SE High Wing C Service

[peterm9911]

6 hours ago, silverfrost said:

Peter,  Plenty of cars out there out still like this condtion, sadly a few years ago many had been purchased because the esprit used to be cheap to buy secondhand and lots of people used to run them without doing anything on them and bodge certain things, this of course did not help the lotus esprits reputation,  as they are in fact well behaved cars if looked after.   

Very sad that as you say this car ahs been serviced etc before,  your lesson has been learnt not to go back to those places !  However it has been known for people to stamp service books with their own rubber stamps that they have got hold of, or had made !  

At least its good hands now and you will get a well sorted car back when sparky has worked his magic. 

I think its a beutiful looking esprit,  I normally hate the high wings to be honest but had never seen one in silver before until i read thi thread,  The high wing model looks great in silver , Its a rare car and well worth the effort that is been put into it,  All the work is now well documented so if you choose to keep it or sell her on afterwards it should give you the rewards of reliabilty and a finacial reward also if you chose to sell 

Thanks for that.  I have to say I'm really happy to have Sparky looking at it, about time someone who knew what they were doing had a go :-)  Cheers.

[rocket63]

Well the car looks great on the outside Peter and i can certainly vouch for the Sparkster and have worked with him on a few occasions now. Your in good hands

[Barrykearley]

Just don't ask him for wood

[Sparky]

Awww, shucks.

But yeah, I got wood.

[Sparky]

Finally arrives at ain't-taking-no-more-apart phase.  Huzzah!  It's all uphill from here...

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by Sparky

[Sparky]

Contents of RH tank swirl pot:

 

[silverfrost]

Sparky i am not sure Peter will take too kindly to you using his swirl pot as your personal coffee perculator 

[Sparky]

That's exactly what it's like - wet coffee grounds.  Arabica, I believe.

[silverfrost]

 Nah,  it looks more like Kopi Luwak to me 

 

[Sparky]

Most if it seems to be coming from the other side of the baffle.

[silverfrost]

The thing is the tanks look decent from the inside in some places I know the outside they are trashed and not far of holeing , is it just rust or some other form of strange  muck  

[Sparky]

It's rust, according to my magnet.  LH tank looks even worse, but not easy to get a pic.  I might cut them open one day.

The pump strainer was just a solid rusty lump.  I've cleaned it up and it's intact.  Appears the strainer and fuel filter did a grand job of keeping pretty much all of this out of the engine.

[Sparky]

RH tank.

Pump.

[Trevsked]

It ran incredibly well considering.

 

Trevor.

[Sparky]

Probably never run again after all the fixes.

BTW your cuppa's cold.

[Trevsked]

Fear not, I'll be round to irritate you soon enough.

[Sparky]

Yeah, irritate me with the McLaren, there's a good chap.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Sparky

[rocket63]

Hope it hasn't got a Honda engine in it. Might take him 4 weeks to get there if at all 

[Trevsked]

Yes sir,

 

Trevor.

[pete]

think the comma is in wrong place

yes,Sir Trevor

[Sparky]

Still awaiting tanks, so decided to start tidying everything up.  Spent 2 hours removing half a gallon of silicon from the towers and plenum.  The surfaces look like the previous visitor had cleaned them with a garden rake and a chisel.  Finally got it all off and lightly dressed the surfaces with 1500 grit.  The curious stud in the plenum will probably remain there (it's resisted several attempts to remove) as a replacement bolt would still need a nut or helicoil.  Not sure yet.

[peterm9911]

Thanks for the update, really appreciate it.  Any news on the tanks, they've been a bit more than two weeks!  If it gets to May we could have had the nice ones :-)  Hope everything else is OK if you know what I mean, just let me know when you find the next expensive issue.  Cheers.

[Sparky]

Pete, I had no idea how much time had passed; as you know, there have been some distractions!  Plenty of preparation to keep me busy before the tanks arrive. I expect them this week.

[Steve V8]

I do love looking at big lumps of silicone, @Sparky has been getting on with getting it off, though I prefer the silicon you get off on getting it on.

The PO's over enthusiastic use of silicon in this case could have easily destroyed this engine, see how the inner overspill has hardened in lumps above the oil galleries, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what might have happened if one of these lumps had got dislodged and sucked into the oilways.

 

[Vanya]

I love this thread. It has this inherent quality that rouses morbid fascination - kind of like watching a trainwreck unfold in slow motion.

Get that bloody stud out though! Perfect excuse to buy an induction heater and get it out with a stud extractor!  Can you convince the owner to cough up for a Mini Ductor?