Aww yeah! If you want to cash out in the future how much is left in the recoup budget to sell off the rare parts ya might end up not needing?
Aww yeah! If you want to cash out in the future how much is left in the recoup budget to sell off the rare parts ya might end up not needing?
Awesome score!
Awesome! That's an incredible score.
I can't remember if I read already, are you trying to have this at the challenge this year or next?
Yes, that is a sign from God that this project is meant to be! Great score and glad you were able to find all the manual swap parts in one car.
In reply to AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) :
I really wish I could bring it this year, but even though the chassis is close to running, the body is not. No gas tank, radiator mounting, windshield, seat, belts/harness, dashboard, column mount, shifter hookup... a whole lot of stuff to do before I'm comfortable strapping myself in for a drive.
I do take this as a sign to do the manual swap for the $2000 Challenge. I just can't decide if it's worth getting it driving first as an automatic or not. It might be nice to have a rolling, movable car while I do the stuff on the above list. Especially since I am planning to buy a house and move by end of year, it would be easier to tow the whole project as a roller. I designed the chassis around the ability to drop the Toyota subframe out the bottom with engine and trans, just hoist up the rear of the frame, so I'm not really saving myself work by doing it now. The unlocked ECU and harness should play nice with both transmissions.
In reply to maschinenbau :
If it won't show up this year, no need to wait to do the swap. May as well get it all out of the way now.
Besides, manual vs auto may change weights and mounting points enough for you to want to futz with the suspension again. Better to do that with the body off.
In reply to maschinenbau :
Fair enough! This year would be a heck of a push. Fine by me though, because I'm not going to make it to the challenge this year. Hopefully next year.
I like the idea of getting it running with the auto first. A running driving car is a good moral boost, for me its nice to just focus on the projects I'm excited about at the time rather than the ones I see as required.
Got the ECU back from Frankenstein Motorworks. Let's see if it works.
Turns out the maf likes to meter air
It's been a very good day 
In reply to maschinenbau :
MAFs meter air? Say it ain't so!!!
Nice score on the parts!!!
Excellent. Amazing news!
Nice! I can hardly wait to start mine!
Giggity!
You make me want to get mine running.
Looking forward to rollerskate test drive.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Just toss a saddle over the backbone frame and rip it around the block? ♫ Got the horses in the back, horse tack is attached... ♫
Well that made my day, congrats that is always such a good feeling to hear it start!
Sounds like this year's PLB is in your driveway?
It's 2 full weeks... .
I can be there Thursday night late and put in some hours Friday morning...
Great progress getting it running either way. Seems like you are in great shape to have an excellent car next year.
Slowly picking away at pruning the harness. I have removed about half of all wires. Since I am keeping the cluster, I don't think I can remove those large junction blocks The cut wires still need to be depinned from their plugs. Periodically I make sure the engine still runs and no new codes are thrown. Only a few false alarms from forgotten grounds and accidentally unplugged the CAN wires from the OBD port. Wiring diagram has saved my butt a few times already. I think I might need the abs module to keep a speedometer, but the diagram makes it look like I can bypass the ABS and plus a wheel speed sensor directly into the cluster. Luckily that module is somewhat independent from the rest of the harness, so it would be easy to delete later.
And everything I've cut out so far:
I'm not much for watching people's start-up videos, but that one made me REALLY happy!! 
It is always amazing to see how much extra wiring comes out of the stock harness when you eliminate all the unnecessary stuff. My old Spitfire with the Miata drivetrain ran a Miata NB harness and I had at least that much on the floor when I was done. Very smart of you to test along the way, as I spent way too much time staring at the diagrams and trying to make sure i did not eliminate anything necessary as I could not plug it in and test as you can do.
Speaking of excess wiring, here is the process I am using to delete circuits. I was going to de-pin every connector, but then I thought it might be useful later for troubleshooting to still have a pigtail with the original wire color that matches the diagrams. Also might help for adding Lotus chassis circuits later. So to terminate an unused circuit, first I cut the wires, add a piece of heat-shrink, fold the tip of the shrink over, then heat-shrink over that. If I have a group of wires from the same plug, I will sometimes heat-shrink them all together. To be honest, I started out just wrapping with electrical tape so only about half the wiring was done like this.
I went ahead a re-purposed a few circuits from the power distribution block for things like lights, wipers, blower motor, radiator fans, and ran those out of the block. The cover is closed up and most of the major branches have been tidied up nicely. Still need to mount the distribution block but it seems to really want to live here.
I still need to figure out where to mount all the stuff on the table. The ECU and the 2 large beige junction blocks are not weatherproof.
First thought is directly behind the engine, attached to the frame. I would need some kind of container to protect the electrics from exhaust heat and rain. There is plenty of room to fabricate something, perhaps a modified plastic storage tote. This area would also let me keep the engine running with the body off, since it's all attached to the frame.
Second thought is the triangular area behind the passenger seat. This is the Lotus stock location for battery. The body harness will reach all the way around, but not sure the ECU harness is long enough. The space is tighter, but would be easy to close off in fiberglass since I need to rebuild the rear firewall anyway. It would make body removal more difficult since I would first have to unplug everything and pull the harnesses out of the body, unless I make the compartment detachable. I like that it keeps all the wiring hidden from view, and opens up the option for a trunk behind the engine.
Either way, probably nothing will happen until after the $2000 Challenge this weekend.
I made a battery tray for the size U1 lawn battery
I think it shall live here behind the driver firewall.
Struts for strength
It's pretty strong! I can bounce my body weight on it and load the suspension.
Don't forget the tie down
That's not going anywhere! And it's removable from below the car, otherwise it would be hard to work on.
I have once again rearranged all the wiring. The fuse and relay block now lives forward above the trans. All the interior modules including ECU will need a weather resistant enclosure of some kind behind the passenger seat, with mounting brackets for each module. Fiberglass makes the most sense, but I don't have that skill yet. I can figure that out once the body is on. Planning to test-fire it once more this week, then tucking and wrapping the harness before trying to fit the body.
6 months til the Challenge and the body is on! But first some little brackets to make it all happen.
These support the fuse and relay block.
I made a template of the Lotus's under-seat electronics bay and fit everything to it with new brackets
Tidy.
Then tucked the wiring from engine/fuse block to the interior electronics.
I made some extra cuts to the body and tossed it on for the first time in like 6 months. It still fits! Or, it fit about as good as it did last time. Intake is too high for the deck lid. Otherwise, plenty of clearance to all the new important bits. And keep in mind these are the narrow "roller" wheels, a mere 15x6. I have 15x7 and 15x8 I can use for the good tires.
Body Day Photo Dump:
Clearly the front sits too high. It is not even overcoming the spring preload, so I think I have the wrong springs, either too long or too stiff or both. To-do has suddenly grown. But it feels great having a single piece of car instead of multiple pieces of car.
Bravo!
Nice!!! What are you doing for flares? (I may need to flare mine to cover the Rota RBs)
You will not be able to see out that back window and what is behind you will only upset you...pop out the rear window and replace it with a solid panel, then build an engine cover that follows the contour of the roof and fills in the area between the sails. It will nicely cover the engine and you could even put scoops/ducts as required in the cover for cooling. Sell the window to a bereft Lotus owner and recoup some more dosh. You could incorporate the back part of the existing engine cover too, or sell it and start from scratch.
I drove a couple of brand new Europa's with the Renault engine and they were a complete hoot but don't look behind you, all you see is bumpers and below.
Great work so far, I envy/feel for you!
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