Newbie Lotus Owner

[malrig]

Here is a picture of the new arrival :


And a nice picture of the cambelt and oil filter :



There were 4 or 5 chunks out of the cambelt like this
Wondering if someone could date the oil filter from this ? The oil was in good condition to be fair, but this looks like it might have been on since the nineties ?

[rbgosling]

Yikes!!!

[malrig]

Super thanks to Tony for taking time to visit on Saturday.
Using Stu's Burroughs Gauge (thanks Stu) we were able to check the cambelt, and it is spot on . We also did some measurements on how the gauge works, and comparison with the "Draper/Nielsen" gauge. I have then followed this up with a bit more research, calculation and checks - I'll post some details on that later on the "another timing belt question" chat.
Face to face advice and encouragement is a massive help, and I am now making some progress on the electrics (my least favourite bit).

Cheers,
Malcolm.

[DavidOliver]

You show a photo of chunks taken out of the old cambelt.
My suggestion is that the scrubbers, one above the inlet cam pulley and one on the alternator side of the crank pulley may be too close, loose, or the cambelt has been slack at some point and fouled the scrubber.
With the new belt I suggest you check scrubber gap to the cambelt.
An inspection of the tensioner pulley to ensure no detritus (crap) is on the outer running surface is advised.

Dave the cog.

[malrig]

Thanks for the advice Dave - I will keep an eye on the new belt. I'm pretty sure it's not rubbing on anything at the moment (Tony and I have both watched and listened while it's running up to about 3000rpm).
Clearance to the "scrubber" above the inlet cam pulley is 0.5mm at the closest point - you can just about see in the picture.
I thought this seemed close, but I'm not sure what it should be ?


The old idler pulley is definitely pretty ropey on the surface, so potentially could have been the culprit ?


Cheers,
Malcolm.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

More likely the belt picked up a foreign object like a stone. I've just changed my tensioner bearing and the surface looked same as yours but I've never had that sort of belt damage. Has it been running without the upper AND lower stone guards?

[malrig]

The top stone guard is in the boot, which it where it was when I bought the car.
There's no bottom stone guard.
Not sure how long they've been off, but your suggestion is certainly a possibility Pete.
I never really thought about that one as I've run a rally car with a Fiat twin-cam and no cambelt cover for years without issue, but I guess every car is different in the way air flow drags stones and things into the engine bay ?

[Lotus-e-Clan]

The 912 upper guard is half the size of the 907 one. The 912, to compensate somewhat, should also have a metal angle iron shaped guard along the lower run from the Exhaust pulley down to the crank pulley. They rust, so may have been discarded on older, higher mileage Excels. If present but misshaped, the lower guard might trap foreign objects too.

Also there should be a plastic rad undertray from the nose intake aperture running up to the oil cooler mount. If that's missing too, then all sorts will get sucked up the front of the engine from the road. And rad cooling won't work so well.

Btw. Rad cooling benefits from the rapid air expansion that occurs once the ram air, squeezed through the small nose inlet, abruptly enters the large space Infront of the rad and decompresses. And if the lower tray is missing, a lot of the decompressed ram air won't go through the rad.

[malrig]

That's helpful info thanks Peter.
The undertray is off at the moment while I'm working on the car, but it looks like it's not been off for a long time.
I think you're suggesting that this piece of metal, which was also in the boot, is the lower cambelt cover ?

[Lotus-e-Clan]

That's helpful info thanks Peter.
The undertray is off at the moment while I'm working on the car, but it looks like it's not been off for a long time.
I think you're suggesting that this piece of metal, which was also in the boot, is the lower cambelt cover ?

Looks like it. That said, photo is a bit small but if it were int' boot then make sure it's not the battery retention bracket, just in case! That's another angley thing that gets left off.

[Hawaiis0]

That's the battery bracket minus a few bits - is it not?

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Yes that photo is indeed the battery bracket.The steel lower belt guard is A010 A011 in the above screenshot.

When staring at it under car A011 (mine's an 89Se) looks like a bit of angle iron but clearly it's more sophisticated than that as seen in the parts diagram. Sorry for the mislead.

[malrig]

Thanks for the clarification guys

[Alan_M]

That's the battery bracket minus a few bits - is it not?

Yep, that’s definately the battery retaining bracket minus it’s two plastic half turn lock inserts.