Lifting a Twincam

[msd1107]

Brian Buckland in his book "The Rebuilding of a Lotus Elan" has comprehensive removal instructions and pictures on pp 347-353.

It covers both Elan and Spyder chassis.

Should answer any questions.

David
1968 36/7988

[handi_andi]

The twin cam is out thanks one and all. Had to put the old girl on axle stands at the front, take a wheel off and put the engine crane in from the size even on full extension in order to get the hook to plum nicely over the engine. Was glad I brought a load leveller as made keeping the engine at the right angle for withdrawl nice and easy and can see it will be very useful to get the angle right for refitment.

Engine is now on a stand via the alternator side engine mount bolts, thanks to a couple of short lengths of 1" square steel tube (RHS), 3 x M8 bolts and quite a few penny washers for spacing. Looks like it is solid on the stand and will be easy to work on.

Thanks everyone for your help in getting the twin cam out, now time for a few decisions such as do I replace the clutch pressure plate as well as the clutch plate? Do i go for a standard or heavy duty clutch? Shall I replace the release bearing? Why is there a load of black gunky stuff in the belll housing? Do I just clean up the flywheel or should I get it skimmed? And that's before I have taken the sump off and checked out the crankshaft LOL

Cheers

Andy

[1964 S1]

Hi Andy, I'd replace all three clutch components, especially if you're keeping the car and driving a fair amount. The black stuff in the bell housing could be oil and clutch facing dust. Check the rear seal. How does the flywheel look? Eric
ps: I may have missed a thread or page about your car.... was it running before you removed the engine?

[handi_andi]

Yes the car was running before I pulled the engine. Originally I remvoed the head as was getting oil in the coolant and therefore suspected a head gasket. When I pulled the head I found damage to piston 3 and have subsequently found damage to piston 2, which is under discussion in a seperate thread. The flywheel was fairly clean, although a bit mucky on driven side, but the engine side was clean and there didnt appear to be any evidence of a recent oil leak. There was a light coating of oil and muck on outside of engine which cleaned up very quickly with Gunk. The only other thing was that the upper half of the backing plate was missing and so oil et al could have got into the bell housing quite easily. I am trying to to disturb more components than necessary, as it looks like the engine has been recently rebuilt, although its now becoming quiestionable about how well it was done. At the moment I am going through a period of assessment and measuring before ordering anything whilst I decide exactly what needs doing based on what has gone wrong.
Cheers
Andy