Lotus 61 Restoration Project
Part Two

Go to Part One • Two • Three • Four • Five • Six • Seven

Hi everybody. I hope you enjoyed part one of this story. A little about me and my background. My interest in sports car racing started as a boy. My best friends father, Bob Oker, was a professional driver in the 50's. I grew up around some ultra high dollar equipment and lived through "war stories" that are now legends. (Of interest, Bob's son, Bill, races a Mark 9 Titan 'Club Ford' {one of only four known to be racing today}).

My ambition was to become a professional driver but things like the Army, Vietnam, marriage, career, etc, put a stop to that foolishness. Over the decades the best I could do was owning seven 'street' Porsches.

It was the 1999 Wine Country Classic that rekindled the "racing flame". Dean Watts (Porsche Abarth Carerra et al) gave my wife and I pit passes to the Wine Country, and as they say.... "the rest is history". I sold my last Porsche and bought a 1960 series 1 Sunbeam Alpine. I restored it and prepared it for historic racing; making my first race start in March, 2000. My dream was to race a formula car (I was the third graduate of the Russell School in 1966, then at Willow Springs) and in March, 2001, I bought my Lotus 61.

I became a "shop monkey" at an early age; learning by doing. The Alpine was a new learning curve after 35 years of (air cooled) Porsches, and a year later the Lotus was yet another learning curve. Throughout life I've been blessed to have worked with or around some extremely talented people and I learned an awful lot from them. Maybe just enough to realize how little I know!

Career wise, I started as a surveyor with Calif Division of Highways in 1965, Army from '67 to '70, then into the FAA as an air traffic controller in '72. In the early 80's I became involved in law enforcement as a reserve policeman. In '85 put myself through the police academy, resigned from the FAA and became a cop. I retired from the Washoe County Sheriff's Office (Reno, NV) in Jan, 2004. During my career with Washoe I was a Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) and accident reconstructionist on the departments Major Accident Investigation Team (MAIT). I taught firearms/rangemaster, defensive tactics, and with my interest in driving became an EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations) instructor. Though retired I'm still a contract instructor in EVOC and Accident Investigation at the Northern Nevada Law Enforcement Academy. Now that y'all know a little about me you'll know to 'get out of my way' when I come up behind you because now you know that I'm really (Martin Riggs in the movie "Lethal Weapon") Mel Gibson crazy!! (Ahhhhh, where would the world be without humor?)

In this restoration I replaced the master cylinders and all the plumbing back to the calipers. I use Wilwood masters: they are the same as Girling. I rebuilt the calipers a few months ago so they are OK. Tech Tip: I recommend replacing your brake bleed screws with 'one man bleed screws' or 'speed bleeders'; available from Pegasus, Dave Bean Engineering, etc. I long considered them a 'gimick', but when restoring Bill Okers Titan I decided to try them. (Hey.... it's his money, so no problem!) I was instantly sold on them. They work great and make accurate brake bleeding truly a one man operation.

After inspecting them I retained the supply lines from the remote reservoirs. They are not pressure lines so I'm not worried about failure. Wherever the hydraulic (pressure) lines come in contact with something (frame tubes, etc) I cover them with clear plastic tubing. Whenever you install new master cylinders be sure to bench bleed them. Simple enough to do, just add brake fluid as you slowly stroke the master cylinder pushrod until the cylinder is filled with brake fluid. Now as long as you don't turn it over your OK. They are charged and will pump fluid to the calipers when you bleed the system..

Brake Fluid: If your master cylinders or calipers have rubber seals in them (i.e. Girling), synthetic fluid will attack the natural rubber, causing it to shrink and literally turn the rubber to stone. I heard this years ago so I tested it. I placed a rubber tube in about 1/2" of synthetic fluid and six months later checked it... Yep! That part of the tubing immersed both shrunk to 2/3 original size and was hard as steel. I use Girling GTLMA brake fluid in my car. It's recommended by Girling (go figure..), and as the old saying goes: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I've never experienced a problem with GTLMA, and I get the brakes on the Lotus pretty darn hot at times. Tech tip: I change the brake fluid at least annually, but more often as required. Brake fluid will absorb water, and that's not good. A simple test: when the fluid looks cloudy or discolored, change it. I'll get more into brakes later on, but having a perfect brake system is better than having 25% more horsepower and a lousy brake system! Does you no good to pass me on the straight if I'm taking it back under braking at turn 1.

Brake lines: When I do a restoration the brake lines and hoses get tossed. I don't even look at them. Longacre puts out a really nice brake line kit at a reasonable price, and it has enough lines and fittings to do the brake and clutch hydraulics on most formula cars. Tech tip: when I am doing a restoration I set aside any 'unique parts' that I need to retain. When I'm ready to order parts I take these with me to my parts supplier. There, I can pour over catalogs, compare size and fitting, mix and match, etc, and be assured that when I put the system together I'll have everything right the first time. There's nothing more frustrating than to get 90% of the way through this and discover you've got a right hand nut to install on a 'left hand thread', then further discover the needed part is on a six month back order. When you find the parts supplier who 'knows his stuff' and understands 'race car lingo', stick with him. They are rare!

I ordered parts for the hydraulics and other systems and while awaiting their arrival busied myself with other things. Once those parts arrived I jumped back to the hydraulics. When you are completely familiar with what you are doing its easy to jump around. On the other hand, to insure that your not leaving anything out, assemble a 'system' all the way through before going on to the next 'system'.

Letting the hydraulics sit idle while awaiting parts I installed the corners on the car.

This photo shows how I prepare for assembly. Those four trays hold most of the nuts and bolts that go back on the car. I've cleaned and inspected them; repairing or replacing as needed. When I disassemble the car I place all the hardware in coffee cans labeled where the parts came off the car. When cleaned and inspected I lay it out like you see above. Working left to right the car will go together in a systematic manner. The exception to this is engine hardware. I keep 'engine' and 'car' hardware completely separate.

Another thing I lay out and prepare is whatever pieces I'll need for the day. It doesn't have to lay on the floor where I'll trip over it, just be available. These are all the components for the suspension except uprights, sway bars and shocks. When I tore the car down all this stuff went in the box for the machine shop. Days later I called and reserved the hot tank, bead blasting and magnuflux machines. When I took everything down there I got it all done in one trip. (I magnufluxed the front uprights and spindles, and dye penetrant tested the rear uprights just before the September Reno-Fernley race. I figured that was close enough to their annual 'winter test' and didn't do them again.) Tech Tip 1: Having a good machine shop is at least as important as a good parts supplier. Having worked with the same shop for several years, and their having evaluated the work I've produced on my (home) machines, we (1) are able to "speak in a common language" and (2) if I need something made of "unobtanium" and I need it "yesterday" they are going to break their backs to help me out. Tech Tip 2: Some of those parts you see above will only install in one place. Others, like the front upper wishbones (lower right in the photo) or control arms (left side of photo) could go on either side. Just to maintain continuity, when I disassemble the car I stamp them ("LF", "LR", etc) so they go back in the same place.

Remember what I said about the digital photos? Even after working on this particular car almost six years I was laying out the right rear upper link and.... and.... suddenly found myself dashing upstairs to my computer to pull up a photo. I hope my 'sticky note' prints OK... it's the sequence of spacers and washers for correct alignment of shock and upper link. WOW! I almost Goofed! Actually, I never made a mistake. Thought I did once, but I was wrong!! :)

The completed right rear corner. All of the bushings have been greased during assembly and all nuts and bolts are finger tight at this point. I next installed the left rear corner so I could do a visual check of alignment, etc.

A discussion about Heim joints (also called rod ends). In the photo above you can see a Heim attached to the upright on the Lotus. A unique feature of a Heim: it is a connector as well as being a bearing. In the photo you see here it allows the right rear upright to move up and down. Another unique feature of a Heim is that it can rotate as a bearing in an infinite number of ways up to the physical limitations of the outer shell. Further, safety rules require a 'captive washer' on any Heim that should it break would not be otherwise 'captured'. OK, "old news" you say....

In part one I showed a photo of a heim that had nearly broken the shaft in half. Since then I did some investigation. There are several grades of joints, as well as standard, misalignment, high misalignment, left and right hand threaded shafts, and the list goes on..... It turned out the Heim that almost failed had a rated strength of approximately 5,500psi. The next 'grade' had a rated strength of 12,000psi, and the next grade jumped to over 18,000psi. Looking at the previous photo note the curved shape of the captive washer. This is also called a "high misalignment" washer. On the opposite side of the Heim you'll see a small bushing. This forces the Heim joint to be spaced away from the upright, which allows it greater rotation. The next photo shows a 'standard' and a 'high misalignment' Heim. It illustrates the amount of rotation of the two different joints.

Its important to set short term (daily) achievable goals. Decide how much you are going to do/can accomplish on a given day. When you are meeting your goals you will feel happier and you will be less likely to get depressed. Often times you work and work with no readily visible accomplishment. This is supposed to be fun, so "Make It Fun"!

Many things will arise that interrupt your progress. Right now I'm held up from completing the rear brake plumbing because of a couple parts that have not arrived. I had a further interruption today when I had to stop what I was working on, fabricate a small part on the lathe and mill, then go back to what I was doing. That was typical: three hours spent on an unplanned activity.

Here is a photo of the completed front. The master cylinders were the very first thing to go on after installing the pedal box firewall. All the "hard lines" were fabricated while nothing was in the way. You can see in the photo how confining its getting there; imagine if I had waited until last to fabricate the hydraulic lines.

When your doing a restoration spend some time thinking about things you dislike on the car: things that you would change if you had the opportunity. Well, here is your chance to do just that. I never liked the way the front calipers were plumbed so while it was completely apart I took the opportunity to upgrade it. Here are 'before and after' photos. The change I've made eliminated a connector and a piece of tubing with some complicated bends.

By the time I stopped working today I had achieved one of my major goals: the ability to sit in the car. Although far from finished, having a seat and steering wheel provided that little burst of "excitement" that I was right on schedule.....

This brings me to the end of part two. In this part we got deep into the hydraulics, we installed the four corners on the car and installed the steering. We also installed a lot of the 'bolt-on' components that only required cleaning and inspecting.

After five years of 'kicking' the battery terminals getting in and out of the car I've turned the battery around. Now the terminals are protected by the cockpit bulkhead. I changed the front brake caliper hydraulic connections. I moved the starter solenoid. I realigned the routing of cables and wiring through the firewall and made a new throttle cable.

In the next part I'll finish the hydraulics and get a lot of work done on the electrical system. I'll also get into the cooling system. The Lotus originally used the frame tubes to route coolant between the engine and radiator. In an effort to preserve the frame from internal rust I installed external copper tubes. We will get into those.

One of my "proofreaders" has asked me if 'anybody' could do what I'm doing here? After some thought I had to give a "qualified yes". I think the important thing is knowing your limitations. Its a lot easier taking things apart than putting them together. I would recommend repairing simple things and progressing as you become self confident with your ability. And don't be afraid to ask somebody for help! I do it more often than you would believe. You may find that building the car is as much fun as driving it or you may find that you prefer having someone else work on the car for you.

One important piece of advice should you suddenly discover your "over your head....." STOP what you are doing! Enlist outside help, talk to somebody, describe the problem, think it out over night. If it just plain won't go back together there's probably a reason WHY it won't go back together. Before something else gets broken resolve the first problem.. Tech Tip: there is a door that leads into the house from the garage. From time-to-time I find myself trying to do things that simply won't work, or I catch myself angry or fighting the car. When that happens I turn off the lights and exit through the door. Without fail, whatever the problem I was experiencing; sleeping on it overnight will resolve the problem.

Years ago I built a shop and guest house at a place I used to have. When it was time to purchase a garage door I went to the "garage door store" and found what I wanted. They had a sign hanging by the cash register. "Fifty dollars to install your door. One hundred fifty dollars to install it after you have tried to install it yourself." Having never hung a 'rollup' door before I opted for the "fifty dollar" option. When they came out and hung it I thought "dang..... piece of cake! And watching them do it was worth the fifty bucks!"

Until next time.................