clubstylus

dern wrote:

DH2 wrote: Things like Elises look good value these days, and they're not too expensive to run or hugely difficult to work on.

Most difficult to work on car I've ever had as virtually everything is inaccessible. Not a bad drive though.
Mark

Maybe I've been spoiled by working on lifts and with the clams off! I guess what I mean is that they are quite simple.
Though I did do a thermostat on a supercharged Toyota engined car - that was near enough impossible!

Dave

Crazy design though , having cold water hitting the thermo just when it needs to open --- then finally it gets so damn hot it has to open THEN almost instantly shuts again due to the cold rush of water. A remote thermo on the exit really sorts it out. Most head gasket failures , fail again if you keep the car long enough if using the standard water control system. MGF also suffers for identical reason.
Some say that the long through bolt of head/block and stretch involved in that design is the underlying cause but the thermal shock of the standard thermo position certainly exacerbates it.

Japanese power - get a Toyota powered one, or switch the K to Honda Type-R.
Sorted

DH2 wrote: Maybe I've been spoiled by working on lifts and with the clams off! I guess what I mean is that they are quite simple.
Though I did do a thermostat on a supercharged Toyota engined car - that was near enough impossible!

Ah, that would make it a lot easier

I had to remove the front clam (and then the doors in order to repair the captive nuts), remove the radiator and a load of other kit just to change the radiator fan. Changing the cambelt without removing the engine challenged my patience significantly. I had to employ a small child to help me change the broken engine cover cable too.

On one occasion I thought I'd never make it alive out of the footwell when I got properly stuck upside down trying to attach a new throttle cable. My wife had to help extract me.

Happy days

Cheers,

Mark