Bits off, bits on

A weekend of fairly mixed progress. First stop was trying to sort out the rear brakes. The manual suggested that grinding down the bolts might be required to stop them contacting the brake disc, and indeed it was required, as they were much too long.

After a bit of experimentation, it turns out that the angle grinder is a bit of a blunt instrument for this task (and also gets the bolts properly red hot, which make me wonder if the heat cycle has implications for their future strength), and that the dremel is too feeble. Fortunately, the bench grinder is just right, if a little slow. Still, just four bolts to do. I ground them to the appropriate length, then double-checked the instructions and found I'd be using a spring washer, meaning my newly shortened bolts were too short. I cursed a bit, bought some more bolts, and ground them down again. However, I think they may be slightly too short as they don't visibly protrude, and I think IVA like to see at least one or two threads poking out the other end as evidence that the bolt goes all the way through. Might have to do a third set - fortunately I bought enough spares to do this.

Whilst messing around with attaching rear callipers, I also discovered that the garage I'd got to press in the wheel bearings had damaged one of the wheel bearings (and either not noticed or not told me). Fortunately, I've got a spare, so I will get a (different) garage to swap the wheel bearing over. Given the amount I've spent on servicing the Elise over the last two years, I think there's a good chance the Lotus garage will take pity on me and do it - I'll ask tomorrow when I pick the Elise up after its latest misbehaving.

Excessive play in the wheel bearing.

Next I started on the oil. This was all pretty straightforward, engine oil filter, engine and gearbox oil all changed without any mishap or even any significant spillage, which was unexpected. The pleasant surprise here was that the gearbox oil coming out looked about the same as the stuff going in, suggesting a recent change (consistent with the condition of the fill plugs, which looked recently used). Given that (I believe) BMW don't recommend ever changing the gearbox oil, this suggests that the car might have been looked after quite well. I didn't manage to do the diff as I couldn't locate a 14mm allen key, but Ebay will hopefully resolve that in the next day or two.

Finally, I mounted the battery, and attached the rear panel. The battery was fairly straightforward, although the Halfords "universal" battery clamp needed a spot of modification as the threads were much too short to actually clamp the battery.

Emily helps with a bit of rivetting.

The rear panel latter took a while, as it involved a fair amount of offering up, measuring, cutting, offering up, cursing, cutting some more, offering up again, clamping, drilling, riveting, and finally using a hammer and an angle grinder to make some final adjustments. In spite of all that, the final result looks pretty good, although it's not yet painted.

The rear panel in place, ready to be painted.