Quite a lot to report here. Or at least there will be! The reason is that I have given up on the MGF seats and now have two black Mazda MX5 seats waiting to go in the car. I just found the MGF seats too grippy in the shoulders and hard on the butt. The Mazda ones are softer, narrower and fold forwards. Much better! They are the seat of choice for +2 owners. Also I have decided to fuel inject the engine (on my green car) using throttle bodies from a Suzuki GSXR 600K motorcycle. Call it a winter kitchen table project. In fact they arrived today (23/11/05) and I have been staring at them for about 20 minutes solid in order to size the situation up. My Wife asked what they were. After I had explained my plans she said "will that make it go faster into the wall?" Not funny. Also she pointed out that I had bought the green car so that I did not have to spend all my time rebuilding the JPS. Not sure what she is getting at there:) Anyways... in my opinion it all looks good...very good. Ignorance is bliss eh!

So here are the throttle bodies and associated gubbins. Not all of it will be required. You will see that the bodies have secondary butterflies, but these are not needed for use on a car and so will be removed, along with the stepper motor that controls them (big thing on the side). The fuel rail will either be modified or changed for a new one. Because the spacings will be the same as on the Jenvy bodies, a standard fuel rail should fit. The throttle position sensor will be kept as well as the linkages, which will have to have their tounges extended or bent after the final spacing is worked out.

The bodies are held together by long bolts which will be discarded, and some studding used along with spacers to get the right spacing. The butterflies will be pretty much in the same place as the ones on the weber carbs and it will be a matter of getting the trumpet length right so that the total induction length remains roughly the same as it was. Apparently making up an airbox will be a pain. We will see. I will start to take it all apart soon and will post pictures. Right now I need to find a local engineering firm that can make up the bits and bobs that I will need. It is possible that I can get hold of some motorcycle inlet rubbers that can be modified to fit the inlet manifold on the Lotus engine. In the meantime here are some pictures of the bodies, injectors and wiring with all of the unnecessary gubbins removed. top

On a different note, I put the JPS +2 onto Ebay, but it failed to reach the money that I needed to get for it, so I have started to break the car. So far the interior has gone along with the engine and gearbox, which is an important milestone for me because it means that I have actually got rid of some bits instead of accumilating them. I have also sold a set of carburettors. All the parts are going to good homes with kind owners. Still a long way to go though!

I have now worked out the correct spacing which is 90mm between cylinders 1&2 and 3&4 and 101.6mm between 2&3. Many thanks to the lotuselan.net forum for help with this and other information. This means that the linkages will need to be extended quite a bit. I am looking into how best to do that bearing in mind that I do not have welding equipment. Pictures of the gaps between the linkages below. I have also bought an engine management system. More about that later! top

One of the guys who goes on the yearly drive to North Wales (and who helped with the recovery of the yellow plus 2 when I crashed it up there, (by the way, anyone who wants to come along next year please let me know....you are welcome!) is a good welder and fabricator, so I took the throttle bodies down to him. He extended the tabs on the linkages so that they reach now by MIG welding on 2mm thick steel extensions. He also made up some spacers for me from a rod of aluminium. Unfortunately I said that two were 10mm wide, and one was 21.6mm wide. That is why I ended up with three instead of the six I needed. Doh!! You can see that I have had to use three lots of washers to make up the difference until I can get him to do some more. Note the threaded rods that replace the original long bolts which were too short with the spacers in place. top

I have been thinking about the options that I have with regards to the manifold. I have given up on the idea of welding tubes to the aluminum flanges that go in between the carbs and the head. A good option is to modify the inlet rubbers from a GSXR 750 if I can hold of some cheap ones. Otherwise I know someone who makes manifolds and exhausts by hand and will make some up in stainless steel.

Ever since I changed the master brake cylinder in an attempt to stop a fluid leak, I have had spongy brakes and the fluid is still going somewhere. I know all about the possibility of it disappearing into the servo, but in my case the big pool of brake fluid under the rear drivers side wheel is a clue to the real culprit. I will have the wheel off tomorrow and see what is what. Well, I have had the wheel off and the caliper is leaking so I have replaced it. I suppose that is the one and only advantage of having so many spare parts lying around!

Also I have been having a look at fixing the MX5 seats into the car. I have drilled the front mounting holes, but they are in a really awakward place. Right in the corners at the front where the floor rises up. I will have to add some glassfiber there in order to strengthen the area, as I cannot get even a medium size washer onto the bolt. In fact I ended up using both of the original front mounting points, but drilling fresh rear ones. An "L" section bar was bolted to the front of the seat after cutting off the front mountings (it looks flat in the pictures) so that the original points could be used. It meant mounting the seats 1/2" or so further inboard than I would have liked, but it simplifies things and does not really matter. Pictures below. The MX5 seats are ideal for the car, and a great improvement. I was told by a seat upholstery firm that 70's vinyl kits are available for the seat. I wil look into it and report back. top

One last thing....I have decided to bulid up a Zetec car after all. I could not resist. On that basis I have taken delivery of an 1800 Zetec engine (why 1800 and not 2000 I hear you ask) and have ordered the Spyder Zetec chassis and bits. More on this soon, but till then below is a picture of the engine as delivered. I cannot really afford the time or money to do this, but what the hell. If I had not reinvested the money from selling the JPS bits into something Lotus related, the money would have gone into my personal finaces hole never to be seen again, and lost from the Lotus system forever. Too late to go back now! top

On a different subject, the Green car goes quite well apart from a frequent single spitting noise that the engine makes when running at constant but slight throttle openings. It is a definite misfire because the engine misses a beat. I have heard it on slight overrun as well as slight acceleration. I have even heard it on the motorway at reasonably high revs. I cannot decide if it is coming from the exhaust or carbs. I am not sure if it is a spit back through the carbs or the exhaust. For a while I was running it with quite a lot of advance but have now come back to the standard 10 degrees. It was running the Lumenition breakerless system, but while I am fault finding and experimenting I have gone back to points. I posted a question about it on lotuselan.net and it seems that the most likely cuse is an induction air leak. Loose auxiliary venturis can be a problem and I know that mine are loose from when I fitted the carbs, so off they came. On the type 18 DCOE the auxiliary venturis are held in place by a "P" shaped spring which weakens over time. I strengthened them by coiling some .25mm watch spring inside. Very fiddly but the venturis are now held firmly in place. I will also be replacing the "O" rings that go in between the carbs and the head with the modern split "O" ring type. The advantage of that apart from simplicity is that it will move the carbs in towards the head very slightly and give a little more room under the airbox (which taps the body a bit sometimes). Pictures above, I will add one that shows the throttle bodies against the webers as soon as possible. top