went the day badly

[tower of strength]

Do you ever feel like you should have stayed in bed?

I've had one of those weekends, the plan was to fit my engine and 5 speed to the chassis for the last time, I've sussed out the right gearbox, had a new output flange made and fitted,sussed out the speedo drive, the clutch, clutch actuation, gear shifter, custom propshaft to suit, and the pre engaged starter and gearbox mounts..
Upon installation, the shifter fouls the chassis ... badly, so does the starter solenoid (only just). I thought I'd best try and fit everything to see if there were any more issues. as i stepped over the front suspension turret, my trousers caught and i slipped, banging my head, rather not too gently, on the crane mast and dragged my leg along the front shock mounting stud .

To cope with the pain a brew and a smoke were in order, en route to the house,I moved the trolley jack from under the chassis which dislodged the starter motor from its temporary resting place on the back bone and deposited it safely onto my foot , thank god it had a soft landing........

a couple of smokes and a brew later, I thought I'd cheer my self up by bolting up the prop shaft....... its 2 inches too short!!!!!!!! I wish that when I order one off bits, the suppliers knew in advance that I would change something important (gearbox flange) after taking the vital measurement.

To add insult to injury, 'er indoors' mutt badly bit a friend (ex?)of her sons, so I had to take him (not the son or friend, sadly) to the vets and have him put down.

On returning to the "happy house" where I'm about as popular as a 'floater'in a swimming pool, I thought I'd finish cleaning and painting my cam cover, whereby I promtly ran the wire brush in the drill up my left hand , not exactly the red spray job I had planned.........

On a positive note, I know what needs to be done to make the 5 speed conversion work now, the prop extension is only ?50 (includes re balancing) and the dog wont be destroying any more mail!!!

How was your weekend ?

Mark

[ppnelan]

Ouch!! At least 'things can only get better'...

It's not the weather for Lotus-ing at the moment, so you're not missing out on much...

Just out of interest, where do you get your prop-shaft modified & balanced ?

Best wishes,
Matthew

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Who writes your sketches for you.

You should be on the Telly mate

Brightened my afternoon.

Now. Anybody know how to get half a cup of coffee out of me Keyboard ?:lol:

John

[tower of strength]

apologies for the keyboard John, just thought I'd try to inject a bit of humour (the tale is sadly true!)

Reco prop in Luton is the Number one prop shop in my opinion Mathew,
they are in Chase street, luton 01585 412110.
they do a super job and are nice guys to deal with, just get your measurements right!!

http://www.reco-prop.com/

Mark

[steveww]

I had a lucky escape this weekend. I should have been on the Club Lotus trackday but family commitments stopped me going. However given the dire weather over the weekend I think missing the trackday was a good thing.

I know the pain that can be involved in working on cars. I think we have all had a day like that.

[john.p.clegg]

Mark
Have you/are you taking some photos of your five speed conversion to share with the world before it's buried in the chassis?

John

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hey Steve,

you should see the sunburn I got at "the Combe"
Loads of great cars & some of the guys were pedaling them very hard.

You did miss a great day, sorry

John

[steveww]

Thanks for that

[twincamman]

well at least you didn't set the car and yourself on fire as the bus went by -[they cheered ]- -ed

[tower of strength]

Mark
Have you/are you taking some photos of your five speed conversion to share with the world before it's buried in the chassis?

John

Don't worry john, I have hundreds of pics and drawings, when i finally have it all worked out, I'll tell the world!!!

Unfortunately due to impatience, i have been using two gearboxes, the wrong type and the right type, the gear change was sussed out on the right one, the prop and exhaust on the wrong one, the starter and clutch were guestimated from old parts books!! When making the gearbox support, I forgot that the exhaust runs up inside the chassis below the gearbox mount, so i've got to re do that as well!!

[Robbie693]

It seems some days are not meant for Lotusing, the reason I didn't go to Castle Coombe was the previous weekend I got the car out to show some friends...

Drove from the garage to the house, smell of petrol. Fuel pump leaking again..

Whilst playing with this friend said "you've got water dripping here". No prob just tighten the hose.

Drove two miles up the road, got a puncture, no jack handle spare is the wrong (wierd) size.

Borrow jack handle from friends in a new car, change the wheel, drive back to the garage and go to the pub.

Sigh

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

I think jeff should start an Elan anecdotes column

John

[tower of strength]

well at least you didn't set the car and yourself on fire as the bus went by -[they cheered ]- -ed

Almost wish I had!!! Would have been like Hiroshima '45 if that had happened, ever checked out the contents of your garage? a quick check on mine is as follows, 15kg cylinder of propane, 1 gallon cellulose thinners, 2 gallons of acetone, 1/2 gallon of 2k thinners, pint of meths (hic ) 2 gallons of petrol, 1` gallon of parafin, 1 gallon of trichlorethylene, 1/2 gallon of white spirit, couple of gallons of engine oil and various aerosols, cans of paint and evostik type glues!! If that lot went up, we could see the first plus 2 in low orbit ,

[mikealdren]

Mark,
Where do you buy Acetone by the gallon? I've been using thinners to clean brushes when fibreglassing but woudl like to use acetone to clean it all down before painting.
Mike

[tower of strength]

Mike,you can get a gallon of industrial acetone from the chemical shops on ebay for around a tenner!
A mate scrounges mine from his work (along with the trichlorethylene )

regards


Mark