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Lotus 7 Project Arrived


ianashdown

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All my Seven books are packed away however, a search of the internet has shown many early sevens with a flat top tunnel. Some have the long bent shifter and one had an extension arm. (see photos) But just as many had short levers or short, slightly bent levers. I think there was a reason for it in the early cars. It carried over until they realized it was more work to fabricate and was no longer needed.

Flat Top Tunnel with Extended Shifter.JPG

Flat Top Tunnel with Bent Shifter.JPG

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27 minutes ago, ianashdown said:

I’m thinking my car may have run without any cover at all.  This seems to have been a track car of some kind and that would have been OK I assume.

 

Ian

Would be a lot of hot air, but on the other hand might mitigate the low pressure in the cockpit problem that causes so much buffeting.

 

Re: the steering wheel, if you want a period Lotus look without the crazy cost of an original, check out jacobengoneering.co.uk - their repro is excellent.  Not cheap, but a LOT less than an original.

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14 hours ago, ianashdown said:

This should look good!  I hope I fits . . .

 

Should it painted?

 

Ian

IMG_8297.jpeg

 

The story I was told decades ago was that they came with the area around "COSWORTH" painted. However, the paint used didn't hold up and would blister and flake off. So many 2nd, 3rd and so on owners never knew this. (See photos). Your car, your choice.

Cosworth Valve Cover black.JPG

Cosworth Valve Cover .JPG

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If you are going to blast the valve cover, make sure the interior is sealed with plywood or something. The media, especially glass or sand, can embed in the aluminum and later be released from heat and oil. Nasty stuff you don't want circulating in your engine.

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14 minutes ago, anduril3019 said:

If you are going to blast the valve cover, make sure the interior is sealed with plywood or something. The media, especially glass or sand, can embed in the aluminum and later be released from heat and oil. Nasty stuff you don't want circulating in your engine.

I took this information. Years ago when rebuilding old Triumph motorcycle engines.  I have a system now.

 

First of all I use the largest glass beads I can get.  They leave a nice closed satin finish and tend not to get imbedded in the material.  Low pressure seems to work but requires some patience.  The parts are then given a run in the ultrasonic cleaner.  The theory being the vibrations dislodge any beads that may be remaining.  So far I’ve seen no signs of any glass beads in the filters at first oil change, although I’m not sure if you would.

 

Ian

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My 1959 Series 1 tunnel cover is rounded and very solid with lots of rivets so It seems structural to some degree. It may be that anyone later making a tunnel frame out of square tubing found it easy to cover it with thin gauge metal to keep hot air out of the driver area. Probably a good idea to incorporate a driveshaft retention into such structures in case something breaks.

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On 6/9/2023 at 2:27 PM, ianashdown said:

I took this information. Years ago when rebuilding old Triumph motorcycle engines.  I have a system now.

 

First of all I use the largest glass beads I can get.  They leave a nice closed satin finish and tend not to get imbedded in the material.  Low pressure seems to work but requires some patience.  The parts are then given a run in the ultrasonic cleaner.  The theory being the vibrations dislodge any beads that may be remaining.  So far I’ve seen no signs of any glass beads in the filters at first oil change, although I’m not sure if you would.

 

Ian

I retired from several decades working for the worlds largest bead maker. Bead blasting was in a different group but I recall that glass bead blasting puts compressive stresses into metal part surfaces and improves reliability of many aircraft and race car parts. For thicker, highly stressed parts steel shot blasting is the way to go along with crack testing ( think connecting rods).

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There are still a few ‘significant’ part missing/yet to be found.

 

Wiring Harness

Steering Wheel - only found non-Lotus examples.  Not expecting to find this

Instruments & Switches - lots of Stewart Warner and AC, nothing yet that could be original.

Pedals & M/Cylinders - I saw this Assy. when unloading, it here somewhere!

Handbrake - I haven’t seen this at all yet!

Wiper motor & Cable - no sign of this yet!

Intake Scoop - easy to get a new scoop, so not too worried.

Clutch Slave Cylinder - I’ll probably fit a new part 


So it seems the two most concerning missing, as yet, parts are the Wiper Motor and Handbrake.  As this was a race car, at some level, it’s conceivable that that they had been previously removed.

 

Ian

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2 minutes ago, Christopher smith said:

I retired from several decades working for the worlds largest bead maker. Bead blasting was in a different group but I recall that glass bead blasting puts compressive stresses into metal part surfaces and improves reliability of many aircraft and race car parts. For thicker, highly stressed parts steel shot blasting is the way to go along with crack testing ( think connecting rods).

Yes!  All kinds of surface improvement possibilities.

 

Ian

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DCOE2s are what the S2s that came with them had, and those numbers are close enough together they are likely a matching pair.  Must have been picked up from another Seven by the PO?  Great luck!

 

EDIT - I found after rebuilding mine that a differently angled butterfly aided in getting the progression holes coming in as designed.  I think all that is in my 65 S2 thread, but happy to go back to my notes if you need/want.

Edited by SENC
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1 minute ago, SENC said:

DCOE2s are what the S2s that came with them had, and those numbers are close enough together they are likely a matching pair.  Must have been picked up from another Seven by the PO?  Great luck!

To be honest, this it turning out to be better than I could have hoped!

 

Funny that the 7 Oracle suggested I should not buy this car!  I had a feeling that there were many original parts in the half dozen photos I saw, plus the story seemed genuine, if somewhat strange!  I took a chance!  So glad I did!

 

lan

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5 minutes ago, ianashdown said:

Instruments & Switches - lots of Stewart Warner and AC, nothing yet that could be original.

If you would, post up pics of the AC gauges.  The Series II did use AC ammeter, temperature and oil pressure gauges.

 

Congrats on the Weber carburetor(s) score!

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