soon to be plus 2 owner...I think! hood stuck!

[types26/36]

Hello all,. The carbs (strombergs) are dry in the dampers. I know I saw SOMEWHERE in here what kind of oil to put in them,

Dave

Dave,
I'm no expert on Stromburgs but as no one else has answered I will try, as far as I know a thin oil should be used (sae 10 or 20) when I have worked on stromburgs I have used ATF (automatic trans fluid) to fill the dampers, I believe other people also use it.
Brian.
ps. hope you didnt get blow away by Dennis!

[marcfuller]

I have Webers, but my LOTUS manual has info for Strombergs as well - it reads to use 20-50 engine oil in the carb dampers

[Hamish Coutts]

Dave,

20/50 oil in the dampers will be a bit too heavy. You will probably find the the response will be slow or sluggish.

From my experience of many years ago, rallying and autocrossing minis equipped with SUs or Strombergs, a thin light oil was the best. We used to use an oil called 3 in 1. If you're in the UK any decent DIY shop should have it.

Regards,

Hamish.

[Hamish Coutts]

Dave,

Oops, I'm not paying attention - just noticed you're over the pond. 3 in 1 is the same as a light gun oil. Saw it in Cabellas the last time I was over your way.

Regards,

Hamish.

[dafrogtoad]

Thanks, that solved the oil issue.
I spent hours looking on the computer for rebuild kits for these carbs. Any Ideas? (preferrable in the states) I'm usung cross references to look for kits via other vehicles now. No one here even has Lotus' listed in their books!

ARRRRGH!!!

[Hamish Coutts]

Dave,

Key size of a stromberg is the throat diameter. e.g. 1? or 1?". A lot of the british classics used them. They were even used on some BMW motorbikes. Repair kits shouldn't be hard to come by.
Main thing to watch with them is the rubber diaphram. This can crack and leak. Watch if you take the carb apart as the diaphram lip can stretch and is a B$%??"* to put back in.
Try Jaguar or Triumph restorers.
Found a couple of links on Google -
http://www.triumphsonly.com/pages/main/index.html
http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/rimmer/triumph/2000/fuel

Best of luck. Any more Q's give me a shout.

Regards,

Hamish.

[dafrogtoad]

Thanks! I'm looking for rebuild kits now.
Can I safely assume then, (mailman was NOT good to me, no manual yet!) that my 175-cd-2's are 1.75 in diameter?
Also, I assume that these will need a rebuild since they sat unused for over 25 years? (yeah, the car has only 30K original miles) The car was in a garage, heated and all, but I've never dealt with a car that sat so long, in such an envoroment. Anything else I should check? I'm sure the floats are stuck, (they make a nice waterfall of fuel, one litte "fuelfall" each when trying to start) Is there anything esle I should look for? or be aware of unique to these carbs?
Thanks again

[twincamman]

I use sewing machine oil in the su carbs of the bugeye-----much to the amusement of my friend with a 427 chevy [ btw an Italian tune up is to run the car to the red line in every gear--]--a good tap on the carbs with a screw driver handle will usually free the stuck floats----its British after all -ed

[dafrogtoad]

AHA!! I win.
I told my son that we should just rap the float bowls..We didn't, but anyway we're just gonna rebuild 'em.
Kudos to R&D Enterprises. They have put together a rebuild kit(s) for my carbs. He came recommended by a local guy here, and really seemed to know what's what with the Elans.
Carbs are off, kits will be here tomorrow, and the mailman was VERY nice today as 2 of the 3 manuals I ordered came in. Going to have some heavy reading to do, but it'll at least be fun!
I was wondering tho..I have a federal car, but no red headcover..anyone know why? Also, I see the emmissions stuff..Can (should) I consider removing, modifying or otherwise rendering this stuff inoperable to get better preformance?
Any opinions?
I do like stock, (and this car is VERY complete) but I want to let the car preform as originally designed too. I know. can't have everything!
On the stock issue. The only bits I seem to need are an antenne, and the side badges. I have the "alan +2" badge for the rear, but lack the devices need to attach it to the car.
Help? Sources?

Thanks

Dave
(not hurricane bait this week)

[dafrogtoad]

3 in 1 oil? Sewing machine oil? wow, that's easy. Thanks to all who have answered. Going to rebuild the carbs this weekend. Hopefully that will lead to a running engine so I can see what's next. Wiring is on the list IF the engine runs AND it does not just point to another engine related issue (cooling, oil leaks, etc)

[types26/36]

[quote="
I was wondering tho..I have a federal car, but no red headcover..anyone know why?

The cam cover is only painted and often the paint comes off, who knows what has happened in 30 years, prevous owners may have removed the paint!
The cyl. head should have a small raised boss near number 1 spark plug, this is more informative then the paint as it should be stamped with a letter which denotes the engine specification.
Brian

[dafrogtoad]

AHA!
Raised boss is there. Guess it's what's it is supposed to be. Maybe a PO didn't like red. I'll definitely paint it properly when the opportunity comes. Still ondering about the "emissions" stuff...is there more preformance hiding there?
Wondering......

Dave

[types26/36]

[quote=". Still ondering about the "emissions" stuff...is there more preformance hiding there?
[/quote]

Not sure exactly what emission stuff you have on there as I haven't had much to do with federal cars, I believe they are fitted with a distributor with a "vacuum retard capsule" and from what I have read diconnecting and blocking the vacuum line to the distributor improves low speed tractabilty (no flat spots) and improves fuel consumption.
The capsule retards the timing at idle so after disconnecting reset the timing to about 10 degrees BTDC at idle, if you want it to look stock just block the vacuum line but leave it in place and it will look standard.
Not sure how this will effect your emmission test if you have one.
Brian.

[Hamish Coutts]

Dave,

Watch when you strip the carbs. The big brass nut (with the spring between it and the carb body) on the underside of the carb is the mixture screw. Try not to move it but if you do, remember how many turns it took to take it out. Reverse that when you put it back. Also if you remove the needle from the piston remember the position it was in to replace it in the proper position. The position of both these determines the mixture setting.
Would be a good idea to take photographs as you dismantle things.

Regards,

Hamish.

[dafrogtoad]

Hi all,

Ok, this went well today (sorta). Got the carbs rebuilt. Reassembled, and ready. I had put a bit of marvel mystery oil in each spark hole to try and free up and stuck stuff, so I reassembled the ign. I put water in it, and off we started.
It started, ran rough ( just the bad fuel left in it, I think, I had also cleaned the pump/filter) some bad fuel must have still been in the lines from the tank.
While I was tinkerin' with the settings (not many on this thing) I noticed something I have NEVER seen before in 20 years of shadetree mechanikin'
There was a sort of whitish-grey GOO spurtin' out from under the radiator cap!! (first thought, "i need a new cap", second thought, "what the hell IS that?)
I stood there dumbfounded!! My cooling system contained some "B" movie creature and it was gettin out all over my radiator!
At that moment, the outflow hose from the heater core burst. MORE GOO!!
My son shut her down, and we stared at our lotus, which was now covered from the fuse block, down passed the brake servos OVER the fender, and out on the garage floor with what my son described as something partially consumed and bodily rejected.
Ok list folks, any idea that the heck THIS is? It looks like white to grey sand, but had the feel of toothpaste. It disolves ok in water, cleans up pretty easy, but there is sure a LOT of it. In fact when we decided to try and flush it out, and opened up the thermostat housing, not only was there no thermo, but the housing where the thermo was supposed to be was completely FULL of this stuff! (no wonder the heater hose ruptured?) We managed to scrape and vacuum out all we could see, and decided all we could do was see if we could somehow flush the crud out.
So, tonight we have bypassed the heater with a new clean hose from the lower rad. outlet area straight to the thermo housing. Then we ran a 3 foot long hose from the upper rad. inlet straigh up in the air, and filled it with hot water. We left the thermo housing open (poured hot water in there too) We hope this will, overnight, soften up the crud. I know I should have taken off the lower rad hose to the water pump as well, but it's quite a weird shape, and it was too late to go get more hose if the one on there broke. So we wait.
In the mean time, we're learning about the oil filter (the older kind w/bowl and element) Question, is it easy to change that over to the more modern spin-off kind? Man, it's a pain to work that old one if ya got fat hands (as I do)
'till later

Dave