In this video the seized suspension of a 70's supercar is disassembled and restored. For stickers and support options visit www.georgekarellas.com For CNC plasma visit xtremeplasma.ecwid.com/
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Love your work and love the warning. Wish more people of RU-vid took ownership of their channel. Now... Off to de rust car parts without a fancy sandblaster...
Strip the driveshaft down. You don't want to risk getting blasting grit into the needle bearings in the U-joints. If you are really committed to keeping the existing U-joints, strip them down and tape off the bearing surfaces and then rebuild them with fresh grease.
My Elite has a very similar rear suspension design. Big tip for getting new bearings in - chuck them in the freezer for an hour and put the hub in the oven - they literally fall in lol. Great work mate. Replacement bearings are getting rare and damned expensive!
It is so good to see that Esprit coming back to life. And the love and patience and attention to detail you put in it. It is just incredible and I admire it. ❤
One of the most unique channels out there. Amazing work again George. I can’t imagine how long it takes to setup those shots. Us on the viewing side thoroughly enjoy it!!
A tonic for those of us assailed by fast and shouty motoring channels. Smooth slow thoughtful progress with the minimum of specialist tools on accessible classics. Excellent entertainment.
You give me such stoke to clean and polish and preserve. My T1N Sprinter is in need of much rust repair. No alpine windows but she's a beaut still. Thanks for all you share my friend.
It amazing how many projects hit a point like this and halt completely never to be finished or touched again because of the time, dedication and commitment restoring an automobile truly takes. Thanks for all the extra work you do to create these stop motion videos, that's adding a whole new level of time , dedication and commitment to the task 💪
Lotus have to get involved at some stage in this epic project. At least send you some expensive parts you’re missing that they find long forgotten in their stock room.
Great stuff as ever 😊 By the way, WD40 is fairly useless as a penetrating fluid for jobs like this - Bulldog BDX is the absolute daddy; I’ve also had some good results with Screwfix No Nonsense penetrating oil which is a chunk cheaper (though you’ll use more of it).
Those bearings are shot...and I was giddy to see the Lotus chassis! Nothing better than the victory of releasing a rusty stuck part without destroying everything. Get a thread "run out" cleanup kit. They have a male and female thread cutter that is less aggressive than a tool and die...but it fixes threads and cleans out gunk without destroying the plate/coating. I'll send a link if you need an example
George, you shouldn’t blast bearing seats. Also you can use the old bearing outer races for driving new ones in or for next time you need to drive one out, just remove a few thou from the outside with a lathe or emery paper whilst rotating it in a drill. Like the other comments I would strip, clean the UJ’s block up the holes and then blast clean. I’d recommend powder coating for long term protection of the suspension parts. Keep up the good work.
i can't recommend powder coat anywhere it is exposed to the elements. it's micro porous and sucks up water. as an experiment, powder coat some steel white and leave it outside for a short while to see the brown stains start to appear under the surface.
Another very satisfying update. I'm getting really excited thinking about hearing it fire up for the first time and seeing it move under its own steam!
Thanks for another one George. Removing bushings is a bitch of a job. I don't envy you but it will pay off in the quality of the feel of the car. Cheers Lad!
Good to see you got it out. To make it easier I would recommend installing nuts on both ends half way to protect the stud threads. Then heat the area of the A arm that the bolt goes directly through, not the areas to the side of it or the rubber bushing. Then while well heated, a few sharp hammer blows on each end of the stud with the nuts in place. You might see it start to move, then apply the pulling treatment as you did. Obviously what you did worked, I'm just suggesting time savings or additional techniques for others watching who have more stubborn parts.
As always, a great video. Great to see the Lotus well under way again. I would remove the UJ's, blast and add new ones to avoid getting media in the bearings. You are going to such detail would be a shame not to cover new unions off. You can use the Vice if you cant get access to the press. Best of luck.
So excited to see this beautiful car is going to get a second life by a person with much love for motor vehicles. We try to be as creative with our Porsches.
Threads are a spiral inclined ramp. You will ALWAYS get more torque by greasing threads so that they slide against each other rather than binding. The grease will not impair holding ability, but it will allow more torque per given input, and will prevent siezure later. Good video !
Keep up the good job, Yes it will take a lot of time, but when done, it looks like a bucket of gold. Did all the suspension myself 2 years ago on my 85 Turbo Esprit, and had to cut the stud, as the treats on the stud where gone, but was able to save the hubs.
Oh boy, I have some subframe modification coming up to keep my beloved DD from rusting in half-I hope nothing is as stuck as that control arm bolt or else it's going to be a bad day/week. Nice work as always George and it's great to see progress on the Esprit!
George - You do realize that once the Esprit is finished you will have to compile a stop-motion supercut of the beginning to the end so we can watch the whole thing in one go!
I had a similar situation with a bolt stuck in a lower control arm bushing, albeit from a Honda with a steel, not aluminum, subframe. It didn't occur to me to saw the bolt; I tried pressing it out with a 20T hydraulic press. The bushing was stuck so badly to the bolt, what I thought was movement of the bolt was actually the bolt+bushing CUTTING its own exit hole. It caught the subframe between the bushing and receiving cup like the pin and anvil of a giant leather punch. Wild. This was disastrous because this particular subframe is unique to the electric 4WS system of a 92-96 Prelude and not easily replaced. I can hammer it back down and weld it, but then again the *area* that was damaged includes a stamped piece with a clock face, a slot, and an eccentric washer used to adjust rear wheel alignment (so not as simple to reconstruct as an ordinary bolt hole). What a mess.
Love your tenacity. Be careful blasting those bearing seats, though. I don't suggest it at all. Keep old bearings around. The races make a wonderful drift for seating new ones. Steady as she goes. Easy does it. And don't break anything.
Great progress there, George! Personally, I'd strip the driveshafts so make sure I can get into the interior parts of the yokes properly, but with the parts in hand you might be able to see ways to to that without the extra work. Back when I was an avionics tech at the airline, we used to have steel bearings in aluminium housings that were an interference fit. This was the benefit of aluminium having a higher thermal expansion ratio than steel. To get them in/out we would put the housing with the old bearing in an oven at ~80C. Then we could pull the bearing out (which was in a plugged hole so only accesible from the one side), using a tool that fitted the inside that we had put in the freezer. The new bearing to go in was also in the freezer & went easily as a slip fit into the hot aluminium housing & once cooled held as an interference fit.
I won't lie. The thing holding me back from building my dream is the sheer undertaking of it. What I want to do is so aggressively ambitious. It would REQUIRE that I learn CAD, 3D Printing, and a little bit of material science, as well as require me to source a space to do the work, all the tools necessary, and the patience to keep with it for the long haul (I think it would take me every bit of 6 years to accomplish).
I just finished bingeing the entire Lotus series (so far) and looking forward to the next installment. Just wanted to drop a note to say I really enjoy your story telling style and the combo of live action and stop motion which all combines to make for very compelling content. Cheers.
Thank you for this episode! Budget friendly super car restoration is why I'm here. I wouldn't recommend to blast aluminum with such heavy grit media as it roughens up the surface to much. Glas beed or vapor blasting would be better but isn't exactly budget friendly. In the last years I rebuild an incredibly grimey VW 16V engine and found off brand sand soap hand cleaner from my local hardware store to be incredibly effective alongside with hot water and a stiff brush. It's a strong emulsifier that breaks down oil and grease with ease. The sand inside helps alot with scrubbing. Plus it's skin friendly and doesn't emits toxic fumes that make you feel dizzy. It doesn't remove oxidation of course but left a really nice, grey patina on said engine parts. Looks clean and tidy but not shiny new, perfectly for an imperfect car that doesn't look either.
love the videos my man. can't get enougn of them. should future proof it and put 5 lug conversion on it. rims will be easier to source and would have a better resale value imo.
The longer it takes the greater the joy when a hurdle is overcome - especially if it involves a blowtorch or a lump hammer ;) Enjoyed the close up stop motion and the details you are capturing
