Ian's S4s refurb

[Sparky]

She probably holds the patent.

[stephenwhyte]

Go easy Ian and keep it wet!!……said the actress to the Bishop!😳😉

[C8RKH]

10 minutes ago, stephenwhyte said:

Go easy Ian and keep it wet!!……said the actress to the Bishop!😳😉

And no drips on the carpet.

[Chillidoggy]

Update on my earlier post - she has no fewer than 6 of them.

[tomcattom]

On 01/11/2021 at 16:42, Chillidoggy said:

When the Rostra kit first arrived I originally had some misgivings. It's generic and although there are specific add-ons available for specific cars, of course the Esprit isn't one of them. So, there was a bit of working out the best way to do it. I did have some help from Jim Knowles, who provided me with his switch settings my thanks to him for that short cut.

I was first concerned (wrongly it now seems) about throttle cable travel. Throttle pedal bracket fabrication was required, and I had to work out my own wiring diagram incorporating a relay and the aforementioned switches as I have LED brake lights. This I got wrong the first time around and had to assume the Lotus position once more to correct my mistake. The instructions supplied weren't the best and the after-sales technical customer service was at best patchy, at worst, non-existent.

Selecting a position on the steering column shroud for the control stalk was tricky, although the stalk is supplied with two spacers cut at an angle so there's a lot of leeway. The idea is to get it accessible without removing the hand from the steering wheel, which I just about managed. It was awkward getting some of the wiring threaded through the bulkhead, and getting the loom secured so it didn't chafe, though.

I finally had the first test drive earlier today. I confess to being apprehensive  - what would happen when I pressed that button? Would I disappear off up the road into the sunset at a great rate of knots? Would anything happen at all?

Waiting until I'd cleared any traffic on the dual carriageway, at about 65mph I pressed the on button and 'set', then took my foot off the throttle. The system held that speed. I tried out the coast, resume, accel functions, they all did what they should. I'd already decided to incorporate a clutch switch as well as the brake switch, and both disengaged the system when either pedal was pressed, or it could be disengaged by using the on/off button on the control stalk. It works almost as well as the cruise control on my Focus, which I think is better at holding set speeds up and down hills.

At around 40 mph on A-roads, the Rostra varied a couple more mph than the Ford would have on steeper inclines, but I was in 5th gear though, and possibly should have been in fourth. On the flat and at 60 - 70 mph though, it was spot on, didn't seem to wander at all, varying as far as /I could tell by about 1 or 2 mph only on longer inclines.

I'm very pleased with this result, it will save the leg pain which has plagued me, and make the whole experience a much better one, even on shorter journeys. On longer ones, such as the 'Esprit d'Aventure' French trip, it would have been heaven!
 

 

Cruise control module

 

Control stalk.

Unless I owned a Esprit I wouldn't know that wasn't factory fit 👍

[Chillidoggy]

6 minutes ago, tomcattom said:

Unless I owned a Esprit I wouldn't know that wasn't factory fit 👍

Thanks for the kind words! I did my best to make sure any mods looked factory. Drilling the hole in the shroud for the control stalk took some gumption, as it was impossible to mock it up and I was just hoping it didn’t look too obtrusive. Rostra supply all different types of stalks, I chose the one I thought would be in keeping with the surroundings.

[Clarky5150]

On 13/06/2020 at 18:11, Chillidoggy said:

With the rebuilt engine and gearbox now back in, and only the tidying up jobs left to do, I won’t be posting on this thread again unless there’s something interesting that develops, and even then I’ll probably post elsewhere on TLF. Hopefully, it’s been useful to TLF members, that was my sole intention anyway. It certainly wasn’t a vanity project, as I wanted to share the pitfalls, successes, the processes, and how I coped with what turned out to be a totally unexpected bloody marathon, when I’d only expected a sprint. All the work I’ve done has been in an attempt to improve and maintain reliability. And reliability is the key word.

Roll the credits -

A well-deserved special mention and thanks goes to Dave Lisle @CHANGES, for his sage advice and the loan of his engine building tools. Also, Connaught Competiton Engines for their precision work and knowledge of machining processes, and Paul Matthews of Forge Engineering for the UN1 gearbox rebuild and Quaife ATB install. Pretty sure I’d have been a lot worse off without them.

Ian, I'm inching my way towards engine refit and noticed from your incredibly tidy install you have replaced the rigid fuel lines for braided. What was your rationale behind this and does the lack of the corkscrew in the pipe cause any safety concern?

I would much prefer to go down the route you have taken.

Regards,

 

Shaun.

[Chillidoggy]

5 hours ago, Clarky5150 said:

Ian, I'm inching my way towards engine refit and noticed from your incredibly tidy install you have replaced the rigid fuel lines for braided. What was your rationale behind this and does the lack of the corkscrew in the pipe cause any safety concern?

I would much prefer to go down the route you have taken.

Regards,

 

Shaun.

Hi Shaun, my main reason for changing them was the amount of damage in the form of nicks, chafes and scratches to the pipes, and also the fact that they were over 25 years old. I’d heard the story about the corkscrew and the engine hanging upside down, and to me it smacks of some kind of bullshit legislation for the US market. So no, it doesn’t worry me.

I did try to find new ones, but drew a blank, and indeed one respected Esprit specialist told me he thought they were “crap”.

In any case I was more concerned about the potential of a fuel pipe split and resultant fire, and as the original pipes were NLA at the time, the choice was pretty much made for me. I then made sure I used the correct spec hose, and tried to make it look like a factory install. I’m pleased with the result, to me it looks nice and does the job, but I recognise it may not be to everyone’s taste, or views.

Hope that helps.

 

 

[Chillidoggy]

One of the over-winter jobs has just arrived.........

My thanks to @CHANGESfor what looks to be a very nice piece of kit indeed.

[Sparky]

Blimey, I've just received an identical setup; what a coincidence.

[tomcattom]

Got a set of those myself last year, along with the LOTAC bushes. Hoping to get them fitted this winter too.

[Bling]

They look yummy Ian

[Chillidoggy]

7 minutes ago, tomcattom said:

Got a set of those myself last year, along with the LOTAC bushes. Hoping to get them fitted this winter too.

 

Get yer finger out and fit that brake kit while you're at it! 😄

[tomcattom]

It's in the plan, along with a wheel refurb - front left is leaking something chronic, despite the new rubber.

[Chillidoggy]

For various reasons, the main one being I kept forgetting, I finally got round to balancing the throttle bodies this week, which I should have done post engine-rebuild, hence the resurrected thread.

Now, according to the Lotus Service Notes, if you disturb the throttle bodies you’re not only a very naughty boy, but a plague of locusts of biblical proportions will infest your underpants, along with crop failure and floods. However, I figured that after 28 years, the chances of the throttles being in harmony with each other was slim to none, and in any case had already committed the crime. having disassembled them at the engine rebuild stage some time ago. I had previously set the butterflies using identical drill bits in each throttle, but this time I was going to use a synchrometer airflow meter.

Removing the plenum reveals the throttle bodies on the backing plate. I then took flow readings, which showed 1&2 were flowing way more than 3&4. For adjustments, there’s an air bypass screw for each throttle, a throttle coupling screw, and the minimum air rate screw. First, I balanced each throttle pair using the air bypass screws until they were equal. Then I reset the coupling screw to balance each pair against the other. When I had equal airflow, I locked off the screw.

Up until this point, I hadn’t touched the minimum idle screw, so gave Dave Lisle a call to pick his brains, as I wasn’t entirely sure whether to disconnect the IAC or not. Thankfully, Dave wasn't on the golf course at that point in time, and confirmed there is no need. So, I plugged in the laptop to look at the IAC valve counts, which were low. After boxing the plenum up, I took another reading, which was high. Clearly, the removal of the plenum has an effect on the valve. I then adjusted the minimum idle screw until I was happy with the counts, they having settled at around 25. Finally, I checked the TPS voltage, and travel, and logged the results.

End result? Idle appears to be a little smoother than previous, but without a dyno, and thus no empirical evidence, I cannot say if it ‘runs’ better. One thing I did notice, was that whereas previously the idle could be erratic on warm-up, sometimes very high, and not returning to normal until after a long while of running, it now starts off high-ish when cold, and soon gradually reduces in steps to the desired. Given the airflow characteristics of a butterfly valve, I suspect that may be the most noticeable difference.

[Chillidoggy]

There’s another thing that might well qualify on the refurb list if anyone’s interested - a full strip and rebuild of the rear Brembo brake calipers.

[Sparky]

You evil bastard.

[Chillidoggy]

1 hour ago, Sparky said:

You evil bastard.

“Masochist” might be a better term.

[Chillidoggy]

When Lotus started producing the S4s, they changed to Caerbont instrumentation, losing the S4 VDO oil temperature gauge in the process, which was replaced by a clock. Given my battery gets disconnected from time to time, as a result my clock is never right, or has to be reset after every event. Also, it’s largely obscured by the steering wheel, and it’s just as easy to glance at my watch. So, having decided that it was a waste of space, I set about removing it in favour of an oil temperature gauge, which I felt would be of more use.

I had previously been in contact with @tomcattom about doing so, and he had posted up an excellent article on how to do just that for the S4s. I contacted Caerbont, who were very helpful, but confirmed they had never made a temperature gauge to match the rest of the gauges. They were however, quite happy to make me one for around £200. I punted this idea around to all and sundry in an attempt to bring the price down, but never got much interest, and stuck the project on a back burner.

I resurrected the project earlier this year. The standard 910 set-up has an oil cooler sandwich plate which circulates oil to the two front coolers at all times. I’d already fitted a Mocal thermostatic plate some years ago, which helps oil temperature increase faster during warm up periods from cold.

First off, I bought a cheapo Chinese oil temperature gauge off eBay, and tested the sender against the gauge, which proved to be wildly inaccurate. I then bought another, rather more well-known make, and that was 10c adrift. I finally ended up with a VDO gauge and sender, which seemed to work as it should, albeit with a red pointer as opposed to the Caerbont white. I used Classiccarleds to supply me with an extra bright LED red, and it looks OK, at least at night. As well as this, I fitted a new 92c cartridge in the Mocal oil cooler sandwich plate in place of the 85c unit.

Believing the best method of measuring the oil temperature was putting the sender in the sump, I bought a ½” BSP sump plug adaptor, which proved to be the wrong size. This was replaced with one of the correct size, M20 x 1.5. with an 1/8” NPT VDO sender screwed in to the bore. I fitted the new gauge, and wired it up as per Tom’s instructions. The first run out showed a maximum oil temperature of about 60c, way too low. This was after some town and motorway driving. A check on the sump itself with an infra-red gun told the same tale. I was surprised at the low reading, especially as no oil had been circulating around the coolers.

In an effort to see if it made any difference, I decided to move the sender to where the S4 would have originally had one, identical to Tom’s install. I only had to remove the plenum to access the gauge connections, the starter was left in situ. I bought another VDO sender, this time an M10 x 1 tapered thread job, and removed the oil pressure sender to fit a suitable M10 x 1 T-piece.

It was at this point I noticed the oil pressure sender wasn’t the correct unit, it should be Caerbont 0 – 7 bar instead it was an FAE 0 – 8 bar job. This had been on the engine since I bought the car, unbeknown to me. A new pressure sender is in the pipeline, and I replaced the FAE for now.

While I was at it, I also fitted a new coolant temperature sender, after having erratic gauge readings for some time, and discovered that it too was not the correct Caerbont unit, instead it was one for the earlier VDO gauges. I also fitted a new 82c  thermostat, and off we went again for the test run. Coolant temperature was a higher, rock steady 88c. The oil temperature may have benefited from the change because the gauge showed a maximum of about 87c. Again, no oil was flowing around the coolers.

Now, I like my engine oil to be up around 110c, but it had become clear to me that there’s no way it’s going to get there unless either the coolant temperature becomes higher, the ambient goes up considerably, or the engine is on boost the whole time. I don’t know whether a 15c hike would have a direct 15c increase, and until the weather warms up next year, there’s noting more I can do.

[jonwat]

45 minutes ago, Chillidoggy said:

finally ended up with a VDO gauge and sender, which seemed to work as it should, albeit with a red pointer as opposed to the Caerbont white.

Looks simple enough to spray the red pointer white? 

FYI I swapped over the clock & boost gauge, figuring being able to see the boost she was pulling more important than the time. 

[Chillidoggy]

49 minutes ago, jonwat said:

Looks simple enough to spray the red pointer white? 

FYI I swapped over the clock & boost gauge, figuring being able to see the boost she was pulling more important than the time. 

 

Sadly, the bezels are crimped on these days Jon, not like the old Smiths ones. You wreck them getting them off. 

[Thartje]

On 19/11/2023 at 09:47, Chillidoggy said:

 

Sadly, the bezels are crimped on these days Jon, not like the old Smiths ones. You wreck them getting them off. 

Looks like a perfect fit when its illuminated. If it really does bother you though Caerbont will make you a custom gauge to match the look of the others. Took several months wait time but came out looking pretty good. Original on the left and custom on the right. Cost was not much more than a standard replacement. I believe it was $75 extra maybe.

 

[Chillidoggy]

If you read my second paragraph in the post, you’ll see I’ve already been down that particular path.

In addition, Caerbont will charge £55 plus VAT plus shipping to paint the current gauge pointer white, with a 6-week or so lead time.