Trunnion 74

It is Tom. Cup holders weren't invented till much later. Cheers.

Refurbishment of the Distributor. The first two pictures show the distributor as is and with points removed exposing the breaker plate. In the second picture you can see a spring that goes over a post that is on the breaker plate Removal of the breaker plate, (unhook the spring) revealing the weights and advance cam. Just below the unhooked spring you can see the advance cam is stamped with a number. This number indicates the deg of advance for the distributor, in this case, as far as I can tell it's 11 The breaker plate is actually made up of two plates that rotate about each other and can easily be separated for cleaning. Next off is the vacuum diaphragm. Unscrew the wheel at the end, (there may be a circlip on it) you will need to pull the assembly as you do so to give you room to get it completely off. When you do remove the assembly be carefull not to loose the small spring that is on the rod. The second pic shows a close up of the weights and cam. There are two springs one thicker (the primary) and one thinner (the secondary) The type/strength/placing of these springs is important as they are dynamically tested to go with the particular weights that are in each distributor. To remove you would need to undo the screw in the middle, carefully remove the springs and remove the advance cam. The weights just sit on their posts and are easily removed. Changing/altering any of these componants will have an effect on how the distributor acts and ultimately how the engine reacts/runs. Once the weights are out, to remove the final plate requires the removal of a pin which is accessed at the bottom of the shaft on the outside. be warned though, it requires a lot of force to remove. As all was good with mine and there was no shaft movement I decided not to go that far. Having checked for free movement of the weights I decided not to do anything other than clean in situ and lightly grease the pivot points. Points will be replaced with electronic ignition. Everything cleaned up and replaced including a new vacuum diaphragm ( I am keeping the original diaphragm) hooked up to the breaker plate Electronic ignition fitted. Another piece of the jigsaw complete! Roland

Interesting question. Having taken it out I have wondered how effective it would have been as there is no "plate" or fixing at the ends of the hoop it's just held in by four bolts and four "screws". To my mind if it was pressed into action I would think that the forces would make the bolts slice their way through the fibreglass before the hoop made contact with the floor and possibly made its way through it. It could be that this was how it was supposed to be as it would dissipate the impact force. Afterall, they did win the Don SafetyTrophy 1974/5 for the safest car on the road.... I can only assume that the reason one was not installed in the Esprit was because the cockpit was a lot smaller and therfore a lot stronger? That and they came to the conclusion that it would take some doing to get it to land on its roof!

I think it's one of those "out of sight, out of mind" parts Mike. And i suppose condition would depend on how the car has been stored over the years.

Have finally managed to get the roll hoop out of the car. For reference the hoop is held in place each side by a large Nut/bolt at the bottom of the door pillar and a smaller nut/bolt at the top of the door pillar. It is also has two bolts/screws that go through the door striker plate through a bracket welded to the roll hoop and into a plate which has captive nuts welded to it. The striker plate bolts took some getting out. To get it out you need to push it back towards the rear of the car then lay it down you will the be able to manoeuvre it out. Looking at the hoop in the car it appeared that it just had some surface rust. Once out however, it was a different picture. The rust damage at the bottom of the hoop wasn't visible from the inside as it was the edge that sat next to the inside of the door pillar. Roland

Hi Neil, Thought this may interest you. Fits on the carbs (1 each). Can be ordered from here https://www.sjsportscars.com/parts-and-accessories/B079U4802F.htm Roland

Here you are Dave http://www.starchak.ca/tech/pdfs/lucas.pdf

Rare as hens teeth I believe. Going back to the carbs for a moment. I have a copy of an original 1974 preliminary workshop manual. It lists all the original spec jet/tube numbers for the carbs, they all match, which is good news as it means they haven't been changed/fiddled with. Have been working on refurbishment of the distributor. Did some numbers checking on the Lucas 25D database and found this. and this on the distributor. It's the correct series number for a Lotus and nicely dated to '74

Finally got round to taking apart the passenger door. Was greeted with this.. And this! Tin worm has had a great time!. I have managed to source a replacement. I also came across this, an original (?) corner cap. Should come in hand as a template for some fresh ones. And this, some original "Solbit" sealer in the frames. I have so far resisted the temptation to wire it up and see if it will melt again. This is the door that has the number 26A scribed on it which matches the vin plate number. The condition of the door beam and the precence of "solbit" sealer would indicate that the door has not been touched for a very long time.

Hi Etienne , That looks like it might be one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heater-Valve-fit-Volvo-140-164-242-244-245-262-264-265-240-1973-91-TR7-TR8-Lotus/112558923926 Roland

Two lovely Dellorto DHLA 45's, refurbished and ready to go back on the car.

I'd be interested Peter.

Congratulations to @Neil D. who correctly identified that there was no jet on the end of emulsion tube when I took it out. If you would like to PM me your details Neil I'll get your prize in the post to you. I had thought that I had been careless when cleaning the parts and had lost the jet, but on checking the photos I noticed that when i took it out there wasn't one there! Only two posibilities 1 it was never there in the first palce or 2 it was still stuck in the hole. On checking with my trusty mini camera there it was, stuck at the bottom. Tried everything I could think of to get it out. Flooding with carb cleaner, terminal tweezers, sharp taps to dislodge, nothing worked. It sometimes takes a womans touch, SWMBO suggested I use a BBQ skewer. After several attempts I was able to secure it to the end. Moral: Take pictures and don't be afraid to accept advice. Now back to the cleaning

Very good, but no.

Nope.