Discombobulation of Esprit S2 ignition key barrel and lock.

[Widget]

Hi All, for years I’ve been slowly re-building an early Esprit S2 and have often referred to the freely given knowledge shared on this site for guidance; so I thought as my first newbee post, I would share something helpful I do know about, cracking locks.

Reasons.

The ignition barrel on my Esprit is so exhausted that it can be started with a lolly-pop stick and the key falls out.

Despite much research there does not appear to be a direct replacement for the whole unit, unlike many parts on the Esprit.

Drilling out/tapping the snap bolts or cutting them is messy and risky.

 

Solution.

Extract barrel to recondition/replace and re-install to good functional standard.

Necessities.

Unclip the battery so no accidental car starting can happen.

Cloths and mats to catch bits of swarf from the work.

Short machine screws and appropriate threading taps of about 4mm.

Inspection mirror, extremely useful.

Mini-drill with a wide range of milling and drilling bits, extremely useful.

 

Below is the item to be worked on. As you can see, the barrel is at position one with no key:-

  

The next image shows the unusual steering lock mechanism:-

Also in the above image can be seen two of the four pins that hold the base plate in place. The base plate hides the inner workings of the lock. These pins are originally forced in and must be drilled out.

Also to be removed is the barrel locator pin. This can be seen in the above image via a mirror. Due to the tight working area, I had to grind this pin out using a milling tool in a mini-drill. I also used a flexible drive attachment for more maneuverability. Once the pin is removed, the key barrel sleeve will slide in and out about 1cm but can not be completely removed.

The above image shows the two front pins, holding the base plate, being removed using a 1.5mm drill bit. The rear two pins I had to grind out using a milling bit due to the angle of attack. All these pins behaved like mild steel and were not too difficult to work with.

The base plate did not drop away so needed to be persuaded by drilling a pilot hole and tapping a screw near the centre to get leverage on the plate. In the above image you can see the plate coming away. I had not milled the rear left pin adequately so needed to go over this work again. After this, the plate could be teased out and cleaned up.

The above image shows the base plate removed, the barrel slightly removed and a highlighted pin that stops the barrel from being removed completely. This pin is very important. When the barrel is in the locked position, this pin locates into a slot that helps stop the barrel from being smashed out using a pull hammer.

This pin is a 2mm (-ish) diameter roll pin and MUST be ground away rather than pushed further in. If you do push it further in, it will poke out the other side and jam everything up, making it very hard to continue and hard to reverse the job.

Once the locking pin has been ground away, the barrel can be removed, along with the actuator rod. From this point, the inner steering lock mechanism can be removed and inspected for repair.

The above image shows the roll pin being removed using a suitable pin to tease it out.

Above shows the barrel away from the other components. BE VERY careful to not allow the key barrel to pull out of the barrel sleeve, until you are ready, as all the gubbins will spring all over the place.

Above is a reference shot of the barrel located in the sleeve. (If anyone recognises this barrel and sleeve from other vehicles, please share.)

Above is a reference shot of the barrel removed using the key to hold the key wafers in place. The wafers have tiny springs that force the wafers away from the centre of the barrel. If the wafers are mixed up, the key will not work with the barrel.

I was surprised to find that my barrel and sleeve were in very good condition and in this instance, the reason why I could start the car with a lolly-pop stick was due to burrs on the side of the wafers, holding the wafers in position to allow the barrel to be turned, rather than the wafers springing up into the sleeve key-way and locking it all up.

A really good clean and de-burr was all it needed.

However I was expecting to find the barrel sleeve key-way edges to be worn so that they now don’t work against the wafers to lock the barrel. My usual way to resolve this is to file away the depth of the stop-cam (see green arrow above), to allow the barrel to sit a wafer’s width further in to the sleeve and pad out the other end of the barrel with a washer that is also a wafer’s width. (A wafer’s width pushed out works well too.)

Otherwise, the sleeve’s key way can be rebuilt with careful filing and a brass insert soldered in place as the sleeve is usually a brass/bronze variant alloy and easy to solder to.

When removing the wafers, be cautious of tiny springs that work against the wafers. Make sure these don’t fly or roll off never to be seen again.

Above are the wafers taped to paper ready for individual fettling. Note the last wafer on the left is not set opposite the previous. This wafer is set only when the key is fully inserted.

Once you are happy with your repairs:-

Choose a suitable machine screw to replace the barrel location pin and thread the hole to accept this.

Slot the key barrel in to the barrel sleeve and replace the collar and actuator rod and insert this assembly back in to the steering lock housing. Gently persuade a replacement locking roll pin through this assembly, being very careful not to push the pin too far in. (Remember to press the steering lock button, to turn the barrel all the way, to test clearance.)

Screw the chosen machine screw into the tapped hole until the barrel is locked in place. Check the key still turns. The screw head can now be sawn off, if so wished.

Finally, the base plate can be re-installed. In my case, I needed to thread tap the rear pin holes, install the base plate and screw two short machine screws to lock the plate in position. I found two panel pins of suitable diameter, modified these and forced them in to the front of the housing to replace the pins drilled out.

Be careful with this last process as there is little room inside and if these repairs venture too far inside, they could interfere with the turning of the mechanism, so test this as you go.

Lubricate the lock barrel with graphite rather than light oil, as oil traps all sorts of fine grit and rubbish to destroy your lock. Graphite powder and sprays are cheap enough on internet sites but if you don’t have a handy supply, acquire an 8B-10B pencil and crush up the lead.

If you need new keys for your lock, take the complete barrel and sleeve to a proper locksmith who will make a new key to fit the barrel. The Smith should also be able to give you a code that can be used to cut new keys in the future.

Happy restorations.

 

[Bibs]

Welcome Mark and great first post! Good to have you on board

[Gregg88]

On 19/12/2017 at 22:06, Buddsy said:

Hi welcome great post. 

I had a similar issue on mine but undone the 2 screws holding it on the steering column and bought a second hand "new" one.

buddsy

Hi Buddsy - where did you get the second hand steering lock unit - is it the same as on another British car - if so which one

Also wondering how you removed the complete unit - was it in situ? If so the screws are on the top and look difficult to get to with the dash in position

Many thanks Greg

[omegaman]

Great Job. Question: What part of the ignition makes the key spring back from crank position? I'm putting my car back together and my key will sit in whatever position I leave it, including crank. 

 

Also, the actual switch unit area where the lock slots into looks to be a different shape than the D shaped shaft of the lock. 

[Widget]

On 14/01/2021 at 20:29, omegaman said:

Great Job. Question: What part of the ignition makes the key spring back from crank position? I'm putting my car back together and my key will sit in whatever position I leave it, including crank. 

 

Also, the actual switch unit area where the lock slots into looks to be a different shape than the D shaped shaft of the lock. 

I remember the spring being on the electrical switch side of the ignition. The electrics are quite easy to disassemble so should be reasonable to inspect and repair.

[omegaman]

 My switch must be broken inside then . 

 

Thanks