Jphoenix13

Just had them out and the bodies are black with green tops. Don't recall what cc, sorry.

Oops, my mistake, I replaced mine with five-o injectors. Still working fine.

Ha ha Atwell, you must work at JAE! I love those guys, always have the part, fast shipping 🙂

Well, that was fun. Some things I learned while removing and replacing the gearbox and engine: It's just too easy to change the cambelt with the engine out of the car. I set the belt tension to 100hz, the low end because I know the belt will whine when the engine is warmed to operating temp. Engine back in, engine running - belt whining! So, under the car I go and I'm getting good at the fine adjustment required to keep the whine out of the belt. It's easy to bleed the clutch slave, but after wearing out my wife and endless hours of pressure bleeding, I gave up and took Atwell's advice - pushed the clutch pedal full down with a stick and left it overnight - works perfectly! If you are going to do the belt, spend another $120 for the 104 green dot sprocket from JAE. I had one on the intake from the last cambelt change (robbed it off the oil pump shaft) but with the exhaust green dot installed, there is a noticeable difference in power. Very well spent bucks in my opinion. A broken coolant level sensor will set all sorts of code 26, A&B, CEL etc. - and Freescan tells you it's everything under the sun - except the coolant sensor. Another $120 from JAE and it's back to normal. (Is everything $120 at JAE?) Use the moist bread method to remove the spigot bearing - but tell your wife first why you need the bread because it's fun to watch her face and then the eye roll. Don't forget to tell her you invented it, just something you thought might work 😉 RTV Ultra Black on the roll pins - I was fearing them, but they went in OK - took quite a bit of hammer, surprised at first - but they went in and nary a drop leaks from the engine. Oh yeah, tighten the transaxle drain plug after you put it in finger tight - and before you fill the box. Duh. JAE threw the new roll pins in for free 🙂 The Redline MT90 that came out of the box after 4 years was almost as clear and pink as the stuff going in. I love that stuff. Don't forget to buy some Dexron II for the power steering - had to make a special trip before I could start the engine. Amazon same day is great when you lose the transaxle mount bolts - they were here faster than the time I spent looking for where the hell the originals went. They are not small bolts - but they are gone forever and I hope they are happy in their new lives somewhere. Car runs great and the new clutch disc is notable as is the power between 2500 and 5000. 🙂

The spring clip riveted to the fork?

Engine came out this morning, I decided to remove the transaxle first, then engine. Got the PS hoses off no problem, AC compressor was a bitch because I didn't want to disconnect the hoses since the AC is putting out 34 degree air (F, ha ha, not C). All cleaned up, ready for parts replacement and valve adjustment.

Box of goodies 🙂 Old clutch disc measures just at 5.9mm - on the limit. Engine coming out tomorrow, then valve adjustment starts. I'll be looking for cracked cam followers per Travis' recommendation some many threads and posts ago - only 53,500 miles on this car, so maybe they're OK. Green dot pulley to match its friend already moved from the idler to the intake side. Slave cylinder rebuild kit-exactly same slave as my TR6: http://www.jimphoenix.com/triumph-tr6/

Well too hot today to tackle the engine, so just cleaning parts and mopping coolant off the floor 😬 We're spoiled here in Seattle, 92 degrees is murderous! Got lots of parts on order, new clutch kit, blue belt, idler bearing, gaskets and o-rings - just shy of $1000 worth of parts for the job - and JAE threw new roll pins in free - love those guys.

Thanks Ram, I'll dive back in this evening.

The bleeding procedure for the rear brakes is quite different from the fronts. Requires rear brake pressure on and I'd have to read it all again to quote here, but it can be easily done improperly. That said, it sound like the fronts aren't working in proportion to the rear, so maybe bleed front again? You have the same Kelsey-Hayes system I believe with having to pump the pedal a million times to release accumulator pressure, then check fluid level, etc. Overly complex 90's era ABS system, but seems to work fine in the wet - but not very modern. I ran EBC at first, but Travis recommended Hawk and been with them since, they work great.

Excellent! Thanks Steve!

Finished up installing the radio and the new panel with the voltmeter, handbrake defeat switch (green button) and USB port. Installed the rest of the new carpet 9 still waiting for the correct handbrake boot and belt cutouts from Steve V8, then they will match the rest of the interior). Seats back in, looks and sounds very nice :-)

Removing and installing new carpets is not an easy task - lots of fitting and fiddling and gluing and adjusting. After a couple of hours with my head in the cockpit sniffing glue, have to stop and do something else for the rest of the work session. The contact cement is really nasty, fumes are pretty powerful. Waiting for USB flush mount, switch and a new voltmeter so I can install the radio one last time and reassemble the center console. Then the side panels on the console and the aft center pocket goes in last. After I sew the new belt cutout and handbrake gaiters, I can glue them to the inner door sills and finish it off. Then just need to get the seats reupholstered. I think overhauling the engine would be easier! I did get the binnacle back in place successfully - that's always fun!

I like this wallpaper better

Took all day, but I got the new radio in. Backup camera works perfectly when selecting reverse - I tapped into the reverse light circuit for the signal to the radio. The old front speakers were completely trashed, so new Fosgate's went in. Rear speakers replaced as well. Sounds really nice now. Backup camera was only $30 but has a nice image. Took a while to figure out how - but I managed to get a Lotus logo for the screen wallpaper. Going to try a few different style logos. Still need to close out the bottom space with a fixed USB connector and a new digital voltmeter. For now, it's all in and working great - well worth the effort! Interesting to note that the radio remains on after the ignition is switched off - until the key is removed from the ignition, then it gets the signal to shut off. I had not noticed that before. BT connect is fast and accurate. Very pleased with this radio.

Finished welding the AC control panel back onto the center support. Also added a couple of diagonal reinforcing brackets to support the weight of the larger radio. Painted, ready to go back in.

With the carpets out and the cockpit cleaned up, I decide I need new speakers to replace the old rear units from 1995 - and while I'm in there, might as well order new front speakers since the front left one was starting to buzz. I have an amp behind the drivers seat above the fuel tank, so plenty of power. But now the old single DIN radio is bothering me and I just installed a very nice double DIN Pioneer unit in my wife's Jeep that she likes very much - with a backup camera! So, why not? Removing the center stack was not easy, required removing of the binnacle and while I was in there, the shift boot rubber was deteriorated, of course - so a call to JAE had that in the post next day. To make room for the double DIN, I had to remove the AC controls, cut the AC control support out of the radio stack frame, weld it back together and after I get a final location on the new radio and AC control, I'll weld the AC support into a new location. Planning to add a digital voltmeter below the AC control space in a blanking panel. I'll lose the cig light, so might also install a USB port (or two) there. I'll connect the USB port to the radio - so I can upload a Lotus screen saver for the radio :-)

As noted in another post, I've decided it's time to refresh my interior. Starting with new carpets and a new shifter boot - thanks to Steve V8 for getting me sorted out on that. Getting the carpets out was a trial, and of course while I'm in there... I had to use my Fein tool to slice the adhesive between the carpet and the body because the adhesive was very difficult to remove. Took a while, but finally got all of the old carpet out. I removed the inner sills so I could replace the carpet along with the belt cutout pieces, they must be glued to the inside of the sills prior to reinstallation. The tunnel sides had overspray from a misguided attempt by a P.O. to spray paint on the seats in an attempt to "re-dye" them. Didn't work and the overspray onto the tunnel pieces looked pretty bad. Some Goof-off cleaned up the sides very nicely.

That would be perfect Steve. I can get them stitched locally.

I just received my new carpet kit from SJ, the belt slots and handbrake boot are not magnolia as specified, it appears they are sand or light gray. I wrote Steve and he said "I’m afraid we do not offer any guarantee of a colour match.". Well, this isn't a mismatched color, it's a wrong color. Now I shall have to have someone make new slots and a boot locally. I should have heeded Bib's advice. Also, no map pockets were included in the kit. This kit cost well over$500, plus the 2 or 3 month wait. Lesson learned :-(

Fan part number: Spal 30100435 10" Curved Blade Puller Fan $74.04 each from Amazon

Today was the big test, 90 degrees, slow town traffic, AC on and blowing about 43 degrees out of the vents after recharging with R134a, radiator temp holding at 82C. After cooking at the traffic light and oil temp around 70C, pulled up a long 7% grade hill with AC on, actually cooled down to 80C. I'm quite pleased! Finished painting the lower valance, hang it back on tomorrow. Next job - clutch.

Got the radiator pack back in. Installing a three row core caused a minor problem with the radiator frame angles, but resolved relatively easily. New fans bolted right in and work great. It's amazing how nice and cool the car stays on a 90 degree, high humidity afternoon in traffic, barely gets above 80C, a nice uphill pull with a prolonged stop light at the top left me with about 85C. Normally that same pull runs the temp up to over 100 with the fans on, but not coming back down. Highway cruising has the temp gauge at around 78C. So, this is a definite must-do for any who hasn't already dropped the pack and either rodded or recored their radiator. You will likely have to recharge your AC as I couldn't see a way to drop the back without removing the AC hoses from the condenser. Mine wasn't blowing cold anyhow, so not much of anything came out when I removed the lines. Front valance removed and getting repainted to fix all the rock chips.