Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Lotusfab]

Three years and counting! 

[Fridge]

Exactly. A few days won't make any difference, but rework is a waste of time and effort.

[Steve4012]

23 hours ago, Lotusfab said:

Ok plan B. I'm missing a locator dowel which hasn't come yet. I will mate the gearbox and try lifting as one. I'll then split it afterwards just enough to put the dowel in!

There's a good chance the Nylatron washer will fall off when you retract the gearbox and if you're only pulling out enough to insert the dowel you won't know if it still on or not. When I removed mine it fell between the flywheel and friction plate. 

[Lotusfab]

With some help from Andy, et Voila!

[Lotusfab]

Having done it, my take. 

If your on your own with a garage height if 2.1 meters get a helper, or put it in separately. Get a long reach crane, leveller and two strops. We had to remove the rear bumper and take the wheels off to clear the rear spoiler. Once clear we used the leveller to tilt the engine to get it in. Wasn't  that difficult with two people and some decent kit. I put a tiny drop of superglue the secure the Nylatron washer to the end of the clutch shaft just enough,  so it would fall off when fitting. Dowel installation after! 

[Lotusfab]

Wouldn't fall off! 

[Lotusfab]

I seem to be stuck in a quagmire. Since the engine went in not a lot has happened. I have split the engine and gearbox to put the missing dowel in, but the dowel didn't fit! I now have the correct one coming. The clutch hose won't fit the new clutch slave cylinder. I need to order a male male connector. The only trouble is which one? 

Nothing is easy on these. Once the dowel is done I can start to progress again. Now I have turned the car around its starting to look like a finished car!

 

[Lotusfab]

Well dowel is fitted, easy. Biggest mistake I made in this build. Not fitting the thin head gearbox mounting bolts before the seuspension arms! I have just taken apartvthe entire neaside suspension and still have to do the offside. It all has to come apart to remove the arm! 😡😡😡😡😡😡

my next problem the clutch arm seems to be a very long way back before the release bearing engages!

[Steve4012]

4 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

Well dowel is fitted, easy. Biggest mistake I made in this build. Not fitting the thin head gearbox mounting bolts before the seuspension arms! I have just taken apartvthe entire neaside suspension and still have to do the offside. It all has to come apart to remove the arm! 😡😡😡😡😡

Can you not just remove the gearbox mounts by the two small hex head bolts, insert bolt and replace? 

[Lotusfab]

That's a very good Idea I should be able to get at the bolts! Wish I thought of that! Does the clutch arm look like it engages where yours does? 

[Steve4012]

Not sure but with the new clutch problems I've had I wouldn't rely on anything from my car in that respect! ☺

[Lotusfab]

I remember the clutch arm was in the same position before. Problem is it doesn't look correct and I thought that then. I'll know when an fit the pushrod. 

[Andyww]

54 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

Well dowel is fitted, easy. Biggest mistake I made in this build. Not fitting the thin head gearbox mounting bolts before the seuspension arms! I have just taken apartvthe entire neaside suspension and still have to do the offside. It all has to come apart to remove the arm! 😡😡😡😡😡😡

 

But you can do that when you remove the gearbox mounting brackets from the gearbox which you have to do to fit the fixed part of the caliper to them (I think).

The mountings would have to come out also. But disconnecting the lower links is not difficult is it? Just take the bolt out.

[Lotusfab]

I found the lower link arm bolt wouldn't go back in with any amount of jacking because of tension on it from the hub carrier I will try the  next one buy jacking up the gearbox and engine and trying to get a spanner in to remove the mount,.its a bit tight just above the arm!

I've now lost the clutch adjusting screw and lock nut that holds the pushrod! 

[Lotusfab]

Well second gearbox mount done in 1 hr! Thanks Steve, great idea! 

[Lotusfab]

Quite a bit done today. Have almost sorted the gear shift. Just need to get the pushrod sorted with a rose bearing and adjust the crossgate cable. The cooling pipes at the front of the engine are a real pain. They are difficult to access an the water pump one is so close to the camwheel. I'd say it was about 5 mm away. It needs holding back with cable ties. The engine mounting bolts re 12 mm part threaded. I'm still waiting for some new bolts to arrive. I also fixed the wastegate and new turbo pipe. I'm having trouble sourcing the correct union for the clutch cable. It's a PNM cable but a landrover cylinder with 7/8 thread. Just need to find out what the PnM bit is. 

Andy idea, a big improvement t in the original.

[Lotusfab]

Ok all the behind the scenes stuff is complete. Now the problem of pipe routing. In particular if any one has pics please post them! Vacuum pipe, servo pipe clutch pipe speedo brake cables etc.

Ok all the behind the scenes stuff is complete. Now the problem of pipe routing. In particular if any one has pics please post them! Vacuum pipe, servo pipe clutch pipe speedo brake cables etc.

[Lotusfab]

Having problems getting the gear to work properly. At the moment you can select them all including reverse without lifting the stick! if I adjust them to work the gear lever will sit to the right and nit verticle when it's in neutral! 

[Lotusfab]

Gear selector

Well I have spent several days trying to sort this and so far have failed. I think I have discovered why. I post my take on it here to save time for anyone else who has issues. 

I could get all gears at the start, but then was fooled into thinking I was in fifth and reverse when in fact I was moving the selector to the right and in 3/4 th! This happened because I was looking through the bulkhead at the gearbox shaft and couldn't see clearly how far over it was. This wasted time and money.

Well the solution was very simple. Select 1/2 the shaft is then the furthest into the gearbox. Place some blue marking tape around the selector shaft to mark this position. When you select 3/4 the shaft moves out about 10 mm - easily seen as the space between the masking tape and the gearbox body. Then 5 th it move out about 10 mm more and a little more for reverse. When you look at the tape through the bulkhead you can easily see which gear is selector by the blue tape gap tomthe gearbox. This is how I discovered my error. 

Before you adjust the crossshaft make sure the pivot is in the verticle position when the gearselector is in neutral. I found this affected the crossgate because my gear lever was sitting further away from the step plate so the spiro pin could flex more than it should. Like all these things experience would make this an easy job. Of if you have two people with one watching the cross shaft.

set pivot to verticle.put tape on crossshaft

 

 

[Lotusfab]

[Lotusfab]

This is how the step plate infront of the gear lever works....the positions are approximate to explain how it functions. The crossgate cable and push rod have to be adjusted to achieved fifth gear just before the step and reverse when the lever is lifted over the step. 

[Lotusfab]

2 hours ago, Lotusfab said:

Gear selector

Well I have spent several days trying to sort this and so far have failed. I think I have discovered why. I post my take on it here to save time for anyone else who has issues. 

I could get all gears at the start, but then was fooled into thinking I was in fifth and reverse when in fact I was moving the selector to the right and in 3/4 th! This happened because I was looking through the bulkhead at the gearbox shaft and couldn't see clearly how far over it was. This wasted time and money.

Well the solution was very simple. Select 1/2 the shaft is then the furthest into the gearbox. Place some blue marking tape around the selector shaft to mark this position. When you select 3/4 the shaft moves out about 10 mm - easily seen as the space between the masking tape and the gearbox body. Then 5 th it move out about 10 mm more and a little more for reverse. When you look at the tape through the bulkhead you can easily see which gear is selector by the blue tape gap tomthe gearbox. This is how I discovered my error. 

Before you adjust the crossshaft make sure the pivot is in the verticle position when the gearselector is in neutral. I found this affected the crossgate because my gear lever was sitting further away from the step plate so the spiro pin could flex more than it should. Like all these things experience would make this an easy job. Of if you have two people with one watching the cross shaft.

set pivot to verticle.put tape on crossshaft

 

 

Sorry the spiro pin bit is wrong, I've had a think.  It wasn't sitting further away from the plate because it's attached to it! I had insufficient movement of the gear lever which I now believe was partly due to the lever sitting at the wrong point in the crank arm and I also noticed a pivot bolt was loose on the pivot arm. I was missing a 7 mm nut and hadn't realised it had come out slightly from the pivot arm. 

I still suggest setting the pivot arm correctly before adjusting the crossgate.

[Lotusfab]

I believe because this was not seated correctly and was able to move slightly it changed the distance the lever moved across the step plate. The loose pivot bolt making adjustment random and impossible. I've fixed that now after having shortened the push rod to a point I have to get another one! I anticipate when I attempt this again it will be quite straightforward now I understand how it works and the pivot arm and pivot bolts are all correct.

[Lotusfab]

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[Lotusfab]

Very slowly Im approaching engine start!