Her first laps

So 2241R finally moved under her own power! Of course, if I have a car that moves, I have to give it a little bit of gas! I took it very easy, but I was able to get the car to the driveway. Once she was in the driveway, I had to try to go a little further... So, I drive her around the house! Three times!

After that, I just let her rest in the driveway, sitting next to the other cars. For the first time in almost 30 years, she was just like any other car, waiting to run to the store, or do laps around a track.

She has a fuel leak somewhere around where the two tanks are plumber together. That will be the first thing that gets fixed. Next, the shifter has a lot of slop when it is in gear. You can move it almost the entire throw after it shouldn't move. That will probably be next. The brakes are really light, and they need to be replaced with something that has a dual master cylinder in order to pass state inspection. I think that may be more important than the shifter.

More work, but she runs!

The clutch is trickier than you would believe...

I really had thought that the throwout bearing extension would fix all of my problems. And then the Ford clutch exploded. It turns out that my pilot bearing was just a touch too long, and it was pushing against the clutch splines. So, a new clutch and pressure plate were ordered. Once the new clutch was here, I just wanted to be sure if it fit the transmission. It turns out that the Ford clutch never fit the tranny. I don't know how I managed to make that mistake, but I think I must have been trying it at a slight angle, causing it to bind, and give me the impression that it was lining up perfectly.

Now I am back to the original Lotus clutch. I am sure it won't be able to support the full power of the Zetec engine, but at this point, I don't have much choice.

A little grinding on the pilot bearing, and the clutch has enough clearance. I installed the new Exedy pressure plate, just for good measure.

I double checked everything, and then put the tranny back on the car. Double checking everything, I turned the key. Everything seems to be running alright, so I pushed in the clutch. Everything seems okay there too. Put the car into reverse gear, click. Slowly let the car out, and holy cow it moved!

That's right! 2241R moved under her own power!