We wish we'd posted a few
more blog entries last year. Like maybe a hundred. With spring upon us, we are looking forward to
repeating many of the fun events we attended last year, and maybe adding a few more. It would've
been nice to go back and revisit all of our blog entries from those memorable events last year, but
we didn't post them. We'll try to do better this year, although it's not looking good so far. We
hoped to post this entry last February, which indicates we're a little behind.
Photo from an event last year we never posted
The good news is, the car is in lot better shape than it was a year ago. Back then we were
running on ten-year-old overinflated tires with the traction of ball bearings. We had an engine
poking up out of the hood, leaky valve seals, an ampless alternator, a giant steering wheel, suspect exhaust hanger, failing
water pump, a misguided tachometer, and a part-time fuel pump. The car was difficult to get in and out of,
we went through barrels of oil, and we even broke down on occasion. And we thought the car was just
about perfect.
One by one we replaced all of those items, and even added a few more, like a digital clock,
clutch dead pedal, temperature sender, fuel filler, oil cooler, and a handy car cover. We thought
we'd be motivated to do a lot more, and we've had a long list of upgrades for over a year now, but so far not much action. At
the top of the list is a new brake master cylinder. Our old one leaks, not badly, but enough that we have to
add fluid every month or so, and our pedal box support is now a flaky, wrinkly mess. We'd like to
take it all apart, repaint everything, and put it back together with a new master cylinder.
Flaky, wrinkly mess
While we're at it, we'd like to grind some clearance between the master cylinder and the firewall.
There isn't a lot of clearance right now, by which we actually mean none, and the vibration
makes a racket around 3000 RPMs. But to get rid of the noise we'd have to disconnect the all of the brake
lines, pull the pedals, dismantle the pedal box, clean all the parts, paint everything, wait for the paint to dry, and then figure
out how it all goes back together. Which
would be a major chore. It's exhausting just writing about it. How did we ever manage to build a whole
car?
It's true we had to do a fair amount of work on the car last year, but you can't overlook all of
things that didn't break. The engine ran flawlessly, more or less, the transmission shifted
with abandon, and despite our best predictions the electrical system didn't burst into flames, not
even once. The interior is still in pretty good shape, the chassis hasn't cracked anywhere, and the
paint job we were so proud of a year and a half ago is still looking sharp, as long as we don't
park it next to real cars.
A lot of the fixes we performed were experiments. We weren't sure at the time how long they'd
last. It turns out some of the fixes worked well, others not so much. Crimping wire connectors
under the dash with pliers, for example, seems to have permanently solved all of our electrical
problems. Gluing the new water pump to the engine block in support of our 40-year old cast iron
threads seems to have worked as well. Our re-welded shifter hasn't snapped in half, and the
makeshift fittings for our German fuel pump have yet to spring a leak.
Slightly dented, but still holds water
On the other hand, hammering in a new steel intake manifold plug turned out to be only a
temporary fix. Within weeks, the new plug exploded out of the end of the manifold, impacting our new
Moroso coolant overflow tank, the resultant massive vacuum leak leaving us stranded on the side of Highway 37 at the top of San
Francisco Bay. We replaced the steel plug with a rubber expansion plug from O'Reilly Auto Parts, which doesn't
look too stock but at least it's not going anywhere, although it's probably even now disintegrating slowly in a
petrol mist.
Slowly disintegrating expansion plug
All things considered, the car is in better shape than it's ever been. 8000 miles and running
strong. During one weekend a few months ago, we put over 500 miles on the car in just three days.
The suspension works flawlessly, with 100% predictable handling.
We've had the car tail out through 80 mph turns with zero drama. If we wanted more performance we could get stickier
tires, but not without scaring the bajeezus out of us. It took months to adapt to the perspective
of oncoming turns, which look a lot tighter when you're only inches off the ground.
Still shiny from the best angles
All of the improvements over the past year and a half pale in comparison to our latest
upgrade—stripes. Yes, that's right, we applied our 3M Scotchcal vinyl to the car and it's now
totally transformed. In addition to improving the looks, the stripe makes the car
faster, more comfortable, more reliable, and more fun. It also completely distinguishes the
car from all the other green Lotus Seven replicas out there on the road. The stripes debuted at the April Cars & Coffee
in Novato, where they earned comments from at least three participants. Not always
positive comments, but at least they noticed.
Actual stripes, not a computer simulation
The five-inch wide stripe went on without much difficulty, once we reconciled our quality expectations
with our semi-professional vinyl application skills, and once we determined that the effort
required to cover the front of the nose in yellow vinyl would far exceed its contribution to the
overall look of the car. The single stripe alone took several hours to apply, a great deal of that time spent
futilely trying to line it up with the center of the car, or at least the center of the hood scoop. We think we're close, and as usual it's
okay with us if you disagree.
Upcoming events in our Locost summer of fun include a drive with the North Bay British Car Club,
a meet with the MG Owners Club, a possible drive down the coast with the Golden Gate Lotus Club,
and a possible return trip to the Bay Area Maker Faire. And that's just events through May. Many
more are planned. Will we post blogs after each of these events? Will we be able to attend them
all? Will the car still be running? So many questions. Stay tuned.