Eclat Headgasket

[The Nut]

Hi to all, following the summer on the road, as I drove my eclat to its winter home, on the last day of October, I could not resist kicking down the auto box on the Caterham by pass, the result a massive oil leak from the top rear end of the engine, I think its probably a rocker box cover gasket, any way I have decided to have the top off, new head gasket and renew all other gaskets on the top end. On the old forum there was a very good thread on getting the head off with the engine in the car, any one have a copy or know if the old forum is archived somewhere. Started this morning with bonnet and both rocker covers off. Hope to spend next Saturday on it.

Any assistance greatley received.

Regards to all, John

[Stokey]

Hi John,

Ifyouemail Dave Ryder he will post you a cd with the whole forum on. I have a copy but it would take some finding. I will have a look for you.

[2811ChrisW]

Steve's Benani website - http://www.benani.co...aintenance.html - has a copy of the'how to' for Excel head gasket replacement.

[The Nut]

Chris,

Thanks for that, printed off and read. Started striping off bits yesterday evening, but gave up as its 0 degrees in the warehouse, going to arrange a space heater for Saturday.

Regards to all,

John

[Sir Paolo]

Please excuse me if I'm stating the bleeding obvious, but given that there are literally hundreds of bits to be removed - I'd advise you to put all the nuts/bolts etc into labelled zip lock bags.

It works for me - ever since I did a gearbox on a car a long time back, and had a number of bolts left over!!

[The Nut]

Thanks for that Sir Paolo, What a way to spend the weekend, 5hours on Saturday achieved getting all inlet manifold nuts off the studs, after taking of the air filter so I could get a spanner to the last nut, one bolt sheared on the thermostate housing as I removed it, the carbs and manifold are stuck to the head. Got the exhust split on the down pipe. Gave up lunch time as it was such a frustrating morning.

Sunday afternoon, got the head bolts off, but had to get the water pump off to remove the hose to the inlet manifold, to get the water pump off the P/S pump needs to come off, spent 2 hours last night fighting the two bolts on the bottom fixing, got one loose the other just spinning around, need spanners top and bottom of bolt, went home to read manual, from manual, need to remove road wheel and jack up engine on left hand side. Going to pub tonight will carry on tomorrow.

Regards to all, John

[Dunc]

Keep at it mate....

I know you won't let it beat you.

D

[The Nut]

The saga continues, Wednesday evening, off came the nearside front wheel, 10 mins later P/S pump off the car and the water pump out. So simple when you know how or read the manual first, back on goes the wheel jack up car disconnect the left hand engine mounting as per instructions, jack up engine on the LHS, having only one jack had to put the car up on ramps at the front, any way, head lifted about 2" (50mm) and then jammed on the exhaust flange hitting the front leg of the chassis. Went home to read the bible again, Thursday evening, disconnected the RHS engine mount as well, jacked it up till the top of the gear box fouled on the bottom of the air box, the flanged then cleared the chassis leg only for the exhaust stud thats screwed into the flange to foul on the chassis leg, dropped the engine back onto its mounting and went home, Friday swimming lessons with the kids took manual to read and look at. This morning, Saturday, back to work and the cold warehouse, couple of nuts on the stud, lots of plus gas, cup of tea while it worked its mini miracle and out came the stud, jacked the engine back up in the air and the head lifted straight out, Spent the next hour just cleaning the block up, scrapping off the instant gasket that was used on the head by a previous owner, all looking good. just got to put it all back together now. A few minor problems like getting out the sheared stud on the thermostat housing, new water pump gaskets to order from SJ's and lots of new pipe clips from Halfords.

Jason, if you read this, did you put in new head studs or reuse the old ones, I can't make up my mind if its worth the expense of changing them, any one else got any comments or views on whether to reuse or replace with new.

Regards to all,

John

[Stokey]

John,

I had the same thought when I did mine but I checked and they were re-usable ie they are not "Stretch Studs".

Keep at it!

Jase.

[Sir Paolo]

Yes, I was faced with the same question during my engine build. As far as Lotus are concerned, there's no need to replace head studs during the course of a rebuild. All the fuss seems to have come about due to a faulty batch of studs, hence all new ones have a dimple in the top for ID purposes. But otherwise, they are made to the same spec.

[The Nut]

Thanks to both of you, thats that settled, just got to get it skimmed now, there's carbon on top of 3 & 4 liners and burn marks on the head gasket, I guess its been blowing between the two cylinders.

Will up date later in the week as I progress.

Regards to all, John

[Sir Paolo]

I'm sure you know having read the manuals, but don't trun the engine over with tthe head off, unless you're using liner clamps.

You can make your own quite easily, so you don't have to buy Lotus ones. I made mine out of thin strips of alli secured them in place with old gudgeon pins - that are the perfect length.

Also be careful when you clean the tops of the liners - too much metal removal will affect the all important 'liner nip'.

[The Nut]

Got the head back Tuesday £20.00 lighter and 15 thou thinner than when it went in. Started lapping the valves last night, gave up after doing the first one, there must be an easier way, my son thought I was try to start a fire, will carry on tonight.

Regards to all.

John

[Stokey]

LOL!!!!!!!! I know the feeling, I thought I had been clapping for a solid fortnight after I did mine. I had blisters, splinters and allsorts.

[The Nut]

Hi to all, no computer for a couple of weeks, little virus down loaded by D3, so no updates.

Heads back on, new rads in, spent Saturday putting the cam shafts & belt back on and getting the timing right, started putting the hoses back on on Monday evening , hope to finish Saturday morning if I'm alllowed to play. Then I'll find out what's stopped working over winter, I've had an electric problem every year so far.

Regards to all.

John

P.S. Lapping the valves, I used double sided tape on the valves and stuck the rubber sucker to the valve, worked a treat but you get sore arms.!!!!!

[The Nut]

Hi, Lotties back in the land of the living, started her up on Saturday morning, water p****d out all over the place running down the back of the distributor, 10 mins of head scratching dried every thing off and started the search for the leak, knew it had to be on the inlet side of the head but where?, turns out when I put the water pump back on, I'd put the short hose that links the WP to the inlet manifold on but forgot to tighten up the jubilee clip on the manifold. the reason being I've changed every JC except that one as my local Halfords only had the one large one in stock and that went on the water pump. It must be the hardest most awkward JC to get to on the whole car. So engine running fine no other leaks of oil or water so will go for a short drive in the next week to see if anything happens.

Electrics, the clock, radio and heater blowers have stopped working as has the temp gauge. I think something's fallen off the back of the ignition switch or one of the fuses is playing up, aren't LOTUS's fun, little job over the Easter weekend

Will tax her next week and should be back on the road from the 1st May.

Regards to all

John

[andydclements]

It's still progress, don't forget that.

[Dunc]

bring it round for a coffee John when its taxed.

d

[The Nut]

Hi to all,

Lotttie finished, taxed, all back together and sounding good, have driven her 20M in both directions in the warehouse, up to tempature, fans kicking in and no leaks of any kind BIG problem, went to bring her home on the Bank Holiday Monday, 1st May and then found that we've had a skip delivered in front of the roller shuters, found it partially filled with builders rubble and its not due to be picked up for a couple of weeks aaahhhh.

Dunc, I'll pop round when I get it out of the warehouse.

Regards to all, John

[The Nut]

Hi to all, quick update on Lottie, she finally came out of the warehouse third weekend of May, passed MOT on the 3rd June no problems, after spending a interesting day adjusting the rear brakes. Was going to go to Castle Coombe, but missed it because I was ( stupid ) under the impression it was on the Sunday, so on Saturday was filling out my bee log sheet following a hive inspection, when I asked D2 for the date, told it was the 28th V p*****d off, I'd promised my son a day out, arranged it with the wife and even cleaned lottie, felt really bad for the rest of the day.

Have been using her almost every other day at the moment and almost every things working as it should, only little problem I have is the heater fans, when their on 1 they run no problem, turn it up switch to 2 and the fuse pops, then lose the radio, clock and heater, answer don't use 2 on the heater switch. Thats a problem that can wait till she goes back into the warehouse at the end of October.

Regards to all

John

[mc21.8]

Got the proper fuse in?dont ask me whats correct as i dunno look in owners handbook

[USAndretti42]

Nice work, John.

Does driving it live up to expectations?

[The Nut]

Trevor,

It makes a nice pleasing sound, still spins the back wheels when its wet, if you kick her down, so in answer to your question, yes. Only thing I cannot stop is the exhaust hitting / rattling on the chassis when you catch the pot holes and speed bumps. This is the second year she’s been on the road and its still good fun despite the oddities of the electrics.

mc asked about the correct fuse, as I have all the right value fuses in the fuse box, I assume yes, but as some one said, not necessarily in the right order,

Regards to all.

John