Car going great. Thanks all!

[BiggestNizzy]

Thanks Dan, in my mind that's how the toe link rod works, nice to see i'm not completely making things up!

I'm on MMCs so will pick up some duralac before re-fitting the discs.

Chris

If there is a chandlery near by you should get it there, else eliseparts.

[cosmicegg]

Bolts - The bolt that holds the handbrake cable / spring onto the rear caliper is stuffed (and stuck in my socket

The socket is a 13mm, so either the bolts are imperial or my cheap machine mart socket set isn't quite 13mm.

Forgive the silly question but, what is the bolt and where can I buy another one?

Progress wise, I have the drivers side uprated toe link fitted, though I still need to drill 4 holes and rivet the little bracket thing in. I removed the new bolts that hold the alloy hub strengthening bracket on and duralac'd them before refitting, and started removing the passenger side pads / disc before I decided that at 19.40 it was a bit too dark to continue.

The bolt that holds the toe link/wishbone was also bent!

Chris

Edit: I'm also using Erica's work laptop, sorry guys!

[robin]

The duralac is to be applied to the surfaces of the dissimilar metals (i.e. between anything steel and anything alloy); so you'll want to use it on the balljoint plinths where they connect to the hub, assuming you've dismantled those; I don't suppose it'll hurt to use it between the MMC disk and the flange either.

Why are you trying to undo the 13mm bolt that holds the spring to the brake caliper? I've never removed that, ever. You can just pull the cable out of the lever by grabbing the end of the cable with a pair of grips, wiggle it sideways a bit until you reach the slotted exit of the lever and then the cable will just come out - no need to undo anything.

I don't know where you would get a replacement for it ... if it's stuck in the socket, and given that you're probably the first and last person that will ever need to remove that bolt, why not see if you cannot wind it back in; once it starts to tighten your socket will loosen off the bolt; then use a smaller socket or a good pair of shifters (adjustable pliers with nice flat faces) to tighten it up. Walk away and pretend you never saw it; in a couple of months it'll be a dark and distant memory

Cheers,
Robin

[Corranga]

Why are you trying to undo the 13mm bolt that holds the spring to the brake caliper? I've never removed that, ever. You can just pull the cable out of the lever by grabbing the end of the cable with a pair of grips, wiggle it sideways a bit until you reach the slotted exit of the lever and then the cable will just come out - no need to undo anything.

That's a bit silly of me then!

Will do as you suggest, thanks again.

Chris

[robin]

Good luck You'll get there in the end and it's all a learning experience (though sometimes what you learn is that you wish you had never started ).

Cheers,
Robin

[Corranga]

Thanks again for all the help guys. Parts are all fitted, and car is booked for a geo setup next Friday.

On to the exhaust leak...

The exhaust is leaking from the manifold/downpipe join as 1 of the studs is rusty / completely wrecked.

How do I go about removing the old stud, and what do I buy to replace it?!

Chris

[BiggestNizzy]

Thanks again for all the help guys. Parts are all fitted, and car is booked for a geo setup next Friday.

On to the exhaust leak...

The exhaust is leaking from the manifold/downpipe join as 1 of the studs is rusty / completely wrecked.

How do I go about removing the old stud, and what do I buy to replace it?!

Chris

A 4-2-1 manifold

[Corranga]

A 4-2-1 manifold

The though crossed my mind, but my bank balance unfortunately disagrees, especially since the car has a stainless downpipe on it anyway.

I assume the studs are like welded/part of the manifold and would need drilled out then?

Chris

[Shug]

Studs were press-fitted on mine. Not sure if that applies to all.

[robin]

You can possibly punch out the stud, especially with lots of heat and violence, or drill it out (neither are jobs to do in situ, IMHO). That leaves a hole through which you can then put a normal exhaust bolt. Or you can just replace the manifold - I have a spare S1-type standard exhaust manifold that's yours for nothing - I don't plan on owning an S1 shed again in the near future No promises for longevity of the replacement manifold - I think it came off Campbell's car when we fitted the S2 manifold, in which case I'm guessing it's seen a couple of downpipes and maybe 50-75K miles ... still, it's free

Cheers,
Robin

[Corranga]

Thanks for the advice.

I'm between 2 minds, I've done some sums and can probably just scrape the amount for a 4-2-1. I'm not sure I really want to go through fitting a manifold twice. Mine has done approx 60k and has 1 stuffed stud and 3 very rusty ones...

So i've done some googling...

There seems to be 2 main 4-2-1s. Janspeed and Piper. Which is best, or is 6/2x3?
I'm leaning towards janspeed currently as Eliseparts don't sell the flexi section seperately but the janspeed one can be had form ptp.
I also found the janspeed for a fairly decent price here:
http://www.rickyracing.co.uk/search.htm ... &item=8794 though i'll have to call and see if they supply fitting kit etc...

I read through the s2 janspeed 4-2-1 fitting guide here: http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Janspeed_4-2-1_ ... structions
and he talks about taking it off to fit exhaust wrap. Is this a requirement that should just be done from the start?
and is the fitting guide more or less the same for the s1?

What else would I need? Manifold with downpipe replacement flexi section, fitting kit of some description, some exhaust paste.... ?

Should I just behave and sort my own manifold / fit the one from Robin...?

Chris

[BiggestNizzy]

If your feeling pikey fit the one from robin I am not sure if it would give much beneft in a std car. (I know I was the one who mentioned the 4-2-1)

It is just like fitting it to an S2 Kseries car

I have this http://www.eliseparts.com/products.php?product=299 on my car and trying to rember back it was easy to fit but I had to remove the oil filter so factor in an oil change at the same time, also I got some maniford to head bolts at the same time. you will probably also need a helper that will need fed and watered while fitting it.

at the time I asked about exhaust wrap and I was told it just smells

[Corranga]

It's not completely standard (When it was in with Ali it was returned SLS Stage 1a) though not sure how non standard that makes it in this conversation. I reckon I'll have it for the long haul too so am definitely trying to future proof it as much as possible.

I've made a few pikey mistakes in the past (more with Minis and cheaper options...) and am trying to be a bit against that with the Elise - though I appreciate fitting an old manifold isn't really the same as buying pattern parts.

I think my thought currently is that fitting a manifold seems a tad daunting, and the cheap option leaves potential for having to fit it all over again when the actual manifold itself needs done. I figure I could probably get something back for my stainless flexi too via fleaBay / SELOC / here.

Also, the 4-2-1 possibly brings other benefits that appeal to... most.

Chris

[robin]

The standard manifold is fine with the head you have.

If you're going to fit a 4:2:1, fit the piper one - lifetime guarantee IIRC and has the option of fitting the S2 heatshield. You won't need to buy a replacement flexi, so it doesn't matter whether or not they're available. Mine did break the hanger off the flexi section, but that's possible with any system, and in fact it was easy to get it rewelded by the chap round the back of SLS

The manifold isn't that hard to fit; fitting the 4:2:1 is a bit harder as you'll have to move the engine off at least one if not two engine mounts to get the manifold into place. The standard manifold will come out with just the middle engine mount removed (perhaps it'll come out without removing the engine mount at all, actually).

Gaining access to the nuts that hold the downpipe to the manifold is easier if you undo the middle engine mount and disconnect the downpipe from the cat. Then the engine swings quite a bit giving less impaired access to the nuts; that said I've done a few and I've been able to undo/retighten the nuts without any of that - it depends on how good your arsenal of sockets and wobble bar extensions is

Cheers,
Robin

[s29ttc]

I changed over my manifold(standard I believe) without the removal of anything so it is possible. I took out the manifold to get the lambda sensor female thread bit remachined with stainless boss thingy as the threads were wrecked and managed to get the manifold back in without undoing any of the engine mounts although it was a bit of a muck around. We replaced all the studs and nuts on the downpipe thereafter manifold and downpipe gaskets.