1991 'Galileo' (Lotus Carlton) - 2006 to 2019

Lotus Omegas got 300 kph clocks

Lotus Carltons got 180 mph clocks but it's gone past that on a number of occasions - checked against GPS it's pretty spot on too

Obviously this was not done in the UK as that would be irresponsible

Guy across the road from me had one. At the same time he had a beemer M5. Then he bought a Lister Storm. Yes, he was minted

Well I'm nursing it at the moment at I've got lots more jobs to sort out in addition to the big list earlier spent today t-cutting it and then appying a coat of wax plus fixing some of the items below

- the clutch whilst it doesn't slip is very jerky stiff/smooth/stiff/smooth during it stroke (I live with that till I replace the clutch and free everything off I expected that TBH - LC clutches are primitive and when they get stiff they break the bell housing)

- seems a bit down on boost :? But then it did before I put it away (got a boost guage to fit and also I will soon be able to data log on my PDA)

- brakes still judder like hell with medium application but are OK with soft or heavy application although I now have cleaned all the surface rust the brake pad warning light it on - new discs and pads plus caliper rebuild and new strut top washers will sort that out)

- rear suspension works OK tho and that stopped (or seemed to have stopped working a while back but worked when I drove it out of the garage Wed evening)

- EWP wasn't working to start with but has now started working again as has the front cooling fan although it's not got a brilliant flow so vacuum supply needs checking out but I have new valves as well as vacuum spheres and hoses)

- tacho is refusing to work at all where 3 years ago it would work with a tap on the dash (Fixed that today but now the passenger side indicator repeater doesn't work - dash pod out again I guess - Senator ones take 3 mins max - carlton takes ages!!!

- radio doesn't work cos the aerial lead is disconnected - now fixed

- CD works now but you can't change the volume or skip tracks (faceplate issue and it's halfway to sorted proper although the whole system is being replaced anyway so as it works (ish) I'll leave it alone

- noisy rear Passenger side electric window (getting quieter)

- the sunroof only goes up not back - now fixed with a slap on the glass ;D

Loads of other stuff isn't right but to be honest it's all pretty expected for a car that has done nothing for three years!!

Quality car. Whoever came up with this idea was definitely onto something. And of course their not that common, unlike their Ford competition. This one side of the garage, RS 500 the other. (Fantasy garage obviously!!!!!!!!!)

180 in a stock lc? given a long enough stretch of motorway perhaps but with the massively overdriven 6th gear mine only ever achieved it after the 1 bar chip conversion as before it would reach just under 160 in fifth and then sit a just under 4k in top and slowly gather speed but not really accelerating. i think lotus wanted to run 1 bar of boost but vauxhall like ford bottled out ,shame really as the extra 5psi gave 80hp and transformed the car above 100mph

It's clutch time

progress if you can follow the thread

When I had the box out of the Monza to solve my clutch problems I managed to borrow a ramp at a local machinist - I'm no longer happy to pull boxes out from under cars with just axles stands and wheel ramps to get the car off the floor - my body just can't do it any more

So I needed another solution/location and it needed to be without a restricted time frame that I couldn't possibly meet.

Fellow ABS member Will has a double garage with a car length pit and I've utilised the facility for the odd task in the past but despite a double garage it (and Will won't mind me saying this) is bit of a junk yard and his TR8 lives over the pit side as it's a bit sensitive to water ingress (much like my Monza) and to be honest the other side was a dumping ground.

I'd spoken to Will a while back about the possibility of doing the clutch on the LC over his pit and he kindly agreed to me doing any work required on the LC on the pit side of the garage as long as the TR8 could be in the garage too and not left outside - that seemed a reasonable request although I wasn't 100% sure the TR wouldn't end up surrounded by "spares" up to roof beam height!!!!

So at Xmas I went accross and with occasional help from Will and "Milly the cat" we got the garage into some sort of order

We moved 4 racking units and contents, 3 engines - one C30SE on the floor, a V8 spare onto a dolly and a CIH lump (that he is storing on my behalf - ooops) on an engine stand. We relocated some of the bulky but light stuff up into the loft (it was a huge and totally under utilised area) but we increased the boarded area of his loft freeing up a whole chunk of floor space on the ground floor.

Now I could see the wood from the trees so to speak - The floor on the otherside of the garage from the pit was cleaned and all excess concrete lumps chiseled off and then swept clean - I got a whole bucket of concrete dust and lumps from just that side of the garage - I guess that's what happens when you have garage built and then start using it as soon as the roof is on. Once clean and debris free I carpeted the whole side with industrial floor tiles (xmas bonus from work - ie free as they were refurbishing an office area)

With some of the big stuff moved to the middle of the garage we ended up with two usable garages and a dividing wall (of big stuff) so the TR8 which had to be outised while all this was going on got fired up and driven into the carpeted side - hooray 8)

So now the LC has a new temporary home - well nearly does - currently occupied by a BMW as I'm doing a transmission and engine oil change while it's over the pit and to check the tranny fluid level it needs to be stone cold so I left it there overnight and Will gave me a lift home - he's tied up tommorrow and leaving it there means I have transport ready to bring me home once I've got the LC over the pit.

Before I can get the LC over the pit I need to remove the temp frame that the sleepers are going to sit on - these need (well some of them do) to be in place so that I can support the LC box on a trolley jack as I remove it - 65 kgs is a bloody lot to balance on anyones shoulder.

Anyway Like I said sort of an update (ish)

I've got the pics so what the hell might as well share em here - some opinions on the methods chosen would be usefull if anyone can suggest a better method - I have an idea just need to work out the details

Anyway the LC clutch is a pull clutch rather than push clutch and all the effort is concentrated on the pivot pin thats fixed to the bell housing - this area flexes under load and if the parts are not lubricated (strip down to do this) then it puts a lot of strain on the bell housing and they start to crack

If you weld the crack up the alloy gets brittle and the break faster as well as need some machinging to get rid of any distortion which thins the alloy as well - kinda like a double whammy!!

New Bell housing when they were avaliable were £600 and are no longer serviced - most LC's had bell housing failures in their lifetime so stocks put aside didn't last long - later cars had better bellhousings but the problems still remained

Most LC's now have repairs of some description or other

My bellhousing cracks



Possibly suitable for a normal repair but the cracks have gone further than most so possibly not good news for a long term solution

Std ABS club repair - Steel insert in the cracked area





And if you don't repair it or leave it too long with a heavy creaky pedal







When this happens it's not funnny - I've seen one of these repaired with welding and a plate but it's not pretty as can be seen below







So I'm looking to do something different and hopefully better but any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them

Ahh man that's bad news about that crack. TBH that welded repair above doesn't look too bad to me, I bet it could be neatened up even further with some patient dremmeling, but I suppose you'll still have a plate bolted through it and on a car like this it's probably not acceptable really.

Probably but none have broken so far but I guess none get used that much either