Lotus Princess II

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Would also love to do half the road trips that you've done, amazing scenery!

The last two years have been mostly English motorways sadly, lol, but she's definitely seen places and made it to both Sweden and France last year.

Must make it back on track this year, and I have some ideas for more epic road trips, including two truly mad ones :cool: Maybe not this year, but we're not done yet by any stretch :innocent:
 

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Drove her over to Jonny today for post hibernation love.

New outer CV joints this time, the old Rover items or wherever Lotus got them off, lol. An engine mount, a VTEC solenoid, a dodgy IACV (normal after lying up over winter), new tyres all round, MoT, etc.

Spring is near! :cool:

Turns out when you're in a Lotus and sit at the lights with the revs hunting because of the dodgy IACV, well then people just think you're being a t**t :joy::joy::joy:
 

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Forgot to bring the camera for the compulsory photo, but she sailed through MoT there :cool: The poor tester wasn't a small man, his sympathetic colleagues were rolling on the floor at him trying to get in :joy:

Had to politely stop him from trying to lift her by the wishbones, lol, but other than that all good for another year!
 

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Been a while, was having too much fun last year just enjoying driving about in my wee Princess :cool: Didn't make a single trackday 😢 but she did spend more time greenlaning down grassy muddy fields and rocky rutted tracks than most Range Rovers, lol. Slick tyres and 100mm ground clearance - no bother, she loves that stuff, never stuck 😁

Sunny week coming up and bored silly in house arrest so got her out in the driveway to set up the suspension properly. Put new fancy racy hubs on last year and never got round to resetting the suspension, so about time!

First up, picked up a wee laser gauge to avoid getting the ruddy strings out, lol. Actually works really well, although the car is too low so got her up on the breeze blocks. They also make it easy to make sure the car is level, shimmed with a bit of wood down the passenger side. And obviously make access much easier too, as well as being easier to lift onto stands later. Finally loaded up the turnip simulator, he probably drives better than me, lol 😁 This last step is essential - driver weight in makes a difference in ride height of around 10mm down that side. That's 10% and knocks out toe, camber, and corner weights.

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Next, also picked up a wee digital level gauge. So much easier to use than the old plum string, lol. And finally got the corner weight gauge out, that's always fun.

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Decided to tackle the corner weights today. They were well out, unsurprisingly. This a serious CDO process, lol. Measure all corners; get the wheels off and make minute adjustments to ride height at each corner; get the wheels back on; measure all corners; repeat.

Goal is to achieve even weight distribution front/rear each side, and side to side over each axle. On this car the target is 50/50 side to side, and 40/60 front to rear as that is the natural distribution of the car. With that all done, check the all important cross weights which should be the same on both diagonals. That is the final proof you got it spot on.

It is necessary to adjust all corners at the same time as every individual adjustment affects all corners. The adjustments are tiny - the goal is not to change the ride height but to get the car perfectly level at a given load (driver in here). The Nitrons on this car have a dozen or so notches running around the height adjuster ring. Adjustments of about three notches at a time is all you want here.

Only took five rounds of that today, lol, got within 1% all round 😎

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Not bad for a turnip! Next up, a small tweak to front toe; reset the cambers; reset the bump steer. Should keep me busy the rest of the week, lol.
 

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Lol, it's a pain but so worth it on these car. You can really feel the difference. Good news is you'll only have to do it again if you change something in the suspension that affects ride height. So not something that's needed often.

Basically a couple of hours lugging wheels instead of slaving at the gym 😁
 

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Lol, me too! Was booked in for two before all this house arrest palaver, all cancelled 🙁
 

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Ha ha, Jonny declared me the most incompetent customer ever after it took me 24 hours to get the connectors off :joy: :joy: :joy:
 

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Thanks!

Lol, I do need new plates all round, the one at the front is literally held on by wire and basically split in two :joy:

Has to stay legal though so not much to be done about size. Can get a wee bit less wide but that's all.

It's just a number plate, we all have to have them.
 

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They can come in whatever size you want. For car show use obviously.

Ah, ok. It's just that with the road miles I do in this car all over the UK I'd be worried about getting hassle with non-standard plates... The English and Welsh can be really fussy... I've been pulled over in England for the plates being "too dirty", lol...

To be fair T29 OMG cut down the minimum legal size would be quite small.

Was thinking about that, and loose the "UK" part as well to make them cleaner. Worth a try as I need new plates anyway.
 
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