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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Hgf + Diy = Kr1


Phil S1

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As I've already mentioned, my expansion bottle recently started to develop an oily tidemark. The coolant itself still looks decent, as does the oil. I had lost a small amount of coolant but when Brian did my cambelt over Easter we found that the water pump had developed a leak from the spindle. (We had fitted a new one on the last belt change, probably only done about 12K on it!). Not had any other symptoms and the temperature has been pretty normal. Whilst I'd be happy to drive it some more on the road I wasn't prepared to entertain doing a track day with it so I've decided to fix it sooner rather than later. I've also decided to have a go myself, with a supporting cast of MLOC , Brian and anyone else I can rope in along the way. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson "What could possibly go wrong?" :) .

The plus point of DIY is that any labour expenses I save can be spent on more meaningful things......like Horse Power ;).

There's a whole array of options available out there but the 2 main specialists are: Dave Andrews at DVA Power and Roger Fabry (Kiwi Rog) at Sabre Heads. My budget is limited so I've decided to just get the head ported for now and stick with standard cams and Roger's KR1 upgrade fits the bill nicely. This claims to add a good 15BHP so I'm hoping to see something in the region of 140BHP when it's all back together

Martin has done the HGF job twice now so I'll be referring to his threads along with the Elise service manual.

http://www.midlandsl...__fromsearch__1

http://www.midlandsl...__fromsearch__1

 

I've made a bit of a start tonight, the undertrays are off and the arch liners are out.

 

to be continued....

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Good luck Phil, fairly straight forward if you follow the book. :D I really hope you have decent standproud on the liners. It might be worth drilling and tapping the head for the manual tensioner if yours is currently an automatic jobbie.

 

Edit, that reminds me, i have just bought 5 OE Crank pulley bolts for £8. I will chuck one in with the other stuff when you need it. PM me when you are ready with your address and i will pop it in the post.

 

Another edit, consider getting the aircon pulley machined off as well. The weight saving is useful, the extra room is priceless :)

 

Err, thats it for now i think.

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well looks like i'm set for another trip up north :-) just give me a call when you need assistance - have tools will travel,

 

I'll see if i can borrow straight-edge off a mate to check liner heights, if not i'll buy a length of 1/4 x 3" ground stock from cromwell

 

i'm sure rog can drill & tap the head to suit a manual tensioner if you go that route at a later date,

 

good idea martin, i have a lathe so if you want phil i can machine the section off the crank pully if you want, would make future belt changes easier too as well as shed a bit of weight.

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Phil

 

As you can imagine I shall be watching this with great interest! I had a good hour on the phone with Rog yesterday and I like the sound on the KR1, but Rog is quoting some long leadtimes at the moment. When you get into it, if its ok, I'd like to visit and see the action ?

 

Post some pics when you can !

 

Paul

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Thanks for all the replies guys,

 

Martin, Machining the aircon pulley off has got to be worthwhile for future access alone (another job for Brian then!) I'd very much like a fresh bolt along with borrowing your liner retainers please, I'll PM you my details. I suppose the downside of us tackling this job early is it might be hard to spot the where the oil has come from but we'll see what Bri's expert eye can spot.

 

Paul, the current plan is for me to remove all the clam fixings this week and then Brian come up on Saturday to help lift it off and then get the head off ready for Roger. I'm about 15mins from M1 J28 if you want to drop by.

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Well I've got a bit further on tonight,

Managed to undo the following clam fasteners

  • Button head screws in door openings (2 per side)
  • Button head screws in front of wheel arch (1 per side) (One proved troublesome, the bonded on nut came unstuck but thankfully it was possible to get a 16mm spanner to the back of it).
  • Removed driver's side speaker to access the hex head bolt hidden away in there. (Going to have to remove the passenger seat on the other side I think).
  • Button head screws in the gutter where the engine cover hinges (4 total and it is possible to remove them without taking the engine cover off Bri :P )
  • 10mm hex head screws in the boot floor (One of these was spinning the rivnut so had to be cut off) A job for later.
  • 3 Phillips screws securing the ECU
  • And bonus for the night, I pulled back the aerial heatshielding to disconnect the aerial, only to find it had already managed to disconnect itself (even though it screws together). That explains why my radio hasn't worked for the last 4 years :D

I'm measuring the thickness of the assorted spacers as I go so hopefully the panel gaps should still be okay when it's all back together.

I ordered an Elise Parts PRT last week in readiness, but it turns out they're out of stock, not desperate for it just yet though.

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The oilway mod is quite straight forward to do and I would also give the cooling system a good back flush.

 

I had no probs with my engine that would suggest HG but did have some oil scum. I replaced my HG as part of a c service and the scum came back with in a few thousand miles. This is when I suspected the oilway after speaking to Mr Andrews.

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Blimey at this rate you'll need me before the weekend

 

it is possible to remove them without taking the engine cover off Bri :P

 

ok, i stand corrected, sketchy memory, i still think it's worth taking the cover off separately as makes the clam lighter and easier to handle.

 

do i need to find out some fan heaters for the clam removal day?

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Brian, he will have you working that hard you will never get cold. As an aside Jamie. I believe you have to angle the ally pipe carefully at the end for the oilway mod. This is to prevent it blocking the oil flow to the head. Any idea ?

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Brian, he will have you working that hard you will never get cold. As an aside Jamie. I believe you have to angle the ally pipe carefully at the end for the oilway mod. This is to prevent it blocking the oil flow to the head. Any idea ?

 

Yes Martin, you need to cut a half section out at the bottom and then line the cut off end up with the horizontal oil feed. I used the correct Loctite to glue it in place.

 

You can make out the oil feed if you look up the block from the bottom. Of course this is with the sump and oil ladder off!

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Jamie, half section ? I presume you mean a 45 degree angle in the pipe ? The long end going against the block face ? It has to be 125mm long IIRC ?

 

The oil hole is in the middle of this pic. Strange photos i keep :D

Its the one immediatly below and in the middle of the big semi circle at the top. The oil feeds out the back of the oil pump and up through this hole and the channel up the block face. It then goes through the center of the dowel to feed the head.

Sorry Phil but i just would like to clarify this point. I happen to have a block that needs this mod and its all useful information for the future.

 

P1010002-17.jpg

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Jamie/Martin,

I presume the oilway mod is achievable without taking the engine out completely? Is there any info regarding the mod (tube size etc..) on Dave's website?

 

By the way Martin, the heaters are for my clam's benefit, in an attempt to prevent the paint cracking when we remove it. I couldn't care less how cold Bri is ;-)

Would that block have anything to do with a 1.9K by any chance?

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Phil, when you take the head off, you will notice the front dowel has a hole in it. This is the oil feed from the oil pump to the head. The hole runs close to the waterway on number 1 cylinder. Very occasionally when the head is torqued down it cracks slightly allowing oil into the coolant. You sleeve it with 125mm x 6mm thin walled ally tube ( B&Q ) which is glued in place.

 

As i said the only tricky bit is angling the bottom of the sleeve correctly not to block the oil flow.

 

The hole is sometimes slightly under 6mm dia so you have to drill it out. The tube fits in my block OK. If it needs drilling out you will have to remove the oil pump to remove all the swarf. This is an easy job with the clam off and crank pulley loose as yours will be. I personally would do DVA,s oil pump mods as well ( as per the website ) This will improve the oil flow.

 

Phil, i will do some better pics at the weekend. It should be an easy job with the head and clam off on yours. The block i am messing with is for a 1.8 bottom end for mine. I dont have all the bits together yet so i am just preparing a block. I will start a thread later in the year when i can afford forged pistons, lightened flywheel, liners , shells etc etc.

 

The 1.9 will come later if the 1.8 does not explode :D

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Thanks for the info Martin, think I'll give that a try :tup:

 

Well Bri, apart from taking the roll bar cover and rear window out, I think I'm about ready for you!

I managed to remove the other hex head bolt behind the speaker on the passenger side without removing the seat. It was just possible to remove the speaker using a dumpy phillips screwdriver.

Other remaining bits were:-

  • Filler surround (4 Phillips screws).
  • Disconnect air intake ducts.
  • Disconnect rear lights - Multi-plug and 2 bullet connectors in the boot and push through into passenger side wheel arch.
  • Disconnect boot release cable and push through into driver side wheel arch.
  • Disconnect exhaust brackets supporting the back box.

Probably about 3 hours in total but I've had a fair few of these fasteners undone and copper greased previously so that helped.

I took one or two photos:-

This was the troublesome buttonhead screw position where the bonded-on nut had come unstuck. (The hole going through the gold stripe). With the undertrays off it was possible to get my arm up inside the sill just in front of the axle stand...

 

IMG_2693_edit.jpg

 

This is the offending nut that will need re-bonding...

IMG_2680.jpg

 

The hex head screws behind the speakers have a number of spacer washers fitted which will no doubt drop out and roll off somewhere when we lift the clam so I've taken a photo of each side for reference, this is the passenger side...

IMG_2685.jpg

 

and here's a picture of the 2 exhaust brackets in the process of removal...

Drivers side

IMG_2695.jpg

 

Passenger side

IMG_2694.jpg

 

Time to put my feet up now and wait for Bri ;)

Just had confirmation today from Elise Parts that my PRT's on it's way too....it's all coming together (or should that be apart) nicely :)

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