Lola SL142/20 Restoration

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Lola SL142/20 Restoration

Postby Reto Kuprecht » Wed May 12, 2010 8:02 pm

This thread covers the restoration/buildup of SL142/20. Have fun following the process :wink:

This is the project as I bought it. There were some more old parts, a beaten seat, rotting bag fuel cells, and some old body panels :lol: Most important of course was the original ( :roll: ) SN placard which came with this pile of "waste iron" as my wife would call this:

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After shipping everything home, and after sorting out all the waste, this was left to recreate SL142/20 - not that much I must say in retrospect:

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Everything has to be constructed around the driver. So I knew we'd need to have the seat at a very early stage. We used a foam pellet system, mixed with resin, and layers of glass:

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My father at work using his knowledge from our early surfboard times :wink:

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The finished new seat and the battered remains of the old one:

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Found that elusive LG500 after a pretty long search. Decently priced LGs are not that abundant :roll: :

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First engine/gearbox placement tests. The bellhousing is the real one, the block is a plastic "mock block", which has all the correct dimensions and is light and easy to move around:

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The real engine and gearbox first time in the frame to create the engine supports:

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I choose a hydraulic clutch throw-out. Not really period, but easier to adjust and looks the same on the outside:

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Ooops, the engine is too big or the cover to small. Something has to go :roll:

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Back view with engine cover final location and dzus attachments done

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Cutting, shaping until hardly anything is left, of course has to be built up again around the roll hoop and matched to the cockpit section.
Last edited by Reto Kuprecht on Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Tue May 18, 2010 8:55 pm

A cardboard mock-up, head-scratching where the oily air should pass, some hacksaw action on 2mm aluminum....

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...a bit of expert welding and -12 bungs added and, voilà, we have a handy dandy crankcase vent/catch tank :lol:

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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Sun May 30, 2010 9:27 pm

Dzus attachments for the rear (engine) and cockpit body section finished. Continued work on matching the two sections to each other and around the roll hoop. Pretty much ready for filler and sanding. Also made the cutouts for the shoulder belts.

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And in the front of the car: Worked on attaching the radiator, playing with bushings to get the thing level.

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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:55 pm

The result of last weekends few hours in the workshop - more filling and sanding:

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To get a break from the dust I tack welded the tabs for the rear brake lines. I was looking for stainless braided lines with a black cover and found them at "Fragola" - quicker than covering them myself with heat shrink tube...

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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:12 pm

Still filling, and sanding away! Pretty much finished on the right side. The two body sections match nicely now and I recut the gap.

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And now on to the left side...

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After all this I can take the sections off and continue working on them off the car.
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Postby jcblola » Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:45 am

Reto
Great to see continued progress on your car.
I will start to post some of my photos soon.
Final assembly is about to start.
Just been let down on supply of some parts
Cheers and all the best JCB
T140 owner in Australia
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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:29 am

Thanks John -
I am really looking forward to see your photos, and especially how the cross manifold setup works. As I am still far away from final assembly, this keeps me motivated :wink:
Ciao!
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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:05 pm

Here's the left side: More of the same, filling and sanding came out nicely:

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Recut the gap which meant I could take off the two sections.

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Tried to reinforce the edges with glass rope - but that didn't really work. The rope didn't take the resin well and did not conform and stick to the part at all - and would just fall off. So I cut narrow strips from my usual glass weave and used these. Here my lack of experience in working with resin and glass appeared pretty clearly :(

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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:53 pm

I've finished the work with resin, fibers and filler for the moment and had to clean the shop from all the dust before coninuing. The gray primer on the engine cover is just to see the shape and irregularities. But I will let the painter correct the last imperfections :wink:

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As I was too tall for this car to use the original top-mounted pedals and installed a floor mounted unit, everything extends further forward. Due to this I had to take out an important diagonal tube. To compensate for this, I will "box in" the pedals unit with sheet metal. Purists might frown, but this is the only way to stiffen up the front part again. Other advantages are crash protection and that it keeps hot radiator air from entering the cockpit. What you see here is a test fitting with cardboard templates. The rectangular opening will be covered by a quick detach access cover.

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Last edited by Reto Kuprecht on Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Johan » Mon Jun 28, 2010 4:23 am

lOOKS NICE !
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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:23 pm

Here's a pic of how I am attaching the cockpit body part on the frame. Instead of sticking it on threaded studs and fiddling with nuts on the inside, I wanted to be able to detach it quickly from the outside. I came across special adjustable ball lock pins from www.carrlane.com, which I altered a bit to fit inside the recesses (made out of aluminum tube) in the body piece. Works perfectly:

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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Wed Jul 21, 2010 9:29 pm

Still working around the nose section. My father glassed in the radiator duct and did some reinforcing in critical places:

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The nose should be attached to the frame with these three tiny screws :?: I think I'll find something better than that :wink:

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Constructed upper radiator struts and tacked brackets to the chassis. This is probably a bit of overkill, but it prevents the radiator from tilting or vibrating around its midpoint attachment:

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I always thought about using a laser to check everything is straight, in line and level. However, the racing equipment lasers were too expensive. So I thought a cheap laser is as straight as an expensive one and bought a cheapo Stanley laser around the corner, put it on a post, and it does everything I need it to :wink:

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Postby 911hillclimber » Sat Jul 24, 2010 5:54 am

Very impressive!
Think that laser idea is very good, wish I'd thought of that about a year ago when fighting my Lola engine installation....and suspension...and body...!

Good to see these DIY builds, thanks for posting so much detail.

Graham.
Avid hillclimber, just bought a Lola T 492 to hillclimb.
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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:21 pm

The pedals are now "boxed in" - thin steel sheet, tacked to the frame tubes for now. To access the pedals and oil containers, we fabricated an aluminum cover which is attached by four dzus. The anti-roll bar was just there of course and I built the thing around/over it. Next are the hard brake lines. I do have all the 37deg tools for the flares and bending from aircraft times, but will have to learn again how to do it.

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And here with the access cover removed. Came out pretty much how I planned it:

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Also had a long session in Martins workshop: We made the tie links out of a tough stainless steel. Cutting the 1/2" thread was a bit of a challenge and rolling it would have been better - but this is fine too. The 3/8 LH counter nut is still missing:

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Now that the tie rods are on, we can also soon do first checks on bump steering. I bought the Longacre gauge - I knew, this is a must!

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I also decided I'll go into brazing, as the whole chassis was done that way. I'll report later on that :wink:
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Postby Reto Kuprecht » Sat Aug 28, 2010 8:25 pm

As mentioned before, I thought I'd like to learn "braze welding", as everything on the Lopla chassis has been done that way. I really didn't know anything about this, never used an oxy/acetylene setup, and therefore had to start from scratch. For those interested, a very good description of the process and the definitions can be found here:

http://www.esabna.com/EUWeb/OXY_handbook/589oxy14_1.htm

I took a quick course at Eutectic/Castolin here, but this was more (capillary) brazing than braze welding or fillet brazing as it is also called. Here's a picture of todays session, trying again and again. A certain improvement is noticeable :roll: but still far away from the looks and consistency of the old welds on the chassis (next pic).

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Another interesting project are the hard brake lines. I did make these on an airplane a long time ago, so I do have the proper tools for bending and flaring. I am using 3/16" Cunifer tubing:

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Finished lines for the front brakes:

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And the connection to the flex lines to the front calipers:

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