The Resurrection of Vixen

Quote of the Week:
"Wow... a new millennium. Maybe by the next one your car will be done." - Jason Matthews

It was a rather uneventful week in the Last Chance Garage. I spent five days dealing with one bolt.

Remember my warning about cleaning threads on nuts bolts before reassembly? Well, I didn't take my own advice and got into a mess (well, I only had an 8mm fine thread tap, not a 8mm course one... otherwise I would have...). I was working on attaching the right caliper mounting plate to the steering knuckle when I suddenly snapped one of the grade 8.8 8mm bolts with barely any torque. Unfortunately, it broke off flush with the steering knuckle, so I couldn't just cut a slot in it to remove it. I couldn't find my set of screw extractors, so I ran off to Pep Boys to get some new ones, plus a few grade 10.9 replacement bolts, and an 8mm coarse thread tap.

I center-punched and drilled a 1/8" hole through the bolt, then inserted the screw extractor. Less than a full turn later, the extractor broke off in the hole. I managed to 'pop' the broken extractor out of the drill hole, and drilled it out a bit for the next size extractor. That one also promptly broke off in the hole, but would not 'pop' out.

I had to purchase a really good drill bit to drill the broken extractor out. By now, the hole was so large I simply drilled it out large enough to tap to 8mm. I cut a nice clean thread through the hole, and then while backing the tap out -- you guessed it -- the tap broke.

No amount of drilling was getting that baby out of there, either. Frustration, frustration, frustration... When things like that happen, I find it's best to just walk away for a while and a solution will just pop into my head. Eventually it did. I figured that the tap, while exceedingly strong, was very brittle. I used an air chisel with a needle point bit and went to work on the tap. It shattered into little pieces in just a few seconds of chiseling. I then -carefully- tapped out the remainder of the hole, inserted a longer-than-normal grade 10.9 bolt and put a washer and nut on the backside just to be safe. I don't really agree with the design of that spindle, as the bolts are being subjected to shear force, which is something a bolt really shouldn't be used for. In my opinion, it should be shear pins with a couple of countersunk set screws to tension the caliper mount against the spindle carrier.

But then again, I never had a car designed and built, either, so I may be full of @$#@$... My gut tells me to just trust Lotus. =)

So anyway, with that accomplished, I had the great pleasure of mounting the front wheels for the first time in 10 years. It's finally starting to look like a car again!!! Woo hoo!!!

I then went to work on the back axles. After a little bit of work with an emery cloth, I was able to work the hubs into the bearings in the hub carriers. The two bearings are different -- one is a CR bearing, and the other is an SKF. The side with the CR bearing spins relatively free. The SKF side is a bit stiffer, as it won't "freewheel" much after I release it on a good twist. Something doesn't sit quite right with me on that one. There doesn't seem to be any binding/rubbing/scraping/grinding, but rather just a snugness/stiffness that might just be due to the bearing being new.

Next on the agenda is stiffening all the body mount nut cages with epoxy putty so the welds won't break again (2 have already). Next, I'm going to lay in the radiator piping and install the reassembled gas tank. I'd like to check mine before reinstalling it. Actually, I may just replace it. It doesn't seem to do anything but 'hum' when I give it 12 volts of juice. It has been sitting dry for 10 years. I suppose I should soak it for a few days in fresh gasoline to see if it breaks free. But if it's one of the ones with the bad check valve, I should just order a new one and skip the frustration.

A good car-friend once gave me a really important bit of advice about working on cars. He's absolutely, 100% right about it, too. His advice?

"There are two ways to do things... 'right' and 'again'."

Costs for Week 10:

Date	Purchase	Store	Price
31-Dec-99	Spark Plugs	Pep Boys	7.14
31-Dec-99	F.I. Hose clamps	Pep Boys	2.49
31-Dec-99	Magnum Steel	Pep Boys	2.99
31-Dec-99	Hose clamps	Pep Boys	7.95
31-Dec-99	Fuel filter	Pep Boys	18.99
31-Dec-99	Electrical tape	Pep Boys	2.38
31-Dec-99	Duct tape	Pep Boys	6.99
31-Dec-99	Weatherstrip	Pep Boys	2.99
31-Dec-99	Radiator hose	Pep Boys	9.99
31-Dec-99	Radiator hose	Pep Boys	8.49
31-Dec-99	Misc. hose	Pep Boys	43.83
		Week 10 Total:	$114.23

		Running Total:	$5948.30

Year One:
Week 1	Week 8	Week 15	Week 22	Week 29	Week 36	Week 43	Week 50
Week 2	Week 9	Week 16	Week 23	Week 30	Week 37	Week 44	Week 51
Week 3	Week 10	Week 17	Week 24	Week 31	Week 38	Week 45	Week 52
Week 4	Week 11	Week 18	Week 25	Week 32	Week 39	Week 46	-
Week 5	Week 12	Week 19	Week 26	Week 33	Week 40	Week 47	-
Week 6	Week 13	Week 20	Week 27	Week 34	Week 41	Week 48	-
Week 7	Week 14	Week 21	Week 28	Week 35	Week 42	Week 49	-
Year Two:
Week 53	Week 60	Week 67	Week 74	Week 81	Week 88	Week 95	Week 102
Week 54	Week 61	Week 68	Week 75	Week 82	Week 89	Week 96	Week 103
Week 55	Week 62	Week 69	Week 76	Week 83	Week 90	Week 97	Week 104
Week 56	Week 63	Week 70	Week 77	Week 84	Week 91	Week 98	-
Week 57	Week 64	Week 71	Week 78	Week 85	Week 92	Week 99	-
Week 58	Week 65	Week 72	Week 79	Week 86	Week 93	Week 100	-
Week 59	Week 66	Week 73	Week 80	Week 87	Week 94	Week 101	-
Year Three:
Week 105	Week 112	Week 119	Week 126	Week 133	Week 140	Week 147	Week 154
Week 106	Week 113	Week 120	Week 127	Week 134	Week 141	Week 148	Week 155
Week 107	Week 114	Week 121	Week 128	Week 135	Week 142	Week 149	Week 156
Week 108	Week 115	Week 122	Week 129	Week 136	Week 143	Week 150	-
Week 109	Week 116	Week 123	Week 130	Week 137	Week 144	Week 151	-
Week 110	Week 117	Week 124	Week 131	Week 138	Week 145	Week 152	-
Week 111	Week 118	Week 125	Week 132	Week 139	Week 146	Week 153	-
Year Four:
Week 157	Week 164	Week 171	Week 178	Week 185	Week 192	Week 199	Week 206
Week 158	Week 165	Week 172	Week 179	Week 186	Week 193	Week 200	Week 207
Week 159	Week 166	Week 173	Week 180	Week 187	Week 194	Week 201	Week 208
Week 160	Week 167	Week 174	Week 181	Week 188	Week 195	Week 202	-
Week 161	Week 168	Week 175	Week 182	Week 189	Week 196	Week 203	-
Week 162	Week 169	Week 176	Week 183	Week 190	Week 197	Week 204	-
Week 163	Week 170	Week 177	Week 184	Week 191	Week 198	Week 205	-
Year Five:
Week 209	Week 216	Week 223	Week 230	Week 237	Week 244
Week 210	Week 217	Week 224	Week 231	Week 238
Week 211	Week 218	Week 225	Week 232	Week 239
Week 212	Week 219	Week 226	Week 233	Week 240
Week 213	Week 220	Week 227	Week 234	Week 241
Week 214	Week 221	Week 228	Week 235	Week 242
Week 215	Week 222	Week 229	Week 236	Week 243

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