soldave

Pulled up after a drive in the warmth today and could smell a little petrol I thought. Opened the bonnet and surely enough the back of the rear Dellorto carb was leaking and making things rather wet. Not good on a hot day! Fortunately there were no Towering Inferno-type scenarios, but I want to get i sorted before I'm out in it again for obvious reasons. I've circled the seal which seemed to be the culprit, but what is that called in parts manuals? I've looked on Rdent and SJS but can't ID it and am not sure the correct name for it. I could possibly unscrew the seal, re-tighten and it be OK for a while but I'd rather sort it with a new seal. Many thanks in advance for any guidance as to what this seal is called so I can get a replacement ordered.

Very cool. I wonder if that would suit the Elite/Eclat or if it would look out of place.

That looks great although I'd be terrified at the thought of me grinding away at tyres!

I'm using Nankang NS-2 tyres on my Eclat. They probably wouldn't stand up to too many hotlaps around the Nurburgring, but neither would the car! I've had no issues with normal driving on them in the dry.

Yeah, go for it when you get a minute please.

How low do you go? Yes, of course I'm talking about your Lotus body off the ground. Was doing some measuring today and measuring the centre of the wheel to the bottom of the black rubber trim as it passes over the top of the wheel arch I get 35.5cm and the front and 37.5cm at the rear. If anyone has a minute and a tape measure, let me know how yours compares 🙂

Good luck with the interviews!

Right, brake lines fitted with new unions and they seem to be holding pressure, which is quite surprising given my usual mechanical lack of skillz!. Bled a fair few bubbles out of the front although not too much from the read. Brakes feel alright but still a little spongy if I had to guess, even using a pressure bleeder. Think I'm gonna cut my losses and just find a garage close by when things reopen, give them my brake fluid and ask them to do a bleed. Then I know it's done properly. It's possible I've still got some air in the master cylinder (probably did a poor job of bleeding it) I know, I shouldn't be allowed near a car if I can't bleed the brakes right, but I'd rather be safe than sorry here. On the positive side, I don't think the brakes are leaking any more.

It's all good. Every day is a school day! tried to get the front pipe out of the 3-way fitting and the spanner was just slipping on the nut so am going to do that one in sit. The rear pipe actually goes down near the chassis in the engine bay and connects to another brake pipe so have removed that one and will change the fitting off the car. Got fittings on order so hopefully next week I'll be able to get it together again and see were we stand

Yay - new Land Rover master cylinder arrived! Boooo - current brake pipes don't fit! From what I've read, it seems like my Eclat ones are both M10x1, whereas the Land Rover ones are 3/8 and 7/16 (source: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/dual-circuit-brake-fittings-sizes.352862/). I need to decide whether I'm going to try and just cut the flare off the original fittings and re-flare (could even do that whilst on the car), or make brand new brake lines from scratch. I think my lines are good so might just try the former for now.

I'd be up for that I think. Doesn't the free version of Zoom still limit meetings over 3 people to either 40 or 60 minutes? I have had good success with House Party but whatever works for people 👍

Fitted yes, but I'll probably break something else in the meantime! Not that it matters as nobody should be going anywhere for a while I'd have never remembered to adjust the pushrod length - very good call.

Awesome knowledge. So it looks like it could be this one then instead: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brake-Master-Cylinder-Land-Rover-Series-SWB-Optional-Dual-line-System-569671/260948934251 Thanks for all of your help

Pete, does this one look like it's worth a punt? Looks like it comes with a reservoir too! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-Defender-110-Brake-Master-Cylinder-NRC8690/111147993591 My servo is an 8" I think

Possibly. One other thing I noticed is that one corner of the bottom of the reservoir where the pin goes through is only hanging on by a very thin piece of plastic (less than the amount that should be there). It's still connected and the leak definitely wasn't from there, but I did notice it whilst doing some checks and putting it back together. What kind of modding was needed?

Well thanks to the kindness of someone on Facebook (Pete - I'll message you shortly about this ) I got a replacement secondary spring for the brake master cylinder, along with a master cylinder seal kit from SJ. Fitted it all back together and immediately had a leak from primary piston rear seal (causing a bit of brake fluid to appear under the servo. Took it apart and realised I'd put one of the secondary piston seals in the wrong way around (according to the diagrams below from an Excel write-up online. Switched the seal and set to bleeding using my Sealey pressure bleeder. Got the bubbles out and went for a drive. Brakes felt... different. A smoother application of brakes with pedal pressure, and I could lock up wheels at speed. Came back and checked the servo area and once again found a drip of fluid. Unscrewed the master from the servo and it was wet once again. Not sure now if I buy another seal set and cross fingers, or just cut my losses and buy a new master cylinder with the vehicle tax refund I'll hopefully get in the next month.

A smart man - nobody should be leaving the house too much! No big rush for it given I'm not going to be driving the car until this thing all starts to get back to normal and we're allowed out. Will send you a message.

Lotus ownership: never a dull moment, whether it be driving or working on. With the new set of seals in the post I decide to take apart the brake cylinder and see what's going on. The seal between reservoir and cylinder closest to the servo looked a little wet on the outside so hopefully that was my issue with bubbles in the reservoir, but the plot thickens! Took the primary piston out with a bit of persuasion and then pulled the stop pin so the secondary piston and spring would come out. All good so I turned the cylinder so any more brake fluid would come out, and out popped the other part of the secondary spring!!! I don't know what could have happened but now I need to find a secondary spring for this cylinder (Girling 74660374), and am having no luck at all. Any ideas, guys?

Yeah, just applying the brakes is giving the bubbles too; that video was without any bleeding taking place. Brake fluid going in is brand new so I don't think it's that it's absorbed air or anything crazy like that. Will get a kit ordered and hope SJ isn't in lockdown mode yet!

I do seem to be able to make the simplest task into an absolute mission. Thought I'd just flush through the brake fluid in the Eclat as it'd been 2 1/2 years since I'd done it previously. I took charge of the nipples and the good wife was in charge of pedal control. Did the rear and that went fine. Then went to the front and whilst I was doing that I noticed bubbles coming up in the master cylinder reservoir. Wondered if lots of pumping had caused a couple of microbubbles to come back in through a nipple and that was it, but bleeding again. Left it 24 hours and then tried again. Once again, bubbles were forming when I was bleeding fluid, using either of the front two nipples. All I can think is that one of the master cylinder seals has gone. Going to order a replacement kit and hope that sorts it. If not then I'm pretty much out of ideas.

So are people who've not upgraded their fuel hosing running something like this with every fill-up? https://www.millersoils-shop.co.uk/eps-ethanol-protection-additive

Thought this article might be of interest as I don't think it's been posted anywhere before. It's from my current employer's internal magazine and dates back to 1980. Always happy to share a bit of history of the marque and hopefully it's a good read for some of you :) Lotus Platform article.pdf

The colour is really unique; not seen it on an Eclat before. Makes me wonder how a darker gunmetal might look (similar to an R32 GT-R).

I've got some Nankang NS-2 Ditchfinders on my Eclat, so may be interested in something a little better

I'll have a check with my handbrake when I'm in the car in the next couple of days. When it's at four clicks are the wheels locking so you can't rotate them? That handbrake tensioner system is a massive pain! EDIT: Just checked and at 4 clicks my handbrake is just starting to tighten. If I really crank it I can get to 7 clicks. Saying that, mine does need tightening. It's just I'm not looking forward to doing it. Maybe this weekend's job