SENC

Almost jinxed myself - doing a final run through before lowering the car I found out the hard way I hadn't set the clutch fork fully when installing a replacement slave cylinder, and promptly pushed the piston right out of the cylinder, along with all the fluid. Fortunately, that wasn't too long a fix so I actually did get a couple trips around the neighborhood. Started fairly easily and held a cold idle well with a minimum of revving. First trip just around the block nice and slow in 1st gear to let things warm up, including a quick visit with my neighbor across the street who ran out to see. After a check on the fluids and a slight adjustment to the distributor as it seemed slightly advanced (no, I haven't pulled out the timing light, yet), I took my second journey - about a mile in total. Was able to get all gears (though barely 4th as I was not in a place for speed) and car ran ok, though sputtering and backfiring a bit on lifting off the accelerator, so next step is to check plugs, play with the timing, and learn to tune Webers (my Elan has Strombergs). Here she is cooling after her brief journey: Here is a link to that journey, if you're really bored and need to fill 30 seconds.

Alignment in process... is a trip around the block possible today?

well said!

Ray at rdent.com in the US and Steve at sjsportscars in the UK had them, at last check. Not cheap, though.

Actually, that would be exceptionally good news, in that mortality and complication rates would be much, much lower and we'd have a larger population than expected with antibodies. I suspect, as usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. Our testing and mitigation efforts, in most parts of the country, are actually pretty good - we'll see whether they yield good results or whether we all face a NYC-type of crisis. Either way, I don't think we're headed towards the hundreds of thousands or millions of deaths as predicted by some of the commentary that went viral - at least I hope not!

Hooyah!

Coming together. New brake lines came with a banjo fitting on the caliper end and couldn't find any 3/8 banjo bolts locally, so had to order them, but otherwise about ready to get her back on her own wheels.

I had the same thought!

oh dear, there's bound to be a rule here against such punnery. :puke: :rofl:

Got the bearings out while waiting on the poly trunnion bushes - didn't look awful, but it was definitely time. Still plenty of grease in the hub but signs of water and dirt and some very minor corrosion on a couple of the races suggested long periods of moisture and lack of use.

Spot-on advice, thanks for sharing it. The media and social media hysteria is not helpful as it is all about one extreme or the other. There is nothing to freak out about, but there could be if we don't take significant steps to at least slow the spread.

A bit heretical I know, but I'm a proud trunnion-greaser on my Elan and will be on the Seven, too. There have been some great discussions on this over the years at lotuselan.net, and I'm in the camp that grease is technically a better solution that oil for these limited movement applications and haven't found any legitimate argument for oil other than that the original manual said so. I suspect as many others do that the issue at the time was that grease tended to clot and harden, but that doesn't happen now (at least with good grease), and with grease when I reload I'm pushing contaminants out that were "blocked" by grease nearest the seal whereas with oil any contaminants that got beyond the seal into the oil have mixed. I'll take my lashing now.

A little more progress - and wondering whether some of the bushes have ever been replaced...

Started putting things back together today, got the generator re-installed then started work on the front suspension. Got the driver's side bottom wishbone, top link and damper/spring unit reinstalled and vertical link (same as on my Elan) reassembled before realizing the traditional trunnion bushing metal seals wouldn't fit in the wishbones. The shop manual makes it look like the outer seal was simply omitted, but given that I'd rather use polybushes so have placed an order. Will get the passenger side bones and links installed tomorrow and hopefully get the bushes before next weekend.

air conditioner?????

Progressing piece by piece, today the motor mounts. Glad I did, they were completely delaminating. Oddly, on one side the bolts appeared tack welded to the mount base - so the failing centers actually played to my benefit in getting them out.

Confirmed KAR 965C, registered in 1965 within days of ex-works date. Should finish the steering rack rebuild this weekend, thought I'd share the attached pdf as it may be useful to others, too. steering rack rebuild.pdf Also found a correct cooling fan and blades:

Don't misunderstand, I'm not offended at all by thread drift. Just commenting that I hadn't seen thread waft before.

Could this be the first official case of thread waft?

Thank you, Anker! I was thinking after reading Mike's post that here I am 51 and buying the damn thing that I'll only be able to enjoy for 10 years - you give me hope!

Many thanks for your help Mike, will send my contact information via pm.

Have turned up a letter from Callanan to Brooklands Cars in 2001 with some history. His full name is Barry Allan Callanan, and in this letter he puts his address as 'Sunsrest' in Lilydale - a rehab or retirement facility perhaps? Perhaps why he had to sell? In it he shares that he bought the car from Slatter in 1968, so Slatter didn't own it long in Australia. He also refers to the Sandown club event and Lakeland Hillclimb, so presumably those were the only 2 times it was run competitively. No dates, but both were pre-1994 when he says he did his second major mechanical overhaul. The first was after he threw a rod at Sandown, I'm guessing from the letter in the 70s or early 80s.

nice!!!!

agree!

Brad Penn and Redline are the stateside recommendations I've gotten over the years for my Elan, both have plenty of zddp and are considered top end. Both are expensive, but I figure it is worth it for these old engines. I'm currently using Redline 20W50 for the twink in my Elan, planning the same for the Seven (pre-crossflow).