Project Leeloo - Elise S2 resurrection after 7 years

[DeanB]

12 minutes ago, Virgiltracy said:

I suppose that’s fair! 
 

I’ve inadvertently ended up with two different radiators to choose from, I’ve got a brand new OE one from Lotus or I’ve got an all alloy one by Coolex.

the original lasted 15 years with no issue but should I go all alloy now just in case?

This is a really good question!  I have known all alloy replacements fail within a year.  Having said that if the all alloy one is from a reputable maker I would probably go with it and sell the other.

[Lithopsian]

Lots of people hate the OEM ones because of the plastic ends.  Mine are still going after 22 years, but many others have failed.  Seems like you have one that is very likely going to last 15+ years vs one that you don't know.  The Coolex radiators are supposed to be decent quality although I don't know how many people have had one for 15 years.

[DeanB]

I think my oem one lasted about 14 years and 100,000 miles before the ends went

[Virgiltracy]

Right! Time for an update!

 

Over the last two weeks I've been concentrating on the jobs I need good access for, namely suspension, Cambelt and Waterpump and the Radiator.

 

Starting with the suspension, all of the old bits were dragged off the car and refurbished, they were zinc plated and then powdercoated, I had asked a few friends for their opinion on colour and most said to go for black... Sadly they were wrong, as yellow was the only suitable colour in my opinion:

Before installing I gave all of the contact areas a good clean up as they were all filthy, covered in cobwebs and bits of leaves, the front end in particular came up much better with a good scrub:

 

With everything clean I started installing the suspension, Obviously everyone already knows the process, so I wont bore you with it, but just to say I used the EliseParts OEM style wishbone bushes and balljoints, Powerflex Poly ARB bushes and the EP 111R Damper mounts as the shocks I had were for the Toyota S2. On the rear i used the EP uniball toe links.

 

 

Because I like doing them, here is the before and afters:

 

One tip I will say is to buy a cheap extended allen bit set, this was so useful for sorting the ARB brackets through the access hole - my set was "US Pro" and was £9.40 from Amazon:

 

Once this was done I started on the radiator. When i removed the old fan I found that it was entirely seized, so a new one was ordered, unfortunately it arrived with the wrong connector, so I've still got to chop and solder the old AMP connector onto it.

I did remove and renovate the rusted fan brackets though:

Fitted up the rad:

Connected coolant pipes (silicone from EP again) and got the shroud bolted back on:

 

The side view looking much better with a clean and bits back on!:

 

Whilst the front end was off, I've collected parts that need a refurb, these were the meta alarm horn, bits of the heater box (more on that below) front wiper and the rear bootlid catch plate:

 

tastefully black this time:

 

Moving onto the heaterbox, I had heard about the issues that can happen with them, so I took the opportunity to remove it whilst the coolant was out of the system, suffice to say the thing was basically dead:

One broken resistor:

One rusted support bracket:

One Rusted and disintegrated flap:

 

I've been promised a few spares from another heater box and will rebuild mine, I'd love to upgrade to the T7 design one, but that's £350 which is not in the budget for now.

 

With the weekend drawing to a close, I took a few minutes to remove the S2 oval tailpipes:

 

I have a new OE exhaust from a 111S to go on, however that has round tips, not oval, so I'll swap these over. They're being lightly refurbished first, with a good polish on the tips and the rust removed and VHT painted... (not yellow though!)

 

I'm hoping my callipers arrive back from refurb this week, if they do Saturday will see the brakes going back on!

[Virgiltracy]

And a disaster on the Exhaust! the slip on tips from the original backbox are 42mm... the pipes on the 111s exhaust is 48mm, so they won't fit!

Of course I could just run round tips, but i'd love to have it back to oval as it started, If anyone upgraded to a Larini or 2Bular and has an oval tipped OE exhaust lying around, let me know!

[DeanB]

Great work on the suspension 🙂

I see what you mean with a round-tipped exhaust poking through oval holes in the grills, but the oem back box is very quiet and makes the car sound a bit like a hairdryer. 

Dean

[Virgiltracy]

1 hour ago, DeanB said:

Great work on the suspension 🙂

I see what you mean with a round-tipped exhaust poking through oval holes in the grills, but the oem back box is very quiet and makes the car sound a bit like a hairdryer. 

Dean

I'd love an upgraded one, however it's something to get to once the car has been running a bit, I thought an OE would be the cheapest way to get her on the road before summer is over, so hopefully someone has something in their shed!

[Virgiltracy]

Two updates in one week??!!

Popped up to the car on Tuesday evening, despite the heat I thought it would be a good idea to get the old exhaust off. With the nuts being no longer recognisable, I used the "universal exhaust removal tool" (angle grinder) nipped them off behind the cat flange and all was ok.

I was removing the box so i could match it to the 111s backbox and cut that in the right place to fit the old oval tips... which turned out not to fit! The old exhaust had to come off anyway so no regrets there... the main regret I had was cycling up to the car, the ride home with the old backbox was a bit sketchy!

 

I've got a backup option of a fairly cheap exhaust from the chap in Halesowen, but I love a challenge and I also like not spending money... So I've investigated a temporary fix:

I measured the diameter of the tailpipes on the 111s exhaust and found them to be 70mm, I am also the proud owner of a 68mm HSS hole saw...

Old tips into the pillar drill:

68mm hole cut, widened to nearly 70mm with the powerfile and hey presto! they slip right over the round ones!

 

 

Yes, its a colossal bodge but a very cheap one! I'm going to do a test fit at the weekend, if it looks terrible i'll bite the bullet and get the proper exhaust, if it looks ok then it might stay!

 

Whilst up at the car I took a minute to fish out the broken nut that was rattling around the sill after the front clam removal, like a few owners, this nut became unbonded when i went to remove the bolt.

With the clam off I was able to fish the nut out through the grommet covered hole near the base of the windscreen, to do this I taped a magnet to a length of bicycle outer cable and poked it down into the sill:

 

Now all I have to do is bond in a new nut... 

 

Frustratingly, I'm not able to do much on the car this weekend, as i'm waiting for brakes and bits to arrive. So this weekend will be an interior sort out, exhaust test fit and solder the correct plug onto the rad fan... Might actually get round to fixing the wife's car, we'll see!

[Lithopsian]

That bighead nut looks surprisingly intact.  Did it just seize and then come unstuck?  I've seen some of them that are little more than a pile of rust.

[Virgiltracy]

17 hours ago, Lithopsian said:

That bighead nut looks surprisingly intact.  Did it just seize and then come unstuck?  I've seen some of them that are little more than a pile of rust.

Yep just seized and broke the bond to the sill, I’ll order some new ones next week to sort it.

 

[Virgiltracy]

Unfortunately the exhaust didn’t work, the actual backbox from a 111s is a little wider than a standard K so the round tips are pressing against the grills, so no space to slip the ovals over. So a stock exhaust is being picked up from Halesowen on Tuesday.

I was waiting for parts to arrive this week to fit brakes but sadly they’re not coming until Monday, so today was spent cleaning the mouldy interior. Pictures to follow 

[Virgiltracy]

So, I’ve hit a speedbump and today was the first day that I couldn’t do anything mechanical. 
Still to do: Brakes, coolant, exhaust, suspension torquing.

So, brakes; I got my calipers and discs this week, but my hoses didn’t arrive in time.

coolant; still need to fix the heater box so no fluid going in until that’s back in the car.

exhaust; collecting that on Tuesday.

 

So I did the only thing I could do… clean!

Mould, dirt, spiders… but almost no carpet inside. I think dad got rid of it a few years ago when it got a bit green

footwell was not good

greenery on the ribbed plates and general dirt on the carpets.

so I removed the under seat carpets, scrubbed the floor pan and took an entire morning scraping the glue residue from the old carpet Velcro off… a few hours later and with me now high as a kite from glue remover…

the gearstick/ handbrake cover was too far gone, so that’s getting repainted.

the under seat carpets are currently drying after a shampoo and ironically my replacement Velcro didn’t arrive in time to reinstall the back panel carpet or the new (used) sill carpets I bought.

I had been neglecting the wife’s Suzuki so this lack of progress meant I could change the anti roll bar links on hers which have been creaking like old floorboards, lucky really as the MOT is due in two weeks.

plan for next Saturday: brake fitting with braided hoses. Bleed clutch and brakes. Fit refurbished heater box, add coolant and bleed that too.

 

I’ve got the first week of August available as I’ve booked leave from my work. Fingers crossed that we could see Leeloo rubber side down that week!

[DeanB]

Great work!

The floor cleaned up nice.

[Virgiltracy]

9 hours ago, DeanB said:

Great work!

The floor cleaned up nice.

Thanks Dean, it was odd to be cleaning when there’s so much mechanical work still to be done, but the interior is quite important as the wife wouldn’t get in unless it’s clean and carpeted with no mould or spiders! 

[Virgiltracy]

My Velcro arrived late last night, so I quickly got the back and side carpets stuck back down this morning