S1 Project car - part 2 - the continuation

[Lotusfab]

This is mine with 16Wwith park facility. Some of them you can adjust the park position by moving the switch. Assuming I have the original motor the only way to adjust the park position is by rotating the gear wheel or moving the wiper on the spline shaft. The spline adjustment should be quite accurate if the cam wheel is not gummed up with hard grease. The wiper switch when selected off sends power to the motor through the limit switch, which is cut off when the cam breaks the circuit. A lot of these motors look very similar but are different. I've spent a few weeks now looking at these every day!????????.

The brush plates look similar also but the brushes are in different positions! Check carefully before you order. I have a land rover brush plate from the 110 motor on the way. Should fit with a little adjustment.

[Lotusfab]

this is the EBay Land Rover 110 brush plate available for £5.75 , should work. Read somewhere it works 14W, 16W and above.

[Lotusfab]

Brush plate fitted.

Had to solder the wires to the switch plates.

Have bought a replacement armature which should arrive soon, then can reassemble. 

16W from eBay!

[Lotusfab]

The part arrived complete with brush plate. It was in such good condition. I swapped it with my re- made brush plate and put it all back together. Then I spent a few hours trying to put it together under the dash, so I would not have to take the binnacle apart again. Thank goodness it now works perfectly!l

[Lotusfab]

My left headlight pod stopped working even though I rebuilt the motor. So I took it apart and did it all again. I finally understand how they work. Due to the lack of guidance anywhere on this this is how I fixed the motor. The problem seems to be the switching circuit which is an easy fix, here's how.g

[Lotusfab]

The rotating gear has a cam on it which pushes up the copper strip at each 180 degrees of turn to stop the pod in the up and down position. The motor rotates in one direction only. The contacts become corroded so when the strip is lift and lowered there is no connection and no power - the pod gets stuck either up or down. Lift the cover on the case and press the strip with a screwdriver. If it moves this is the problem. Solution bend the strip up and clean the contacts with emery paper. As you can see in the picture the right contact is corroded! Clean it all it with electrical cleaner. Then the difficult bit. Wedge something like a bent rivet under the strip, pull it up and bend it back so when the rivet is removed it makes good contact and there is pressure. Then test pressing the nylon breakers up and releasing them checking the circuit makes and breaks. The rest of the motor just clean out all the old grease with brake or electrical cleaner, pack the gear half full of grease( anymore creates drag and reduces efficiency), replace and worn out brushes and clean the commutator. Set the end float screw 1/4 turn out after contact, oil all bearings with engineering oil and reassemble. Job done till the switch fails again!

if the pod runs continuously this is because th cam is not sitting high enough and you have such an efficient motor momentum keeps the motor turning long enough for the copper strip to remake the circuit. Solution raise the cam height.

Hope this helps these pods are a pain, a solid state solution would be far better!

[Lotusfab]

Thanks to Steve Fulcher the cars nearly there, just waiting for the glass. The speakers Steve grafted into the door cards work well and it's so loud you can hear it with the engine running!

[silverfrost]

That interior looks fantastic 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks! Can't take any credit for it Steve Fulcher is an expert. So much work goes into the interior it's hard to believe. The door cards took ages, as the fibreglass had to be repaired and shaped several times.  Then the oval speakers grafted  into the top. The original patterns are used to mark the green cloth and tartan. When the green material is stiitched together it takes up the exact shape of the door card. The is true of all the curved trim pieces in the car. A twin needle sewing machine and patterns are used to achieve the correct red stitching. Without the patterns achieving this level of finish would be extremely difficult if not impossible. Every piece involves so much work it has taken a long time and I'm still waiting for the seats, It will be well with it though! Going bond and having the headrests green. Steve's been a massive help with all his knowledge and skill. He does other outstanding work also, look on the Nick Fulcher Coachtrimmer website. Whatever the trim he has the skill and knowledge to repair or redo it better than factory finish. He has the patterns for the other Lotus cars Elan etc.

 

 

 

[silverfrost]

12 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

Thanks! Can't take any credit for it Steve Fulcher is an expert. So much work goes into the interior it's hard to believe. The door cards took ages, as the fibreglass had to be repaired and shaped several times.  Then the oval speakers grafted  into the top. The original patterns are used to mark the green cloth and tartan. When the green material is stiitched together it takes up the exact shape of the door card. The is true of all the curved trim pieces in the car. A twin needle sewing machine and patterns are used to achieve the correct red stitching. Without the patterns achieving this level of finish would be extremely difficult if not impossible. Every piece involves so much work it has taken a long time and I'm still waiting for the seats, It will be well with it though! Going bond and having the headrests green. Steve's been a massive help with all his knowledge and skill. He does other outstanding work also, look on the Nick Fulcher Coachtrimmer website. Whatever the trim he has the skill and knowledge to repair or redo it better than factory finish. He has the patterns for the other Lotus cars Elan etc.

 

 

 

I know full well how much graft he put in into it.  I retrimmed my own and managed to get away without using a sowing machine, i now have a alloy thin strip running across my dash like on your S1, sadly mine was done to hide the join of the two bits of material as i did not sew any bits together and could not shape it one bit.    Yes he is a true craftsman and its very easy to spot his work due to the high level of finish. 

[Lotusfab]

Light Pods

I have spent two days diagnosing why my left light pod runs continuously when the engine is running. It was working fine before until I cleaned it. I put this on here as there seems to be no solutions posted for these sort of problems. I tried for two days and now have it working. I tried raising the cam height but found this did not solve the problem. The motor and pod still had too much momentum.  I tried the motor on the opposite side and it worked OK?I then tried the right pod motor on the left side and it run continuously. This is an easy way to diagnose the motor or the wiring. But why had my wiring suddenly failed as it is all new, I remade the twin headlight relay section as it was missing from the new loom?  It worked perfectly before I cleaned the motor? Answer the earth wire on the left pod relay was missing! It worked before because the motor was turning slowly due dirt. I believe the earth wire on each respective pod relay earths the armature to brake it when the cam lifts the switch. Here's a clue for fault finding.

One pod stays down or up other OK - switches inside motor. Take cover off and check contacts with a meter, clean them up and try again or swap motor to other side and see if it works. 

Only one Pod dead - brushes or armature.

The are four relays one for each motor, a flash relay and a switchover relay. If say the left pod is affected and the motor works when connected to the right wiring check the left relay and all contacts, especially the earth. If the flash isn't working check the flash relay. If both pods are affected check the switchover relay and fuse.

When you buy a replacement motor for parts there are two cam types. They both work but the longer one is better. It stops the pod dipping slightly before it raises.

One pod runs continuously - earth wire on the relay for that side!

Dont give up I got there after two days and the above gives you a head start!

[Lotusfab]

Bulbs

recently found out one of the reversing lights was not working. Had a look at it and the bulb had burnt out. It was a bayonet Lucas 5w bulb. Checked the other side it was 21 W! Looked in the manual, there is a list of all the bulbs and their wattage. The reversing bulb should be 21 W.

[Paul Coleman]

You don't have all these problems when you only have one headlamp motor!! Lotus changed the later cars to two motors becasue it couldn't lift the headlamp pods if you were going over 100mph (as it couldn't overcome the wind resistance) but I've never had a problem with mine.

[Lotusfab]

I'm sure if by some speedo problem you ended up over 100 mph it would be far to exciting to think of raising the headlight pods!?????However, it's nice to know that Lotus thought of this and mine would pop up ok just before they flew over head after being ripped off, first the flimsy plastic surround then the plywood.

ps did you ever fit the millboard in the front boot? Do you have any pictures of how it was attached? I'm guessing it folded back at the corners and was held there by plastic studs? Did the pod motor lead go through the hole?

[Paul Coleman]

I bought the 2 bits of millboard but haven't fitted them as I have a bunch of relays for the headlights in that area.

[Lotusfab]

Got bored waiting for the glass, so started work on the missile system!????

Just about to change all the oils. Have decided to put MT90 redline in the gearbox. Probably 3 pints as recommended here. 

[Lotusfab]

S and J sell copper washers for the gearbox and a fiber washer for the sump plug. My gearbox plug is new but has no flange. I bought another one from S and J thus has no flange! There is a very slight seapage from around the gearbox drain plug. The flanged surface would seal better against the copper washer. Was thinking of trying to get the correct one from Renault. anyone else had this problem? There are flanged plugs on eBay but don't know what size.

belive this is the plug I need ?

[Lotusfab]

The gearbox copper washers and sump fiber washer came from S and J. Bought a new gearbox plug from S and J unfortunately it was the same as the one on my car and didn't have a flange. There is a slight seepage from the gearbox sump because the surface area of the plug is too small. Thus is the part I think should go in there.

[Choppa]

Fabian - you want to check that figure for the amount of oil to put in the gear box, 3 pints is way too little for the Citroen box I believe the perceived wisdom is 3 litres, a little more than the amount Lotus recommend which is to help with lubrication when in 5th. As you are thinking of going to Renault for your gearbox plug maybe you have a different set up under the engine cover in your S1?

 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Colin! Will do some more research, hope your cars coming along, stunning example!

[Lotusfab]

Spot on Colin! Have just looked it up, read pints somewhere on the forum.

Has any other S1 owner run it with three litres and had any problems? I will plan on this as covering the fifth gear would seem a good idea. My only concern would be oil leaks, but if this isn't a problem will use three litres instead of 2.25L

[Lotusfab]

three bottles of this should do, 0.946L each. This would put it over 2.25L and just under three litres. Please could anyone post if they have had any problems with increasing the fill level? Thanks.

[Paul Coleman]

I have filled mine with 3L of MT90 and if you jack it up (at the back I think) it leaks oil from somewhere but I don't know where!

When it needs changing I think I will go back to the original type of oil because the MT90 stuff is so thin it leaks quite easily and I don't think my overdrive is leak free and the O rings on the cross gate shaft also leak.

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Paul, that's not good news, maybe why Lotus only said 2.25 litres?

[jonroberts]

Hi Fabian - pic of my gearbox drain plug - it doesn't have a flange on it - just a copper washer.

I used Castrol Syntrans 75W90 because the MT90 was out of stock when I changed my gearbox oil last year. 3 Litres of this and it did leak more than before around the rear of the gearbox (5th gear) housing cover.  I had to pull off the housing cover and re-seal it with Loctite 518. No leaks anymore :-)