What did you do to your Lotus today...

[Andy8421]

Started manufacturing new lower lattice sections.
With my welding 'skills' there will be no close ups of my welds.

Barney,

Depends on how much you plan to replace, but given the grief removing the lattice and glassing back in, have you considered purchasing new ones instead?

They are available in stainless steel from Spyder, though cost is of course an issue.

[persiflage]

The Plus2 acquired earlier this year came with 4 readily identifiable issues.
The dreaded fuel smell was cured a few weeks ago.
This week, some sloppiness at the steering wheel traced to the flex joint to steering rack pinch bolt not fully tightened.
Head lamp system leak cured, as of yesterday 72+ hours without any sight of lifting and today washed and polished.
Rear wheel slow leak … to be addressed.
A week with some positive results.

[Quart Meg Miles]

I wasted a day trying to repair the two cables to the dynamo, having removed and refitted them a few days earlier for another job. The field wire only seems to have a few strands of wire in it so won't crimp sensibly (I hate crimps) so I'll replace the whole cable with a bulkier type.

The output wire I must have not plugged back correctly as the connector had a weld mark inside it preventing it from fitting, presumably from arcing as it freed itself. Once I realised that I had fitted a braided cable inside an insulating sleeve I was able to pull a bit out, solder it and crimp onto that. Strain relief is always a problem for this thick wire.

The earlier job was a recce for replacing the engine mount that side; I did, in fact, fit a nearly-new mild-steel exhaust system bought from jonsered_11 years ago. I didn't use sealants as I expect to take it off again when changing the engine mount. It fitted perfectly though the manifold points downwards a bit so the pipe hangs lower than I would like. Perhaps the gearbox mount is too short.

[Donels]

Started manufacturing new lower lattice sections.
With my welding 'skills' there will be no close ups of my welds.

Barney, if that's a small Mig welder you're using I would recommend a few things things..

1).make sure the pieces to be welded are bright, no rust or paint etc, make sure the point you've fastened the earth to is similarly bright.

2) Weld indoors as the breeze blows the gas shield away leaving you with what's technically known as a pile of birds**t...you can turn the gas pressure up to compensate, but indoors is best.

3) Have some spare, similar thickness material to practise on to best set the amperage and wire feed speed.

4) Use Argon rather than Co2, there are/were two basic types...Argon5 and Argon20...if possible get Argon5, BOC supply it as Argoshield Light.
Do the above and even an amateur can produce sound welding that isn't embarrassing to look at.

That's a good tip. I have always used Co2 and thought Argon would be much more expensive, but it's a similar price.

[Baggy2]

Replaced the lower steering coupling on my +2. For years its kept coming loose. I'd tighten it up - it would be OK for about a week then it would be loose again. I'm hoping that having put a new joint on it will stay tightened.

[Barney]

Started manufacturing new lower lattice sections.
With my welding 'skills' there will be no close ups of my welds.

Barney, if that's a small Mig welder you're using I would recommend a few things things..

1).make sure the pieces to be welded are bright, no rust or paint etc, make sure the point you've fastened the earth to is similarly bright.

2) Weld indoors as the breeze blows the gas shield away leaving you with what's technically known as a pile of birds**t...you can turn the gas pressure up to compensate, but indoors is best.

3) Have some spare, similar thickness material to practise on to best set the amperage and wire feed speed.

4) Use Argon rather than Co2, there are/were two basic types...Argon5 and Argon20...if possible get Argon5, BOC supply it as Argoshield Light.
Do the above and even an amateur can produce sound welding that isn't embarrassing to look at.

Thanks for the advice, I only have a cheap flux-cored welder set-up to produce my birds**t designs with only a Max and Min setting to adjust the amperage. I am pursuing another route now, involving somebody who knows what they are doing
It was fun while I was playing with it but an amateur with toylike gear isn't going to produce anything acceptable.
Horses for courses and all that!

[Barney]

Do the above and even an amateur can produce sound welding that isn't embarrassing to look at.

That's a good tip. I have always used Co2 and thought Argon would be much more expensive, but it's a similar price.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. See above for my ongoing plan.

[Sadbrewer]

Started manufacturing new lower lattice sections.
With my welding 'skills' there will be no close ups of my welds.

Barney, if that's a small Mig welder you're using I would recommend a few things things..

1).make sure the pieces to be welded are bright, no rust or paint etc, make sure the point you've fastened the earth to is similarly bright.

2) Weld indoors as the breeze blows the gas shield away leaving you with what's technically known as a pile of birds**t...you can turn the gas pressure up to compensate, but indoors is best.

3) Have some spare, similar thickness material to practise on to best set the amperage and wire feed speed.

4) Use Argon rather than Co2, there are/were two basic types...Argon5 and Argon20...if possible get Argon5, BOC supply it as Argoshield Light.
Do the above and even an amateur can produce sound welding that isn't embarrassing to look at.

Thanks for the advice, I only have a cheap flux-cored welder set-up to produce my birds**t designs with only a Max and Min setting to adjust the amperage. I am pursuing another route now, involving somebody who knows what they are doing
It was fun while I was playing with it but an amateur with toylike gear isn't going to produce anything acceptable.
Horses for courses and all that!

I've been out of the game for a while, but unless things have changed flux cored and stick welders are no good for thin steel...rather like using a 2" brush to paint model soldiers!!..you need a decent quality Mig set that handles 0.6 or 0.8 wire without kinking it through the feed rollers. A good set is more precise on controlling amperage and wire feed, which is what often lets cheap sets down. One thing to remember is, on anything but a very short run put a spot Weld or two along the length to prevent distortion. Get the right glass in the faceshield, or preferably use the type that is clear (photochromic?) and darkens immediately you fire up. Use anti spatter spray... and finally make sure your overalls come down over your shoes/boots...there is nothing worse than hot stuff dropping into your socks. There are also Tig welders available on a budget nowadays, but I can't give any advice there.

[The Veg]

I've been out of the game for a while, but unless things have changed flux cored and stick welders are no good for thin steel...rather like using a 2" brush to paint model soldiers!!

I'm rather a novice at welding but a couple of years ago I discovered that I needed to make a repair or two on my 'subframe' in situ before completing a repair. Since the car wasn't going anywhere, I knew I'd have to do it myself. I'd had an hour or two of exposure to flux-core some years earlier and figured I could do this. I bought either the lowest or next-to-lowest price flux-core unit sold at Harbor Fright, then acquired some scrap steel in a similar thickness to what needed repairing and dove-into getting some practise at it. I don't remember what the wire-size was but for amperage and speed, I started with the recommendations in the quick reference guide that came with the machine and went from there with some minor adjustments. In very little time I was able to make decent if not-pretty welds on the stuff, and then had success in the car itself. Also not all that pretty but structurally sound and with a little touch of the grinder and wire brush and a lick of paint, certainly good-enough, especially down under the car where nobody but me will see.

Of course how you define 'thin' steel is quite subjective! I don't think I'd want to try anything much thinner with this setup, but for this repair it was just fine. Luckily I do every now and then have somewhat larger jobs I can use it for to help further justify buying it!

[khamai]

Spent yesterday at The Little Car Show in Pacific Grove, California and an Ewok showed up!!

[Barney]

..you need a decent quality Mig set that handles 0.6 or 0.8 wire without kinking it through the feed rollers.

Just for info the Flux-cored wire was 0.8mm Ø and it was welding 6mm steel bar to 10mm steel bar reasonably well. Where it failed was when trying to weld in the seat belt mounts into the corners between the diagonal rods. (Dissimilar metals?). I was not happy with the standard and I will not compromise on this safety item. A professional mobile welder will be doing it.

[Quart Meg Miles]

After a three day battle I managed to finish replacing the exhaust-side engine mounting! I still only managed to fit three of the four engine bolts but it will suffice until I have the head off next.

A problem is the inability to get a spanner on the two chassis-side bolt heads. I am considering adding a thick metal plate on the rear of the chassis lug to raise the bolt heads clear of the flange; alternatively fitting a thick plate with head shaped recesses in it; I had to wedge a screw driver in the small gap between the bolt heads and the flange to stop them rotating.

The new mild-steel exhaust slipped in and out as needed but I am surprised how rorty it is when driving. Just the Y-piece is stainless steel but it seems nearly as noisy as a full SS system. I might be able to revive the original mid-steel one, it doesn't seem as out-of-shape as I thought it was.

[rgh0]

I use hex socket headed bolts for the chassis side of the engine mounts to make it easy to hold these with a hex key when tightening or loosening

regards
Rohan

[Graham B]

Hi Meg,
The first time I had the engine out not long after I bought my elan, I brazed the 2 nuts to a drilled 16g mild steel plate using the old engine mount as a template. Trim and check the plate fits without hitting the folded edges of the chassis bracket. The plate with nuts then goes on the rear of the chassis bracket and the bolts with spring washers go in from the front tightened with a socket set.
Graham

[Quart Meg Miles]

Two great ideas which hadn't occurred to me, thank you both!

Today I realised that the other major problem is fitting the spacers behind between the mount and engine, which I assume were as fitted by Ford. It would be easy to eliminate those 1 1/8 inch long items by bolting the mount directly onto the engine and bridging the gap to the chassis with a metal plate drilled with similarly spaced holes (and a filler plate or washers between it and the chassis to compensate for its thickness). I'll try it when I have my cylinder head off next with its easier access.