I now cleaned the metal up LOTS using degreaser, rinse with clean water, then scotch pads to rough it up, then more degreaser. I repeated this a number of times to be absolutely certain that there were no contaminants in play.
I used 3M DP490 Structural Epoxy Adhesive, which is a 2 pat, 1 white, 1 black which mixes through the 3M quadro nozzle to become very dark grey and seems to set in black. I decided on this as it provides the strength needed and cures in room temperature in 7 days. 3M deem room temperature to be 20 degrees, so I set up an oil filled radiator with thermostat in the garage to ensure the temperature stayed constant overnight, and left my dehumidifier on too.
This is the final wet run, you can almost see the black glue oozing out of the gap.
..and a week later with the clamping removed:
You can see where the adhesive has come through the corrosion holes, I actually had to file some away on the inside to allow caster shims to fit at that end!
Here you can see it fully built up with arch liner back in place.
I used a 5mm longer bolt to accommodate the bracket - it turns out that the bolt for the rear of the front upper wishbone is 5mm longer so I simply swapped them around, ensuring that they both clear through the nylon on the nuts for security.
and a close up showing some black on the bracket and duralac coming out from behind the washer.
Personally, I'm impressed and thinks it's a nice looking repair that seems to be very secure and should last a few more years.
My thinking behind this was that if it does deteriorate in future, I can always fall back on getting it welded where as if I cut metal out to weld new in, then I'd never me able to bond a repair in..
I appreciate that this may not appeal to those looking to buy the car, but I don't have any plans to ever sell it anyway!
Fast forward to last night, and I popped into the local mechanic I use for all my cars, Paul Bowers Motors in Dundee to get the wheel alignment set up.
He has some rather nifty Hunter Hawk Eye Elite kit which uses cameras to track the 4 wheel targets. This means that you can tell the system you are jacking the car if you're putting camber shims in, and you can still get decent readings. The readings are very very accurate - perhaps even too accurate as the tiniest of movement is read!
We set the car to 340R geometry settings, weighted with 75kg in each side, which I've used before and liked (not that I'm a driving god!!)
You can see in the background that there is lots of green on the rear camber and toe.
I was worried about the caster settings at the front due to the repair / bent wishbone etc at the front drivers side, plus the initial reading looked pretty far out, but Paul was quite to advise me that the readings shouldn't be taken out of context, and by setting the rear up properly first, then moving to the front, we'll likely see some change.
He was right, and by the time we were finished, everything was in spec, and almost equal side to side
I'll take the car back in in a month or so after I've got some miles on it and things have had a chance to wear in.
I've left my car with him today for a fresh MOT as it expired 3 weeks back, so hopefully I'll arrive at the garage after work tonight to a freshly MOT'd Lotus wanting for some tax, then it's shakedown time
Chris
