Lotobear

I've sent you a PM

My reply was genuine! I used to do a lot of work in the racing industry and Bob Champion turned up at one of the big events at Carlisle (Bell and Plate) in a pale blue Evora LE in around 2009/10 and parked it up right next to the parade ring. We had a chat as I've always been a big Lotus fan and he explained that Lotus had loaned him the car for a few months and told him to take it to as many events as possible around the country - good marketing I guess! He said it was a 'nice car'

Bob Champion?

....not a problem I ever experienced with my old Plus 2, the leaky old twin cam saw to that!

I keep my undertray bolts copper greased but each time I remove them I see the effects of electrolytic corrosion on the aluminium trays and was thinking - has anyone put together a stainless bolt set? ....not only would they look good but they would remove the lingering concerns over seized bolts and corroded aluminium

Bit of an update - after the post above I fitted a split hose sleeve around the handbrake cable as a precaution however my Evora failed it's MOT today due to the handbrake not working on the NS. Got back home to investigate and ended up stripping out the handbrake cable and rear NS brakes. The rubbing on the wishbone had caused the outer sleeve to wear through causing water ingress and the inner cable to completely seize. I've managed to get it free after much oiling and manipulation and re fitted the original cable and it should get through the re test tomorrow but the rust was so severe that the outer spiral cable housing (below the plastic outer sheath) has almost rusted through where it had been rubbing on the wishbone. Next step is new cables (the offside is going the same way) - does anyone know a good source for them or better still the donor vehicle for the handbrake cables? Cheers Jon

I'm considering fitting a cold air intake to my 2010 n/a Evora but can't seem to find a supplier in the UK. I would be interested to hear whether this is worthwhile (seeking a bit more torque ostensibly) and whether I can order one in the UK. Any other comments appreciated - car currently has a K&N panel filter and 3rd cat delete Cheers🙂

Hi Dave, Mini will be running a 1310 with 10.5 c/r based on a 1300GT engine, A+ rods, Nural pistons, Cooper S head, 276 cam, light steel flywheel and clutch and full balanced bottom end, lightened steel duplex timing gears with a SC box with Abingdon ST ratios. Will probably go with 1.5" twin SU's, if only for the looks as I find a single 1.75" more friendly Going for the Nick Swift 'racer' look so rose petals will be the order of the day. Tweed Grey with a black roof Shell is currently away for paint and due back in the next few weeks - looking foward to the build now, good to start from fresh with a well sorted shell Cheers Jon

Thanks Dave - good old Lotus eh? ....think I will apply the split heater hose fix as a precaution

I own the Solar Yellow car that appears throughout this video Dave so you can add that one! Interesting you have a 1960 Mini as well as the Evora - I'm currently restoring a 1967 Tweed Grey

I've removed the rear undertray on my 2010 NA to do the aux belt and have been looking about for any other jobs that need doing I've noticed that the handbrake cables are rubbing quite alamingly where they route thorugh the rear wishbones to the extent of wearing a groove into the bones and removing the plastic sheathing from the cables to expose the spiral wound inner. Is this in any way normal? I was thinking that the cables may have been fitted incorrectly but the service manual mentions the cables being routed "through the wishbones" so I think they are routed as intended Has any else come across this and is there are fix as the car only done 25k miles and the wear is concerning? ...I was thinking of wrapping them in some split heater hose where the run through to stop them rubbing Cheers

Fantastic service from these guys in Germany - ordered 2 new ballast units on Wednesday and they have just arrived: https://www.lichtex.de/ and around £65 each (did I see somewhere that Lotus want something like £380 a pop)😮

I was thinking someone might have been able to comment? Anyhow having done some Internet 'research' is seems that a sudden lamp failure goes 9 times out of 10 with a simultaneous ballast failure. Also, it's the bulbs (when old) that tend to kill ballast rather than the other way around So I've ordered two new genuine Valeo ballast units from Germany and will be fitting both new ballast and Osram lamps to each headlight so hopefully I'll now be future proof and able to continue enjoying my Evora as the nights draw in😀

....would love to Tim but as mentioned to Lee, I'll be slumming it in Tuscany by then☹️😎

Here she is. It's actually the same car which appears in this documentary on the Evora: