Finally Able to Work On the Seven

[escondidoron]

We finished our home remodel so I have finally brought the Seven home. I did a little bit of work on it over the weekend and again this evening:

1) Removed the old 10" wide steel wheels and tires
2) Removed the Spridget rear axle and installed a proper TR-10 with LSD reworked by Chris Beebe

3) Installed a set or Revolutions with Yoko A008s (the tires came with the rims)
4) Installed the rear fenders
5) Installed the windshield
6) Installed the headlamp bulbs - I have to have the car inspected to get it registered
7) Installed a set of windshield wipers
8) Installed 7/16" dia front wheel studs to match the rears
9) Removed a couple of added on aluminum panels and found the original Lotus data plate with s/n
10) Tonight I loaded the car back onto the trailer to go for a DMV inspection tomorrow (if I can get away from work by 3:30):


11) Hooked up a battery and found that the starter motor would spin the engine over
12) Did a compression check:



Note: I poured a bunch of Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder last October after I towed it back from the original owner's place. Tonight I spun it over for a while with the plugs removed before I checked the compression and let the excess oil blow out the plug holes. All 4 cylinders showed 240 - 245 psi. Even if my gauge is completely whacked at least the compression is even across the board. Maybe I'll make enough progress to try to light it off this weekend.

[escondidoron]

After changing the oil I checked for spark this afternoon and found that the ignition was still operational.

I opened the butterflies and sprayed some starting ether into the ports, pushed the starter button and she immediately coughed to life for a few seconds.

After the instantaneous euphoria wore off I decided to see if it would actually run. I found that the fuel pump is dead. So I got out a step ladder, some 1/4" tubing, a dog food can and the trusty Mighty Vac. I removed the chassis to carbs fuel line and turned the Tee fitting so it pointed up. I poured about a cup of gas into the dog food can and set it on one of the steps about 2' higher than the carbs (and well off to the side too!). Then I used the Mighty Vac to get some fuel siphoning from the dog food can and connected the fuel line to the Tee fitting on the carbs.

Then I looked the whole rig over again and decided that this might work and not burn the place down.

Ignition ON.

Starter engaged.

Engine fired immediately. No hesitation or multiple long cranks. She fired right up!

I worked around the engine / fuel system for a while and after a few minutes she was actually idling OK too.

The Seven engine runs and even idles after sitting in a garage for nearly 40 years.

A very unexpected outcome from a successful afternoon.

[Elv15]

Excellent (and amazing) news! :D

[sevenhead]

That is a miracle! Congratulations!
Starting to look like a proper 7 now.