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As many that read my posts can surmise I'm a hands on guy. I an fortunate to have the knowledge, skills and tools to perform most jobs and mods.One thing that I think would be helpful to people using this board is real times for DIY jobs and mods. I define a real-time for a job as the time that elapses between pulling your lotus into the garage to pulling it out with the job completed. I think some posts may state an artificially short time for a install not including the time to take off wheels , pans ect. This came to mind when I installed the force fed damper( see post). We could make this a sticky for true DIY times I'll start.
Install Nitrons includes lifting or jacking,R&R wheels and top front shock mounts 2-2 1/2hrs note does not include setting ride height corner balance or alignment add 3-4hrs(trust me i've done this many times)
Force fed damper 1 1/2hrs add 1/2hs for RTD brace.
Oil and filter 1hr
Change front brake pads 3/4hr, remember all times include jacking and R&R wheels.
Change rear pads 1 1/4 hrs.
Change springs on Nitrons or Olnins 3-4hr includes resetting corner bal and ride height check alignment but no adjustment.
Install Sector 111 RTD brace and reset rear toe and thrust angle 3-3 1/2hrs.
R&R valve cover and inspect cams, NA 1 1/4 hr SC 2hr. Note on the Sc you need to remove the IC and the engine cover latch and heat shield. Also replace the O ring on the oil feed tube, the main VC gasket and breather gasket. carl
Other end of spectrum from Randy Chase, 4Carl and other experts. First, I am a Lotus Newbie (Aug 07), have lots of hand tools, but no machine shop capabilities and am of average mechanical ability. Working alone.
Remove rear diffuser 15 min
Jacking up car with jack stands/hockey pucks 45 min
first time
- wanted more clearance than Rhino Ramps
Remove stock exhaust 2 hours
- difficult to get off without damaging heat shield
- WD 40 helped
- Much ad hoc leverage required
Remove stock cat 45 min
Note: time spent arranging steady rests/supports to avoid: heat shield damage; dropping of units on my chest; and possible damage to supports.
Install Larini sports cat 8 hours
Note: per other posts, the ball and socket joint between header and sports cat did not fit the same as stock – the “ball” is a little bit bigger. Result is that I could only get one of the stock bolts mated with the header flange with the springs in place. Spent many hours trying solutions: clamping flanges together and several variations on pre-compression of the springs. Nothing worked. Final solution was a longer metric bolt from the local hardware store – went in place easily. Others have reported a solution involving shaving a coil off the springs, but I was leery of this approach. Some have speculated that the joint may be too tight and not allow normal movement, resulting in damage from bumps. My theory, which will be tested when back on road in spring, is that normal expansion/contraction heat cycles, combined with some degree of joint movement over bumps, will ultimately result in proper seating of the ball/socket assembly. More to come on this.
Removal of 07 rear panel 1 hour
Note: due to the “bumpers” on the 07, the Larini SE tips cannot be accommodated. Had to purchase an 06 rear panel.
Cutting heat shield to accommodate SE tips 30 min
Installation of Larini exhaust 4 hours
Note: difficult to get muffler fully onto cat pipe U bend due to interference fit. Tried all sorts of leverage techniques to force fit. Still came up 1/4” short on centering the SE tips. Had to play with two degrees of freedom (ball/socket joint rotation plus muffler rotation to get tips properly aligned.
Attach Euro screens and refit rear panel 2 hours
- working alone from under the car, difficult to align
screws which must go up through the boot floor
Block stock exhaust opening in rear diffuser 2 hours
- pop riveted 0.020” aluminum sheet over opening,
painted flat black to match diffuser
Clean up, tools away, trips to hardware store, 2 hours
etc.
Total 23 hours 15 min
Final commentary. Based upon learnings, could now do task in about 8 hours working alone. My hat is off to those who can do same in a couple of hours. A helper would reduce time significantly further. Hope this helps anyone coming to this cold like me.
R & R 12 accessory socket with Radio Shack part that actually works with US accesories. about an hour, but some of that was trying to remove the slide connectors from the oem 12vdc feed plug/connector., i eventually just clipped off the connector and recrimped new slides on the oem wires.
That said, now I understand why in most pictures I see of interior work, the seats are removed.
Same procedure as replacing a wiped intake cam, so 4-8+ depending on your comfort/speed/skill level (took me ~6-7 including valvespring replacement with a Toyotool and spread over 3 easygoing evenings after work).
The time consuming part is acquiring the correct shims if you need different ones... No fancy Honda jamnut adjusters here
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