| What is this, you ask...well, it is an aluminum reverse inhibitor plate....ok...so what! My friend and fellow Lotus guy Sanj was looking at my site and pointed out that the nylon reverse inhibitor pad that I made when I replaced my shift knob with the MOMO knob should have had a recess in it so that the head of the screw didn't dig into this plate. I remembered that I already had quite a groove dug into this plate when I looked at it when I did the MOMO thing, so I decided that it had to come out to get repaired, because a new one from Lotus is over $200! I didn't take a picture of the part before, but the picture above is after I filled in the grove with Alumaweld. This product is great for welding aluminum parts and repairing castings...and with a propane torch to boot! I heated the part (working temp for the weld is 725 degrees) and then tinned it with the aluminum weld and then filled it. After it air cooled (aluminum does not take well to water cooling!!), I reshaped the wear surface with a grinder, assorted files, and emory cloth. The pictures here are after filling but before filing. |
