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| Joined: | 04-07-2022 |
| Location: | Oregon USA |
| Posts: | 87 |
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A small update on Rusty.
I have installed the drivers switch panel and it is all wired in, and also the column switches. While doing so, I discovered something interesting... The new panel switches are all proper Lucas switches, with the 3 mm pins on the back for connections. The wiring harness that came with the car used the Molex style multi pin connectors, which I gave no thought to when I repaired the harness. The shells for many of the plugs had crumbled, so I replaced them with identical shells I had left over from my TR8 restoration of many years ago. When the time came to plug the switches into the harness, they didn't fit the shells. Much head scratching ensued, and I finally removed the female pins from the shells and hooked them directly to the switches, after insulating them with heat shrink.
I subsequently discovered that there is a type of plug used for the switches that did not come on the harness. British Wiring sells the correct plugs for the Lucas switches, and as luck would have it I had a couple of the correct plugs left over from another project. So if you need the correct plug to connect to your switches, get the plug that I linked in above.
I stripped, painted and reassembled my center console, and installed my retro sound radio that I picked up from an eBay supplier. Picture is attached. I have not installed the center stack yet as I need a couple more bits and bobs to complete the wiring for the radio. Hopefully next weekend the entire interior will be done.
Still waiting on the machine shop to get me my over bored block back. I talked to the machinist, and after he bored it he needed the torque specs for the bearing saddle so he could attach the torque plate. Well that wasn't enough as it turned out. The Lotus engine was never intended to be bored, instead one is supposed to replace the liners completely. The machinist was not able to put the block in the honing machine because the block skirt is too close to the liners, which means the honing machine will try to hone the aluminum skirt at the bottom of its stroke. Bad mojo, since aluminum cannot be honed. <sigh>
So the block needs to go back in the boring machine to have the skirt clearanced in preparation for honing. Nothing is ever simple. =:-o
Next on the program kiddies; Tear down the head and measure everything to see what needs to be done - if everything is in spec, I will reassemble it. I may do some mild porting, but as I have mentioned before, Lotus did a good job designing the ports, so there may be little I can do to improve them. We shall see. I also picked up some phosphor bronze valve guides for a song so I will probably press those in.
One other oddity I discovered. My carbs were rebuilt quite a while ago, and I needed to get the gasket material off the intake manifold in preparation for installing them. While puttering, I noticed that the piston of one of the carbs would not fall shut, it would hang about halfway down if I lifted the piston with my finger and released it. Odd. A little experimentation showed that it was not the carb cover, nor the needle nor the piston itself that was causing the binding. The carb body was somehow out of tolerance. I finally got out my 2" flap wheel and drill, then made about three quick passes through the piston bore, which solved the problem. I removed so little material that I could hardly believe it would make any difference, but it did. There may have been a burr in the bore that I could not find, but that quick hone job fixed it.
Vance
Attachment: Retro Sound Center Console.JPG (Downloaded 1 time)
Last edited on 04-15-2025 02:53 am by vnavaret