590Y

[Makse]

It arrived on Thursday and after reattaching the DS stearing arm it was rolled off the trailer and left as I had popped out from work

It had been started to be restored as boot was full of parts and the door cards and interior trim had been removed and stacked inside, The bonnet was separate as one of the cables on the catch had snapped. 

The front suspension had been stripped, painted and rebuilt with new bushes. New callipers still in their boxes. Discs and pads are like new. Does need new shocks. 

Spent time on Saturday and removed everything out of the car. the radiator needs replacing as the fins are like dust. the battery in the boot was completely flat 0V and will also need replacing. decided to finish the assembly of the front hubs and put  the discs and calipers on, but a couple of bolts missing; 1 carrier bolt and 1 dust shield bolt to the steering arm. Made up one hard brake pipe to the caliper as I found the correct ends but had to order more to do the other side. Will complete this when parts arrive.

On Sunday decided to tackle the fuel system. The pump had been replaced and looked new but did not work when power was applied. After removing from the car and taking the cap off it was found that the mechanism was a little stiff from a lack of use and after some lubrication it came back to life and was put back in the car. Next was the fuel tank. It was a struggle to get the filler neck hose slide down to disengage with the part attached to the body but after getting a bent pick between the hose and metal, pulling away and spraying WD40 I was able to move it with a pry bar.

With what people have reported in the past I decided to check the inside of the tank. Removed the sender unit, this was covered in a white powdery residue and the float was stuck. After some cleaning and lubrication everything was back to normal. I did check the inside of it and it was clean. The inside was still shiny and the outside was very solid and so either just lucky or it has been replaced at some time in the past. There was also signs of previous repairs to the body underneath the tank.

The felt covering the tank was held in place by lashings of tape and was very thin so I decided to replace it with high density foam that I had left over when sound deadening the mustang. This was stuck on with stray adhesive. first fit showed that the tank was sitting too high, so was removed and shaved some of the foam off to get the mounting holes to line up better. the filler neck hose had been removed and a light coating of grease was applied to help with sliding it in place once the tank was in place. 

My first aim is to get the engine running and this will include going over the ignition system to check everything is in order. I will convert to electronic ignition but will only do this once the engine runs. It does crank over ok but a new cam belt will be done before attempting to start the car properly. Also as said before the radiator needs replacing but the fans do run ok on the bench.

 

If anyone knows where to get M12 x 1.25 pitch x 35mm long which are part threaded then please tell. These are for the caliper carriers. 

I had a look underneath and the exhaust has a lot of surface rust and some sections will need replacing but the centre and rear silencers are in very good condition. The rear suspension looks very crusty and will strip that down and will rebuild. 

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Makse
amendments

[TonyPoll]

Since the brakes are Toyota you may be able to find this bolt at a local Toyota dealer, or online.

[silverfrost]

Fantastic, glad you are getting to grips with it already,  give sj or lotusbits a shout for your calliper bolts and other bits     

[mikeeech]

Kays fasteners on eBay will have the fasteners you need. I will be following your progress with interest.

[Makse]

26 minutes ago, mikeeech said:

Kays fasteners on eBay will have the fasteners you need. I will be following your progress with interest.

I have used them in the past and was the first place I looked but they don't do 35mm length, 40mm is the shortest. might do a bit more checking and see if they might fit.

 

[Makse]

Received V5C in the post today and was checking the VIN and noticed that my serial number is 1234  

[Makse]

Spend a few hours today working on the Excel. 

Brake pipe ends had arrived during the week so I made up the the drivers side that connects to the calliper. Then removed both front shocks.

I had also stopped by Halfords and picked up a new battery  - HB057. Looks a little small but has plenty of poke.

Put some fuel in the tank and decided to prime the system to see if there are any leaks. Turned the ignition on and the pump run for about 10 secs and then stopped  Started to check the pump as it was sticking before then realised that I hadn't connected power to the flow lock valve after refitting the tank - doh ! Now the pump is whirring away and can see fuel and air reaching the carbs. Left it until the pump stopped and checked the carbs to see if there was any sign of fuel leaking - nope

Decided to try to start the engine. After a few turns it caught and started  let it run for about 30secs and then switched off and there's no radiator fitted.

Next was to start on the rear suspension strip down. Removed the rear wheels and this is what I was faced with

 

The top nut is really rusted and has been left to soak. All the other nuts were spayed with WD40 and then put the cordless impact gun on them and they undid with no problem  

put all the rusty stuff in a container full go Deox-c and left them  

 

 

[silverfrost]

Great work     Glad she fired up ok,   Just make sure you get the cambelt changed to be on the safe side 

[Makse]

Cambelt has arrived just need to fit. It will be done once I have stripped the rear end down and it's all soaking in Deox- C or waiting for the paint to full dry.

Went for Quentin Hazel QTB122 which is the same width as the genuine lotus version.

My list of parts is getting longer   but that was expected. 

 

[ZXRRDave]

If you fancied going up to 15" wheels theres a nice set of the speedlines on Ebay at the moment for a very reasonable price. 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F202586516841

[Makse]

16 hours ago, ZXRRDave said:

If you fancied going up to 15" wheels theres a nice set of the speedlines on Ebay at the moment for a very reasonable price. 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F202586516841

Thanks. Plan is to keep it as original as possible and will upgrade for safety purposes. 

[Makse]

Full set of adjustable Gaz shocks have been ordered. 

[ZXRRDave]

1 hour ago, Makse said:

Thanks. Plan is to keep it as original as possible and will upgrade for safety purposes. 

Excellent, the S2 style speedlines on the car are lovely things, but I know some people prefer the larger rim to allow a bigger brake setup.

Saying that, the 285mm 4 piston caliper kit is supposed to work with a 14", which would be plenty on a car this light.

I'm glad you're taking this on and posting it on here, as I would have called about the car myself if I weren't waiting to hear on a job that may require relocating. 

[Don.Hasi]

The calliper bolts are not available anymore through the Toyota dealers. So Lotus and used market source only. 

[Makse]

9 hours ago, Don.Hasi said:

The calliper bolts are not available anymore through the Toyota dealers. So Lotus and used market source only. 

I have ordered some that are 5mm longer than the originals. should be able to loose that with a thicker washer and some clearance already there. 

[Makse]

Spent a few hours yesterday evening working on it.

Have stripped the rear suspension down completely and is now soaking in Deox-C. The first items I put in a few days ago are looking a lot better but had to change the solution as it was totally black (this means the active ingredient has stopped working).

The brake disc was not that bad and it now rust free, but is now a dark grey colour

Had fun getting the drivers brake disc off as it wasn't put on to align with the hub. So a new fitting kit is needed. 

Lower wishbones have been cleaned with a wire wheel and then coated with Dinitrol 4941. The link bar (??) had the same treatment.

Last job was to replace the cam belt. Pretty easy as the bonnet and radiator are already removed. 

[Multistrada]

Would you happen to have the size of the brake pipe ends handy? I need to redo mine this spring.

[Makse]

3 hours ago, Multistrada said:

Would you happen to have the size of the brake pipe ends handy? I need to redo mine this spring.

m10 male and female

[Multistrada]

16 hours ago, Makse said:

m10 male and female

Thank you.

[mikeeech]

Please change the fuel pipe. It looks old and crusty and a bit of a fire risk.

Edited March 3, 2019 by mikeeech

[Makse]

2 hours ago, mikeeech said:

Please change the fuel pipe. It looks old and crusty and a bit of a fire risk.

It's on my list to investigate fully