LOTUSMAN33 Posted October 19, 2016 Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 I think it was a Triumph TR7 or GT6 from memory but trying to find my cross reference book still. Quote Do or do not, there is no try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2016 Thanks Dave. Was trying to figure out how to remove the barrel, no obvious pins. So decided it must press out. it doesn't ! Bent the rear slightly and damaged the key slot metal. Decided it didn't matter as it was useless seized and the key didn't work anyway. Wrong! The barrel would not come out. Anyway was messing around with the keys I had made and guess what, it started working! How annoying. The lock is free and works but the front has minor damage and the rear slightly bent????. Oh Well cest la vie! The wonderful world of Lotus! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 I have checked every car I can think of involved with BMC/ British Leyland. I could not find the same lock. Some are similar but the key is not BL. I had the same problem trying to find a steering lock for the S1. Which in the end I bought from PMN. I now believe the part was made specially for Lotus as is the steering Lock on the S1. The closest I Have seen is the early Allegro lock, but the lock surround is different. This leaves only a handful of options. A locksmith that can change the barrel,a breakers yard, wait for one to appear on the Internet. I believe the Later Lotus Elite used the same part. There will be one out there for a very special price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisJ Posted October 20, 2016 Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Can you post a picture of your keys and I'll tell you if they are the same as mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 To recap the keys were all cut from the numbers on the Lotus build card for my Turbo. All of the Keys work. The ignition and boot are British Leyland Keys. The doors and petrol caps are all different type(shape) to these as previously posted. They are not BL. I have removed the rear bumper and lower spoiler today. Very difficult to remove as all bolts are corroded. Lots more horrid rivnuts. The rear bumper wood is all intact, but the mounts are corroded. Looks like the car has been sprayed over at some point. The trimite epoxy black paint in the boot is pretty good, now I have started to clean it. The loom is also pretty good. But it's all filthy! Im using soap and water to remove the grease and electrical contact cleaner to clean the loom and all contacts. Looks a lot better already! Will repair any fibreglass, repaint the trimite and clean it all up so it's pleasant to work on. The spoilers have been repainted in the wrong shade of red! So will repair any defects and respray. The objective is to get the car back on the road and tidy it up. Then I can enjoy driving it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Came with a new exhaust silencer, looks a lot better now it's cleaner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Rear bumper retention bolts. 7mm x 30 MM, with penny washers 4 MM thick, 30 MM diameter, 8 MM Center hole. The rear bumper has u channel brackets, with a nut welded to the Center. The ones on this car are rotten so will have to replace. Trying to source some at a reasonable price( any ideas?). The lower spoiler is held on by the rivnuts☹️☹️☹️. trying to be more organised on this restoration so listing all parts as I go, well that's the intention. It's a pain measuring every bolt so might help someone save time in the future if I list them all here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 I'm ordering all these from Kay's on eBay. They have good quality at a fair price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisJ Posted October 20, 2016 Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Looking good. Surely the tiny door key is a B/L key as the door handles are bloody Marina handles as people delight in telling us at every opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Thanks Chris, that would be far too easy for a Lotus! They are Leyland handles as I used to have a Marina and an Ital! As far as I can tell the boot and ignition keys are British Leyland. Here's the proof in a picture and they are stamped BL on the key serial number. The key in the picture is a Leyland key. The door key barrels are not made by British Leyland. They are smaller and stamped FT which is branded Union. Union key barrels were made by Wilmot-Bredon, an old English company that made the jag keys. The petrol keys are WASO. Another company made this barrel, I havnt bothered to find out much about them. The most important thing is Lotus heritage have all the key codes on the build card for your car. So you can contact Andy Graham and get the codes and replace all your lost keys, which is what I did and they all work perfectly - now I freed the boot lock barrel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisJ Posted October 20, 2016 Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Well what do you know - just looked at my original door key and it is stamped Union Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Heres an engine pic. Has had a lot of work done already. Once I've got the engine bay clean will rebuild the fuel system and cut all the old alarm stuff out! Hope the tanks come out easier than on the S1! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenwhyte Posted October 20, 2016 Report Share Posted October 20, 2016 Top tip - before you post a photo edit it by slighting trimming or anything that makes it slightly different from the original them post the amended one......this will stop them appearing upside down. Don't know why but know it works, as the same thing happens when I post from my iPad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2016 Thanks, It's annoying upside down! Ahhhhh, much better! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2016 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2016 Every bolt on this is putting up a fight. Finally separated the spoilers and rear bumper. The plywood is shot at the corners and the brackets need replacing. Have taken the clutch slave to pieces. Everything needs blasting, or blasting and plating! Cut away all the alarm wires which were substancial! Plan for the bumper. Cut sections of plywood out where it is damaged then replace with marine ply and glue it with pva to the adjacent plywood. Fiberglass the repair. Replace brackets with new ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 WET or DRY? Have been trying to determine whether or not this is a dry sump Esprit. Called Lotus Archives they told me the way to determine is to look at the services notes vin page. I just happen to have a copy( £5 eBay, including S1/S2!). Here's the page. So my car was build Jan82. I don't have air con. The vin number is just after 82D1193. I conclude my car engine was converted by Lotus to a wet sump. The thing that got me checking was I found a bracket whilst stripping down that looks like an oil tank support bracket from the dry sump system? Love this investigative stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Anyone have any further info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davetoff Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Lotusfab said: Anyone have any further info? I see you are getting on with the build, no hanging around..... One thing of note is you have a wet sum as there is an oil filler cap on the engine, dry sumps have a separate oil tank located above the right hand wheel arch on the inside of the engine bay. I'm in the process of restoring mine and have already gone through some of the trials and tribulations you are presently experiencing now, so if you need any information I'll try and help where I can. Keep up the good work. Edited October 25, 2016 by davetoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenwhyte Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 1 hour ago, Lotusfab said: WET or DRY? Have been trying to determine whether or not this is a dry sump Esprit. Called Lotus Archives they told me the way to determine is to look at the services notes vin page. I just happen to have a copy( £5 eBay, including S1/S2!). Here's the page. So my car was build Jan82. I don't have air con. The vin number is just after 82D1193. I conclude my car engine was converted by Lotus to a wet sump. The thing that got me checking was I found a bracket whilst stripping down that looks like an oil tank support bracket from the dry sump system? Love this investigative stuff! From what I can make out from the stats on your certificate Fabian your car should be a wet sump seeing it is a non-air con car. In 1982 the dry sump was only fitted to air-con cars and at some point the dry sump solution was dropped and all subsequent Turbo Esprits were fitted with the wet sump engine. It looks like our cars were built at near enough the same time, as mine was also built in January '82.......I can't remember the exact date so will need to check. So by my thinking anyway that makes the statement on your sheet incorrect as the wet sump didn't feature until 1982 not 1981.... In reality though they may have ceased the dry sump production on non air-con Turbos late '81 and the date of manufacture of mine was only married up to the car in January of '82. All very interesting now.......but at the time probably very ordinary every day changes. I hope that helps you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOTUSMAN33 Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Fabian Here is the chart I use although not so detailed; My vin is 1001 registered May 81 Dave Quote Do or do not, there is no try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Thanks Chaps. Dave, that looks stunning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 One of the things that annoys me about the restorations is the premium charged for some of the parts! I need to rebuild the gear linkage. Has anyone found a good value bush supplier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusfab Posted October 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Turbo Have been reading the other threads about turbo rebuilds. Having researched it, the rebuild of the unit appears to be simple, apart from balancing. Provided parts are reassembled exactly the same as before I see no reason for the balance to change.. If there is a balance problem it will be obvious from the vibration when the turbo is running. Will try and ensure its a genuine Garret service kit and will post here when it's done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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