S300 No. 25 Restoration resumed

[CHANGES]

Thanks for your kind comments and confidence Mike, much appreciated.

This week saw the slow strip,clean and check of parts, getting some ready to ship out

for machining, others ready to go for rebuild by specialist ,and some bits binned,

so in all not a lot to report .

next week more of the same......

[lrg_machine]

Wow ! this things going to be better than when it left the factory.

Someone's got a lot of cheques left in their cheque book

[CHANGES]

Over the last couple of weeks i have kept myself busy by checking and re-checking things to insure quality. I was held up a bit by some parts being slow to arrive, This delayed delivery to Steve at Engine Tech who did a great job getting everything machined and balanced within 3 days for me..

Now I have everything back I have been able to start the engine build this week .

The block, crank , rods, & pistons, have been done along with the head and valves, I have made a start on the valve shimming, which will continue next week.

[esprit s2]

I'm gobsmacked by the quality of this restoration!! Absolutely superb!

[cbclotus]

Fantastic job Dave.Great to see some one who has the required skills to restore this cool car.Love your work .Now off to get my lotto ticket.Brill Mike

[Bibs]

Amazing work!

[Mike6]

Is this a car or a work of art. Certainly beats the bits of lotus decorating our house - big end shells pistons and liners but those are even cleaner than the knackered bits I have been given permission to adorn my PC area.

Will be a pity to put it to use on our dirty rutted roads.

[Günter]

not sure what you guys & girls expect -for me there is nothing 'special' on this plate to cover the shifter hole

-it looks not different to any S4s-V8 one ..and I can feel the chassis flex there too !

[CHANGES]

First may i thank you for your comments it is greatly appreciated.

Last week I was busy putting things together, i first completed the shims which are now all set centre of tolerance with the graphogen assembly compound, when this gets washed away by the fresh oil i expect the gap to increase very slightly then settle back once everything is bedded down.

To get all the shims exactly the same required each one to be surfaced ground which i was able to do at my local engineering company who very kindly let me use their machines.... Once i was happy with the shims sizes I heat treated them to prevent the valve stem eating its way into the shim which will happen if not done.

Once all the cams were fitted i moved onto the auxiliary oil pump housing. this was built as a sub section with the charge cooler pump. At this stage i also finally sealed all the oil tracts on the block.

when complete it was fitted to the block and followed up with other components and brackets etc in the same area.

Water pump and power steering pump went on next followed buy the cam belt, the cam timing was set and checked, engine rotated a few times and rechecked. When completely satisfied with this area i continued to fit parts such as the exhaust manifold which had returned from crack testing with a clean bill of health.

The next parts were the A/C and the inlet manifold followed by the throttle bodies and plenum,

The charge cooler and turbo were fitted in place as a mock up to ensure all was in order but they will be removed prior to fitting into the chassis and refitted at later stage. Finally alternator went into place along with a few smaller component such as fuel lines and oil feeder pipes.

As the gear box has also come back from its rebuild this pretty much concludes stage 3

Stage 4 will start with the assembly of stages 2-3 as one unit then reuniting them with stage 1 the body.

[CHANGES]

Back again, Stage 4 started this week which was taken up fitting the engine into the chassis, Once off the engine stand i was able to fit the new fly wheel and clutch assembly. After one final spanner check the complete unit was lifted and lowered into the chassis, the next task was to start fitting all the peripheries and connecting up the matching sections.

The wiring loom will be the next part to fit to the engine which should complete that area . after a final check on all areas I should be ready to lift the chassis engine assembly into the body next week.

[Vulcan Grey]

Looking good Dave! keep up the updates:)

[dodge1979]

Is the ebv valve joint on a flexible wire attachment on the 300 for a reason...or can any of us do that mod

[Guest WausauLotus]

Dave-

I see a lifting eye screwed in the tranny and the front lifting strap secured to the alternator mount. Are these acceptable lifting points for removing the lump or are using them because without the body it's only a straight up and down lift? I wouldn't think the alternator bracket would be strong enough for the 30 degree tilt lift required for a body on removal.

Comments!

Dave

Great job.........wanna come help with mine?

Keep the pics coming

Edited April 15, 2012 by WausauLotus

[fjmuurling]

Awesome job,

I hope the tie wraps which hold the EBPV in place are heat resistant.

Now for the more serious part of this posting namely can you elaborate a bit more on the graphogen assembly compound (picture, brand or something similar) so I can go hunting for the stuff over here.

Freek

[fjmuurling]

Google answered my graphogen queation, should have thought about that first, however i couldn't find any dutch references anybody any ideas about compatible products ??

Freek

Edited April 15, 2012 by fjmuurling

[Vulcan Grey]

most engine assembly lubricants (grease) contain Molybdenum-disulfide and or graphite.

Like this

http://www.amazon.com/CRC-SL3331-Extreme-Pressure-Assembly/dp/B000M8RYUE

[t70]

I'm flabbergasted... I feel.. well.. like a bit of an under-achiever.. you've made all of you're parts so wonderfully clean! wow!! Gorgeous!

[CHANGES]

Thanks for the comments...You all knew the wire ties were temp while i waited for new bolts...didn't you!!

On the lift aspect the alternator bracket does not take the full load but is surprisingly strong. I also use a side strap to keep the engine level otherwise it leans over to one side. People use many ways of lifting but mine changes very little. when lifting out of a body i attach a tilt devise otherwise no different. i have had no problems with this method.

Well last week 3 stages became 2 and this week 2 became 1 ...

I started the week by first wiring up the engine and rechecking all the points done so far, i took a lot of time over this as once the body is fitted a lot is difficult to access so best done now.

I retrieved the body from its storage position and then spent some time tidying up the engine bay.

Finally the chassis was positioned directly under the mounting point and slowly lifted into the body.

All the pipes etc were fed through during this operation and finally the shim washers between the body and chassis which had been removed on strip down were replaced as before, One last final check that all things lined up correct and the body suspension frame could be removed .

The next step is to start connecting everything up.

[mr.oogieboogie]

looks fantastic (eventhough its not green)

[dodge1979]

An intense weeks work there Dave, glad its storming along! Cant wait for the next installment and all the fine details..

[CHANGES]

Hi again..

This week was mainly taken up fitting things for the last time, with some final tweaking on a few parts to get just right.

I am now working my way down a final assembly list which always seems to take longer than expected and has a habit of growing as you go down it....

At this stage there is not a lot of progress that can be seen visually but a great deal of satisfaction as each part connects and fits where it should.

next week more of the same...

[dodge1979]

From the last pic there Dave, theres nothing better than than lying on your back with something so beautifull over you

[jonwat]

Shane to take it out & get it dirty.

[dodge1979]

Oh takin a clean one out and making her dirty is just the best! :-D

[CHANGES]

This week saw the engine wired and fired...

After a few tweaks to the air flow all the work and extensive balancing could be appreciated..

(very satisfying.) See download video after pics for nice smooth tick over...

It has done nearly 3 hours of running now , so the next job is to drain the oil inspect and refill..

I can then start putting the rest of the parts together and work towards final commissioning..

Still quite a bit to do till I get to that stage but feel it is moving forward now..

wired and fired 031.MPG

Edited May 4, 2012 by CHANGES