Christopher smith

Just a couple of thoughts on restoration metallurgy. If the frame needs repairs, make sure you determine if it was welded originally or brazed. If brazed, you can not weld repairs since the brazing alloy actually penetrates the steel tube surface near the joint enough to make welding fail. If brazed, stick to braze repairs. Also, for the cylinder head, make sure that hardened valve seats are installed. Non-hardened valve seats mean unleaded fuel will make them fail. The lead or lead substitute prevented sticking, acting as a very high temperature lubricant in treating the surface. This info originally came from a mechanical engineer with a masters in material science so I think it is correct.

Just a thought for anyone with an old Lotus 7. I think Triumph Spitfire front brakes were on some. If originality is not as high a priority as performance , might be worth looking at Triumph GT6 front brakes. At least the ones that bolted right on to my sries1 to replace some very tiny original drum brakes seem to work great even when cold since they were deigned for a much heavier car. At least I think they are bigger than the Spitfire

Thaks---That is what I thought a while ago so tried again cold. It happened right away with no time to heat up- no time to heat up. So some mechanical misalignment maybe? Maybe fingers not pushing the T.O. + piston back far enough when pressure is released? But then why did it seem to work with engine off? Real mystery here.

Also still having fun with my Tilton concentric slave with engine out 4-5 times now. Seems to work fine with multiple pedal use, retracting (engaging and disengaging ) just fine with the engine off. But then, with motor running, it disengages and engages ok for 2-3 times and then piston (and T.O. bearing) sticks in the full, or fuller than full perhaps, disengaged position ( all the way forward and stuck there). Latest try like that with it stuck disengaged (full forward pushing against the fingers) had to back off the bellhousing to motor bolts a few mm and then the piston retracts ( fingers push it back?). Why it seems to work with engine off but not when it is on is the mystery. Car earlier had a concentric Saab slave/T.O. bearing unit until it finally leaked and that seemed to work fine. Could not get a new Saab unit to work so tried a couple of Tilton units, flat face and curved face, with flat finger and curved finger clutch cover units respectively. Neither worked. Ideas?

I might be interested in the trans if sold with bellhousing and clutch fork. Do you know which Ford model it was sourced from? how many splines on input shaft?

Many thanks! Great info source. I can finally find out which gearbox, clutch and slave cylinder to go with.

Thanks- looks like the same one I have

Many thanks- yes, I am interested in learning more. I will need everything between the flywheel and the driveshaft yoke, assuming they have the same output shaft configuration. I will also need the entire slave cylinder + T.P. bearing and hardware and a shifter set-up or at least a sure place to source all those parts. Please let me know how to make contact and learn about history/condition.

That sure looks like a different spacer ( dust shield? but similar bolt pattern and dowels to my 122E -6015 block which I thought was a Cortina GT MK1 ( rope seal crank)and thought that was what Cosworth was using back then. Or is yours an earlier 1340 3 bearing maybe?

Did those gearboxes ( some originally column shift maybe?) employ clutch covers with the 3 finger design and maybe ? 190 clutch disc with what spline count? or the newer ones with many fingers and if so , flat or curled? Maybe the newer ones were Cortina MK1? I am certainly getting something wrong with my newer Saab and or Tilton concentric slave cylinder set-ups. It seems to work fine before starting the engine. Releases and engages multiple times just fine. But with engine running, depressing the clutch pedal a few times and it pushes the T.O. bearing way too far out and locks in that position somehow. I can then back off the bell housing to block bolts and the fingers push the T.O. and slave cylinder back the way they should be doing. Maybe misaligned?

Does anyone know which 4 speed gearbox used in the series 2 Super 7 1500 Lotus sourced from? The input splines and diameter and output as well? The Pinto box I have has 1 inch 23 spline input and it was really tough finding a new 7.5 inch ( 190 mm clutch disc) and the pressure plate to fit but maybe used in an early Mk1 Escort -UK only?- the Pinto took a larger one). The 7.5 set-up bolts up exactly to the 1500 GT flywheel and the bellhousing is a Cortina I think and has a right side starter and a large rectangular opening for an external slave cylinder on the left which I do not have and probably could not adapt to the Pinto box input anyway.

I think all series 1,2 & 3 have a welded in place tube as the front crossmember under the trans so agree, must be pulled out the top at a steep angle probably, unless you yank engine first and then bellhousing/trans combo which is what I do.

Many thanks for the info. Hope we can both have things sorted out for next season.( too cold here to do anything)

I hope all goes well. It is not easy. If it turns out you switch to a different transmission, I might want your old one. Is it hooked up to a 1500 pre-crossflow Ford as in Super 7? Does it have an external slave cylinder? My series 1 , while still in the UK, was converted to take a Cortina 1500 GT ( similar to the Super 7 Cosworth used in Series 2). But I could not find a normal 4 speed that worked, so a Pinto 4 speed was adapted with a concentric slave cylinder using a 3 bolt Saab slave and T.O. bearing. That gave up ( leaked) after some years and I have had the engine out 5 times now trying to get a Saab and now 2 Tilton units to work with no success. So I would want a complete set-up of everything between the flywheel to the driveshaft yoke.

If anyone needs metric fasteners I keep hearing from Bel-metric who may have a large stock