Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Mysterae]

 @Lotusfab  , look what popped up on my youtube recommended list  .

 

[Lotusfab]

16 hours ago, Mysterae said:

 @Lotusfab  , look what popped up on my youtube recommended list  .

 

Thanks. Did a few interviews whilst I was there.

[Lotusfab]

Please to say this and my S1 were named car of the year by Classic and sports car by the magazine team. No easy feat against the competition!

[kkv444v]

That's just Alastair Clements' choice rather than the magazine's, surely? 

Well done, though. 

[Lotusfab]

NEW FUEL PRESSURE REGULATORS

Continuing from the above beware if you buy a new Malpessi pressure reg. even though it says they are for the Esprit they can’t be adjusted down to 4 psi. The minimum is 5 psi which is the limit of the needle valves. You risk flooding and a fire. The solution is to use the spring from your old regulator as the new one has a different spring rate. If you do this you should be able to adjust it correctly. All the work on mine was a result of my Clarke fuel pressure metre reading incorrectly. Since it was expensive and I had only used it once I am very annoyed! Anyhow my regulator is now spot on.

[Lotusfab]

Start Voltage Upgrade
I have continued to improve this car since it was finished. The latest upgrade, thanks to Andy on here. Some time ago I upgraded to a high torque starter motor. If you do this the new starter motor has no facility for connecting the white/yellow start wire. This wire with the Lotus starter motor carries full 12 v for boosting the coil voltage during the start. You loose this when you upgrade to high torque starters. Andy made me a simple diode connector. I connected this to the starter and the ignition coil using colour code wire now bound into the start loom. Job done better than when it left the factory. Starting was never an issue, but with a Lotus every little improvement add up to make a really trouble free car. Now to mod my S1 starter! 

[910Esprit]

What ignition system are you running Fab - presumably Lumenition ?    On the Lucas CE cars (eg mine)   The yellow/white is present and connected at the starter, but is otherwise redundant as no ballast circuit is provided.   The spade connector fell off mine years ago!

[Lotusfab]

21 minutes ago, 910Esprit said:

What ignition system are you running Fab - presumably Lumenition ?    On the Lucas CE cars (eg mine)   The yellow/white is present and connected at the starter, but is otherwise redundant as no ballast circuit is provided.   The spade connector fell off mine years ago!

I have a mega spark coil with a ballast resistor, so reduced running voltage. The yellow/white by passes the resistor on mine to give the full 12v for start.

[Lotusfab]

Just found this video it can be used to compare with my car. The lighting affects how the paint looks. I’ll let you in on a secret. The FYEO car in the picture is two different colours. The bonnet was broken and they got the car resprayed. Presumably they ordered A19 paint and didn’t check it. We all know the formulation was changed. The bonnet and wings appear A19 and the rear is the original colour which is identical to my car. If you look carefully you can see more reflection and metallic in the A19 paint.

 

[drdoom]

I can see the difference between  front wing and door in the still shot of the YouTube clip.

[Lotusfab]

Do you ever finish a Lotus? My Turbo upper steering column bearing has slight play, the steering wheel screws need tightening and I have replaced the front hubs with genuine compomotive ones machined to my wheel spec. Its very difficult to detect the play in the wheel screws. If you hold the boss behind the wheel you can wiggle it if the screws aren’t tight enough. Problem is the crash pad centre has to come off to get to the screws! I have bought a new steering column and just need to install it. The steering column was about the only thing .on this car that had not been rebuilt or changed, as it seemed ok when I put it back in from the resto. I replaced the wheel bearings with the new hubs. I found the felt seals supplied are very poor and don’t fit properly in the hub, also the cotter pin is too tight. Shame you can’t buy parts that fit properly!

[Lotusfab]

Well all the allen screws in the steering wheel were loose. I had to remove the crash pad with a sharp knife, take the six screws out, put loctite threadlock on them, tighten them all and glue the crash pad back. Sounds tricky but it was quite an easy job and it made a huge difference. Now I have to replace the steering column.

[snowrx]

Wish my steering wheel play was so simple, I have to rule out the upper joint before I tear into the rack....

[Lotusfab]

i was lucky. I timed the steering column replacement. 55 mins to take out. 1hr 35 mins to put back. All of the bolts are new though and I have done it before! Easy job by Lotus standards. The new column is a much better design with better bearings.

Steering now is as new, perfect!

Might as well  do the S1 column now I have a bit of practice!

[Lotusfab]

The steering play didn’t turn out to be so simple. Have tightened the Momo steering wheel screws and replaced the steering column the play was massively reduced but still not perfect. This exposed play in both universal joints! My next job!

[snowrx]

I did the upper joint last week, a PITA moving back and forth repeatedly from deepest Lotus position to wheel well removing and replacing the joint through the body shell. I marked the old upper and lower joints with a paint mark, then transferred the mark to the new part to maintain the 30 degree phasing of the joints. 

Ironically, whilst I was locking off various halves of the u-joints with pliers trying to diagnose where the play was worst, I did indeed get my steering wheel to slip on its hub!

[Lotusfab]

42 minutes ago, snowrx said:

I did the upper joint last week, a PITA moving back and forth repeatedly from deepest Lotus position to wheel well removing and replacing the joint through the body shell. I marked the old upper and lower joints with a paint mark, then transferred the mark to the new part to maintain the 30 degree phasing of the joints. 

Ironically, whilst I was locking off various halves of the u-joints with pliers trying to diagnose where the play was worst, I did indeed get my steering wheel to slip on its hub!

That exactly what I will have to do😩😩😩😩😩Still afterwards I will have replaced the whole steering system! You may have to check the momo screws are tight and have thread lock.

[snowrx]

My steering wheel slop was self-imposed I'm afraid. My wheel is sandwiched between the hub and a six hole trim ring, with the "horn" button in the middle. I had put a gasket under the horn button to keep it from rattling around and it was thick enough to take some tension off the assembly. Overly thick gasket removed, and a thin bit of nitrile rubber added to the back of the wheel for extra stiction and it's all good now.

Curious about just what the symptoms of the worn column was, loose in the telescoping portion or side to side at the base of the column above the upper u-joint?

[Lotusfab]

23 minutes ago, snowrx said:

My steering wheel slop was self-imposed I'm afraid. My wheel is sandwiched between the hub and a six hole trim ring, with the "horn" button in the middle. I had put a gasket under the horn button to keep it from rattling around and it was thick enough to take some tension off the assembly. Overly thick gasket removed, and a thin bit of nitrile rubber added to the back of the wheel for extra stiction and it's all good now.

Curious about just what the symptoms of the worn column was, loose in the telescoping portion or side to side at the base of the column above the upper u-joint?

Good you sorted the wheel! I noticed play when I was driving up and down and side to side. I thought it was the column, so took the wheel off and found play in the upper bearing. I then replaced the column and there was still play! I then realised the wheel was moving on the boss! All six screws were loose. There was no play in the old lower bearing. After I did all this it was a lot better but exposed a noise like a notch every 180 degrees. After investigation with a friend we found the wheel moved very slightly before the wheels. On visual inspection and feel slight play in both U/Js! More work! 

[snowrx]

Notch every 180 may be improper phasing of u-joints from what I've read. If they are lined up exactly square the geometry of the two joints binds a bit, so they say to offset them three splines or 30 degrees.

[Lotusfab]

25 minutes ago, snowrx said:

Notch every 180 may be improper phasing of u-joints from what I've read. If they are lined up exactly square the geometry of the two joints binds a bit, so they say to offset them three splines or 30 degrees.

Thanks they are phased, but I will recheck. It wasn’t doing it with the other column, which is odd! Anyhow both U Js are worn, so still more work.

[LOTUSMAN33]

Good work Fabian, once again I’ll follow your lead on this as my White S1 has horrendous play in the wheel. I have noticed some spline wear in the steering wheel spline but initially was looking at the rack or track rod ends.

I think I’ll do some checking on the UJ’s first now as reading a few threads they seem to be a weak link.

Dave  

[snowrx]

I took a big pair of locking pliers and grabbed each half of each joint to hold it immobile, from column to rack, to get a sense of where the slack was. Hard to see or feel such a small movement in the joint, but it shows up as a big move on the steering wheel.

[Lotusfab]

38 minutes ago, snowrx said:

I took a big pair of locking pliers and grabbed each half of each joint to hold it immobile, from column to rack, to get a sense of where the slack was. Hard to see or feel such a small movement in the joint, but it shows up as a big move on the steering wheel.

Thats a good idea. It was easier to trace this fault with two people, preferably someone who knows Lotus cars. I have found when people try to help who don’t know the cars things break! One moving the wheel and the other at the UJ. The upper joint you could do yourself. The lower one you need someone on the outside looking at the UJ with a torch and the front wheel turned or off while you move the wheel. You need to jack both front wheels off the ground to detect the steering faults in the UJs. I could feel the play in the upper joint. The wheel would turn a very small amount before the UJs turned. I was lucky Andy on here, an experienced Turbo owner, was helping. I found the upper joint play and he found the lower.

[Lotusfab]

Well chaps I have some important news concerning steering wheel shake. I had an issue with this on the Turbo at about 65 mph. I decided to get to the bottom of it once and for all. Most of the car is new or reconditioned. The steering rack and all the front suspension has been replaced. I have split rim wheels on the front which I built. I had both front wheels balanced a total of three times and still had shake problems of differing severity. As you know, if you read earlier,I found play in the steering column and wheel, which I fixed. The steering wheel was still shaking at 65 mph. I decided that despite the wheels having been balanced three times they must be out. I took them to HL motors in Twickenham for a road force balance. There are only two garages in the south that have the machine, as far as I know. The other is in Chingford NE London. I asked the guy to record the imbalance before he started. One wheel was 15 g out the other 35g! This is massive and not what you would expect after three lots of balancing. He did the job and I fitted them to the car today and tested it.The result perfect, no steering shake. The Road force machine stimulates wheel loading by pressing a roller at 1000 lbs force onto the tyre whilst the balance is checked. It can also detect imperfections in the wheel roundness. 
In my opinion for split rim wheels a normal wheel balance is not sufficient. I don't think you can get a conventional wheel balance and then rule this out as the cause if your steering wheel is shaking. 
Road Force balance is the way ahead. After a lot of messing around with inferior systems its all sorted really easily! 
I now need to replace both steering U/Js and the discs. After that I will have replaced just about everything on the car!