1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Restoration threads may be posted here. I can move them from any other topic if you wish.

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Mike C Sailor
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Mike C Sailor »

Hi folks, I'm back.

My health news is pretty good.
Scans showed half the heart not working, and it was said to be permanent and long standing, it explained why I'd been short of breath for 2 years (!) thinking it was lungs or slight long covid, whatever. I was being helped to manage it as it would not improve.

Then a miracle; a scan early this year showed the heart was working normally! This recovery was unexpected as it's rare.
After a cautious waiting period I started physio and it was brilliant! I'm now fitter than I've been for 2 years.
8 weeks later I was signed off. Work on the boat was done (to a very poor standard, no hard work) in a week and I did a race, sailing gently.
I think my general active lifestyle may have helped; gardening, DIY, sailing.

First I had a lot of garden work to do to catch up, then a couple of significant DIY jobs, but now I'm back to the Lotus; only slowly and for limited time.

The paintwork is coming along well. I've now almost finished building up the small defects, much of it ready now for finishing. I had good success with one part, lower quarter. The new paint was flattened down and the existing paint was renovated with 2500 grade wet and dry, then all done with rubbing compound (2 grades), good results. The old and new matched very well, and overall the panel looked excellent; so I'm encouraged to carry on the same way.
The roof had a coat last week, intended to be the top coat, but I didn't thin the paint enough (out of touch after a year off) so there are a few brush marks, might be fixable but more likely I'll do another coat. Bonnet has had some treatment to defects and an overall coat, looks good but needs a bit more work, no problem.
I've been working on the rear brake self adjusters, a lot of work but some success, more to do; worth telling about in a more specific thread.

I do have limited time, I have to work at half effort and half speed, but I'm making progress. :-)

Best regards
Mike

Pete Boole
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Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2006 21:28
Model: Elite
Colour: Monaco White
Year: 1974
Location: Nottingham

Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Pete Boole »

Great to hear you're on the mend and back on the Elite! :D

Pete

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MetBlue
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Model: Elite 74 & Excel 92 (SEish))
Colour: Metalic Blue
Year: 1974
Location: Northampton

Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by MetBlue »

. I have to work at half effort and half speed, but I'm making progress. :-)
Welcome back Mike. Glad things are looking up for you. If I could do the above, if be going 4 times faster than recent progress đź‘Ť

Tony
What goes together.... Must come apart.

Mike C Sailor
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Mike C Sailor »

Good progress. I've tried to get some critical work done in the good weather, so the roof is painted, looks good though not perfect; I might improve it later but I'm happy with it. Bonnet and nose are well prepared, will get a full coat today, most likely will need another coat when the weather allows; next week looks dodgy.
The rear brake adjusters are serviced, including making a new ratchet lever on one side, both working with the brake shoes fitted.
So last weekend I got the diff back in, pleased with that. Not fully installed as while the lower links were off I decided to paint them and fit new bushes (polyurethane).
A new master cylinder is in, I decided to do this now so I can bleed the rear brakes while the car is up on blocks.
Various other bits of paintwork have been done, mostly ready for a final sand and polish.

So the car now looks a whole lot better than when I started and that's encouraging.
Soon I'll connect the handbrake and check the adjustment (it has to be dead right or the self adjusting doesn't work, I seem to remember), check the self adjusting, then refit drums and rear suspension and bleed the rear brakes. I'm really looking forward to having the car on the level again.

Saving up to have an engine rebuild and new clutch done for me. I'm now thinking it's worth it as values seem to be going up!

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AndrewWebber
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Model: Elite S1 503, Plus 2, Europa '
Colour: Gold
Year: 1979
Location: Kent

Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by AndrewWebber »

Another back in use for the '50th year after launch'?

Andy

Mike C Sailor
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Mike C Sailor »

Good progress with the paintwork, good results. The new paint, on roof, bonnet and on various defects, matches very well with the existing paintwork after removing the surface with 2500 grade wet paper and using 2 grades of compound then polish. Overall, I'm very pleased; not show standard but not far off; the side is almost perfect, the roof is not as good but could be improved by a light sand down, compound and polish; but it's so good I'm not bothered. Everything is a major improvement considering the car looked poor.
Here is a picture, but believe me, it looks far better in real life.
OK, a side trim needs fixing, bumpers need painting, front wheels will be done when removed (soon).

Next jobs:
Replace front brake hoses
Finish the reworked (string driven) headlamp mechanism
Fit new cam belt
Possibly rework the clutch cable as per info on this forum
Fit new battery, start her up I hope
Fit new headlining
Look into getting engine and clutch work done for me.



Image

Pete Boole
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Model: Elite
Colour: Monaco White
Year: 1974
Location: Nottingham

Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Pete Boole »

Well worth all the effort! Looks good.

Pete

Mike C Sailor
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Mike C Sailor »

Thanks; different situation now. I walk past and think 'wow', instead of 'what a lot of work to do'.

Clutch cable:
What great info on The Lotus Forums about Elite clutch cable failures. I was considering the rework described there but evidently the pedal box needs to come out and that looks a right swine.
In looking at the wheel and cable I noticed a strand broken (there could be more) so it needs doing.

I really liked Pete Beale's method, just replacing the cable inner with 7x19 3mm wire as it's far more flexible than the original which looks like 1x19 - a type not recommended for going round pulleys.
So I checked up on 7x19 specs. Pulley diameter data is all over the place.
A very good rating is wheel dia 25 times wire diameter, but that size wheel will not fit (and a change of wheel is not easy).
A minimum rating I found was wheel diameter 14 to 15 times wire diameter, and that appears to be the size of the existing wheel.
One person has used, for thin wire and low loads like parking brakes, only 10 times and has found it very reliable.
I don't have data for 7x19 versus 1x19, but some data on 7x19 vs 7x7 suggests 7x19 should be say 2.5 times better for fatigue, and I'd expect 7x7 to be usefully better than 1x19. If by a similar factor again, that suggests overall about 6x better. Given the light load (relative to ultimate strength of the wire), results could be below the fatigue limit, or close to it, giving very long life. I am sure it's very good - well done Pete!

I note that Pete fitted the inner cable from inside the car ... I can't see how to do this, no space, I can only just see the cable entry and can see no way to get a hand anywhere near it. So I plan to insert it from the gearbox end and hope it comes out near the pulley and can be fiddled into position. Then I will fit a clamp on ball fitting at the pedal end (may need reworking to fit), and I'll fit a swageless eye at the gearbox end to engage with a fitting I'll make on the end of the adjuster thread.
More news later.

Pete Boole
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Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2006 21:28
Model: Elite
Colour: Monaco White
Year: 1974
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Pete Boole »

Be really careful when threading the cable from the engine bay - my clutch pedal had a groove worn in it because the cable had gone the wrong way past the pivot at some time in the past!

Pete

Mike C Sailor
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Mike C Sailor »

Thanks Pete, noted and appreciated.

For info and in case it helps others, more info on the ball fitting.
It clamps on with a grub screw; I'm not 100% happy with this so I'll do the following.
At the end of the fitting where the wire exits, I will cut a short narrow taper inside the hole. I will then fit the wire with a couple of mm protruding, spread the strands out and fill between the strands with epoxy. The result should jam inside the taper and only relies on compression of the epoxy to work, not adhesion or tension.
Tapered rotary bits to do the job are available on ebay.

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MetBlue
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Model: Elite 74 & Excel 92 (SEish))
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by MetBlue »

Like the plan.
As they say, A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and just relying on a friction grip in such a trick place to reach and work in would bother me.
Good to here your plan. I need to start thinking along similar lines for my car.

Tony
What goes together.... Must come apart.

Mike C Sailor
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Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Mike C Sailor »

Yesterday I tested a taper joint on the wire. I cut an 8mm length from an 8mm bolt, drilled a 3.2mm hole and made a taper inside about 5mm long. Inserted the wire with about 6mm protruding, spread the strands, put epoxy on and worked it in, then pulled the wire a bit into the joint. When set I cut the protruding end back a bit.
Then using a lever (9:1) and spring balance I measured its performance. At 16Kgf applied (about 300lbf on the joint) it was fine; a bit more force pulled the wire about 2mm into the joint, and it stayed the same at 22Kgf applied load (over 400lbf on the joint).
I guess it moved because I used low quality epoxy and it hadn't reached full strength. I will use high quality JB Weld for the real thing.
I guess a clutch pedal load of about 30lbf, pedal ratio about 3:1 so a working load on the cable of about 90lbf; factor of safety of over 4 seems good.
As this works well I plan to do the same and will not bother with the grub screw fitting; for one thing the hole for the grub screw will weaken the fitting. I'll just make a fitting similar to my test lashup.

If the job goes OK I'll do a full post in the right section with details of tools and mehods.

Pete Boole
Senior Poster
Posts: 3722
Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2006 21:28
Model: Elite
Colour: Monaco White
Year: 1974
Location: Nottingham

Re: 1976 Elite 'The UFO' Restoration

Post by Pete Boole »

You could also do it the traditional way and use a solder pot - not the remotest question of strength then.

Pete

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