Tony K

Hello all, Our first Toledo Cars & Coffee meet is tomorrow, Sunday, April 14, at River Place Shoppes in Perrysburg. Always a great turnout of exotics, great variety of cars, great people! (And Toledo might have more Lotus per capita than anywhere in the region... 😁) This year's schedule is as follows: Sunday, April 14 Saturday, May 11 Sunday, June 9 Sunday, July 14 Sunday, August 11 Sunday, September 8 Sunday, October 13 Sunday, November 10 All the meets listed above will be at River Place Shoppes (NW corner of 25 and Eckel Junction, right off of I-475), and run from 9:00am to noon. Thanks, and see you at the meet! Tony K.

Follow up to the post above: Really, you can't go wrong with Hocking Hills State Park; you practically drive right past it on your way from Athens to Oxford, and the roads are great: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Ohio+University,+Athens,+OH/Old+Man's+Cave,+Logan,+OH/Miami+University,+East+High+Street,+Oxford,+OH/@39.3352188,-84.6974385,8z/data=!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x884873b8be8408b3:0x6bb364a37449e7f6!2m2!1d-82.1013889!2d39.324358!1m5!1m1!1s0x8847eb863357459d:0x7db0a623870bde68!2m2!1d-82.5429533!2d39.4331726!1m5!1m1!1s0x884022c4d025ec71:0xfce7a4ae2c12bf0f!2m2!1d-84.7344915!2d39.5087485!3e0?entry=ttu

Better yet, if you like nature, check out Old Man's Cave at Hocking Hills State Park. For scale, look at the people in the first and last photos below. Once again, any of the roads you can take between Ohio Univ. and Miami Univ. are a scenic treat. Here is the official website for the park so you can check the hours, etc.: https://ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/hocking-hills-state-park

If you want to see something eerie and cool, check out the near ghost town of Rendville, a little north of Athens, when you leave Athens to head for Univ. of Miami. As a coal mining town, at its peak more than 100 years ago, Rendville had a population of over 800 people; today, only about 28 people live there. Most of the buildings still stand, empty, silently decaying. A ghost town in the making. A bit to the west is another near ghost town, Shawnee. Another coal mining town with a tiny fraction of its former population, but probably not as "intact" as Rendville, as I think many of the structures in Shawnee have been torn down. Any of the routes you take from Athens to Oxford (Miami Univ.) are going to be enjoyable and scenic. But also watch out for deer.

By Uni of Ohio, do you mean Ohio University, in Athens? If so, consider making the time to drive Rte. 555 (aka "the triple nickel") -- one of the more famous twisty highways in the US; 62 miles of curves and hills, and not crowded like Tail of the Dragon. If you are traveling between Kent and Athens, it's only a little bit out of your way.

Where in Ohio are you visiting? I can tell you just about anything you need to know about Ohio. I currently divide my time between Toledo and Cleveland, and know the rest of the state very well, having lived and/or worked in much of it. Have been to the UK a couple of times and Europe several, so have a bit of a frame of reference/perspective.

S1/S2 owners: I recognize that a quality upgrade to Turbo Esprit motor mounts is the best solution, but I've had an idea in my head for a while to improve the durability of the stock motor mounts that I haven't had the opportunity to implement, so I wanted to share it. Regardless of what anyone thinks, I'm going to try it eventually . . . but maybe someone wants to try it sooner. As most people know, the stock motor mounts don't last long, especially when the car frequently experiences hard acceleration. The rubber gets cooked to a crisp by the exhaust manifold -- and that can be mitigated to an extent with heat shielding -- but after a while the bond between the rubber puck and metal disc still gives. This is in part due to the fact that every time you accelerate, that engine is pulling upward on the motor mounts (drive with the engine cover off, and it can be shocking how much the engine lifts under acceleration). So my idea is, simply, to screw the metal plates to the rubber. To give it something more than just whatever bond or adhesive is holding the metal to the rubber. Tap several holes -- I'm thinking between 4 and 6 -- into each side of the motor mount, bevel the edges, and insert a screw. Too few screws and it won't do much; too many and you're eating away at too much rubber. Do not run the screws all the way through; that's effectively creating a solid mount and negating what little NVH reduction the rubber offers. I'm thinking using screws that go about two thirds (2/3) the depth of the rubber, so there is some overlap to help prevent the shearing and "smearing" of the rubber itself, but not so much that the mount just becomes a stand of screws. What kind of screws to use? I'm thinking drywall screws or wood deck screws (not sure what they are called in the UK); they sit flush and have wide threads that give good bite into softer substances. When I eventually get around to it, that's what I have in mind. If this has already been done, I apologize, as I've been away for a while. Open to your suggestions on how to improve it, or your thoughts on why it will or won't work. If somebody tries it before I do, please share your experience here!

These are some original pieces from a handful of Federal S1s. I took more photos but didn't want to overdo it; ask me if you would like to see more. As you can see, the deck piece(s) that cover the fuel tanks are one piece. Every Federal S1 I have ever seen has been like this, from 10XH early to 5XXH late. You can see the markings in the wood where the mounting bolts go. There is a flat metal bracket with a threaded hole for the bolt, where the two split pieces on the SJ boot board set meet. The bottom of the vertical boards are flat. They are not stepped like yours. I'm wondering if that has something to do with the fact that the area behind the boot floor and ahead of the tail lights is open in a UK/RoW car, but filled in with foam and fiberglass on a Federal car (just like the front nose). There is/was a strip of foam on both sides of the vertical boards at the top, to dampen vibration. You can see how the small quarter/corner panels have a little dog leg on the bottom to fill the gap left by the deck boards. The deck boards usually have two small screws at the rear end to fix them to the deck. On occasion, one of those screws goes through the wiring harness! 😬🤪 If you want more pics, let me know. Apologies if I my tape is displaying the wrong units of measurement! 😁

505H is a mid-late Federal car, probably October or November '77. I will be going up into my garage attic this weekend where I have some original boards sitting around from 454H, which is September. Will be the same as 505H. I will take them out and photograph them with measuring tape so you can compare. There is no piece for the central area of the boot floor above the gearbox, and it wreaks havoc on the carpet on the cross-brace. Some people make a filler panel, or at least put pieces of padding to level it. Curious, inside the boot, are the flanks/buttresses body color or black? Early Federal cars they were painted black, mid were left body color, and late they went back to black.

Sorry . . . Just saw this. Let me know if still having any issues.

They might be the same as on a Series 2 or Series 3 XJ6 (might be different from an XJ-S). Adding the sliver is relatively easy.

You are missing a rubber stopper that goes on the end of the bolt. I think it's X046B6113Z at SJ's, but not certain. The spring for the rod might be weakened, too. But generally they barely pop up enough to get your fingers under them. New gas springs might help a bit, too. I'm sitting at a desk right now, not in the garage, but those boards don't look like they are cut correctly. There should be L-shaped notches cut out at the top center corner of each piece to make room for the tailgate latch. If I recall correctly, they are flat on the bottom. At least for Federal cars. The boards can be a little challenging to slip behind the lip and get them in vertically, but at a glance yours do look a little tall. I'm wondering if they are different for a G or J car from an H car. Either way, they do look a little tall in the picture. EDIT: Looking closer, that's totally not the pattern for the federal cars. They are one piece from the fuel tanks all the way back, with a little filler piece at the rear of the wheel arch; not two pieces split at the attaching bolt. Is that an early G-chassis thing?

Hello all, Toledo Cars & Coffee tends to have pretty good Lotus turnout. We get a nice mix -- Esprits, Elises and Exiges, Evoras, Sevens, Elans, Europas, and even a couple of Type 74 Elites! Our meet of the season is tomorrow, Saturday April 8, at River Place Shoppes in Perrysburg. The rest of this year's schedule looks like this: Saturday, May 13 Sunday, June 11 Sunday, July 9 Sunday, August 13 Sunday, September 10 Sunday, October 8 Sunday, November 12 (if roads are salt-free) All the meets listed above will be at River Place Shoppes (NW corner of 25 and Eckel Junction, right off of I-475), and run from 9:00am to noon. Thanks, and see you at the meet! Tony K.

Hello all, I want to preface this by saying that 1) I am looking for all of the Delco ABS threads in the forum I can find and am reading them, and 2) I am in the process of acquiring a Tech 1, the related cartridges, cable, etc., and have the manuals from both Lotus and Tech 1. So lots of reading ahead for me. With that said, I would appreciate any advice from others' experiences on where to look first as I try to resolve my growing brake system issues. The car is a 1991 SE with the lovely Delco ABS system. About two and a half years ago, the right rear brake caliper was beginning to drag, getting hot while driving. No issues with the ABS system. My best guess was that the drag on the caliper was a swelling/collapsing inside of the rubber brake hose, because the hoses are original from 1991, and after the car sat for a while (a couple of hours give or take), the brake would progressively release and the wheel become able to turn freely again. With a mind to replace all of the rubber hoses, I looked into what it would take to bleed the brake system. It was a very busy time in my life with family and work obligations, I did not have the Tech 1 or software or manuals, and did not have the time to go through the learning curve of reading about the system or trying my hand at bleeding the system without the tool, so I just parked the car in a garage. And all of a sudden, two years went by. And the car did not move, and went for more than a year without even starting. Late last year, I went into the garage to start the car, and everything is running fine, except now when I step on the brake pedal, it immediately "kicks back" at me. The ABS light is not on, and I don't think it came on at any point. The car is stored at a garage offsite, and I will be going there this weekend, armed with Tech 1 and the manuals. But I would appreciate any advice of "where to look first" or "most common issues" for this symptom of the brake pedal kicking back immediately when pressed. Switch? Accumulator? Wheel sensor? Also, I did not find any threads that discuss this issue -- if I missed one, please share the link. Thank you in advance for this and any other helpful tidbits you may offer as I wade into this murky pool for the first time. Tony K.

Radiator: Copper transfers heat better than aluminum. And copper radiators are easier to repair and have a reputation for being less prone to cracking from fatigue compared to aluminum. For an aluminum radiator to be "more efficient" than a copper one of the same dimensions (as some claim to be), the aluminum one will need larger diameter tubes with thinner walls (making it more fragile?). So copper all the way. I think the main reason for aluminum, whether in mass-produced cars or in racing, is that it is less expensive. Of course it gets the job done, but in the Esprit S1, where you have an insulated fiberglass clamshell over the engine (lol 🙄) and a long, skinny radiator without many rows, you are looking to improve the margin of heat transfer any way you can. Coolant: I don't see the point in Evans waterless coolant in a car like the S1. My understanding is that its ability to transfer heat is significantly less than that of 50/50 water/ethylene glycol. Again, that is going the opposite direction of what benefits the S1 the most. There is an argument here that one could better prevent the clogging of the radiator using the waterless coolant (less prone to scale/corrosion), but regularly flushing your cooling system and using distilled water (or maybe completely flushing it and changing over to a modern lifetime coolant) goes a long way in the same direction; there is a trade-off, but I think normal antifreeze is comfortably the winner here. Fans: I have always used the stock fans. Every S1 I have owned has had either three or four. I rewire them so that they are fed a clean (10-guage to minimize voltage drop) power supply from the battery, each has its own relay (3 fans) or fans 1 and 3 have a relay and 2 and 4 have a relay (4 fans), and of course the load isn't carried through the otter switch. I did drive an S1 in Miami for a few years, and my blue S1 (454H) was "Florida-ized" by its long time previous owner in Tampa -- both with stock fans (3 and 4 respectively) and no issues. I see enough 95F degree days in Ohio . . . the stock fans move a lot of air. When someone can compare apples to apples, Spal (or some other brand) vs. stock, on current draw and cfm of air moved, I will seriously consider them . . . as long as they aren't the ones where you put bolts through the fins! That seems to me an unnecessary risk of failure, especially on our cars with their above average vibration. I haven't seen any evidence that Spal or any other particular fan are actually better. If they do move more air, is it needed? (I haven't seen a need myself) . . . and at what expense of taxing the alternator/cutting into hp? Again, I would consider aftermarket if demonstrated to move more air while drawing fewer amps. Like with aluminum radiators, I think aftermarket fans are just popular because they are available, affordable, and do the job. Fine if you don't have any fans at all or your originals are not rebuildable, but I wouldn't seek them out without consideration of other variables. Back to the Radiator: When you re-core the radiator, see if they can add more rows. Think about this: Most cars with a similar surface area of radiator to the S1 have twice as many rows with half the length. Same cooling area, but a fraction of the resistance. The rows in an S1 radiator get clogged up easily, as they are long and few, offering greater opportunity for deposits. When people have cooling issues with their S1, they start doing all kinds of things like installing a lower temperature thermostat (does nothing to address overheating), adding a manual fan switch (also useless), flushing the system (good), buying aftermarket fans (placebo?), and cutting/adding a variety of vents and holes in the clamshell, body, etc. (ugh) . . . they'll do all kinds of things but won't do anything about the elephant in the room: the radiator. Why? Probably because it is the most expensive thing and they want to try all other options first. Add to that that it is a lot of work to replace the radiator -- removing the spoiler/shroud, etc. . . And they are probably looking at the radiator on the outside and it looks nice and clean; they think it's fine. But the radiator is most often the answer. It might look fine on the outside, but as stated before, there aren't a lot of rows, they get clogged or restricted more easily due to their length, and even partial clogging of a few of them significantly reduces the cooling capacity, because a tiny blockage affects that whole long row, which is significant to the overall cooling area of the radiator. Every time I have an S1 radiator re-cored, I am blown away by how cool the car runs. In stop-and-go traffic, 90F degree summer days, in the hot sun. I am surprised by the fans' ability to bring the temperature down to where they shut off again. And then you *don't* want a lower temperature thermostat, because the engine and oil don't even get up to normal operating temperature on cooler days. Plenty of people have bought the whole kit and caboodle -- aluminum radiator and aftermarket fan kit -- and say it works great. No doubt it does the job well. Any new radiator will be a massive improvement over an old one full of deposits. But just taking the physical properties of copper vs. aluminum and water/ethylene glycol, it seems to me the winners on heat transfer (giving the S1 a bigger margin on what it needs most) are copper and water/ethylene glycol. The benefits of waterless coolant don't outweigh the drawbacks in the case of the S1, and the only apparent benefit of aluminum is price. By the way, you can often repair a non-working original Lucas fan for a few dollars. Most of the time when they fail, it is because the motor brushes have worn out. Take the motor apart, clean everything, replace the brushes, put a drop of oil on the bushing, and put new sealant in the appropriate areas when you put it back together. Take a few moments to spin the fan blade by hand to make sure they are all twisted the same amount. Cheers, Tony K.