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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: March 10, 2017, 1:54 am 
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Location: Colorado
Thanks Chuck!

So I redirected tonight to a part of the car that I wasn't particularly happy with. I put the battery up in the trunk originally to avoid the extra work of building a box under the floor. I rectified that lazy choice tonight:
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I added a tab over to the frame rail. It'll have a rubber pad and pair of small bolts to give the box extra support.
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This should give plenty of room to get the gas tank out of the car (it has a rigid filler neck). I'm planning on a heat shield to protect it from the nearby glasspack.
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And I made myself an adjustable welding seat! It goes up in 1 inch increments and is very stable. :D
Attachment:
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PostPosted: March 12, 2017, 10:57 pm 
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Busy day today, but limited pictures. The 53 now has fresh oil in the engine and a new filter, fresh transmission and differential fluid, and I painted a lot of bare metal under the car. I also took out the dip stick and bent it to shape and bolted it to the head of the engine:
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It runs between the rams horn and the head, without touching either. Didn't even have to fabricate anything!

I also grabbed the bumper and started fitting it up:
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It won't fit without modification. I think I need to cut up the supports and weld on some new square tube that will go down and bolt to the lower K-frame. There just isn't enough room to have it tie to the frame rails directly.


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PostPosted: March 16, 2017, 8:59 pm 
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So I've been finishing up the trunk a bit:
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WP_20170315_22_49_00_Pro.jpg

All welded up and sealed up with fiberglass reinforced resin. I need to make a battery cover and a fuel tank cover still. I think the fuel cover will screw down. The battery cover I want to be easily removeable, so I don't know what would be low profile and easy. I'm thinking maybe the battery cover just sits over the top and has indents or retainer type clips keeping it in place.

I also extended the battery cable with some 00 gauge THHN wire. Heres how I joined the old wire to the new:
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Spread them out and interleaved them together
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fluxed it and then used a MAP gas torch and silver solder
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Hit the copper on one side with the torch and fed the solder in the other. Capillary action pulls the solder in. Once solder started dripping on the floor, I stopped. Cleaned with wire brush and water (per flux instructions) and then taped it up:
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Then added conduit and re-taped again:
Attachment:
WP_20170315_22_40_21_Pro.jpg


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PostPosted: March 16, 2017, 9:35 pm 
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Yo, Evan-
Nicely spliced battery cable you got there.
I'd have used purple conduit... But we can't all be stylin' like Team Slotus... :mrgreen:

:cheers:
JDK

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Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom


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PostPosted: March 23, 2017, 7:27 pm 
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Location: Colorado
Sadly, I have not invested in purple conduit or purple tape. :D

Been working too late into the night and can't update my log cause the clacking of the keyboard is too loud. Wakes important people up :D . So here's the latest:
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need to remove the whole cover and finish weld and paint it, but the hard part is done!
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Custom radiator mounts lead to this:
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I also reused the corvette expansion tank
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Though I need a small hose to go from the radiator bleeder up to the tank.
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A picture of my bulkhead through to the heater core
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The coolant system is ready for fluid. I'm going to wait on that until I'm ready to fire it up, in case any of this needs to come out for one reason or another. More to follow!


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PostPosted: April 2, 2017, 6:52 pm 
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Progress has been made, despite the quiet. Here are some shots:
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Fully functional e-brake!
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I punched a hole in my radiator with a drill! :( Luckily a bit of flux, some silver solder, and a MAP gas torch fixed it right up!
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Leak check uncovered a different area of mild concern. At 14psi, this spot started sputtering:
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I think I will use it for now, with an eye to replace it in the near future. I'll put a 13psi cap on the tank instead of using the 15 or whatever is on there now. I also cut up and mounted the vette fans:
Attachment:
WP_20170401_12_47_12_Pro.jpg

Woohoo!


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PostPosted: April 7, 2017, 1:06 am 
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Some pictures of it outside:
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Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself :D


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PostPosted: April 7, 2017, 10:40 am 
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Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself

-Yes, yes it does :cheers:

This is shaping up to be one cool little sleeper.. Do you have a deadline you're trying to meet? Seems like you're really moving on it now..

--ccrunner

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PostPosted: April 8, 2017, 12:14 am 
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The goal is to drive it by my birthday on the 20th. Maybe not fully road-ready, but even just start it up and cruise it around the block. I think I'm close enough that it is reasonable to hit this goal. The pictures don't do a good job of conveying just how long, low, and sleek it looks in person. I really want to hear it roar to life and drive it.

In other exciting news/ landmarks: Tomorrow marks 1 year from when I tore into it and pulled the motor. I think I am somewhere north of 1300 hours into it.


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PostPosted: April 8, 2017, 9:20 pm 
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esp42089 wrote:
I punched a hole in my radiator with a drill! Luckily a bit of flux, some silver solder, and a MAP gas torch fixed it right up!


Congratulations on fixing your rad. I've never been able to fix one, seems like I must always overheat it and I end up chasing the leak all over the soldered parts until 1) the rad becomes unusable or 2) with my head hanging low I have to take it to a professional for repair. The only way I've ever had success sealing a rad leak is with BarsLeak or a raw egg. Barsleak would probably take care of your 14psi sputter.

Keep up the good work. Bill

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PostPosted: April 15, 2017, 1:01 am 
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BHRmotorsport wrote:
esp42089 wrote:
I punched a hole in my radiator with a drill! Luckily a bit of flux, some silver solder, and a MAP gas torch fixed it right up!


Congratulations on fixing your rad. I've never been able to fix one, seems like I must always overheat it and I end up chasing the leak all over the soldered parts until 1) the rad becomes unusable or 2) with my head hanging low I have to take it to a professional for repair. The only way I've ever had success sealing a rad leak is with BarsLeak or a raw egg. Barsleak would probably take care of your 14psi sputter.

Keep up the good work. Bill


Thanks, Bill! I don't know if I got lucky, but the repair went pretty smoothly.

A bit of bad news: I don't think I'm going to drive it by my birthday. Last weekend I realized the clutch wasn't working. After chasing all the easy solutions, I had to bite the bullet and pull everything apart.

After dropping the exhaust, removing my crossmember, removing the torque arm and driveshaft, the transmission tunnel cover, and then finally the transmission, I found that without the retainer clip, the throwout bearing had rotated and the ears that hold the retainer were trapped under the pressure plate. When I pressing in the clutch, I didn't have the travel to fully release the clutch discs. After some fiddling, the throwout bearing was seated properly and the retainer clip installed.
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pressed the clutch in and everything seemed to move correctly, so I put it all back together. Clutch actually disengages now and with the pedal in, the wheels will turn.

Whew. That is a real relief! 7 hours of hard labor today to fix that problem and more tomorrow to get things buttoned back up. I'll keep cranking on it and maybe I'll make it by Thursday. I can work a solid 7 hours on it tomorrow and I've got a buddy coming over Sunday and we'll get another 8 to 10 hours in. So close, I can taste it... or maybe that's just grit from the transmission in my mouth :ack:


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PostPosted: April 16, 2017, 8:09 am 
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So close, I can taste it... or maybe that's just grit from the transmission in my mouth :ack:
Either way, it's a "Win" as far as I can tell. Beats hell outta sittin' on the couch watching Oprah...
:cheers:
JDK

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Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom


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PostPosted: April 17, 2017, 12:03 am 
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Decided to make an intake today with the help of a friend from some flex duct and aluminum sheet:
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Need to get a small section of 4" pipe still to hook up the cone filter, and there is a little more aluminum welding to do. Looks pretty cool to me and hopefully it feeds the engine enough cool clean air.


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PostPosted: May 12, 2017, 12:15 am 
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So it has been a while since I posted, but work is still happening on the 53. I'm stuck in a bit of wiring hell. I have crank and spark, but no injector pulse. With starter fluid, it'll run for a split second and then die with a backfire. I need to double check my timing and firing order. My dad is bringing up Noid lights and a pressure gage so I can check the rail pressure (gas is flowing strongly all the way to the return at the tank, so I have some pressure), but after that I'm at a bit of a loss. We'll see. A Megasquirt2 may be in my near future. I also have a strong and persistent smell of gas :x that is not what I wanted from a fuel injection system. I don't have a charcoal canister on the tank vent, so maybe that would fix it :| .


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PostPosted: May 20, 2017, 6:33 pm 
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Went and made a visit to Evan's shop this morning, to see the Chevy in the flesh! The car is looking great, the way it sits looks even better in person than pictures really show. It's a really cool project! Oh yeah, and he started it too. Here's the video of a cold start:

https://youtu.be/w_OZantTSMs

I couldn't figure out how to have the video show up hear in the thread, if anyone has any tips for that? Looking forward to seeing it drive soon!

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