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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:22 am |
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Yep have been thinking that myself recently! |
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Chris H
Forum Moderator
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978
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Posted:
Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:19 am |
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wheres the leak coming from, you shoudl be able tyo source it easily now I blasted the engine down. |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Wed Feb 09, 2005 12:25 pm |
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Seen the vid? It's all over the clutch/bell housing again and under the water pipe! It's weird because I've racked up the best part of a thousand miles since I got back from Glasgow and it's been bone dry.
Then I come out this morning and notice a few spots of oil! It's almost like she's had the car equivalent of a miscarriage!
Am beginning to regret not having you replace the crank oil seal while the clutch was being done, then I could rule that out 100% as being the culprit.
On a happy note though I have a new best friend in the form of Fairy washing up liquid, it has lifted months of caked in oil off the drive, so that will keep the guy next door happy for a while! |
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Chris H
Forum Moderator
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978
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Posted:
Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:07 am |
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like I said its not the crank seal! How many times! If it was the crank oil seal the clutch would be floating in oil and it would be pissing out! The vid says to me either head gasket or the thermostat elbow housing. |
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Soneji
Forum Moderator
Joined: 16 Feb 2004
Posts: 1356
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Posted:
Thu Feb 10, 2005 3:36 am |
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Clutch would also be slipping like a mofo |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:03 pm |
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Right well I will rule out that possibility, much to my relief. |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:04 pm |
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Well at my parents today I fitted a new fuel filter. Oh the joy. I also replaced the standard 'crimp' clips with a couple of small jubilees so that will make future fuel filter changes less bothersome.
Also had a look around the thermostat elbow for traces of oil. There's a fair bit of oil caked around the nut on the underside of the elbow that bolts it to the head, so I'm hoping that this is the case.
Unfortunately my dad has laid a new drive down so I'm not allowed to bleed, drain or otherwise allow any fluids to go on it, so that ruled out taking the actual elbow off and effecting a possible repair. Furthermore I had no suitable sealant with which to reseal it so I couldn't take it off anyway.
Fortunately my Dad will be around tomorrow to oversee things so I'm hoping I can diagnose and repair the leak before the weekend, when I'm heading down with the RSC lot to Newquay for the Gumball. I cannae wait! |
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Chris H
Forum Moderator
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978
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Posted:
Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:58 am |
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try nipping up the bolt a tad. Like I said that could very well be the spource of the leak as oil drains through it. |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:37 pm |
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Right, well all things seem to be conspiring against me getting this oil leak repaired as my elder brother decided to pay us a visit from Settle (in Yorkshire).
He's always been into older cars - he has had a Skoda Rapid, [Matt interrupts - brought for the princely sum of £120] a Lada Riva [Matt again - Which was sold on to dodgy looking Russian ship workers who transported it back to Russia, on a trailer with 8 others - best place for them!] In addition he's also had a fully restored Triumph TR7 which went bang with "an untraceable engine fault" after just a few months of ownership, 2 Triumph Dolomites, one of which lives round the corner from my parents in a breakers' yard, running an 1850cc engine with twin-carbs - but it is in need of attention to the transmission.
Then he got sensible and bought a Alfa 147 1.6 Twin-Spark, which is very nice.
However....he has been bitten by the desire of owning yet another unreliable, 30 year old car, and today we ventured into the badlands of Lincolnshire - Spalding, to be precise - to look at a mid-70's Lotus Elan +2S.
I did take quite a few pictures at the place but my phone in it's feableness decided to run out of power in the middle of messaging so I only got this one picture into my e-mail.....
http://photobucket.com/albums/v680/gentlebenny/LotusElanEngine.bmp
It's a 1.6 8V kitted out with twin-Stromberg carburettors. If I remember the salesman correctly this engine evolves 105bhp - not much, but if you consider that the shell is fibreglass, then you've got quite a rapid motor with a good power to weight. Being fibreglass means it also doesn't rust!
There was a nice early 90's Elan in the courtyard in Navy which I quite liked but after being told that I'd have to part with £8K for a J-plater, I think I'd rather buy a J-plate Valver! |
Last edited by Gentle Ben on Wed Feb 16, 2005 4:11 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Roger Red Hat
Site Subscriber
Joined: 13 Oct 2004
Posts: 4722
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Posted:
Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:55 pm |
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so, do thay have one camshaft for one set of valves? and another for the other set?
if not, whats the reason behind the rocker cover...looks very 16v to me :/ |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Wed Feb 16, 2005 4:08 pm |
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No idea Roger. I did ask if it was 16V but apparently not. Not knowing much about engine design philosophy I can only speculate that there's one inlet cam and one exhaust cam, like you said yourself. |
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Chris H
Forum Moderator
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978
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Posted:
Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:49 am |
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well I can advise here, the lotus lump, remove it and sell it to another enthusiast. Stick a zetec in, this a very common conversion and tranforms the car.
The lotus engines are nice I suppose but they don;t do miles and when they go bang which they do they are expensive. Also theres a major spares shortage on a fair few of the bits.
The carbs bolt directly to the head which have an inlet port flange for webers.
its 8 valve dohc, that was the thing to do back in the 60's, the fiat TC, jag Xk etc all went that route, allowed them a hemid head.
Not been in an elan for a while now. |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Thu Feb 17, 2005 7:31 am |
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Yeah I know it's common to stick in Sierra engines and the like, but it puts their value at a handicap because it's not the original, apparently they're beginning to appreciate again, quite heavily as well, with some of the sportier versions pushing £20K.
Anyway turns out the car was already sold and the carburettors are Webers, not Strombergs as originally stated.
Managed to get other pics sent across from me phone:
It's my brother talking to the garage/dealership owner. Nice guy.
My brother checking out the front of the Elan.
These two were on display in the courtyard behind the garage. Not really up on my Lotuses but I'm pretty sure the red one is an Esprit? |
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Chris H
Forum Moderator
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978
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Posted:
Fri Feb 18, 2005 1:18 am |
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they are both esprits.
If you read my post I stated the heads took webers not strombergs!
Also an elan with a zetec is worth just as much as one with the lotus lump.
Sierra lumps etc are cack zetec, K series or XE are the way to go. |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Fri Feb 18, 2005 7:32 am |
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Is there a reason why these engines are used? Seems a little random. |
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Chris H
Forum Moderator
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978
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Posted:
Fri Feb 18, 2005 7:39 am |
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ford, K series and VX XE lumps all have easily available rwd bellhousings. |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:22 pm |
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Update
Well today I thought something might have been on it's way out today, as whenever I turned the steering wheel it felt like there was somebody on the end of the column try to out-wrestle me for control of the wheel!
At first I thought it might have been play in the track rod ends causing the wheel to rotate in 3 dimensions thus affecting the steering.
However when refuelling the car I decided to ensure all pressures were at 28psi and the drivers' side front wheel had dropped down to 10psi, although it wasn't noticeable. Anyway, after pumping up all the tyres the "wrestling" feeling has gone away so I'm happy again! |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:15 pm |
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Power Plans!
I've been toying with the idea of rigging up a low compression turbo on my Energy once I've had my bodywork sorted. There's stacks of room in the engine bay for a turbo (at least in a 19 there is anyway). Piper also do a fast road cam for the Energy's and breathing modifications i.e gas flowing, porting and polishing unlock a surprisingly large amount of power.
As Chris has said, doing a turbo conversion on mine has a few problems, such as having the carb sealed to run the increased pressure and having it suitably re-jetted which can be a bit hit-and-miss. One easy way to solve this would be to swap over the head and sensors from the E7J, but then that creates the problem of having the fuelling set up right.
The internals on the Energy are fantastically strong and do not need uprating to run a turbo. At the end of it it should be more reliable than a like-for-like 16V as well.
Here's the sums:
Induction Kit 2-4 BHP
Full Exhaust System 5-8 BHP
Fast-Road Camshaft 10-15 BHP
Ported and Polished Head 10-15 BHP
Low Compression Turbo 50-70 BHP
Power Gains from Engine Mods: 77-112 BHP
Plus Standard Power: 80 BHP
Overall Power: 157-192 BHP
The approximate cost for all this work I estimate to be in the range of £3500. The cost of buying a Williams or 172 engine, gearbox and all the ancilliaries and paying someone to transplant it into mine is going to cost around £2000 mark so it's not actually that much of a false economy. As far as I know it would be the first Energy Turbo as well so it would be different and worth doing purely for that reason.
Oh, and if anybody thinks I've been a little adventurous in my estimation of gains for each of the modification then do feel free to correct me. I'm just going on what I've learnt from other people who have done those things to their engines. |
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huwwatkins
Site Subscriber
Joined: 10 Jun 2004
Posts: 2317
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Posted:
Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:31 pm |
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28psi is a bit low isnt it? |
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Gentle Ben
Site Subscriber
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2281
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Posted:
Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:53 pm |
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Have I missed something Huw? |
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Chris H
Forum Moderator
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 19978
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Posted:
Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:43 am |
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Huw was reffering to the tyre pressures, I run mine at 32+ PSI.
Anyway, yours will ntobe the 1st energy turbo like I said theres been a few meganes etc converted to it.
Also you lets play add up is far from correct.
Also if you try and stick a fast roads cam in turbo motor your gonna end up with a lot less power and horrific efuel economy as it pours straight out the exhaust. The stock cam is more than enough for a turbo lump.
Also a 170bhp energy turbo lump will not be any quicker than a 16V. |
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