removing the head and cam towers

[bigsi]

i use autoglym engine degreaser and another degreaser that i brush on first, leave for a few mins then wash off, i then use my little angle grinder with a rotary hard wire brush followed by a softer brass brush, i will hammerite these this weekend in flat silver.

[greenman]

Hi Simon,only found this section today,captivated me to the point that I am posting for the first time (if it works). You have got more bits off your car than I have,but its like an initation into Lotus Esprit ownership.With the guys on here guidance and your determination ,just take the slow lane and you`ll get there. Very glad to have met you at the show ,looking forward to seeing the video, Trev (greenman)

[bigsi]

well today i decided to refit the rear bumper and fairing, also re-fit the silencer mount points.

they have all been coated and look much better.

rear gearbox mount plate

silencer mount

heres the bumper fitted first

lower valance

ok.. spot the difference

my pods looked terrible, so i thought i would see how they will come out after some compound and polish.

this is how one pod looks

and the other after.

i re-coated the headlight mount plates also

one of the fittings going back on.

by this time i wasd fit to drop so i called it a day..

[bigsi]

well i finally give in, i am sick and tired of this car now, every bit of effort i put into it seems to be for nothing.

i have spent two days trying to refit the pods only to find the hinges wer wrong they were two sets of left hand hinges, the rivet on bar holers that go through the pods are falling to pieces and theres nothing on the pods for them to rivet too either. i tried really hard to just get this little thing right and i couldnt even do that. i cant refit the bonnet, thats split at the mounts also.

i should never have got the damn thing, the person who ahd my old car must have been in stitches as i drove away in it.

if its not heavily corroded its damaged, if its not damaged its totally broken and useless.

as for the pile of lies that is the so called 'c' service that was supposed to have been done by stratton, all i can say is what a load of crap. half the things on the list were never done, to top it off they have never returned my calls abut these issues after calling 5 times about it late last year.

im sorry but the amount of corrosion and damage theres no way it would have ammased in 2k miles!!

i have had enough im not pulling punches anymore, i got stung on this, i have enough to deal with i dont need this albatross around my neck.

Edited March 28, 2007 by bigsi

[Guest Troy Halliday]

Now would that be a chocolate albatross

Working on these cars definately has its up and downs. You've had yours downs you'll just have to wait for your ups

[dodgy]

Glad yours fitted my locking wheel nuts are way to big. Looks like I'll be giving them to someone on here. They are most definatelt not the ones for the S3 dispite what SW said.

it seems the wheel bolts we brought are not for our cars A082G6093f are for the s4s onwards

oh and i forgot i had studs not bolts

[Simon350S]

Umm.... Dude.....

Relax man....

Have u deleted all your photos or something???

[dodgy]

So its not just me then!

Si

[bigsi]

your gonna have to ignore me on occasions guys, im now classed as clinically depressed.

things have not been good here at home and im not coping well now at all, to top it off i have developed shingles that are bloody killing my right leg.

im due to see the doc again shortly and to go and see someone, a councellor or someone to talk to, but, they dont know when....

im trying to keep things together here but not managing so well and kellys noticed a difference in me so shes worried also.

yes the car is getting me down and i got so frustrated and tired the other day trying to refit them whikle simon was here that i just gave in in the end, the same the day after.

i just want to get somewhere with it and see that my work has paid off.

im apologise for appearing so theatrical on times in my posts but this is due to the sheer frustration.

i have worked hard all my life, its all i know and now i cant even do that, so having that taken away from me isnt a prospect i ever thought would happen, realising this fact is not easy and im not going to let it beat me, if i dont try and do things i will never know if i am able to or if it will come back.

anyway bear with me in the meantime and normal service will resume as soon as possible..

simon

[hilly]

Phew !!!!

I was a bit worried there for a while..............

Hilly

[bigsi]

as usual i ignored all advice and went and did something.

so today i removed the drivers rear caliper and stripped it out.

as you can see it was disgusting and the piston had siezed. so ic elaned it all up ready for some caliper paint.

luckily the seals look like new and so do the pads. but then they hadnt been used..

[bigsi]

[bigsi]

[Guest Troy Halliday]

Yep plenty of meat left in those pads Simon so no worries there. I'm a little concerned about the piston though that pitting could be an issue depending on how far into the cylinder it goes.

[bigsi]

the pitting is tiny, just barely there, looks worse as its full of dirt, but its not that bad i dont think, there was no fluid leaks on the caliper from it anywhere.

here is the uncompressed picture full resolution

Edited March 28, 2007 by bigsi

[bigsi]

today i managed to get the passenger rear caliper off, it was easy after doing the first on

there was some congealed gunk in the piston chamber

and here you can see where the tpiston had siezed, the seals look good still and not much wear, i havent cealned the piston yet to see if there are any markls on it

i will get them both painted up this week but i wont refit them as the seals may need replacing.

Edited March 31, 2007 by bigsi

[bigsi]

c leqaned up the rear passenger caliper today, looks like the piston may be shot as its full of pitted holes. will put pics up later, also the rear mating surfaces that join the rear section to the main caliper are corroded badly so there isnt a tight seal there either.

[bigsi]

update.

today my caliper two part epoxy paint arrived finally, so tomorrow as its going to be nice, with help im going to take the front calipers off also, clean them up and then paint all 4 calipers in one shot as this paint wont keep. i can then acess the state on the fronts also.

thats aboiut it really.

[bigsi]

update:

ok, today i went at it like a madman, and got the front calipers off then the hub and disc, the mounting plate and a few other things.

while off i noticed that the mounting arms etc were looking real bad.

these need to be seriously cleaned up and then painted up to prevent further damage and corrosion, however im not convinced they have much longer left in them. personally i would like to blast them clean, coat in por15 and then coat in the por-15 sterling silver over paint.

i laos noticed that some of the bushings were petrified!!.

i also found out why i was getting the wheel jusder at certain speeds..these are the anti roll bar bushings i believe.

note please that one bushing is non existent!!! how it got an mot i would like to know let alone not be spotted at the supposed 'c' service that was done

Edited April 7, 2007 by bigsi

[gghc87]

keep them coming this is such good stuff

[bigsi]

by the time i had removed what i needed to i got to this stage, i then removed the mounting plate you can see for cleaning also.

i then refitted the wheels and took the parts for cleaning this was in itself a length process taking me all day.

here you can see the state on the brakes which were badly siezed now and were also in a very poor state.

back to front here, after then before.. these will get painted up also.

these are now cleaned and degreased and painted up in silver, they are now drying in the sun.

this is how bad the calipers were.

[gghc87]

just gets better

[bigsi]

heres the heatshields all painted up

i eneded up having to split the calipers to get the pistons out and to be able to clean them correctly.

i ended up having to split the calipers due to not being able to get the pistons out as they had siezed in the calipers so badly, luckily re-sealing them wont be an issue.

i will take pictures off the pistons later on and put them here.

luckily i will be able to re-seal them easily enough after painting. but this is what a long hard days work can achieve , as for now im so tired and sore im off my feet for the rest of the night. i guess this is the most i have done in a while and i dont think im going to do anything for a while now!!

plenty of pain killers and a nice hot bath will sort things out before nice relaxing night in

as for the ease of the job:

i was not looking forward to doing this by any means but it had to be done.

the biggest problem for me was undoing the main bolts that hold the calipers on, luckily with the long tourqe bar they came off with a sharp tug to the bar.

i then used an old rubber glove over the end of the brake hose end to stop fluid going everywhere.

its a dirty job more than anything and you will need several sizes of sockets and spanners to take every thing off.

however if like me your a bit of a perfectionist and want things done right and clean then its worth the time.

tools needed today were:

19 and 17mm sockets for wheel bolts inc securty bolt.

19mm socket to remove castle nut from center shaft.

needle nose pliers to remove splitpin.

13mm socket to remove top two bolts holding disc heat shield. 14mm socket and spanner for the two lower bolts.

4" grinder with various grades of metal cleaning brushes.

a degreaser solution in hot water to clean the parts after wire brushing them off.

a quick drying degreaser for the parts after they have been washed.

Edited April 7, 2007 by bigsi

[hilly]

Good work ........

If it helps, my S3 was in as equally bad shape when I got it (actually probably worse), the calipers and suspension arms looked very similar, but it all cleaned up OK.

This is what you get with 20 year old cars that aren't kept in museums.

Hilly

Edited April 7, 2007 by hilly

[bigsi]

yep i totally agree with you hilly, but saying that it doesnt take 5 mins to clean things over the course of a weekend or day while in anyones ownership, looking at that its just been let go and no care has been taken of it. a shame really.

i tell you what if i could clean and paint or chrome most of the bits i would. i would love to do a body off like troy did, blast everything down, smooth them up and wither paint or chrome them, just goto town on the car. yes i know too much american hotrod etc but i really want a concourse level car and something i can take pride in day in day out.. oh and a reason to lavish as much time cleaning things as i can get away with!!.