Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi,

I have a ropeseal engine, and so I have the older, screw-in oil pickup tube with the integrated screen. The screen on mine was shot, so I've tried repairing it by prying up the edges of the pickup, and re-inserting SS screen. I don't trust the repair, as there was actually sort of a relief fitting in the middle of the original screen that I can't really duplicate, and, since I'm cutting a round piece out of essentially square material, there are places where the ends are a little ragged and I'm wary of those sections holding properly.

Anyone ever performed this operation? Is there a conversion from the newer press-in style? Compatibility with parts from other Ford engines?

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tony

Lotus Marques here in Australia have made a replacement. You can also get it with the screw type fitting for the earlier blocks. It's the same part as standard Mk1 Cortina though so shouldn't be too hard to find secondhand.

https://lotusmarques.com/parts/news/148 ... r-assembly

If making you own screen you may want to roll the edge and braze it to stop it fraying.

If trying to buy the screw in pick up second hand be aware that there are two types. One that used a steel sealing ring in the block and had a shorter nut and one that did not use a sealing ring and had a longer nut. Make sure you get and use the sealing ring if buying one with the shorter nut.

The threaded mounting hole in the block as the same for both types of pickup.

cheers
Rohan

Tmac897 wrote:Hi,

I have a ropeseal engine, and so I have the older, screw-in oil pickup tube with the integrated screen. The screen on mine was shot, so I've tried repairing it by prying up the edges of the pickup, and re-inserting SS screen. I don't trust the repair, as there was actually sort of a relief fitting in the middle of the original screen that I can't really duplicate, and, since I'm cutting a round piece out of essentially square material, there are places where the ends are a little ragged and I'm wary of those sections holding properly.

Anyone ever performed this operation? Is there a conversion from the newer press-in style? Compatibility with parts from other Ford engines?

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tony

There are two different screens on the rope-seal type pick-up pipes (plus the basket type on the lip-seal type pick-up) - which one have you got? I've got both if you're looking for a replacement. I'm in the UK though.

Not sure how to identify, so here are some pics:

rgh0 wrote:If making you own screen you may want to roll the edge and braze it to stop it fraying.

If trying to buy the screw in pick up second hand be aware that there are two types. One that used a steel sealing ring in the block and had a shorter nut and one that did not use a sealing ring and had a longer nut. Make sure you get and use the sealing ring if buying one with the shorter nut.

The threaded mounting hole in the block as the same for both types of pickup.

cheers
Rohan

Thanks, Rohan. I might give the repair one more try.

Following Rohan’s suggestion, I had the screen on the pickup brazed. Looks like problem solved there.

In addition, there was quite a bit of rust damage where the pipe joined the pickup “bowl.” The spring was doing nothing, and the gap between the flared end of the pipe and the bowl rendered the bowl useless for oil scavenging purposes. So I had the pipe and bowl brazed as well.

I’ve included some pics. Anyone see any obvious problems with this?

Thanks,
Tony