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S2 crying for help!


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Cool pic! Really interesting to see the radio aerial on the back corner. When I said I wanted mine put there I was told that was never officially done on the S2 and that it should be in the front wing.

Pete '79 S2

LEW Miss September 2009

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Pete, I would say that was factory original as the pic was taken shortly after buying the car new, strange as it is now on the other side so I will look for a hole repair?

Mark, as you say some more old pics scanned and posted would look cool! :)

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I received a full size vinyl poster today in the post as a gesture of the first pic, it will be going on the garage wall for inspiration!

Dave :)

Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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Unfortunately Mark that was the only image he had which was a really small photo scanned to me, that is why I never posted it earlier, hopefully he will find some more pics in the future. Les is planning to meet me at Brooklands in April to see his old car for the first time in 34 years, will be nice although I think he will be devastated by its current state as a bit of a mess. I have an awful lot to get done before then though.

I must very much thank whoever sent me the full size poster as currently have no idea and no note enclosed, it does look great though!

Dave :)

Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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I had a reply from owner 10 who bought the car from a Porsche dealer in London, the car was being displayed on a revolving platform in the window!

He had a recon engine fitted after losing water through a failed hose and also had an engine fire which he put out very quickly, after weeks of cleaning dry powder it received new hoses, fuel lines etc.

Here are some pics when he owned it;

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It still had the original trim then too

Dave :)

Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got the first two compomotive's back on now after rebuilding them, I have now also got a set of reconditioned Speedlines for when I fully restore it back to original spec. I am going to run with these for now though as looking much better....

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Before

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During

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After

All rebuilt with new seals, CNC made stainless fastenings and lots of elbow grease lol!

They are not perfect but at least now look tidy enough, unfortunately they were quite corroded so still have a bit of pitting here and there.

Dave :)

Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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Thanks Guys, they do look better in the pics but as you say Buddsy a little patina does look better on old cars! I am working hard to get it driving before the 20th April for the Brooklands meet. I still have lots to do though but good to have a target to push me on :)

It won't be the prettiest Lotus but should be much improved from when I received it even if the interior is terrible ( big job for the summer me thinks)!

Still really looking forward to it and hope to visit the NEC practical classic show the weekend before.

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The engine is coming on ok for now but the accelerator pumps are proving a challenge to get spot on so I have opted for new accelerator jets then try again, seem to have a weak jet only giving 5ml for 20 pumps where the others are between 7 and 8 as they should be.

I am also still awaiting the modified oil cooler bracket to be stainless welded by a friend.

Looking at the last MOT advisory I have play on both rear wheel bearings so looks like a drive shaft rebuild with new UJ's and some bearings on the cards soon...

Dave :)

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Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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Just finished setting up the accelerator pumps this afternoon which really has been a test of patience, I am going to celebrate with a cold beer now!

No1 cylinder will be 0.5ml less than the others which ain't bad for 35 year old carbs!

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Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Well what a tough few weeks on the S2, nearly gave up a few times as everything I try to do reveals more neglect from when these cars were worth next to nothing.

While tuning the engine the car wiring caught fire which trashed around 20% of the loom, this was mostly due to poor earths and an alarm butcher cutting into the wiring everywhere. The LH lift motor even melted its internal windings!

I had to completely remove all the loom sheathing and trace everything back from the diagram as suddenly all that worked was the starter circuit. I can't tell you how close I was to breaking her for parts....

Still after over 40 hours of work the car is rewired with all new relays and bulbs, I have binned all the bullet connections as they had turned green. While cutting them out I had to remove around 10" either side as the cable cores were green/black then renew. I am going to replace the fuse boxes soon as they are not great and from a classic mini so cheap to do. I still have part of the alarm to remove but only the immobiliser part. I need a new panel switch and one window switch too so on the hunt.

The carbs are now nicely balanced but the exhaust manifold gasket is leaking, hope I don't have to pull the engine out to sort this as have no room at present and really want to use her for a while?

Another problem which hit me was the clutch which seized but I covered this on another post and now sorted.

I was desperately trying to get the car ready for Brooklands but it was not meant to be so gave up my place, I will be going still in the family fiesta for support.

The gear selector mechanism has also been bodged big style so will be sorted, I have already reconditioned an old spare chrome shaft so now need to strip it all down.

Still need to fit the oil cooler, final secure the rear spoiler, change the oil pressure pipe, do the rear wheel bearings, sort out the horrible interior, paint the sills and spoiler as a temp fix to use the car, remove and reseal the rear screen, make some new door seals ( made a jig ready for this), sort out engine bay floor and carpets etc etc so just your usual Lotus stuff really ! :)

To make me feel better about the old nag I decided to spend a couple hours in the sun with a cold beer giving her a once over and fitting the wheels, stone chipped those awful arches too...

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I do love the S2 lines

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Dave :)

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Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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Thanks guys, as you say Buddsy it is easy to give up when things go wrong, I certainly took a lot on with this car as really suffered over the years. Shame it was not ready for Brooklands as we have had a great day looking at cars, bikes, buses and planes! Gordon's S1 looked great and my two favourite Essex cars were calling at me!

No S2's here from what I saw, my wife likes the new shape Europa, must agree they are very smart even if the newer stuff is not my thing.

Pity the weather was poor but lots of nice people around, just checked in to our Hotel and going for a cold beer before heading home to attack the S2 again!

A good bonus was my mate Dave gave me a new rear light surround for the S2 which will be fitted tomorrow as mine is knackered :)

Dave :)

Vin, Pm me your address and I will post that light adjuster mate.

Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Decided to attack the blowing exhaust this week, doing an exhaust manifold in place is no fun as many have found out! This one had clearly been attempted before with bolts in the two easy to do holes.

First thing was to jack the car up high and get it on axle stands, I then removed the wheel and intermediate pipe, this was clearly knackered with holes evident :(

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Next was to release the engine bay brace bar and engine mounts which also showed another failed item...

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Then the worst bit, splitting the nuts with various size chisels from the engine bay working blind laying over the engine and from below, I looked like a tiger had mauled me when I undressed later!

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Then disaster struck! Snapped an exhaust stud in the head! :(

The manifold has about seven hairline cracks and broken sections from previous attempts at removal...

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After a few days of planning engine removal I decided to apply some engineering and manufacture two drilling jigs, they had to be at least 20mm thick and drilled very accurately to allow no error as when drilling steel in aluminium the drill will wonder to the softer material and ruin the head.

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First jig had a 3mm pilot hole to guide the tapping drill.

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Drilled perfectly central and to the correct depth

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Now drilled with the second jig using the 6.8mm tapping drill for M8 threads

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Now using the same jig as a guide the hole was re-tapped 8mm.

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Job done with a perfect thread, now for the expensive bit, new stainless manifold with link pipe and stainless fastenings.... £500 plus! Still at least it will be fixed and another step taken to save this poor car!

Dave :)

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Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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It is a truely hateful job, I did the same on my S3 albeit all my studs came out intact. I am now using stainless studs and nuts that will not corrode. I have a replacement tubular manifold too and this can be removed due to the improved access in about 30 mins, this alone is worth the change! I think it took about 6 hours in total to remove the original spread over few days.

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