Elite restoration begins!

[richardw]

Lighter flywheel as well as the later cam wheels/timing belt now on the shopping list! I had a look on Gary Kemp's website, but it appears to be "under construction". Nothing on their fleabay site at the moment either as they are on holiday!

Shaun - was it hard to find someone with a rolling road who also knew how to set up Delortos?

Pete

You could try Northampton Motorsport - they do work for Lotusbits and I believe know enough about Dellortos.

[Pete Boole]

Thanks Richard - I had the fuel-injected V8 mapped there, but I didn't think of them for carb setup . What are your seats looking like? I'll have to come over and have a look.

Bash had his monster downdraught tuned somewhere near Doncaster - he said they made a really good job of it.

I'll be fitting my broadband oxygen sensor in the exhaust so I'll be able to see how far out it is anyway - if it was properly tuned in the past it just may be OK.

Pete

[DavidOliver]

Peter, if you still have the cam belt on you can establish cam position relative to TDC by measuring directly the No. 1 piston by removing the spark plug and with a bolt onto the piston rotate the crank to find the exact TDC position, much better than the mark on the crank pulley. If you want to play around with cam timing try some vernier cam wheels, expensive but good fun. Advancing the inlet cam timing can be enlightening. If you go to larger valves get the right strength valve springs although stronger ones will sap out some of the increased power.

Dave the cog.

[Pete Boole]

What I'm hoping is that I take the head off to find some big valves already in there!! Might get the head off this week and have a look. Has anyone had any dealings with Ultimate Performance - their name pops up when searching for Lotus cylinder head preparation?

Pete

[shaunw]

Lighter flywheel as well as the later cam wheels/timing belt now on the shopping list! I had a look on Gary Kemp's website, but it appears to be "under construction". Nothing on their fleabay site at the moment either as they are on holiday!

Shaun - was it hard to find someone with a rolling road who also knew how to set up Delortos?

Pete

It took a while to find someone but i eventually found a guy near Winchester called Tom Airy a real old school guy with years of racing experience and quite a personality. Didnt get any fancy graphs but he really knew his way round carbs . He couldnt find off the shelf jets he was happy with so he drilled some himself. Felt like a different car when he was done. I think Aldon tuning in Birmingham might be a good bet if you want something localish?

Shaun

[richardw]

Thanks Richard - I had the fuel-injected V8 mapped there, but I didn't think of them for carb setup . What are your seats looking like? I'll have to come over and have a look.

Bash had his monster downdraught tuned somewhere near Doncaster - he said they made a really good job of it.

I'll be fitting my broadband oxygen sensor in the exhaust so I'll be able to see how far out it is anyway - if it was properly tuned in the past it just may be OK.

Pete

Seats look good - it's taken longer than expected but I'm very happy with the result. I'd be happy to meet up at Tamworth services if that's any good to you? If not I'm going to have the car at the NEC in November anyway if you're planning to go. Let me know either way.

I've been recommended to take the car to Smith & Deakin in Worcester to get the blistering on the roof looked at. I remember them from my youth - they still do the Wolseley 1500 front panel (I had one of those rotboxes off the vicar nextdoor for a tenner when I was 17!) They are very experienced with fibreglass and do a fair amount of aerospace work I believe. So I may have the car in to have the roof repainted in the next couple of weeks.

Nice chassis!!

Richard

[Pete Boole]

Richard - yes, can meet up at Tamworth some time - probably only about an hour from me. Be good to see your car again! I'm not going to the NEC this year either - clashes with big (60th ) birthday bash.

Pete

[Pete Boole]

Had a look at the liners:



Some wear, but going to use them for the time being after de-glazing.

The cylinder head has been ported in the past - probably by Dave Smith:





The pistons are 9.44:1 so with the head work and cams it ought to make ~200 bhp. That will have to do for a while .

Pete

[MrCoolA]

Had a look at the liners:



Some wear, but going to use them for the time being after de-glazing.

The cylinder head has been ported in the past - probably by Dave Smith:





The pistons are 9.44:1 so with the head work and cams it ought to make ~200 bhp. That will have to do for a while .

Pete

Good man, new I would wake up to the call of the hp.

[Pete Boole]

Good man, new I would wake up to the call of the hp.

Increased capacity (2.5) or forced induction - what do you think? Might have a look at the Rotrex stand at the Autosport show in January .

Pete

[bash]

Heres a novel idea.... put an LS1 engine in it and then some throttle bodies.......... etc. I knew you wouldnt resist the tuning bug.... why did you break the Excel again ?

Bash
Can I come and steal some of your biscuits again I think Im due.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Good man, new I would wake up to the call of the hp.

Increased capacity (2.5) or forced induction - what do you think? Might have a look at the Rotrex stand at the Autosport show in January .

Pete

Supercharge it (cheaper than the 2.5 route?) so that at least we have a record on here about how to do it properly.

[Pete Boole]

Heres a novel idea.... put an LS1 engine in it and then some throttle bodies.......... etc. I knew you wouldnt resist the tuning bug.... why did you break the Excel again ?

Bash
Can I come and steal some of your biscuits again I think Im due.

Now there's an idea!!

Always got biscuits in, Bash!

Pete

[Pete Boole]

Good man, new I would wake up to the call of the hp.

Increased capacity (2.5) or forced induction - what do you think? Might have a look at the Rotrex stand at the Autosport show in January .

Pete

Supercharge it (cheaper than the 2.5 route?) so that at least we have a record on here about how to do it properly.

Thanks Peter! These are just musings for when the car is up and running. Defo not going to do any more tuning yet - probably! But a nice little Rotrex blowing through the carbs might be fun .

Pete

[MrCoolA]

Good man, new I would wake up to the call of the hp.

Increased capacity (2.5) or forced induction - what do you think? Might have a look at the Rotrex stand at the Autosport show in January .

Pete

Neither just good old internal engineering