Take advantage when Engine/Gearbox removed ?

[stuartgb100]

For the first time since owning an Elan, the engine and gearbox are out.

I've now, until just after Easter, to take advantage of the improved access in the engine bay and underneath the car
to carry out checks and maintenance.

Apart from obvious areas (condition of body and chassis, brake/clutch/fuel lines etc etc), is there anything I might miss ?

The Sprint was rebuilt by Kelvedon (Pat Thomas) in December 1989 and has covered no more than 12,000 miles since then.
Of those, about 7500 miles of them by me, in the past 4 years) - that is if the speedo readings are to be believed.

Certainly the engine is strong (190-195 across all cylinders, 40+ psi oil) and pronounced "a good one" by a well-respected
twin-cam race engine builder.

So, with minimal use/mileage, and a ground-up rebuild by a well respected specialist, are there any points to look for please ?

PS: not trying to be clever, just wish to not put it all back and then think "Blast, should have checked/changed that !"

Regards,
Stuart.

[paddy]

Propshaft?

Paddy

[gjz30075]

Change the seal on the input shaft of the trans. It resides in the housing, the one that covers the input shaft. Easy to do.

Greg Z.

[Frank Howard]

Stuart,

Not sure if you have left or right hand steering. Also not sure if you have headers. If you do have headers, whoever is sitting on the left side of the car will toast his/her feet if you don't install a heat shield. Go into the kitchen when your wife's not around and help yourself to one of her aluminum "Bakelite" cookie sheets. It is basically two sheets of aluminum with an air space in between. Hold it against the inside of the chassis in the area where the headers are and scribe a cut off line across the bottom. Cut the waste piece off and screw the remainder to the inside of the chassis using self tapping screws. This is infinitly easier to do with the driveline out. Whoever is sitting in the left side of the car will feel a big difference. No more toasted feet however no more oatmeal raisin cookies either.

[stuartgb100]

Thanks Gents,

Good points. Keep 'em coming please !!!

Regards,

Stuart.

[neilsjuke]

Fuel pipe
Neil

[alexblack13]

You could have 20 year old rubber bits in the master Cyl's. I would remove and rebuild them. New s/s braided line also? Good time also to check all earth & electrical con's. I spent a fair bit of time sat in the engine bay soldering up all the wiring direct. Took out all the push in type con's. Make up an 'earth loom' and ring main all the earths lamp to lamp. Sides and flashers. As you know good earths and 'lecy con's are V important. Now's your chance.

Check everything... Easier to get at as you say...


Alex B...

[miked]

Anybody mention the clutch slave rubber. Mine was soft and swelled after just 5 years of the heat in that area. Also was starting to dribble. Careful with attitude of bleed nipple.

How about soft gearbox cross mount rubber, can get some oil on it and perish?



Mike

[cliveyboy]

How is the clearance of the exhaust manifold against the chassis.
Might be worth relieving the chassis slightly whilst you can get in the engine bay.
Fuel lines have already been mentioned.
The roof of the drivers footwell where the handbrake attaches got very weak on my sprint and started flexing and pulling through. Might be worth checking/reinforcing it. The previous owner of mine put a couple of aluminium plates in the engine bay and bolted through to spread the load.
(I personally would have done what I did with my seat and exhaust mounts and fibreglassed some stainless steel plates in)
Clive

[bcmc33]

I assume Frank is talking about the ?bump? in the side wall of the passenger footwell.

In my car the #2 exhaust downpipe appeared perilously close to the bump, and after looking at a few Elans that didn?t have the bump in that area, decided to do something about it when I removed the manifold to do some other work. I cut-out the bump and reglassed the area.

This job will be much easier with an empty engine bay.

To complete the job I stuck a piece of heat-mat to the complete side wall ? see picture.

[Frank Howard]

I assume Frank is talking about the ?bump? in the side wall of the passenger footwell.

Brian,

Actually, I was talking about the area below that; where the chassis is. That's where one's feet reside and that's where the headers wrap around the clutch slave generating plenty of heat. Nice illustrative picture though.

[stuartgb100]

Thanks for the further suggestions.

The heat insulation to the exhaust manifold/slace cylinder was on my agenda.

I'm fitting a big bore system so it's an even bigger issue, although it's in a
Spyder chassis - which I believe will give more room.

I'm toying with the idea of a thin stainless steel sheet cut and formed to pattern,
to which I would then stick some heat resistent material on the back. It would be
mounted on slim spacers to keep it clear of the fibreglass.

Regards,
Stuart.

[bcmc33]

When my engine/gearbox comes out to fit a T9 next winter, I plan to fit a co-axial clutch cylinder.

Stuart, don't forget to make a heat shield for the engine mount - that's if you've not not done that already.

[Frank Howard]

I'm toying with the idea of a thin stainless steel sheet cut and formed to pattern, to which I would then stick some heat resistent material on the back. It would be mounted on slim spacers to keep it clear of the fibreglass.

Stuart,

Make up whatever kind of shield you want to but I'm telling you the Bakelite cookie sheet is inexpensive, simple, and you won't have to worry about anything falling off because there is nothing that you will have to stick to it. I just screwed it onto the inside of the chassis and for my car, I saw no reason to protect the fiberglass above the chassis. Good luck.

[freddy22112211]

I had good reason to protect my glassfibre from the exhaust heat - it had burnt a hole through it!
Gordon