Letting off steam........

.......there is no point to this post. It is purely for theraputic purposes.

Aaaarrggghh!!!!
Fcuk, fcuk, fcuk,fcuk, fcuk, fcuk FCUK!!!
Piece of absolute *$&@!!!

I HATE COBRAS!!!!!!!!!!!!! :angry:

Carrol Shelby? :finger: to you, you......you.........BIG TEXAN!!!!!

*ahem*

[gwak76]

Having a bad day then

[Grease Monkey]

Cut a hole somewhere you shouldn't?

Dropped a nut into the mouth of the carb ?

Scratched, cracked or bent something important?

Stripped a thread or sheared a bolt somewhere vital?



I'm sure all people have done at some of these, and some people have done all of these! (I know i have :thumb: )

Well, let's put it this way, if anyone offered me what I paid for it (£12K - just in case) I'd snap their hand off. It's all back together but the 'clacking' sound is very prominent - s'gotta be the cam. I've spent £1600 so far on shiny stuff, quick lifts, new steering wheel, toploader full rebuild, new clutch and new 500cfm edelbrock (not forgetting MOT and Tax) - it's getting to cut my losses time. I can't do the cam, I'll get striped up locally to get it done. Time to polish and take some pics......

[dave]

[quote:e6a3d1abe6="Grease Monkey"]Cut a hole somewhere you shouldn't?

Dropped a nut into the mouth of the carb ?

Scratched, cracked or bent something important?

Stripped a thread or sheared a bolt somewhere vital?


Hi Spank Monkey.

I've done all the above and:-

Painted customers car the wrong colour.

Supplied and fitted an oil cooler when it wasn't ordered.

Fitted too many clocks in someones dash.

Turned up at a show with a rolling chassis with the rotational tyres on the wrong side of the car and only a set of pliers to change the wheels with....But did it in the end.:angel:

The list goes on and on.

[Grease Monkey]

Why not do it yourself. Take your time over the winter, strip it down to a block and rebuild it.

New parts are **relatively** cheap for a SBC / SBF. At least the cam is on the top of the engine, so you wont need to pull the pistons or crank out. Positive mental vibes man! Most of the cost of getting it done is labour.

If it will make you feel any better i'll tell you a story about someone. Lets call him 'GM'. GM had a nice shiney red 2 seater british mid engined sports car, which he loved and polished and had everything done by the main dealer at great expense. One day GM was cruising to a wedding at 70, and half way up the dual carriageway he would normally be doing 135mph along, something big let go, rattled around the No 2 piston and got spat out the exhaust. Large ammounts of white smoke followed from then on.

'My friend' then shelled out £2.5k to get the engine rebuilt by a local sports car specialist and 3 months later was on the road again. It lasted 2 weeks before going pop, the head gasket blowing, damaging the new set of pistons and liners... The original garage was now in receivership and hence no chance of money back. It then cost £5k to get the engine rebuilt by Lotus who stated that everything needing replacing including the head which had been over skimmed.. (This took another 6 months, during which it was left outside and got mouldy upholstery)

This engine lasted about 12 months, doing bugger all mileage before, while hammering up the M4, something hit something else in the engine and ended up bending a valve, again in No.2 cylinder.

Result zero compression on No2, had to take the head off, replace the values, re grind them, replace the belts & gaskets (£120 for a head gasket!!!!!, £70 for a cam belt)

At this point it was deciced to sell the large yellow citrus fruit with wheels and get a GD. Nice easy to work on understressed engine, cheap readily available parts and lots of people to lend a hand.

Stick with it.

You dont know you've been visited in the nether regions by a large gentleman called bubba until you've owned a Lotus. Whatever you do the worst that can happen is you need to get a scrap engine and the rebuild parts and put it together over the winter.

[gwak76]

If you need a hand to remove and or rebuild the thing drop me a line, you know where I is, been working on mine far too long.

[Silent Partner]

GM should add that the lotus was eventually sold at a loss to a dealer ( we couldn't face ripping off a proper person!!!). He took it away on his truck and we both jumped for joy and went out for a meal to celebrate. Took a proper stinging on the price but we needed the money to pay for an engine for the 'baby'.

I have never seen my OH as close to tears (without a substantial injury) as he was everytime the lotus spat the dummy. A beautiful car, but far to high maintenance!!! Now everytime he goes into the garage he is like a pig in the proverbial!! I call it Cobra cloud 9.

I'm sure that everything will eventually get fixed with the necessary punctuation with swear words but I must confirm that it would have to be bad to beat the grief inflicted but the bloody lemon of a lotus that we had.

Call yourself mates? I'm trying to wallow in depression here!!!!!!!
seriously though, thanks for all the words of encouragement - I did actually achieve something yesterday in somuch the header tank is resoldered with no leaks!!


You must remember I have only a rental garage and no driveway which makes the purchase of this kind of cobra pretty stupid really. I haven't got the space for an engine rebuild full stop. I will compression test all 8 and see where we're at before deciding further.

Cheers Gary - you're a diamond sir. You got an engine hoist? I might consider slapping a long block in.........

Who's the engine factory rep round here btw?

[gwak76]

Scott

more tools round here than most garages have, take yourt pick :thumb: , hoists, stands, lathe, welding eqp etc, thinking about it thats where all my money has gone

Dont give up with the red squeaky one, remember the fun when she runs