78070100S Progress

[Lotusfab]

I don’t think a new loom is necessary or cost effective, despite having fitted one on my S1 and having to remake a lot of it. They had also made a major error in the circuit, which it took hours of work to find. It was an early attempt by the company and they have probably improved now. It was extra annoying that my five added relays copied from the manual diagram worked perfectly and the major fault causing a short was in their loom wiring!

I learned from this and on my Turbo kept the original loom. It was in excellent condition. I replaced only heat damaged wires, added a few and rebound the loom. I replaced some of the connectors with brass. Very easy to do. In my view the original parts are better quality than what we have now, including the original connectors.

[JonSE]

I’m investigating a new S2 loom from a U.K. supplier, they only have LHD and would like to see my original RHD before quoting, mine is so badly shot I’m not sure it’s a good example to even pass them. I offered them the wiring diagram but they said it wouldn’t be much use with out the actually loom as a comparison.

I was surprised at this as the LHD version can’t be that different to what I need and could even just be flipped over possibly. So not as straightforward as I had hoped.....

[Fridge]

Apart from the additional marker lights etc I would have thought that the RHD loom only differs from the LHD version from the point forwards of the gear lever. Even then it could be flipped over to the left. But I've not given it much thought TBH.

There's a bigger difference between a late RHD S1 and S2 loom, albeit largely the same, apart from it being longer due to the different routing to the front compartment.

[Lotusfab]

Autosparks are probably the place to go if you want a new one. Its pretty easy to repair them though.

[drdoom]

3 hours ago, Fridge said:

Apart from the additional marker lights etc I would have thought that the RHD loom only differs from the LHD version from the point forwards of the gear lever. Even then it could be flipped over to the left. But I've not given it much thought TBH.

There's a bigger difference between a late RHD S1 and S2 loom, albeit largely the same, apart from it being longer due to the different routing to the front compartment.

Believe this to be correct, though worth noting that the bulk of wiring is forward of the gear lever in any case. Unwinding the tape from sections well protected by location within the car one finds the wires quite immaculate. I nipped off one of the horns connectors for examination and despite residual road grime it appears the thing might well still be soundly bonded. Would re-do any such weathered pieces as a matter of course and, meanwhile, meter the remaining connector's circuit resistance when back at it shortly.

[drdoom]

Digital VOM reads 0.2 ohm for the admittedly short run from remaining untouched horn connector to relay, revealing that the wire-spade crimp in the exposed connectors remains effectively bonded after all the miles through the wet and salt. PO fancied the Bond life, shuttling to and fro the ski resort with this Esprit in winter.

Cheers 

[Fridge]

Which resort?

[drdoom]

22 hours ago, Fridge said:

Which resort?

Whistler / Blackcomb, best we've got out here.

[Fridge]

Friends live near Big White.

Always fancied visiting Jasper and Kicking horse.

[drdoom]

We drove a trip which took us through the Rockies year before last in late May/early June, weather delightful. Not quite Grindelwald in scope but of beautiful grandeur nonetheless. Big White's locale is another of our more delightful regions, as you'd surely know.

Cheers

[drdoom]

Plodding on rather too slowly, recovering momentum following efforts in support of family imperatives over the past weeks. 

Just finished unwrapping and cleaning the loom, looking to place in situ in order to plan modest rework of fusing plus an upgrade or two. Trip to machinist for production of bespoke crank pulley still pending, as is a trip to the A/C tech for crimping of the final 3 hose fittings. Pandemic status once again verging on dire so tending to suppress impulses to run errands. Lots to do always out in the garage in any case. My work in design of the twin M/C brake rig with clutch bracket is in a mate's hands for final touches and generation of a drawing suitable to instruct fabrication. 

Cheers

[drdoom]

On a break from the wiring analysis today, had a go at sanding down the headlamp pods. With scant confidence in the quality of our local pros' work on GRP I hope to at least manage the sanding and rectification chores before handing over for final finishing. As a novice I'd welcome any and all insights into this. Is it correct to sand away all layers beyond the gelcoat? In the attached photo one can see that both the gelcoat (pink) and primer (?) in grey are very thin. Hand sanding with 100 and 150 dry for the most part. Thoughts?

BTW, will task the wife with seeking Miles Wilkins' book when online reserving at the library this evening.

Cheers 

 

[LOTUSMAN33]

Good work Steve, it is really time consuming but worth the effort. 
I do my prep as well then send to the paintshop and follow the same merhod taking to gel coat/primer.

On my S1 I’m going to be using Upol Reface which is a polyester spray filler then dry guide coat to finally get the desired finish. It does mean getting the car transported to the paint-shop twice though as I want to do 90% of the prep if I can and don’t spray at home (Upsets the neighbours).

I use a set of these which really help with final finishing;

Good luck and wear gloves or you will soon loose your fingerprint ID which is a pain if you use for apple login 😁

Dave  

 

[drdoom]

Thanks Dave, right you are on the wearing of gloves, BTDT. So you'd not worry about the traces of grey primer remaining? It would take rubbing down without any sort of block to remove the grey whilst leaving the ever-so-thin gelcoat. I gather there's concern of reactivating old polymers when laying on new finishes, hence the pedantic approach but perhaps that's taking it too far?

 Dave @CHANGES L has advised using a mix of dark pigment and thinner as a wipe over the gel in order to highlight less obvious stress cracks. Need to figure out how to concoct that solution.

[LOTUSMAN33]

Dave is the expert on this sort of work, the grey primer is fine so don’t worry about a few traces here and there.

I always try to grind out any gel cracks before starting the prep which gets most of them, you need to make sure you get the full length of the crack though as it’s easy to miss the really fine bits.

Key is to just take your time, I tend to do a bit of prep between other jobs otherwise it gets really repetitive.

Dave  

[drdoom]

Update/confession, Summer 2021. Well into the wiring updates enterprise, thought it appropriate to report in on my state of chronic Shipwright's disease, suspicions looming that Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria must have dipped a toe in the Lipp family gene pool back in the day. In essence I seem to have rewired much of the car with relay and fuse blocks, high spec earthing busses, and current OEM spec cross-linked polyethylene insulated wire of higher gauge everywhere other than portions of the instruments binnacle. It's becoming a thing of aesthetic and technical beauty, at quite some cost in marine grade parts, but Lord does it take time!

Cheers

[LOTUSMAN33]

Sounds like we share the same background Steve 👍🏻

[JonSE]

Do you have any images of the work you can share? I need to start planning for replacing mine at some point and it would be great to visualise where you are with this!

[drdoom]

Yes, I've dared to take a photo or three, painful eyesore to the sound of mind I'm sure! Look for those late tomorrow, not handy at the moment.

Cheers

[drdoom]

The overview "guiding" this madness revolves around concern for undiminished power being available for headlamps, rad fans, cabin fans up front, various presently unconfirmed pieces back in the engine bay. My lighting guru has detailed the imperative of halogens operating at design voltage, what I've done further reflects intent for optimal performance ( relays/ fat wires for the windows motors ) and reliable service ( blade type fuse blocks, marine grade earthing busses, new wire in ample gauge.

Attached images show common buss fuse block in the boot, 2 x 10 gauge feeds from a Mega/Midi distribution fuse block in aft bay near battery, backside of 8 fuse block for placement in the glove box, underside of a 7 mini relay block placed just inboard of the LHS headlamp pod.

[drdoom]

Somewhere back in the murk of '21, in a thread now forgotten, I asked for opinions on why it seemed futile pursuing engine components through the well-known vendors when they'd been utterly uncommunicative. Happy news to share at last, Britain remains open for business! Final word on crankshafts forthcoming very shortly, pistons on offer as well.

Not much else to crow about as this re-think of the wiring has proven just as daunting as one would expect. Still inching forward nonetheless, now very near concluding work forward of the aft bulkhead and not near so much looming for the back.

Cheers  

[drdoom]

High time for an update, today somewhat in the vein of philosophy from the depths of mad ambition. The mission statement which could apply here is to preserve and focus the core DNA of Esprit while updating peripherals for best reliability. The journey proceeds lately at the slow pace consistent with due care in analysis of major changes to the electrical structure, that ongoing for much of the past year, now expanding to include engine and ancillaries updates. Good success at last with sourcing major engine components, thanks to Kemp HPE. Elsewhere in TLF I've posted call for opinion on refinishing the cylinder bores, so comments welcomed on that. It is my hope to progress sufficiently well on adapting engine management and on engine build including redesign of ancillary drive to serpentine that time for body and interior trim work remains during the months of fair weather ahead in '22.

A more minor matter landed back in my lap when instruments presented to an old mate 2 years ago for tidy up were returned with apology barely touched. Taking that up now in order to contain the ever increasing chaos, with so many other irons in the fire

Undaunted, though surely mad.   

[EXCEL V8]

Mission statement laudable!  Could have written it myself, substituting Esprit with Elite 🙂.  Glad you're making progress!

Pete

[drdoom]

Having successfully attended to '22's challenges, the most daunting in years, I have resumed the Esprit program. Electricals, interior trimming, mechanicals and more on deck but presently focussed on the electricals. LED bulb adapted marker and signal lamps have been checked, their circuits rectified as needed to harmonise with the dash lamps plus added relays. Now getting on with my headlamps build with many thanks to those in TLF who've previously shared analysis of how it all works.

Dread nought.

Cheers  

[drdoom]

Minor sorting has seen the headlamps function nearly ready to go, just the hold over relay to maintain low beam when main engaged yet to de-bug. Meanwhile, as posted in another current thread under " H/L Motor Oddity ", I've opened up the 2nd unit finding that the plain capscrew was indeed purposed for regulating pressure to the armature shaft, marginally. The tip of the screw just makes contact with the hard plastic cap fitted to the shaft end and as there appears no visible measure of wear to either the screw or cap one must assume this to be a case of the " use and discard when worn " line of thinking popular in times past. That because the screw is driven fully home as things presently stand. I've found a spare hex bolt in 1/4 UNF which will serve as set-screw once the threads have been chased a tad further up the shank, the hex lopped off and a slot cut into its end for adjusting efforts.

On another aspect has anyone got pics of the armature and brushes area of such a motor? Also, while 2 screws holding the casing dome are readily seen it eludes me how to remove the dome when the manual lift knob is in the way? Advice?