The Lotus Grand Tourers

Pete Boole wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 20, 2023 15:41

66% on top is fine! Good news. It's still staggering that anyone could build an engine without measuring it at any time

Pete

It is rather, and quiet amazing the result of this mistake only seems to be the lack of oil pressure, no real noise to speak of. Fingers crossed this is the root cause of the oil pressure issues or the neighbors will need ear defenders for a week!.

OK I having acquired the correct bearings and got my engine back together I have primed the pump using a drill. The last time I tried this I got a maximum of 1 bar. This time I got 5 (72 psi ish?). The pressure takes long enough to drop to see the dash gauge still falling after stopping the drill and walking round to look at the dash. So fingers crossed by new year I will have a healthy running engine.

Brilliant! Been a long time coming. Well done. Let us know how it goes!

Pete

Hi Zaphod,
Just wondered - did PNM supply the +015 main shells?
- Jeremy

No, I got genuine Lotus parts from JAE in California in the end.. cost me £380 delivered, ordered on a Tuesday and on my doorstep on the following Thursday can't fault them! They have them on the shelf with the exception of the plain bearing with a hole, so I got an extra plain one and put a hole in it..

I have done a further test this morning. I removed the spark plugs, and refitted the cam belt and span the engine on the starter motor, this time I got an indicated 2 bar while the starter was operating, this jumped to 3 bar just as I stopped the starter (I suspect the starter was causing a voltage drop). This I think is very encouraging. I suspect once I have put the distributor cap back on and the plugs back on and have it running it will give closer to the 5 when cold

Thanks for the info re JAE supplying the special shells. This is great to hear!
They do seem to be a great resource for hard to get bits.
- Jeremy

JerryS wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 29, 2023 17:18

Thanks for the info re JAE supplying the special shells. This is great to hear!
They do seem to be a great resource for hard to get bits.
- Jeremy

Yeah, that's where I got my oversized shells when I did my engine rebuild 7 years ago.

Well.. It has now run under its own power and made 3 bar cold dropping to about 2 when warmish before running out of petrol. It does have an odd squeak, however as the PAS is near devoid of fluid I won't worry too much about that!. Currently it has no throttle cable attached or front wheels fitted (just as well as it probably has no brakes either!)

Zaphod wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 08, 2024 17:38

Well.. It has now run under its own power and made 3 bar cold dropping to about 2 when warmish before running out of petrol. It does have an odd squeak, however as the PAS is near devoid of fluid I won't worry too much about that!. Currently it has no throttle cable attached or front wheels fitted (just as well as it probably has no brakes either!)

Ahh, technically a bench test then!