ripley5000

Spoke with GTO and they are pretty confident the problem is worn synchroniser and sliding hub for 1st & 2nd

My 98 V8 has had a new clutch recently but engaging 1st gear is still difficult about 30% of the time. The lotus specialist that did the work and opened up the gearbox says the box is a 'Frankenstein' box with non standard parts and as a result can't do anything more- it's had the GTO upgrade done by a PO. I've had a look on ebay for a replacement but none seem to come up - any ideas where I can source a potential replacement from?

Thanks for creating this - just bought a reader and installed the software - works a treat and looks like I need a new O2 sensor!

Does anyone know this Nautilus Blue GT3 that's up for sale? Be great if anyone has any history/knowledge of it. https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/14619835 Thanks

It's a good point - from my research there seems to be a variety of answers of 6V and 9V once ignition is on. I'm assuming that in my case 9V is correct on the basis that it's the parts from SJ Sportscars and hence I'd expect these to be the correct ones. I think the old coil, whilst it worked, was not actually the correct coil for the car as looking at the invoice it was supplied and fitted by a general autoshop so I guess they may not have done too much research into the correct part.

New coil fitted from SJ today and so far all is good, on the SJ coil it states it’s a ballast coil so I checked the voltage to the coil to verify that the car was using the resistor wire and confirmed that 12v with ignition on and 9v when running. So in theory the car is as Lotus intended it but with electronic ignition rather than points. After fitting e coil the first thing I noticed was he car starts better. From cold it previous took 4 or 5 attempts for the car to start, now it starts first time I let the car warm up then took it for a short drive of about 6 miles (worried it was going to break down ), but all was good and the coil did not get hot like before - however as my test drive was very short I’m not yet convinced that the problem is solved as it took the car about 50-60 miles on the old coil before it broke down. Will wait for good weather and have a support car behind before taking it for a longer drive 😊 it was actually very sensible to take it for such a short drive and when I got back home I noticed one of the carbs had a significant petrol leak 😳. The joys of owning an old Lotus

Thanks everyone - the car had a reconditioned distributor fitted with electronic ignition last month when it was in at SJ. I've ordered a new coil (from SJ) to see if this fixes the problem. The current coil was very hot when the problem occurred. The PO kept the original wiring loom and it looks like it has the pink resistor wire. I'm thinking that by trying both coil and distributor from SJ with the original wiring then in theory this should be the correct configuration and hopefully solves the problem.

Electronic ignition. Today the car would start so the problem appears to be when the car is driven for some extended time that the coil gets hot and then fails. Once the car cools down then it will start again. Previous owner had the same problem and replaced the coil and electronic ignition but problem has re-occurred

Took my S1 out today for a long drive in the good weather (about 50 miles). It was all going so well until I turned onto the main road close to home car cut out and would not restart. Fortunately I was close to home so pushed it back!! Car cranks and turns over well so i pulled the main coil lead to see If there was a spark but nothing. Connections to the coil look ok so I’m guessing it’s the coil that’s at fault. Any suggestions for troubleshooting as the coil is quite new as the car has recently been restored. thanks paul

Thanks - never go over 4,000 rpm in it so certainly no 'tail out' action :)

I'm looking for tyres for my 1978 S1 and would like a decent brand but the only front size of 205/60 R14 that comes up are Nankang tyres - can anyone recommend a good place to source tyres or has anyone tried the Nankang ones? Thanks

I should add that I also installed or rather extended the power and Earth wires from the fan up to the top of the inspection cover. This way if the resistor pack ever fails again at least I can easily wire in a direct switch to the fan without having to take anything apart again

Wow, be interested to see how many weeks/months/years that will take. the previous owner of my car who restored it kept a spreadsheet of costs. It’s quite frightening to see them and of course that doesn’t include the hours that go into it! good luck

A known problem on Elise/exige is the location of the heater fan resistor pack. It’s mounted underneath the fan inside the chassis in a area that has no drainage so it sits in water and corrodes and ultimately fails. I read at what a pain this was to fix due to the difficult location and access so I thought I’d share my experience and hopefully some hints/tips. My car is a 2004 NA Exige without A/C. If you have a/c the there more connections that are required to be removed. the front claim absolutely needs to be removed to get access access as the image below. The heater matrix and fan are underneath this lot; Remove the large heater hose and plastic shielding to give a visual on the heater matrix; then disconnect the vacuum hose from the servo (gently pull and twist slightly to release this), remove the two water pipes from the heater matrix, some coolant will come out but there is no need to drain the entire system. Note that you only need to disconnect hoses from the heater matrix as they can then be moved out of the way quite easily. Unclip the heater matrix from the fan and remove the two metal stays that keep the heater matrix in place (one is visible on the image below, centre right, the other is upper left not visible on the picture) with the heater matrix unclipped from the fan you will be able to move the two units independently but not by much. I found the easiest way to remove the heater matrix was to pull it up from the fan end and bring it up to 90 degrees as the picture below. This is really difficult, you will need to force wiring looms out of the way and also gently bend the brake pipe to make room to get the heater matrix in this position. Persistence and patience is key here. It may seem like there is no way it will come out but it does eventually. Once the heater matrix is in this 90 degrees position it can be lifted up vertically whilst keeping the wiring loom and brake pipe out of the way. Once the heater matrix is out it looks like this below. Now have a well earned cup of tea 😊 Below you can now see access to the heater fan. Remove this to gain access to the resistor pack. Be careful of the metal plate that is attached to the fan, it has quite share edges and it’s easy to nick a wire when squeezing this out. underneath the fan is the resistor pack and here you can see the corrosion. Replace it and note the wiring connections. Be sure to reconnect wires securely as it easy to break connections when reinstalling the fan due to the tight fit. With the fan and matrix out, drill four holes in the aluminium floor as per Lotus service notes to give some drainage to help avoid the problem in the future. Note that many people recommend refitting the new resistor pack in a different location and if your car is a daily driver I’d agree with this as I don’t thing the drainage holes are really a true solution. As my car is really track days and sunny days only and garaged the rest of the time I decided to refit the resistor pack in the same place resistor pack requires cooling and it’s default location gives is a lot of airflow from the fan. If you relocate it then you’d be advised to fit an additional cooling fan. With the fan out it’s essential to test everything before refitting. I suggest testing the fan and all fan speeds (ignition must be on). Also test the stepper motor on the heater matrix to ensure that the flaps move from hot to cold. to make refitting easier, I removed some of the metal plate on the fan as the foam ensures a snug fit. I removed about 1.5 to 2mm from each side My heater matrix was a bit worse for wear so I added some duct tape for strength and lightweight refitting is reverse of removal. Note image below I insert the heater matrix at 90 degrees, push is straight down then rotate it.you will need the fan and the matrix rotated upwards for the final fitment. Refit all cables and clam to have this done at a dealer is I believe £600-£800 due to the time taken. It’s a real pain to do, I did it over about 4 days.

Thanks All - It's an S1 - Steve at SJ confirmed they should be 25mm in length. Car is booked in for him to do it and put new inserts in. They can do it without removing the engine