# Personal Nostalgia Classic & Sports Car Magazine



## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Featured in the December edition of Classic & Sports Car Magazine is my very own Lotus 47 from way back. It has been found and restored to its former glory. Also mentioned is my Ginetta G12 and there is a reference to another great car I owned and loved, the Lotus Ã‰lan 26R. It doesnâ€™t get much better.

Note: Price then Lotus 47 Â£2,700. Price now: Â£150,000.

A colleague of mine from my racing days alerted me to this feature. I would just like to say thanks a million to Ronnie Harper who now has a business maintaining Classic Cars.

Joe


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Why are there teh feet of a dead polar bear sticking out of the roof?


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

garyc said:


> Why are there teh feet of a dead polar bear sticking out of the roof?


I suspect you already know :lol: but just for the record they are air intakes 

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

PS Forced induction for your TT, perhaps?  Who's going to be the first? 

Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Love the Polar bear quip :lol:

So, are you going to buy the cars back then Joe? :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

John-H said:


> Love the Polar bear quip :lol:
> 
> So, are you going to buy the cars back then Joe? :wink:


Loose change, John but he won't part with. :lol: :lol:

Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

TTCool said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > Love the Polar bear quip :lol:
> ...


Look on the bright side Joe - you might be able to afford tie bars instead


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## KenTT (Feb 20, 2005)

Wow 558Kg, that is nice and light. Everthing is so over wieght these days.

That reminds me, I most eat less this Christmas :roll: .


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

KenTT said:


> Wow 558Kg, that is nice and light. Everthing is so over wieght these days.
> 
> That reminds me, I most eat less this Christmas :roll: .


Hi Ken

Nice to see you chortling. I'm the same weight as this time last year, so things can only go up :roll: Keep well. Judy sends her regards.

Joe


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## TJS (May 6, 2002)

Joe

not quite the same, but ....

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/273582.htm


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

TJS said:


> Joe
> 
> not quite the same, but ....
> 
> http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/273582.htm


Very nice. I sometimes get the urge to own a Lotus Classic. This one is my favourite: The John Player Special Europa with the Cosworth Twin Cam, L2 cams, 40DCOE Webers and all that. I did have one many moons ago but not this particular one.










Happy days

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Lotus Elan Chassis: If only they still made road cars this accessible  Body just sits on top. About 16 bolts kept it on 










Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

> Cosworth Twin Cam, L2 cams, 40DCOE Webers and all that.


Mmmm... I had one of those with that spec in an Mk1 Escort - that was a fun engine :wink: I used to love the gobble gobble noise whilst tootleing along followed by the scream when you put your foot down :twisted: it drowned out the screams from the passenger too :wink:

A bit like this only I was more careful with mine .... sometimes :twisted:


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## TJS (May 6, 2002)

Thats a replica Lotus Elan chassis made by Spyder. The Lotus purists would be very upset !

Its actually a very good product with the design flaws of the original Lotus chassis engineered out, especially the corrosion traps and the tubular front cross braces can now be removed to gain better access to componets without having to remove the engine.

I have an Elan Sprint fhc which is nearing the end of restoration. Hopefully on the road (MOT) in the New Year. It has the galvanised replacement Lotus Chassis but with Spyder suspension wishbones all round. I have given up on the rubber rotoflex drive couplings and opted for CV jointed driveshafts. Fresh precautionary water pump etc also fitted while the engine was removed.

The Elan has to one of the best DIYable classics available and a good one can still scare a 40 year younger TT on a twisty road despite the latter having an additional 100 bhp and 4 wheel drive. Keep on top of the maintence (leave the tappet adjustment to a professional) and you will avoid the LOTUS acronym; Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Tappet adjustment was fun - the engine would sound fine then run out of power with no compression as the clearances closed up and the valve seats eroded away. You had to assemble the head with undersize shims, measure the gaps, calculate new shims and order the right ones, disassemble again, reassemble with corrected shims, measure gaps, find the gaps were not quite right again, scream, measure, dissassemble, rub down shims on wet+dry, reassemble etc. :lol:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Your'e right about the chassis. I hurriedly Googled a pic and took the first one that looked 'good' 

Fantastic fun, plus blood sweat and tears. Try doing valve clearances on a BDA. I lifted the cam carrier and lost the shims on one occasion and had to start all over again, not knowing where to start.

Another fond memory: off-set dowels in the twin cam timing sprockets.

It's all plug and play these days :lol:

Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Offset dowels and dial gauges [smiley=thumbsup.gif] :lol: Do you remember those top hat shims?


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

PS My 26R had sliding spline rear drive shafts in place of the rubber 'doughnuts'. Much much better but when egine power was increased to full racing levels the splines used to twist, so how the doughnuts were supposed to last heaven only knows. Well they didn't.

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

John-H said:


> Offset dowels and dial gauges [smiley=thumbsup.gif] :lol: Do you remember those top hat shims?


Oh yes, John. At least there was something to get hold of when reducing the thickness with wet and dry, ouch. No case hardening though after that. I couldn't afford a full set of Cosworth shims so just used to adjust what I had. They used to splay after that :lol: :lol:

Talking about shims, when I bought my Lotus Elite, the first job I did was set the valve clearances on the Coventry Climax engine. The tappets were noisy. I soon found out why. I found a shim which was in fact a sixpenny bit. I'm surpised I actually got home withiout serious damage.

More happy days

Joe

PS Do you think we could get this to 24 pages? 8)


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)




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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

TTCool said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > Offset dowels and dial gauges [smiley=thumbsup.gif] :lol: Do you remember those top hat shims?
> ...


A sixpenny bit!  :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sounds like something Jampott would do :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

John-H said:


> TTCool said:
> 
> 
> > John-H said:
> ...


John,

It's pouring with rain here but I'm still going for a blast on the Moor to reacquaint myself with how it used to be. ESP off of course 

Speak later

Joe


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## HighTT (Feb 14, 2004)

John-H said:


> Tappet adjustment was fun - the engine would sound fine then run out of power with no compression as the clearances closed up and the valve seats eroded away. You had to assemble the head with undersize shims, measure the gaps, calculate new shims and order the right ones, disassemble again, reassemble with corrected shims, measure gaps, find the gaps were not quite right again, scream, measure, dissassemble, rub down shims on wet+dry, reassemble etc. :lol:


 John - that all reminds me of what I still do 

But I either get shims surface ground, or there is an 'exchange' shim service where people can swap one thickness for another.

24 pages here we come :lol:


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

HighTT said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > Tappet adjustment was fun - the engine would sound fine then run out of power with no compression as the clearances closed up and the valve seats eroded away. You had to assemble the head with undersize shims, measure the gaps, calculate new shims and order the right ones, disassemble again, reassemble with corrected shims, measure gaps, find the gaps were not quite right again, scream, measure, dissassemble, rub down shims on wet+dry, reassemble etc. :lol:
> ...


I seem to remember being able to swap shims at the dealer :roll: . I used to swap with my friend who had an Elan too.

I remember when my valves eat their way into the seats due to a weak mixture caused by a faulty fuel pump and I needed all the valve seats replacing. You had to cool the seats in liquid nitrogen and heat the head up in an oven before combining the two for an interference fit and then cutting.

I was recommended some well respected expert for these heads - can't remember who or where - but I turned up with the head expecting a posh workshop. Instead the guy was a little old man who's premises consisted of a lorry container on stilts (!!!) with windows cut in the sides, on someone elses premises, whom he rented off!  His workshop was cramped and full of clutter and I had real doubts about leaving the head with him but he sounded knowledgeable and we had a good chat.

He did a stirling job however and even stitched a couple of cracks I'd not noticed and didn't charge me any more. Engine ran like a dream after that. Just goes to show - never judge a book by it's container! :lol:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

How cool is this?

Doing valve clearances on my Ferrari Dino. The shims sat on the TOP of the cam followers inside a recess underneath the camshafts. The cam shafts rolled over the shims which were very nearly the same diameter as the follower itself, more like the size of a Half Crown :wink:

With the pistons in the correct place, and having previously measured the clearances, I used to hook a Ferrari tool under the cam shaft and on the edge of the follower, the cam follower was then forced down against the valve spring leaving enough clearance for the shim to be removed and another size inserted  How cool an arrangement is that? I had to have a set of genuine Ferrari shims as they were very special, since the cams themselves rolled on the shims.

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

If we describe one experience only, in each post, we will reach 24 pages in no time at all :wink: 8)

Your turn chaps

Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Half crown :roll:

I remember my Dad's old Vauxhall Ventora 3.3L strait 6 had an interesting recommended way of adjusting valve clearances. It said the engine needed to be hot and stay hot during the process.

The manual said the way to adjust the rocker arms was to first get the engine hot then surround it with old rags. Then remove the rocker cover and run the engine at as slow a speed as possible (under 500rpm) - then (excuse me I can't stop laughing! :lol connect a spanner onto the moving locknut and feed in a feeler gauge between the valve stem and the end of the rocker arm!  Yes - whilst the engine was running! :lol:

All this did was knacker up your feeler gauges and make the world go blurred whilst the vibrations travelled up your arm and tried to shake your head off! [smiley=dizzy2.gif] Completely mad!

I came to the conclusion the guy who wrote the manual was having a laugh and instead modified the procedure and dispensed with the feeler gauges which were by now completely mashed up anyway and instead just listened for tapping - just turning the nut until it just went quiet. Worked a treat. After that there was a big mopping up excercise because of all the oil that inevitably got everywhere.

The engine had loads of torque. I remember the carburetor, instead of having an acceleration jet to squirt petrol into the airflow, in order to temporarily richen the mixture, instead had a sort of gutter arrangement and a sluice gate - or so it seemed :lol:


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

I changed the oil once on my MkII Escort


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Nothing wrong with that Andy


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## coupe-sport (May 7, 2002)

> I remember the carburetor, instead of having an acceleration jet to squirt petrol into the airflow, in order to temporarily richen the mixture, instead had a sort of gutter arrangement and a sluice gate - or so it seemed


Weren't they Stromberg carbs ?

I spent many a happy hour playing with an A series engine armed with Dave Vizards tuning bible


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

coupe-sport said:


> > I remember the carburetor, instead of having an acceleration jet to squirt petrol into the airflow, in order to temporarily richen the mixture, instead had a sort of gutter arrangement and a sluice gate - or so it seemed
> 
> 
> Weren't they Stromberg carbs ?
> ...


I couldn't remember so I looked it up. No, it was a Zenith:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

I've still got some mashed feeler gauges in my tool box. There is a twist to this mad procedure. When I finished setting the tappets on a warm pushrod with the engine stopped, I would then start it up, warm the engine again, and then insert the feeler gauges with the engine running. If the gap was correct then the tappet noise dissapeared, if the gap was still too wide and there was still a tappet noise present, then I went through the procedure again until all was quite on the Western Front. :lol: :lol:

I've just thought of a few interesting memories. Where's me camera? Watch this space.

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

There's a lot of 'can't quite remember' in this thread :lol: Carry on chaps. Do your best.

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Half a Crown? Yes John about 22.5 new pence. I keep forgetting you are only a whippersnapper. Go to the store and fetch me a rubber hammer, son :wink:

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

PS The mashed feeler gauge method also helped to identify which tappet was noisy.

Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

TTCool said:


> PS The mashed feeler gauge method also helped to identify which tappet was noisy.
> 
> Joe


Yes that's true. Were you ever sent to the stores for a long wait or a tin of elbow grease?


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

No. I was always the sender :lol: Not true.

I was sent to Coventry once... :wink: for some parts for an Armstrong Siddley  Could have been a Hurricane...can't quite remember :lol: :lol:

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Performance enhancement:

Fit modified bob weights and springs in the distributer for earlier and more advance of the ignition timing. :roll:

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Unscrupulous garages used to rub an oily rag over your rocker cover and charge you for a Crypton tune up. :evil: Funny how it always ran better afterwards, though :lol:

Joe


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## HighTT (Feb 14, 2004)

TTCool said:


> There's a lot of 'can't quite remember' in this thread :lol: Carry on chaps. Do your best.
> 
> Joe


In 1963 I got my first motor cycle; a BSA Bantam 123cc and I can't ever remember adjusting tappets on that  :roll: :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Did you know it's grease nipple lube week this week? I wonder how Injury Claims r' Us would deal with all that Moly on the workshop floor. Doing the splits was part of an apprentice induction course.

Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Weber Kit for a Lancia Beta Monte Carlo but I sold the car prematurely and didn't fit it. The car was a death trap. The front brakes would lock up at the slightest provocation. It was rear engined with a twin cam Lancia power unit. It turned out the brake servo was too powerful, but I'd had too many near misses and there were too many other cars to try 


























































Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Weber jets from Cosworth twin cam days:

Main Jets
Air correctors
Idle Jets/slow run
Pump Jets
Emmulsion Tubes, F11 and F16










Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

The ubiquitous engine builder's version of a dirty man's mac :lol: After wearing it in the stores at Cosworth, I promised myself I would never have it washed, ever :roll:










Joe


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Do I detect a little pipe-smoking and knowing collective stroking of beards taking place on this thread? :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

garyc said:


> Do I detect a little pipe-smoking and knowing collective stroking of beards taking place on this thread? :wink:


You could very well be right but you surely wouldn't deny an old man/a few old men even, some happiness in his/their twilight years, would you? :roll:

Joe


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

TTCool said:


> garyc said:
> 
> 
> > Do I detect a little pipe-smoking and knowing collective stroking of beards taking place on this thread? :wink:
> ...


Certainly not. :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

That's me on a good day  :wink:

Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Ere! - who you calling an old man? 

Joe - what's your buy it now price? I presume you are putting those things on eBay :lol:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

John-H said:


> Ere! - who you calling an old man?
> 
> Joe - what's your buy it now price? I presume you are putting those things on eBay :lol:


Hi John

They're priceless so far as I'm concerned. I've too much respect for these bits to allow them to end up on eBay.

Have you seen my PM?

Joe


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## HighTT (Feb 14, 2004)

TTCool said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > Joe - what's your buy it now price? I presume you are putting those things on eBay :lol:
> ...


 Proper size carbs wot like I've got are only Â£235 a pair
and they are not repro. http://www.webcon.co.uk/weber/45dcoe.htm


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I had twin 40s on my Twin Cam http://www.webcon.co.uk/weber/40dcoe.htm

.. they were carbs made for the tuner and such high quality - ball races and seals on the butterfly axle  Fabulous!

Remember the Thackery washers? :lol:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

Forget the rubber tube and stethoscope malarky. Synchronise the air flow through your multiple weber carbs with this baby:










Joe


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

SU carburettor heaven :wink: A level eye and your there. Synchronise your dashpot piston lift and centralise your needle jet. Oh yes, we had some cool gadgets in those days 










Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

TTCool said:


> Forget the rubber tube and stethoscope malarky. Synchronise the air flow through your multiple weber carbs with this baby:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was only a poor student (well had just been) and couldn't afford one of those - besides I recon your ears are pretty accurate :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

John-H said:


> I had twin 40s on my Twin Cam http://www.webcon.co.uk/weber/40dcoe.htm
> 
> .. they were carbs made for the tuner and such high quality - ball races and seals on the butterfly axle  Fabulous!
> 
> Remember the Thackery washers? :lol:


Do you by any chance mean these John. I remember sliding a 4 thou (I think) feeler gauge between the coils...just right :wink: but they still vibrated loose on my Lotus Elan.









Joe


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

The're the ones Joe but I think the rats have been at your box :? :wink:


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## TTCool (Feb 7, 2005)

HighTT said:


> TTCool said:
> 
> 
> > John-H said:
> ...


Hi High :roll:

I had 45 DCOEs on my Cosworth 26R lightweight racing Elan, and the downdraught equivalent on my group2? Escort which I used on the road; mad or what? I think the chokes/venturi were 38mm, but not sure now. They were certainly huge. Did you, do you, change the jet settings and emulsion tubes on hot days and cold days? It did make the difference on race twin cams especially with Racing Services Cams. They were actually quicker than Cosworth cams.

Joe


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

TTCool said:


> HighTT said:
> 
> 
> > TTCool said:
> ...


Joe, how many cars have you owned?


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