New radiator

I had *a* plan.
It was fairly simple: duck and dive to the end of the season - then change all the old stuff what needed changing - over the winter.
Her majesty was dripping fluid from both ends @Silverstone, one fix being somewhat easier than the other. Either way, if i have any hope of making it to the grid on 10th October @Silverstone, I need to be "making some fixes"...as a European F1 driver would say.

Fix #1 (DiY)

New radiator.
Turns out - as many S1 Elise drivers will testify - that the rather splendid design of the OEM rad - it being too thin combined with the fact that plastoc ends are crimped onto aluminium - means it's often the first thing to go. Well...it definitely has gone and I need to replace it with a full alloy version; so i'm going to fit one of these:
http://www.proalloy.co.uk/cgi-bin/sitewise.pl?act=det&pt=52_62_178&p=207&id=proalloy
........what's even more worrying is i'm going to try it myself.

Fix #2
....is a replacement rear main seal: gearbox out....definitely a job not for me so will be giving that to the chaps @Guglielmi Motorsport.

the view from Silverstone today

Yup....it's broken again. What you can't see is....

a) the coolant nicely dripping out of the front chassis-well and..b) The rather uniform coating of oil across the gearbox and undertray.....yup...that be the rear main seal alreet Worsel......gearbox out......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I'm thinking of starting an online t-shirt company....the first design shall be a Elise race-car silouhette (after all, that's all that'll be left after i torch the weasel) with a sizeable red-coloured strike-through sign saying: "Race-cars....NO!"

engine "sorted"

So it appears the engine is sorted. Cylinder missing was caused by duff new ht leads! New cambelt as precaution. Need to find exact compression test figures as cylinder #4 was down c10% before we changed cambelt (which i am told is within accepted tolerance) but tests can vary according to how hot the engine is and whether throttle wide open or not.
Anyhoo...it's all fine apparently. Ready for trackday @silverstone next week....although i've only gone and torn my pere-neel tendon in my left calf....following a physio session yesterday i can barely walk at the moment so hoping it recovers at least 50% strength so i can operate the clutch! Thanks to the guys @Guglielmi.

The last 2 months...

MOG HANS Seat purchased > Mounts not right, sitting too high > fabricate custom mounts > seat fits > Can't reach the steering wheel > Steering wheel spacer fitted > New HANS belts > New geo > Trackday @ Silverstone > She works! > Get her home, off the trailer....oh...she's broken again!

Some pics to follow.....

She's still poorly....

New coil pack, new HT leads....we've still lost a cylinder.
This was the view of the engine as I left it last week....hoping a cam hasn's spun on a spindle or possibly the cambelt has lopped a tooth off the vernier...which may explain the blackened plug on cylinder #4....

Aiming for Silverstone in October now with work commitments all through September this is the first chance I'll get.

Donington: no-go

The title of this blog is becoming increasingly amusing....soon it will be "My novice year in motorsport...which never happened...."

Anyway...a House-move (yay) ....and ongoing issues (outlay) with the car means dony is a no-go this weekend :(

However the good news is Silverstone is *definitely* a go-er in October.
Elsie managed a evening trackday session @ Silverstone GP back 2 weeks ago...without breaking. However, she did voice her complete disgust at spending this time in working order and made a rather splendid noise in deciding that the coil pack has finally met it's maker when i got it off the trailer when we got home.