I must be insane!

That is the question...

Another good weekend, strip down progressing slowly but steadily.  Got two vacuum pods from The Nut - thank you John - which is great.  Not only was one actually a block of wood, the other one split in half from rust when I took it out.

Rad fans, radiator and condenser out today.  Radiator in surprisingly good nick - considering a lot of the car - would undobtedly benifit fom recoring.  But the condenser literally fell to powder in my hands.  And that is why I ask the question...

Many people dismiss the Lotuis Elite A/C as poor at best, most successful at using precious BHP from an already old engine.  So do I restore the A/C (it's a 503, should have had it) or rebuild without it?  What are the implications of not rebuilding with it - I already don't have a compresser and the pipework is kaput.  My big question is how would this impact on the heating system, if at all?

Thoughts please?

Started in earnest today, stripping the car down to the bare shell so I can reveal what delights the chassis has in store.  Bumper removed - which had been very badly resprayed red and is peeling, saves me a stripping job! - with only two sheared bolts, a lot of grazed knuckles and some top-level swearing.

The removal of the headlight pods revealed two non-standard Lotus features.  Beneath the driver's side light an nest full of very sleepy and occasionally grumpy wasps.  Thanks God i decided to start this project before they all woke up.  And beneath the passenger's side, where you'd expect to find the vacuum chamber, a piece of wood bolted to the body with a hole drilled in it to take the spring!

If anyone's got a vacuum unit going spare, or wants a load of wasps let me know.

Pictures to follow.

Time to see what I've bought.  Planning to get the car up on skates - the back axle is locked and the size of the garage it's living in I need to be able to get round it.  Plan is to strip out everything off the body - brightwork, seats, trim etc. can all live in the attic for the time being.  After a clean and a polish.  Then get the shell off the chassis and see how bad things really are under there.  Fingers crossed!

Oops!  I've bought a Lotus.  And at a little over two hundred quid of ebay, with no engine or gearbox and my mechanical experience limited to running repairs on my MGB I'm thinking this might be going to be some project.  Still with a 5-speed box secured from one of the forum members, a 907 of unknown quality purchased from Preston and a transporter rented what could possibly go wrong?