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Coming Out Party
Janaury 25, 2004
| When: | Sunday, January 25, 2004 |
| Where: | Jim Cumming's Garage
73 Hillside Drive
Gillette, NJ 07933
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| Contact: | Jim Cummings - JCummi1561@aol.com
(908) 612-0548 (cell) |
| Info: |
What's this you are probably wondering? Some New Lotus Model? A sneak peek at the Esprit
replacement? Neither, it's a wrench-head-oriented chance to assist Jim Cummings in the removal of the
engine from his 83 Turbo. He wants to do some engine work. So if you have ever wanted to see this
procedure up close and personal, this is your chance. The Place is at Jim's garage in Gillette NJ.
RSVP to Jim or Laura Cummings at JCummi1561@aol.com or (908) 612-0548 (cell)
Everyone is welcome if even to spectate and contribute encouraging words. Dress in layers! |
Event Report
Well it was cold as a son of a $#^$# and only Atwell's heater stopped us from freezing our wing nuts off. The gang showed up by 10 and started by munching on donuts provide by Jim's lovely wife, Laura.
Once the eating was done we surveyed the job and noted that Jim got a head start by removing the carbs, manifold, distributor and almost everything short of the heads.
Dave Rollino got to work on the half shafts while Jim climbed on top to finish removing the remaining hoses, oil circ pump and filter and anything else in our way.
Gary Jaskot stopped by to help as he is
considering a Lotus purchase. Gary cleverly stayed out of the pictures so as to be able to quickly disassociate himself from our band of nuts.
Reja got a lesson in removing the rear calipers and then Jim started work on the engine mounts.
Once the engine was free we pushed Jim's car out of the garage enough to clear the engine bay. Jim and David then got to work on the rented engine hoist and promptly discovered it had a bad piston.
Most of us went back in the house to warm up (and eat more donuts) while Jim and Reja worked on the hydrolics. Eventually a call from Jim's brother offered the required fix and we were back in action.
With everyone gathered around we connected the straps to the block and tranny and connected them to the chains and David's supplied balance beam (or whatever its really called). The device allowed
us to shift the balance of the engine so we could either pull the tranny or block out first depending on how it was adjusted. When we started everyone seemed to agree that the tranny end should come out first.
After several failed attempts including Jim using a fine adjustment tool (a sawsall) to the fiberglass around the rear of the tranny, we finally realized the engine had to come out block first.
After removing still more brackets on the front firewall and getting the engine back down in the bay and level....the lift went pretty clean. We would have some great video if it were not for the unfortunate contcat between
the hoist pump lever and Mark G's video arm. Away went the camera in a sweeping arc. It worked ok after that but the video it was recording was nowhere to be found. Sorry Jim.
With the engine out and on a dolly it was time for beer and lunch. After lunch a few of us departed and some of us helped David secure Jim's old 907 block to his trailer. David is restoring a late 70's Elite and
the block will find its home there. Reja hopped in his 86 injected Esprit and promptly went nowhere. No amount of cranking would keep her running.
A quick call to Atwell, trapped at home working on his house, and we were checking relays in the control box including the dreaded Cold start relay. Apparently Atwell's 87 is the same car only with a Stevens body.
Eventually we decided it was just too cold and we carefully rolled Reja's car down Jim's driveway and into his garage. After some more calls to Atwell, they finally discovered that the 5th injector flooding the engine.
The normal function of the injector is to supply some fuel for startup but it had gone wild and was flooding the engine. After it was disconnected Raja was finally able to get on his way.
Jim wants to offer a special thanks to EVERYONE who showed up to help and really does appreciate the effort we all made to come out in the cold and assist with this difficult task. Jim also offers this comment to Dom.... "The hat wasn't really that bad was it?
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