wdb

Can you go over the top of the diff instead of trying to come down with the driveshaft?

I finally finished a job I was not happy about having to do, namely taking apart some of the dry sump plumbing to fix small but nagging leaks. I used a liquid thread sealant product instead of my usual teflon tape, and it failed to to do the job. It was also a bear to clean out of the threads. NOT recommended. Anyway it's done. On a shakedown romp to test the refreshed connections I heard sounds in the rear that gave me the impression something was loose. So I climbed underneath with a handful of wrenches, and found this. At first I thought the bolt had broken but it had not. There was a small washer on the outside, under the bolt head, and the suspension arm just walked itself right over it. As the pictures show it was on the brink of coming all the way off, which would have been -- exciting. I put large washers on both sides so that it can't happen again. Boy oh boy do I need to refresh the rubber bits under this car.

7 replica on Cars&Bids. Seller seems to think it's an early Westie, but, nah. https://carsandbids.com/auctions/305RNMn2/lotus-super-seven-replica

The one thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history. https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/03/15/the-us-tried-permanent-daylight-saving-time-in-the-70s-people-hated-it/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_time_observation_in_the_United_States

That’s one of the questions the Euro posties are asking.

https://www.wtkr.com/life/money/european-postal-services-suspend-shipment-of-packages-to-us-over-import-tariffs

I've used Mother's 'Back to Black' on other cars. It does a decent job. As @Carz01 mentions, my stuff is also "pretty long lasting" which is a nice way of saying it does need to occasionally be re-applied. For example I use it annually on my Porsche's external black plastic bits. On electrical switches I strongly suggest going very light on the application as you don't want the stuff finding its way inside the switch. Repeated light applications should do the trick.

I heard it was possible to remove the gearbox without removing the engine. So I tried it. 1995 S3 Lotus twincam. Trust me. Just pull the whole works. It’s much easier.

Seriously, the driveshaft does not need to come out? I can't imagine aligning it when reinstalling...

I had this happen on a BMW Z4 so I feel your pain! At least on that car the transmission can be pulled from underneath. From the sounds of it though there must have been something amiss to begin with, to have that happen. You might have extra work but you might also have dodged a bullet.

Passengers won’t pester you with questions about which gear you’re using…

I tried to post a "funny" video of the starting fluid method of seating a tire bead, but it didn't work. Anyway congratulations on getting it done!

@CarlB thanks for speaking up regarding centering the steering rack and equalizing the tie rods. My car had a misaligned steering wheel as well. I started by centering the wheel/rack, which made it quite clear that one of the tie rods was considerably off from the other. I got them as close as possible via counting threads. Then I moved on to the finer adjustments. I think it is important to note that a great many 7's were assembled by amateurs! I shouldn't be surprised by how far off mine was.

One wonders what the oil pump ingested to cause it to grenade...

My wife went for a ride in the Se7en once. Once. I can't fault her for it, honestly. She's not the only person who only ever wanted one ride in the car. And she enjoys the Elan so it's not a general aversion to tiny oil spewing English cars or anything like that. The Caterham is... ...visceral. In a way that puts the lie to almost every other use of that word to describe an automobile. One for @Croc A blonde, wanting to earn some money, decided to hire herself out as a handyman-type and started canvassing a wealthy neighborhood. She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any jobs for her to do. "Well, you can paint my porch. How much will you charge?" The blonde said, "How about 50 dollars?" The man agreed and told her that the paint and ladders that she might need were in the garage. The man's wife, inside the house, heard the conversation and said to her husband, "Does she realize that the porch goes all the way around the house?" The man replied, "She should. She was standing on the porch." A short time later, the blonde came to the door to collect her money. "You're finished already?" he asked. "Yes," the blonde answered, "and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats." Impressed, the man reached in his pocket for the $50. "And by the way," the blonde added, "that's not a Porch, it's a Ferrari."

You can't FOCUS to the side perhaps, but you absolutely can detect motion. I wouldn't recommend glacier glasses for road work.

What size wheels are we talking about? Diameter and width pls thx.

A better link to the Rocky Mountain Lotus. https://rockymountaincaterham.com/sb2352/

Hmm. That explains why the steering in my car is so quick!

That missed shift cost you at the restart -- but it also made for some interesting racing.

wdb is me. Everywhere. Almost.

You collect antique tools too?!? I think I have the twin of the one on the right. Maybe not the same size but the same brand. My grandfather gave me a bunch of his tools when I was working fulltime as a mechanic; he was retired and didn't need the really big stuff any more, so he kept a small set and gave me the rest.

These. Kinda pricey but they work very well. Here they are on my 1995 Sprint.

Yep, my Kent mounts for the Caterham won't work.

How closely did Birkin hew to the Lotus/Caterham design? I have an engine mount for a Caterham/Kent. Maybe two, I can check when I'm back home if they might do the trick.