Project Leeloo - Elise S2 resurrection after 7 years

[Virgiltracy]

I should have got a photo but @stockhome very kindly sent me his old heater box and using some of his, a flap from another owner and the matrix from my old one, I've managed to put together one working unit! It's fitted back in the car and hooked up electrically and coolant-ly. - Thanks again @stockhome

I had to go to Oldbury for work this week, so I was able to pick up an oval-tipped S2 exhaust from the "UK Lotus Centre" - gosh, what a dramatic difference between website images and real-life! Anyway exhaust was fine, cash was paid and I put it in the van and drove away. My Tyres arrived that day too, they're being fitted today:

the inner sections of the tips were a little rusty and the chrome had seen better days, so I masked the chrome, painted the inner section (VHT paint) and then polished the ovals.

I had time yesterday so fitted it with new gasket, exhaust mounts and the powdercoated mesh grills -

 

Whilst I was at the polishing wheel I gave the gear knob a going over:

 

When I took the central tunnel cover out it was badly marked, scratched and discoloured:

 

I've found that "Turner and Gray" Wheel Silver spray paint to be a very close match to OEM silver, so the cover got several coats of this and a clear coat over the top, not perfect but a lot better than before!

 

I was very lucky to be offered a bluetooth stereo at an unbelievable price from another owner, the previous Clarion unit was CD or radio only so not really useable for me! The speakers in the car were Alpine so having a matching head unit is such a nice touch:

After exactly two minutes start to finish - old one was out and new one in!

 

I bought some cheap mats on ebay and repainted the footrest (finding double footrest mats was not easy, but these are ok)

 

As a reminder here's what it looked like inside last week versus this week:

 

 

Tonight i'll be getting some coolant flush in the block, ready for a couple of cycles and fresh coolant next week.

 

Tomorrow... Brakes!

 

 

 

[Virgiltracy]

This weekend was the brake installation, In the garage was a full set of discs from Mtec (used them on my previous car and was very happy with quality and price).

Brembo pads, new fitting kits, Braided hoses and recently remanufactured calipers (by A&A Core supplies in Osset)

All went ok, I fitted everything up as normal, started with the fronts then did the rears:

 

I then fitted a new handbrake main cable along with the horseshoe and caliper cables:

(the horseshoe cable is from SJ Sportcars, I do like how they added foam to the horseshoe where Lotus didn;t on my original, hopefully one less rattle)

 

I then used my Sealey pressure bleeder, pumped to 10psi and left for ten minutes to check for any pressure leaks. After 10 minutes it was still holding 10psi so I added brake fluid, I bled the clutch first and then the OSR brake, NSR, NSF and OSF last, plenty of air bubbles out and all looked ok.

I hopped in the car to give the brake pedal a few squeezes and it was very spongey, looked at the resovoir and it looked ok, then noticed a pool of fluid on the ground under the OSR caliper... it was leaking

When being refurbished a lot of companys drill out the 4.5mm grub screw on the brembos and replace it with an M10 machined bolt, it was from this bolt that the leak was coming from...

I noticed on the NSR that they had installed a copper crush washer -

 

but the OSR that was leaking had no washer:

 

I did try fitting a copper washer but I either have the wrong size or something else is wrong. To give A&A their due they are collecting the caliper tomorrow and say they should turn it around within a day.

I've been very fortunate to take 5 days off work this week and with my wife going to a meeting in Canada for this time, I have 5 unintterupted days with Leeloo, so the plan is:

• Drain the radiator flush out and replace with coolant (i have a vacuum refill kit i'll try to use!)
• Drop the car down onto its wheels to torque up the wishbones under load
• Refit the front clam (can this be done with one person? not sure I have anyone available to help this week...)
• Refit caliper and bleed again
• check and replace any bulbs
• Repair the NSF sill nut 
• Clean the moss and Algae off the soft top
• Clean the rest of the car!

 

I think that is doable in five days, I'm a bit of a obsessive when it comes to driveway work, so I'm expecting 10/11 hour days whilst working on it this week... next week i'll go back to the office for a break!

 

If anyone has any clam fitting tips please let me know!

 

 

[Virgiltracy]

So I had my five days off and... no caliper arrived, A&A have apologised and I can see on their tracking that they didn't get it back to base until Wednesday (despite a Monday collection) so I didn;t get a chance to refit the brakes.

 

I'm pleased to say however, I did get the rest of my list complete, with a day to spare at the end!

First up was coolant, I drained the old flush out, hooked up the vacuum refill thing and got the compressor on it, it held vacuum fine and after leaving it for a few minutes the needle hadn't moved, So i proceeded with adding coolant.

Unfortunately there was still some air pockets, so I did the regular bleed through the front and rear bleed bolts, all was surprisingly fine and we had heat across the radiator, the heater matrix and a consistent dial temperature the whole time. Very pleased!

 

With the coolant out I put the wheels on and lifted it off the stands and onto a series of house bricks on all four corners, the clearance underneath coupled with the front clam still being off, gave me ample room to torque up all the wishbone bolts under load, the car was kept in gear with chocks under the wheels whilst on the bricks.

 

With the wishbones torqued, a friend popped by in his 205 GTI project and helped me lift the clam on:

I then spent the rest of the day bolting down the clam using the stainless kit I bought from speedyfasteners.

 

With the front on, I then scrubbed the soft top to remove the lichen, for this I used Miltons sterilising tablets in hot water in a spray bottle, coupled with a nail brush. It took four washes but it came out. I then put the EZ-UP over the car and used Renovo soft top dye to re-blacken the roof

 

With the wheels, clam and roof sorted, Leeloo was starting to look more like a car!

 

I then spent Thursday washing the car and sorting a few little niggles, u nfortunately there was a little leak on both windows when I did wash it, so with it being a nice day, I popped the roof off to air out the car, this also gave me a chance to more easily install the seats, carpet and centre tunnel cover:

 

Those front rail brackets are badly oxidised, so I need to do something with them, any recommendations welcomed!

 

Finally I checked and replaced as many bulbs as possible, Osram Night breakers fitted to headlights and all others checked. Sadly the NSF indicator bulb holder had disintegrated so I've got one on the way from Junks.

 

Whilst fitting the bulbs I noticed the lens were badly clouded, so a quick machine polish with 3M fast cut and it was about 80% better 

 

So, I've been promised my caliper back tomorrow, Junks is sending the bulb holder and I have Saturday and Sunday available to sort them out.

Once the caliper is on, I'll bleed the whole system (again), refit the wheelarch liners, change the oil one last time (Shell Helix 5-40W and OEM filter) refit the undertray and diffuser and have a slow trundle up the road to check everything is ok before the drive over for MOT... fingers crossed it goes to plan!

 

[Virgiltracy]

Saturday came around and I started up the finishing jobs on Leeloo - I changed the oil and filter one last time, I double checked the suspension torque and set the rear toe by eye (will have an alignment shortly).

I checked the bulbs again (found a sticky brake light switch, but freed it up with some contact cleaner) and then my brother in law came round to do a final bleed on the brakes (the old fashioned way)

All brakes bled and pedal feeling firm, I bolted on the undertray and diffuser and dropped her down onto her wheels for the first time!

Yesterday I had planned to go up and put some vinyl wrap on the sill covers as they were badly scratched, when i arrived... brake fluid was visible on the barrel of the NSR wheel 🤦‍♂️

Popped the wheel off, removed pads and used the pedal to push the piston out and yep, leaking from the vent hole at the top of the piston -

 

Ultimately there was only one thing I could do and that was remove the caliper - I won't be sending this back to the original company and i'll be using a local specialist instead. The local chap has said he can sort it this week, so the caliper is being dropped to him today.

Looks like a frantic Friday night bolting and bleeding again, but fingers crossed its sorted before the MOT!

[Phil Hutchins]

An ongoing labour of love that you’ll soon be able to enjoy all the better for!

[Virgiltracy]

Well the caliper has been delivered to the wonderful Dan at HPE auto, he's fairly confident he can sort it for Wednesday, That would give me three evenings to refit, bleed and test. Fingers crossed!

[Virgiltracy]

Hi guys, I’ll keep this one shorter than usual…

When is the next meet up?? Leeloo is on the road!

[DeanB]

Next Sunday morning!  Get your name down quick for the Peak District Strines run. All newbies are welcome!

[duncx]

I think the Strines run is now fully booked (12 cars is the maximum without needing an MSA licence) but we will be at Hassop Station Cafe for breakfast and tyre kicking from approx 9am to 10:30am - it would be great to see you and Leeloo there if you can make it....

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hassop+Station+Cafe+and+Monsal+Trail+Cycle+Hire/@53.2313538,-1.6778416,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m8!3m7!1s0x487a28f5e9443be3:0xeb29f27fb4b8853f!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d53.2313538!4d-1.6756529

and of course any other Lotus newbies/oldies who would like to pop in for a chat 👍

[gavcolton]

On 20/08/2022 at 18:31, Virgiltracy said:

Hi guys, I’ll keep this one shorter than usual…

When is the next meet up?? Leeloo is on the road!

Great that Leeloo is back on the road after seven years! Looks amazing. 

[Virgiltracy]

After spending all of last weekend firmly planted in the drivers seat, a couple of little niggles presented themselves which weren't evenident with Leeloo stationary and on stands.

 

First is a bit of a whine coming from the right hand side of the engine, this pins it down to cambelt tension, alternator tension or the alternator itself. I've had her off the floor again and double checked the cambelt tension (absolutely perfect, with auto tensioner in the right position and belt firmly on the sprockets and nowhere near the cover)

I did loosen the alternator belt a bit as that was a little too tight and the noise lessened but is still there. My dad told me that it had a new alternator about ten years ago and looking at it I can see it was a reconditioned unit fitted... so I've got another recon Bosch unit ready to fit this weekend

Second was the gearshift, I'm used to a very direct shift feel as my previous car was fitted with a short throw shifter and polyurethane shifter bushes, on the weekend drive it was a little vague going into fifth and i nearly missed reverse twice.

So with an hour in the garage last night I was able to fit a new short throw shifter, crossgate linkage joint and nylatron bushes to the shift cables.

The crossgate linkage uses rose joints (rather than the worn ball joints) and the bushes are nice and firm with a level of self lubrication - total install for all three was an hour and the car didn't have to come off the ground to fit!

 

On a side note, It is so nice to be able to work in my nice warm, bright garage and not on my parents driveway! I missed the easy access of tools, the comfortable flooring and the enjoyment of closing the door putting some music on and tinkering!

[DeanB]

How's the gearchange feel now?

I recently fitted a short-shift lever (well I say I, what I actually mean is Gav fitted it 🙂) and although overall I like it, the lever now requires quite a shove.

[Virgiltracy]

9 hours ago, DeanB said:

How's the gearchange feel now?

I recently fitted a short-shift lever (well I say I, what I actually mean is Gav fitted it 🙂) and although overall I like it, the lever now requires quite a shove.

I've not driven it yet, but sitting stationary it feels a lot more positive, My old car had a "bolt action" feel on the shift and this is really close! I still haven't got rid of the side to side play in Neutral, but I can live with that.

Tomorrow is gearbox oil change and alternator swap over, I'm setting the alarm early so I can have a morning drive afterwards!

[DeanB]

I have to change my gearbox oil.  I've got some of that Redline MT90 for it. It's great stuff apparently, said to improve the gearchange feel too, but it ain't cheap!

Are you going to have a ride over to Hassop Station Cafe on Sunday morning? You can have a try of mine if you like.

[Virgiltracy]

28 minutes ago, DeanB said:

I have to change my gearbox oil.  I've got some of that Redline MT90 for it. It's great stuff apparently, said to improve the gearchange feel too, but it ain't cheap!

Are you going to have a ride over to Hassop Station Cafe on Sunday morning? You can have a try of mine if you like.

I've got a couple of bottles of MT90 as well!, bought the Sealey Syringe too, hopefully it should be easy enough to do with the wheel off,

I won't be at Hassop this time unfortunately as I've got some friends staying Saturday night. I'll keep an eye out for other meets though!