Ian's S4s refurb

[Chillidoggy]

1 hour ago, Sparky said:

You could rearrange Shan's cleaning station...

Pointless doing that. She’d only put it all back again.

I do have a few things in mind, but with a major job on already, they’re likely to be a hindrance.

[Sparky]

G'wan, shuffle all her stuff around and take a photo.  Of your bruises.

[Giniw]

Why not a new paint?

Edited April 5, 2020 by Giniw

[Chillidoggy]

I ended up making a lamb stew, and packing another brake kit up for delivery.

 

[Chillidoggy]

Lockdown frustration update -

Had a message from Connaught to say they’ve finished the dynamic balancing however I’m still waiting on the cylinder head exhaust port machining, and final head assembly. To be honest, none of this matters as yet because there’s no sign of any main bearing shells from Garry Kemp.

On a different note, all our windows have been cleaned, with just the penthouse suite to go, and the metre-long seedum plant that had grown above the utility room Velux has been removed. All this was achieved without any falls from ladders and subsequent visits to A&E, so I’m calling that a win. Despite the best efforts of a total numpty who’s never grown anything else but a beard, the new batch of various varieties of chilli appear to be thriving. Quite why this is, is beyond me, but they seem to like being warm, and out of direct sunlight, something I never would have thought.

 

[drdoom]

Seems odd to me but in a similar way my backyard grass sheltered beneath a patio table grows faster than neighbouring lawn exposed to direct sunlight. 

That's as far as I'm prepared to go on isolation induced alternative topic discussion. 🤐

[Chillidoggy]

According to a local chilli producer, they like ‘diffused light’ rather than direct sunlight. As he grows them commercially in what looks to be a 200 foot long version of a massive poly-tunnel, I can’t argue with his logic. How can a plant that comes from Mexico and other such sunny countries not like direct sun? Beats me, but there you go.
 

I’ve just received a message to say the cylinder head work is proceeding, and following milling, the exhaust flanges now look like they’re going to provide a decent sealing surface, so that’s good news. I will see if there’s any movement on main bearing shells tomorrow, but I’ve got a feeling this rebuild isn’t going anywhere for a long time yet. Guess I’ll have to find something else to occupy my time, like waiting in a supermarket queue, aimlessly staring out of a window, or posting shite on Facebook.

[andydclements]

1 hour ago, drdoom said:

Seems odd to me but in a similar way my backyard grass sheltered beneath a patio table grows faster than neighbouring lawn exposed to direct sunlight. 

That's as far as I'm prepared to go on isolation induced alternative topic discussion. 🤐

I seem to remember from decades ago in Biology class, that plants rotate to the sun by means of a mechanism where the strong light slows growth, weaker light promotes it so the new growth of plants leaves & stem put a bend in the growth until ti's even on both sides.

[Chillidoggy]

Today’s lockdown job comes from pedant’s corner. Since I bought the car, the left front wheel arch extension has had a slightly larger gap at the front where it meets the bumper than the other side. This niggles me every time I see it. I assumed that the after-most bumper stud plate had rotted through, allowing the bumper to drop, however a photo showed that not to be the case as it’s still there. Thanks to @OwenGT3for his sage advice and photos on bumper removal, by the way. If the bumper had to come off, so be it, I was actually looking forward to doing it.

On closer inspection it became clear that although the bumper wasn’t exactly in its correct position, it was the wheel arch extension that was the worst offender. Having removed it, it was clear the PO had replaced its stud plates, but had made an arse of it as they didn’t align correctly. I thought I’d corrected all the PO’s bodgery on this car, but it appears not.

The only practical solution beyond stud plate removal was to open up the fixing holes with a rotary rasp just enough to get the thing further down. This took me bloody ages cos I didn’t want to open them up any more than necessary. Three hours later and I had it aligned. Next job is to have another look to see if I can tighten the bumper stud plate to pull the bumper up a few millimetres.

In other news, Connaught Engines sent me a message to say that work was progressing with my cylinder head, which could well be ready this week.

 

On the home front, I made a vegetable curry, helped clean the oven, just made the wife a large gin & tonic*, and ordered her a pink electric pencil sharpener. I must be well on the way to becoming a total domestic god by now. 
 

 

*Update - two large gin & tonics.

*Further update - three large gin & tonics.

EDIT - this could be a ‘bad’ evening.

 

[Giniw]

20 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

Thanks to @OwenGT3for his sage advice and photos on bumper removal

Could you share the URL please?

[Chillidoggy]

2 hours ago, Giniw said:

Could you share the URL please?

 

[Chillidoggy]

I’ve been giving some thought to improving the aerodynamics and I reckon I’ve cracked it. I’ve taken the rear wing off, and inverted it. How Lotus engineers and aerodynamicists missed this one I’ll never know, but I guess you should never trust any kind of so-called specialist, eh? Lots of qualifications and no common sense. I’ve had to do a bit of a calculation on the angle, but the way the front ends are shaped should channel air nicely through the gap, and with the centre acting as as spoiler that will give more downforce and less drag than before. More work will have to be done on the support structure but a GRP upright and some fairing pieces should do the job. Obviously I’ll be publishing the results on here, with no empirical evidence to back it up aside from my banging on about how much better it is from standard. Sometimes I surpass myself.

 

[Sparky]

Sheer genius, and guaranteed to improve handling.  Why I didn't think of it, I'll never know.

BTW is that Kent Cams CD any good?

[Chillidoggy]

45 minutes ago, Sparky said:

Sheer genius, and guaranteed to improve handling.  Why I didn't think of it, I'll never know.

BTW is that Kent Cams CD any good?

Philistine. The Kent cams thing is the angle finder.

[CHANGES]

1 hour ago, Chillidoggy said:

Philistine. The Kent cams thing is the angle finder.

The one you said you looked for but could not find ,  Knowing all along Shan would find it for you. 

[Chillidoggy]

Shan says it’s all to do with the angle of dangle vs the mass of the ass, multiplied by the prat with the hat, divided by the Wally with the brolly, which equals the correct trajectory of the wing with the bling.

It’s difficult to argue with her logic, however no doubt there’ll be some who will, but she knows she’s right so don’t bother arguing.

 

 

[Chillidoggy]

21 hours ago, CHANGES said:

The one you said you looked for but could not find ,  Knowing all along Shan would find it for you. 

Apparently it was in a box marked ‘Engine Building Tools’. I’d never have found it.

[Chillidoggy]

It's Christmas!   Or at least it felt like it for a while until lockdown reality kicked in.

I now have all the engine bits back from Connaught, and the dynamic balancing has been carried out. I now have 16 valves to lap in, and final assembly to do, so that should keep me busy while the main bearing shells are in transit.

The gearbox is back from being stripped and rebuilt with the Quaife LSD fitted, and this time it's been assembled using the correct Loctite sealant instead of cowboy RTV. I was pleased to learn it's in perfect condition, no new internal parts were required, and it has all new seals, gaskets and bellows, too.

 

[Sparky]

Yes!  You'll have it back together and on the road for...for...

I got nuffin

 

[Chillidoggy]

Well, I look at it like this: Should I cark it, at least the wife has a going concern to sell. I mean, no-one in their right mind would buy one in bits. Well, some might, but the target audience is greatly reduced. And in the meantime it will keep me occupied, and hopefully sane for a few weeks, if not entirely sober. When all this Coronavirus bollocks is over, I reckon the NHS will have a new nationwide problem to deal with in the form of over 60’s liver failures.

[Jacques]

Ha ha! Yeah, the Danish NHS equivalent kindly asked everyone via national tv, to lessen the amount of home rebuilding projects as well as extreme gardening projects, as they have too many damaged people coming in...

Kind regards,

jacques

[Chillidoggy]

Back in the garage, I’ve got 16 valves to grind in. But with cleaned up valves and re-cut seats it shouldn’t be too much of a task. Very pleased with the seat faces, they’ve come up a treat. Although I never specifically requested any porting work it looks like Connaught has done a fine job in cleaning them up.

The long-awaited main bearing shells finally pitched up yesterday, but sadly were the wrong combination. There were 8 hole and groove, one plain and one plain and hole. Someone up there hates me. Replacements should arrive tomorrow, hopefully the correct ones this time around.

[Chillidoggy]

Main bearing shells arrived, cue much rejoicing at Margate Exotics. Until I opened the box, which once again contained a wrong mix. This time it’s 5 plain, and 5 hole and groove. And guess where the only stock of the outstanding plain and hole is? Yup, I put it in in the post back to the supplier yesterday along with the others. So, I’ve now got to wait until they receive the package, box one bearing shell up and send it back to me. Hopefully it’ll be the right one, but the track record isn’t good. This is on top of another supplier who sent me a secondhand coolant hose and a set of valve spring seats that were rusty.

However the delay meant that I got all the remaining valves lapped in, and set about repairing the coolant stub pipes on the head with plastic metal. I’ve also filled some small imperfections on the exhaust flanges faces, more cosmetic than anything else. Tomorrow I can sand the stuff back, and assemble the head.

[drdoom]

49 minutes ago, Chillidoggy said:

Main bearing shells arrived, cue much rejoicing at Margate Exotics. Until I opened the box, which once again contained a wrong mix. This time it’s 5 plain, and 5 hole and groove. And guess where the only stock of the outstanding plain and hole is? Yup, I put it in in the post back to the supplier yesterday along with the others. So, I’ve now got to wait until they receive the package, box one bearing shell up and send it back to me. Hopefully it’ll be the right one, but the track record isn’t good. This is on top of another supplier who sent me a secondhand coolant hose and a set of valve spring seats that were rusty.

 

Crooks, idiots, or both ?

[Chillidoggy]

Probably due to being inundated with orders with none of the usual staff available. It’s frustrating, but let’s face it, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon!