I continue to spend time on the little Red car.

I continue to spend time formulating ideas.

And I continue to cook, eat, and clean up after.

Each of my children, when I speak with them, is engaged in life and happily progressing toward more sound, more certain stances on life.  It’s nice to witness the ongoing development of their lives.

As yet, I live above subsistence level and life is more than survival.

Along with employment, there is the installation of the transmission back into the Lotus. Yesterday the water pump arrived and I coated it in POR-15 then rounded up the many bolts to put it on the car then tested them. There was a question about how to seal the thing. It came with a paper gasket. The last guy put silicon on both sides of it but still got leakage. Maybe skip the paper altogether? “No” says a Canadian advisor who I trust. “a bit of light grease on both sides of the paper or Hylomar or Permatex air craft gasket stuff.” He says silicon breaks down in antifreeze fluids and gets messy.

I didn’t find the Hylomar or that permatex product, but did come up with a solution made for the application.

The drawing of the Lotus chassis is back home safe and sound after being left at a machine shop for consideration.  The owner of the shop seems to have been agreeable to it, but I need to talk with him to see what sort of thing we can agree on and there’s no confusion about what the deal actually is. What I want is for gear heads and people who love their boats, cars, planes and other machines who go there for remedies to see that they could have shop art that stands out and be motivated to call me and arrange to have something made for their shop space or den or living room.

The machinist is a pleasant fellow who reminds me of my son. He seems the very picture of ‘decent’ and humble. Always calm and helpful when I’ve seen him, he got animated when I asked him about something few people know but which was within his expertise. There was a matter that was confusing to me since it’s written and spoken of with much authority among the Europa people but one very important tidbit never ever got it’s mention. I was probing for insight and got him on a discussion about what they do at his shop. He explained two stroke diesel motors with animated enthusiasm. Then he had some things to say about the GMC 4-71 Supercharger because I told him that the Lotus shims I need are also used in that supercharger to set end-float. What I didn’t know was what application would require the supercharger so I could pass that on to the parts person at the dealership.

Shop talk. Insider speak. Technobabble. When I’m first learning something, I want to know more than focused elements. I really like to know exactly what is going on. Problem is, what is common sense and common knowledge to others is either something I’m unsure of or ignorant of. There is a gulf to cross to get to where the shop talk makes sense. Until then, it’s over my head. When I know what they know, then what the insiders say makes sense.

In this case there was both a terminology problem and a question of where a specific item needed to be.

I was told that when I hook up the drive lines to the trans axle, I needed to check for play and shim appropriately. But shim what? How? Where? With what?

I wasn’t sure of most of it. Now I get it, but it must have been frustrating to other list members in the Lotus Europa group who did know what I did not know and couldn’t reach me because they spoke in terms that make perfect sense when you know, but make none at all when you don’t. And what I didn’t know was so fundamental that it never occurred to anyone to point it out in the way that would help me bridge the gap. When I finally figured it out, everything fell into place.

Terms and definitions:

Shim – a thin bit of material used to make things fit better, reduce wear, or to fill space.

In this case the shims are round bits of steel that cut down on play in the drive line of the car. A splined shaft exits the differential through a locking nut and the yoke of the inner drive line is benefited. I would not have thought to check this, partly because I didn’t know how or what to do about it if there was a variance beyond specification.

Yoke – the transition piece of the drive line that slides on to the output shafts of the differential. “Yoke” refers, I’m sure, to the fact that it has two ears that act as receivers for the inner universal joint.

Splines – like gear teeth but longitudinal along a shaft.

The area of concern is the dark part that comes out of the side of the center that seems to be pointed to by the glove finger.

I finally realized that the shiny thing you see at the base of the splines is the shim I needed to locate.

Other Europa owners knew this, but it was so fundamental and simple that I think they assumed I knew it too. The shim sits back out of sight. I’ve coaxed this one out with a screw driver.

So now I have my terminology. Now I know that the multi toothed thing called a side nut does not have to be removed and in fact should not be casually removed in order to get at the shims. They just slide over the out put shaft. I ordered six at .005″ and two at .015″ without even checking. Maybe I won’t even need them, but I think it will be wise to have them on hand because if I do need them, I don’t want to not have them.

Specific instructions regarding the installation of the roll pins now also make sense. The roll pins keep the drive line from backing off the output shaft.

There are two on each side that go into the hole and into each other in a specific way. More on these later. Based on the descriptors I’ve been given, these are the right size and configuration.

If life were reduced to just a scramble for food and shelter, there would be no time or place for such things. I’m grateful that I can occupy myself with more than survival. Things like keeping a machine useful. Even a rare machine. Life is more than meat.