that means a lot! Been blown away by peoples' reactions to it actually... started off almost as a breadcrumb trail so I could find out how to put it back together if I got lost Now I feel the weight of collective anticipation and expectation on my shoulders.... I'll not disappoint

[Esprit]

crazy6 said:

Fantastic thread mate - have been watching with great interest and wishing I had a proper garage so I could really get some major work done on my S1.

I would love to know a bit more about the brake caliper cleaning process if possible

"..careful acid and alkalai baths, followed by a few hours of light scotch-briteing and then filing and buffing"

Why careful, what sort of acid, alkalai etc... I would love to get mine cleaned up - but would hate to destroy them in the process.

Any detail would be appreciated ( as if you haven't already gone into enough )

For the cleaning process, I used the POR15 product "Marine Clean" product, which is an alkalai based cleaner. You have to soak it for a bit (an hour or so), and it helps for it to be warm. I actually did it in an ice cream container in the kitchen sink so that the container was immersed in a hot water bath. I say "careful" because ideally you want to not immerse the rubber seals in this cleaner as it can potentially damage the seals... in the end I'm replacing mine as a precaution along with the pistons.

With the acid bath, I used vinegar, same technique as the Marine Clean in the sink to keep it warm. The acid was much less effective, and really it was the scotch-brite that really helped in brightening the aluminium up. For the Acid, if you're soaking, you ideally want to keep from immersing the pistons in it so that it doesn't degrade the hard anodising coating on them...

Regardless, it still takes a LOT of elbow grease to get them looking halfway decent.... get yourself an old toothbrush and get scrubbing!

[Esprit]

Nice job Simon!

Yes, a sandblast was an option, and had I my own sandblasting cabinet, I probably would have.... but I'm one of those guys who (perversely) likes putting in a bit of elbow grease... think of me as a younger, less attractive version of James May

[Esprit]

Well more progress this weekend (although not a lot to show).

I got the towing eye post mounted up today and in place, was just one of those little jobs I couldn't see any reason not to. I will blast and repaint the eye at the end of the job most likely, no point doing it before then as it's going to get used to haul the chassis around a bit in the interim.



Other job of the day was to get the inside of the fuel tank cavity prepped with ACF-50 and get the fuel tank in. The ACF-50 is just a precaution. Since I had the corrosion problem on the other side of this panel and because this area is impossible to access with the tank in place I decided to just give it a good wipe-down with ACF before the tank went in.

It was then just a case of digging the tank out of the corner of the workshop (see posts from last year where I stripped and re-coated it) and to jack it up into place. Job's a good'un.

I bought a new shear-panel warning lable to go on the tank underside (the old one was destroyed before repainting)



Then voilà! One freshly installed and shiny looking fuel tank!

[Esprit]

Gooby said:

Next winter, can I send my car over to you?

Haha Well so long as you don't mind it taking about ten years to finish

To be honest it's far far more work than I ever wanted or planned to do, but now that it's coming back together, I'm pretty stoked with the results to date