snowrx

A threaded M5 does not have much strength to resist lateral bending forces from your foot on the edge of the pedal. Once you find the height you like, I'd strongly suggest you add a spacer that spans the width of the pedal arm pad to keep that load off the fastener.

Well, with the dealer being 380 miles away it's tough to commit at this point. And even they don't know if the car they are to show on the 17th is a runner. Also not sure how the deposits are handled there, it sounds like the dealer is keeping their own list of deposits rather than Lotus. They did commit to MSRP for pre-ordered FE's though; which helps a lot.

Looks nice, don't let that carbon chew on those beautiful tanks! I assume the lower box is an adapter box for the Motec? What's the RS232 plug for?

Thread pitch gauges can be had very cheap online, good to keep one handy for the mixed car, especially when sorting out little plumbing fittings and identifying metric/standard fasteners.

I can see clearly now...

Forum seems to drag me in every day, almost always something worthwhile here, and a well moderated forum. Well done, press on!

The wood veneer is mostly flat and can be replaced with whatever flat stock or vinyl overlay you like, but a whole new dash is a big project.

The elusive low height Mohawk lift- I want I want🤩

Big Oops that the site won't let me edit -NOT a Gates T304RB- its a T104RB belt for the older cars. $63 at Rockauto.com

@MarkKassim, any updates on your project?

I'd suggest the OEM Goetze brand head gasket over generic, and if you ever expect more boost, some forged pistons. JAE has a shop that will bore your liners (or new ones) to fit the pistons they offer. If your head needs skimmed be sure the machine shop keeps the head face parallel to the cam centerlines. Early head studs are thought to be weak, JAE sells an ARP replacement set Be prepared for parts prices to be 200-400% of what the same part would cost for your Chevy/Toyota. For a motors worth of parts it may be worthwhile checking with the UK vendors to see how the Pound is holding up against the dollar. A Gate T104RB belt is a stronger belt for your trapezoidal tooth cam pullies. Use the proper anaerobic sealants where called for and use less rather than more. The OEM manifold is a real pain to remove/install, & heavy. Someone was having a US stainless exhaust manifold done that looked pretty good in prototype form, they were hoping to defray costs by making more. Might be worth a check. https://www.lotustalk.com/threads/interest-in-custom-tubular-header-for-stevens-cars-800.477633/

Ok finally put the last frosty miles on this morning to get the tank down to an indicated 1/2 with the 10 ohm resistor in series with my ~14 ohm full sender. I had to put just about 11 gallons in to fill. The fill valve started clicking off at about 10.4 Gal, and I persisted longer than usual cramming more gas in and managed to get 11.7 in total. So certainly on line with 1/2 of my listed 22 US gallon total capacity. Close enough for me, although running the tank down to 1/4 will have to wait till next summer. My guess is it will still be non-linear at low levels, but at least my gauge is now more accurate at normal usage levels.

It's a tough life for the cast iron housing, cold to red hot & repeat. Cracks are common. I would run it as is. It's not leaking anything and has a ways to go radially before it hits the exit or any structural importance . Strictly guessing, but I bet it slows or stops when it hits the thicker section of the casting.

Especially for me after one of the stock studs had previously stripped out of the block at 80 ftlbs! The deep thread repair took a bit of doing.......

The ARP method is what I used.

Curious to see how you make out, cruise is some where on my to-do list. I have an old '80's aftermarket kit and a OEM Mazda RX-7 unit in the attic, but I'm assuming the electronics have gotten better over time with stepper motors vs. these old vacuum systems. Which kit did you select?

I've killed a couple of the copper ring / red sealant gaskets. Only once did the fire ring move, usually pressure just gets past and erodes the gasket behind, strangely it's typically where I have the most nip. Current Goetze gasket is holding up so far to my abuse. 100+ ftlbs on ARP head studs. I wonder how the wet liner motor would like a multi layer metal gasket, should one be offered?

I had one gasket torqued to 80-85 ftlbs on assembly, that took less than 50 ftlbs to disassemble. I can only imagine that heat cycles allow some further compression of the gasket? I've had a liner lift out from just the ring friction so don't turn the crank until the clamps are on! If you use the liner clamps you should be able to rotate the crank. My memory was having the crank at something like 30* BTDC while doing the assembly for extra valve clearance and bring it to TDC for the belt install.

Another Idaho Lotus would be nice, not to many here.

My sympathies; Been there, blown that thrice. I had a serial gasket failures from under torque and higher boost, but in the end it will come together. Don't forget the magnets on the cam buckets to keep your shims in the cam housing when you pull it off!

Sad admission Barry, thought better of you. Here in the states it seems to be standard procedure for many drivers to loaf along on the two lane at under the limit, only to speed up 10+mph when in the passing lanes, then to slow again after. I hate to admit this quickens my blood considerably.

Unauthorized Lotus position under carbs ?

Watched a M10x 40 bell housing bolt and washer jump into the timing port of my Esprit bell housing, disappearing down past the clutch into the bowels of the bell housing. Over an hours scrabbling with my best neodymium magnets on my back in the dirty dark as I contemplated having to separate the trans and engine, before I managed to pull both out through the clutch fork hole.

OK , so with my 14 ohm full tank sender reading. I tried some resistances to see what the gauge would show; -22 ohms took it down to 3/4 -10 lined it up with the 4/4 mark -8 ohms took it to a needle width above the 4/4 mark So I made a pigtail with a 10 ohm resistor in it and put it inline with the GB wire, and I'll see how it turns out..

Checked my sender with 7 miles on a full tank, and am seeing 14 ohms. Power from the stabilizer was 10.03 volts. I haven't seen definitive specs for the sender, but I think it's supposed to be 30 ohms full and 190-200 empty, maybe going open circuit at the bottom? Anyway, I'm going to add a series resistor to the gauge wire to bring the needle closer to the full mark, then see how that affects the balance of the scale. Miles to go before I'll know.