Lotus Elan, range rover, TR7, Streetka, mx5, minor,

minor disc brakes are all assembled on the drivers side, decided to mount the caliper on the front so the standard corsa hose could also be used, just need to do the pipes now.





I also decided to give the TR a look over in preparation for the mot, only issue I could find was this.





I also noticed this which may explain why the axle seems a little noisier, it seems to have corroded through under the loop which supports the handbrake rod.





I also then decided to clean up the rh wheelarch which was covered in cracks and few rust spots, most of the issues were paint reactions, but there were a couple of rust holes



and one rough patch I did 23 years ago.





cut the rough area out and will next weld new metal in the inner and outer arch, the small holes will be plug welded.

started on the tr welding, this what it looked like to start with.





this with all the rust cut out!





first repair section butt welded in




followed by lower part of footwell so no more flintstones car





next was the upper part of the inner wing





thats as far as I got tonight, need to grind the welds back where it is double skinned, and prime the hidden areas before closing it all up.

tr passed its mot so I took it apart again, took the diff pan of to find out why it was leaking, turns out it has a rust pin hole, hopefully I can weld it, tomorrow we will find out!

The lower rear wing is still in epoxy primer so finishing that will be next.




In the meantime I am making some slow progress on the minor, wipers, instruments and switches are now fitted, heater is re-built and ready to go back in

been off work all week but my wife has been in hospital for a opp so not much time in cars.

off and on for the last few weeks I have been cleaning spots of paint / tar / god knows what off the lotus, touching in paint chips and finally buffing it up. still a star crack on the rear wing to fix (something has hit it from inside the boot) but that can wait till next year.

Also repaired some damage to the seats which look much better to.

result:




on the minor I have made a fuse box / Relay bracket, which is mounted to the parcel shelf.








slow progress but progress none the less!

Mostly it is only an hour or 2 here and there, even sometimes spend 30 minutes in the morning before I leave for work . It helps being able to take them off the road for a couple of weeks when required and not having any real pressure to finish.  

Next job is to get the Lotus MOT'd , paint  the roof of range rover and get the dash of the minor put back together.

Can't find anything much wrong with the lotus so taking it for Mot on wednesday. I have therefore been progressing with the minor, 4mm ply cut out for parcel shelf and kick panels, then all covered in black vinyl.




Then assembled it all into the car, steering column back in, most of the wiring connected, need to mount the fuel inertia switch, connect the rear lights, connect a battery and try all the electrics out.

I have also ordered some milliput to repair the cracks in the steering wheel.

Yes it's first owner after importation was in cornwall, looking at the history there seem to be a few years where it did very little mileage, the worst looking bits for rust are the subframes and suspension arms, one day i will get round to taking it all off, blasting painting and re-bushing it all, for now though it makes do with an annual coat of wax which seems to be preventing it getting any worse.

wiring issues were pretty easy to sort out, washer pump was connected wrong way round, horn has 2 pairs of terminals and I had connected both wires to the same one also needed a new fuel gauge which has just arrived, once that is fitted the wiring is pretty much done.

I have also started repairing the steering wheel, the cracks were opened up the filed with milliput epoxy paste, it's now being painted.



At the same time I have been repairing various bits of trim, firstly the hood frame tray on the TR7 which was cracked and missing a piece, ended up riveting a piece of alloy inside as it seemed the only way to get some strength back into it, it's pretty well hidden behind the seats anyway so when painted won't look too bad





on the range rover I have been tidying up the centre console, the radio surround had 3 big chinks missing out of it which i replaced with leather seat crack repair paste, this worked a treat and is virtually invisible, I also used the same to repair a couple of fag burns.
next up was the cubby/ armrest which was a mess, broken in several areas with cracks and the 2 parts coming apart,



so I ended up repairing all the broken bits by riveting steel plates in the inside and gluing the smaller broken parts to these with PU.








next step will be to re-cover it, first step was to cover in high density foam sheets



Then I will make a new cover out of this and re-cover it, started the sewing last night.

For the first time in a while I had a whole afternoon to myself, first up was to adjust the handbrake on the mx5 which turned out to be a much bigger job as the top slider of both calipers were seized, one freed off easily enough the other needed the attention of a blowlamp and large hammer to free it up put it all back together and the hand brake actually works, only problem is the rear wheels seem to lock on heavy braking, suspect the load apportioning valve is not working, I will give it a few more goes as now the rear brakes work i hope it might free off.



On the range rover I then fitted the new lpg vaporiser so hopefully it will rev past 4000rpm (same omvl 2 stage one I have on the TR), drilled and tapped the thermostat housing for the fan switch





and tried to change the coolant temp sensor only to find the new one fell to pieces as it was fitted so had to put it all back together with the old one, also found the wiring behind the connector is cracked and exposed, used some tape as a temporary measure until i can get some new connectors.








even with the tape the idle now seems stable so it looks like I have found the issue, just need to do a more permanent fix now. New vapouriser is also much better drives just like petrol now.