Vanya's Turbo SE blog

[Barrykearley 7,153]

Never been one to worry about car weights. I need to stop eating junk food and that would help!!

[Chillidoggy 4,466]

You should take up a sport, Barry.

Swimming, for example.

[Barrykearley 7,153]

Prefer Olympic shagging - just off to suggest it to the missus 

[Chillidoggy 4,466]

Don't you need a willing partner for that, mate?

[Barrykearley 7,153]

You've met Wendy then ? 

[Vanya 568]

At long last the front suspension rebuild culminated in a front wheel alignment:

As it turns out, replacing all the shims as I found them was well worth it. With all the bushes replaced, and new lower links, my castor corrected itself, camber was bang on, and the toe, after a mild adjustment, is now back in spec as well:

Now to do the back. Luckily the guy running the alignment place has an induction heater and is willing to lend it to me, so I can have a whack at the rear lower links, which are well and truly seized...although that can wait...

After 5 years, I still can't stop staring at it: 

 

[Jacques 965]

well done!

I had to saw them over from inside, with a single blade turned around.

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[Vanya 568]

Since I can't leave well enough alone (gotta tinker or I'll explode.) I decided it was finally time to get rid of that roof rattle, as every time the car went over a bump it sounded like something was breaking. Not very confidence inspiring.

As per the TSB, the missus and I put a bead of Betaseal into the roof tongue slots:

Furthermore, last year I also purchased a new roof seal for my V8 as I switched out the glass roof for a composite one. turned out my existing V8 seal was up to the job of supporting both roof types so I ended up with a (very expensive) genuine Lotus seal just lying around. I fitted this one to the SE and was struck by how flat and worn the old one was.

Now that those two items have been attended to the roof makes no noise whatsoever even over potholes. 

The next task will be moisturising the leather at all contact points where rubbing occurs so that even that sound disappears. 

Another thing I've recently done is properly align the driver's side door via the two bolts at the A-pillar so that it can be closed with one finger making a high quality shutting sound just like the passenger side has always done. 

These small fixes in concert give one an entirely different impression of the car. The fixes are quite simple and I'd recommend everyone see to them - especially worn roof seals. The door alignment itself has provided me with a car that is dead silent up until maybe 90 mph at which point wind noise becomes crazy. 

Until next time, I think I'll log some time behind the wheel:

 

On 7/5/2017 at 19:12, Jacques said:

well done!

I had to saw them over from inside, with a single blade turned around.

Kind regards,

Jacques.

Weird that you had to take to such a method - your car is a well kept rust-free example???

Did they budge once you did that? I can also saw through them but if they don't move after that then I'm in a world of hurt, hence my hoping the induction heater will do the job on the link pin. 

[Vanya 568]

Not much tinkering going on after the front suspension rebuild, but this weekend after the V8 had had enough attention lavished on it the SE got a clean and it's pinstripe installed.

Came on a roll from SJ Sports Cars, we figured we'd remove the upper stripe but it looks pretty cool so it gets to stay, for now:

 

[Vanya 568]

Aaaaand I'm on the road once again. MOT passed without advisories...

However. 

Pulling into the MOT station and getting out of the car my nostrils filled with a familiar smell. Gearbox oil. 

As luck would have it, the left side driveshaft seal I had replaced only last spring is leaking again. No doubt when I go back to the garage today the car will have pissed out a lot of the oil like the incontinent bastard it is.

Has anyone found a more permanent solution to this issue? It's a crapshoot. Seriously. Sometimes these last for a few years, sometimes a few months. And I'm getting a bit fed up. 

Granted the job had been done by a moron at some point who had used a screwdriver or icepick to remove the seal and gouged out some of the 'box in the processes, but I'd hoped liberal amounts of Wellseal would remedy that. Not so it seems. 

Maybe I should silicone the seals....

Any tips appreciated! 

[Jacques 965]

Nope, but I saw a nice green SE on Knutstorp the oter day. Was it you?

Kind regards,

Jacques

 

ps: my sawing through the bushings on the rear hubs was easy but slow.

 

[Chillidoggy 4,466]

I have a tip from when Chris Cole rebuilt my gearbox.

I noticed it was almost impossible to get the roll pin holes to line up, so called him. He said he always fits an O-ring at the end of the drive couplings to stop oil creeping up past them and leaking out past the roll pins. Initially I had to pull the couplings in with a ratchet strap to compress the ring, and get the pin holes to align but so far, no leaking. See page !6 of the Service Notes, there's a recess in the end of the coupling.

This is of course not a lip seal mod, but if there's a possibility oil is coming out past the roll pins, I would say it's a useful modification.

 

[Vanya 568]

Thanks for the tip! I also fit an O-ring before reassembly but it doesn't seem to help much. 

But shouldn't sealing the roll-pins with silicone prevent that? From what I can tell my seals are "sweating" oil so I'm guessing that's where the problem lies. 

[Chillidoggy 4,466]

Is the breather clear?

[Barrykearley 7,153]

Are the driveshafts themselves nice and smooth with no steps in?

its a bit of a crap setup - bu have always managed to stop mine leaking

[Vanya 568]

8 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

Is the breather clear?

Wait, the gearbox has a breather? In that case, probably not on my SE. The Box is coated with a layer of filth about 2 mm thick. 

8 hours ago, Barrykearley said:

Are the driveshafts themselves nice and smooth with no steps in?

its a bit of a crap setup - bu have always managed to stop mine leaking

Driveshafts actually look ok to be honest, my brother and I cleaned the splines very carefully last summer and ensured everything looked in good shape. I'll monitor the situation and look more closely if I have to take things apart again this year. I'll also dig up some pics from last summer - have a LOT of shots of that part of the box and the splines etc etc. 

[Barrykearley 7,153]

The breather is a small plastic lug.

[Barrykearley 7,153]

[Vanya 568]

Ill check the breather this weekend, thanks for the tips guys. Travis had put up a great pic of where it's situated in another thread. 

[The Pits 4,411]

Stunning looking car, if high maintenance. Didn't Coco Chanel say 'beauty is pain'?

Still my favourite colour for a Turbo SE, even though I had a Pacific Blue one myself!

This is the year it all comes together, hang in there! 

[Vanya 568]

I wouldn't say the SE has been high maintenance at all to be honest! If I hadn't done anything that didn't need doing (like the suspension and a bunch of other jobs where I just wanted nice and shiny bits) the only thing it would have cost me thus far is a new speedo cable, fluid changes and, yes, a few driveshaft seals! That ain't bad!

I agree BRG is a beautiful match for the square shaped Stevens cars. Ironically my dream combo is Pacific Blue/Magnolia for the SE (and of course Mustard Yellow even though I've never seen one in that color). 

[drdoom 445]

Beautiful car indeed! Thanks, Vanya, for such an informative narrative!

[Vanya 568]

Wow, has it really been this long since I've done anything on the car? 

There have been some distractions along the way, but I assure you the car is still very much in my possession and my main passion in terms of car life. 

After 9 years of ownership I decided to tackle the rear lower link pins. Oh what a pig of a job....

Given how seized on everything was, the only way to get the lower link off was with the angle grinder, something my brother promptly took care of:

Removing the rear wheel bearing (check this setup out!)

Ok now the lower link pins...

The idea was sound, but there is no thread on this Earth that has the strength required to pull these out without stripping. It worked on one side;

Some heat needed:

 

 

With that part of the job completed, it was time to treat ourselves. Went out and bought a GTV. What's better than a Busso v6? A Busso with a turbo on it! (2 liter goodness)

Anyways...

We got the other half out by welding on new thread to the existing (totally stripped) link pin:

Now to tackle the insert...oh god.

 

So how did we do this? Well, by cutting away at the inside with a dremel bit designed for grinding steel. Gotta be careful with 2 things; not to go too far, thus marring the aluminium casting, and not to have to great an angle on the bit (otherwise it snaps off, creating costly bills). 

 

After cutting through I tried to collapse/crush it using pliers, but the steel is very thick, and my hands took a pummeling - pain for days afterwards. Plan B. The Press.

In order to press this out we needed something with a flank that would freely pass through the opening in the casting; we rounded off the head of a stubby bolt:

So how did we press this out "safely"? I didn't take a picture of this side, but I have one for the other side. In this picture we are attempting to press out what's left of the link pin, but the principle is the same. Using the remains of the older link pin, we pressed out the spacer. It took about 3-5 tons to shift it, and it would move in steps, making banging noises along the way. 

We learned that you ideally need an unthreaded steel rod; something that hasn't been compromised in terms of potential bending motion; I tried using punches but you see them bend in real time (very elastic they are). 

Anyway we are at present stuck trying to extract the stud and spacer on the right hand side; it's proving more difficult than the other side. We need to find threaded bar strong enough to withstand the pulling force required. That and "longer" nuts with more thread on them to distribute the load. After that, We will try and press out the spacer without cutting and collapsing; if 5 tons does it, like previously, it'll save hours of grinding at the steel.

Speaking of which, here's a good reason to look at your lower link pins. 

To the left here we have cut away the rubber to make room for the angle grinder. To the right, you can see that the bushing has long since worn away, resulting in metal-on-metal contact between the lower link and the snubber washer. I imagine this did little to improve NVH, ride comfort or performance. 

More to come! I can't wait to get these pins out so I can send these parts for blasting (and zinc plating where applicable). That and with a bit of luck with all the new bushes and new links, the geometry will at last be right, and the car maybe wont lean any more. 

Edited March 1 by Vanya
additional info.

[Escape 847]

Good to hear you're still 'enjoying' your SE! Pics don's seem to work though, a shame, it looks like you mut quite some effort in your post.

Filip

[Vanya 568]

2 hours ago, Escape said:

Good to hear you're still 'enjoying' your SE! Pics don's seem to work though, a shame, it looks like you mut quite some effort in your post.

Filip

Hmmm damn google photos. Doesn't seem to be an option to make the pics public. 

Lets see, does this link work:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPbzOsTq9Yg1tqtIf_itVwYaHEd1lGOgIjJcSlkLFDf5LMC0nnMRH5--vTBYVGmPg?key=NVlhMmpKWHJ6RnZJNTgybXBnUWgtcWZWYTBjRUtR