Well its been a while since I last posted, and thats been down to me doubling down to finish off the Aston Martin book. So I've done little on the Lotus rewire, apart from sourcing a new set of stalks. This came about when I found the non standard original ones were a bit ropey, withe the wiper side held together with cable ties and dodgy connections on the dip/main/horn side. These stalks were later than the ones that should be on the Plus 2, and were fitted to the Europa but were originally made by Lucas for British Leyland. These had the wipers on the left, and the indicators, lights and horn on the right - the original right hand drive way of doing it but the opposite to modern cars. So I did spend a fair amount of time indicating with the wipers.....
However, later versions of the switches had the stalks the 'modern' way round so after a fair amount of faffing about I managed to source a pair of the main (lights horn indicator) stalks and the separate bolt on wiper controls which are mirror images of the older ones. I'll fit the second set to my Plus 2S which is still 'undergoing restoration'. Here is the old (top) and new stalks ready to fit:
The second job was a couple of quick fixes to the DB9. I noticed one frosty morning that the outside temperature reading was showing a steady 15 degrees Centigrade, which was not right - and it didn't change at all even when it got sunny and a bit warmer. also the boot lid gas struts were no longer assisting in opening the boot, making it a somewhat arm hungry menace to open and close. On top of those two issues the door struts were also weak, meaning the doors would happily close on their own. Doing the door struts means removing the inner wing liners to get to then, so I'm putting that off for the moment, but having bought the new struts and a new temp sensor. I thought I'd have a quick go at the easy jobs today.
The boot struts were easy - just prise off the old ones (one at a time) then click the new ones in place after cleaning and greasing the balls and sockets and the jobs a goodun - my boot lid no longer wants to break my arm or eat my fingers! The temperature sensor was a bit more involved as it lived under the big cover on the front of the engine bay. This is held in place by some 18 forex headed screws. These were all a bit corroded but all unscrewed with no breakages.
Here's the tray that has to be removed with its myriad fixing screws:
The sensor was clipped in place on the left hand side (as you look at it) just behind the grill. It just needed to be pulled off its clip mount, unplugged and the new one connected and clipped back in it place. Easy. I also greased up the numerous screws before replacing them to make sure they are easy to get out the next time something goes wrong, and greased up the bonnet lock mechanism as well. With everything back in place the temperature was 5 degrees outside, and the same on the dash so another good job jobbed. It took about 30 minutes and then it was back to the book!
So to finish off heres a high level shot of the DB9 all ready to go - must remember to open the gate first!
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