Loc-Nar

Did it on the way up. I had to travel to Maryland so I'll have a look when I return to the west.

I wish I had an access panel. So much. But removing everything from the cockpit seems like it would take as much time as it would for me to just yank the engine again. To tighten one freaking bolt. Modified tools. Blood. Cursing. Never buying a car with the engine in the middle.

1300 miles of I probably should replace the out of round tires rattling the teeth out of my head. The rear ones, easy to make round in a second. Maybe a front bearing? I can feel a thump at low speeds. From the front port side. It is disturbing. I'll take a look. I'm assuming there is no way for me to get tires on the stock rims. I have looked into resizing the stock rims and it's not too bad. But it is a thing. How is anyone running stock rims on these things? Also interesting the turbo flutter sound after 9000 ft alt? I just replaced all the vac lines all of them but this has now continued at sea level so I'll plug in the computer and see what's up. These lines blowing off has always been an issue. Thanks for the map and boost controller placement Lotus I love you. If you had asked anyone they would have told you to just put them back there by the relays. Which pop out when you hit a bump going 130mph on dry lake. Yeah I know this car is track and corner to corner and not for that type of shenanigans. But how could you resist?

⁸Yep. From LA up there for restoration. Over a month and a half out there this year. In the footsteps of giants. Did run it on the playa. Not as fun as it would seem. The tires are too wide. Starts getting really really sketchy over 100. Easy 145+ from Gerlach to Empire on pavement. The drive up the 395 is one of the most scenic in the country. The west is really where these cars should be! And yeah, we cleaned it all up. I mean the playa the car is still filthy as it should be. Would have loved to get a pic with the giant dust plume behind it. On the second run hit a bump and it flew 6 feet in the air knocking out a relay and popping the fuel rollover device! Oh well. There's always next year. I did re-open the staff bar at 530&D. Table for one. Visit me next year drinks are on me!

Two of them. More later. I know a lot about this car now.

Heh. Look at the date at the start of this thread. The car is running.

Artie, I thought your pistons were not SE pistons? I have sent my liners to Lesco, They say the dinged one can be repaired/reocated. I have talked to JAE about the JE pistons to match the liners. If you have SE pistons, what are the chances they will fit inside the liners? There are 2 bore grades, right? Agh.

I just was just cleaning the broken piston. The bore letter and arrow are visible, along with the tiny stamp which must be a serial number and date '0989'? No weight number is visible, but the arrow and the bore letter are not in the place that the service notes say they might be. Are the weight grades stamped on there or just ink as in the one Travis has? If so I suppose I have to weigh it. Malc, do you know what bore letter and weight your pistons are? Hopefully the same as mine or heavier I am going to call Lesco, they have not been back to me. If they can fix the liner so they assure me there will be no creeping under the coating and Malc's pistons would fit, or the liner could be made to fit, that might be the way I have to go. Lotusbits reports they will look around but have none on hand. Going to check with LotusUSA and see what weight they have for one piston/liner set. Ah, I talked to Lesco, someone is going to meet me to look at the liner. If they can repair it they suggested a whole JE piston set as another option.

Oh! would like to add, for anyone reading in the future, I was really very mistaken about getting a set of the SE pistons for $1000 from anywhere. One NOS piston/liner is a cool grand from Lotus USA per JAE. A set is around 1500 GBP. I have removed the piston and liner. Easy. Soalking the piston in penetrant to see if I can get the carbon off and read the weight marks. Might try oven cleaner. I've sent Lesco pics and asked if the liner can be re-worked. Even if it is ~$200 to recoat the entire liner I am fine with that. There seems to be a plethora of used stock pistons around but no liners. So if they can restore/recoat/hone it (Andy, I am listening to you about the coating coming off) I will start begging for a piston.

Yeah, I am no expert on these cars (will be soon though :/) but I have a good amount of experience with the standard variety. If it turns out to be a stuck ring just replace that. Dunno why you would have to rebuild the entire engine? Now someone will chime in why though, hey, said I was learning. If a reputable shop looked at it then they probably went through the usual tests. I'd check the timing marks (of course I'd be spooky about this due to my problems), put a little oil in the cylinders and check the compression. If it returns to normal then it could be rings. If it is the same, stuck valve? You mentioned it blows the breather pipe off, suspect rings, but best to just check the simple things first. Be wary of trying to drive it before you have a better idea. Good luck with the wd-40. Change the oil after you spray that in there, maybe just try lightweight oil first. Had a tiny amount of wd-40 on a stuck hub locker, melted every bit of wheel bearing grease out of the front hub, don't know what it does to motor oil.

I wonder how I am going to figure out what weight the pistons are, considering I can't see the weight numbers through the carbon. I'll have a go at removing the damaged one this weekend and clean it with a brush, hope it did not get whacked where the # is stamped on it.

Ah, probably better to get a new set then and just be done.

I am willing to bet I can just fix this with a file on the lip and use one of Artie's pistons? Thoughts? I suppose the whole thig could be out of round, Maybe send it to Lesco and have them recondition it?

Jae reports "leave everything as it is! - replace damaged piston and liner and that's it". Head may be done on Monday. I am going to frame the section of timing belt with the missing teeth, the crown of the piston, and the busted off valve heads. And the recipts.

I looked into it and a lot of people report to have had luck with using just a ball hone to de-glaze them and prep for new rings x-hatch pattern. Others say the x-hatch will never go away and will wear the rings down. Some say a quick wipe with scotch-brite or no honing at all with new rings. Then there is "only a diamond hone will scratch the Nikasil" and a ball hone is fine. Here is a more in-depth page that references a nikasil coating place, who I suppose I'll call on this. http://bmwmotorcycle...o/cylinders.htm Ah. Here are the nikasil hones, "aluminum oxide", softer material, just to de-glaze: http://www.enginehones.com/niapho.html Agh.