Jump to content


Photo

Lotus 72 puzzles - help wanted


  • Please log in to reply
12 replies to this topic

#1 addled

addled
  • New Member

  • 27 posts
  • Joined: November 14

Posted 23 December 2021 - 11:02

I continue to work on a 1/12 scale Lotus 72D using a heavily modified Tamiya kit and hope someone can help me solve two puzzles.


In the first photo https://imgbox.com/qFfNeuWI of a mechanic (Eddie Dennis??) working on a 72 - one of many pictures collected from the web - I've circled an 'adjuster' for setting something but can't figure out what purpose it serves.  I know the knob for setting/adjusting this runs from the area at the back of the cockpit behind the drivers head and presumably, because of this design, it was used/adjusted quite frequently. Something on/around the oil cooler that could be adjusted?

 

The second photo, https://imgbox.com/vJgxFMwE was kindly sent to me some time ago by Mike Oliver.  It is plumbing on a 72 E on the left of the rear bulkhead.  I've numbered three connections.  Can anyone identify these, particularly the top one (no. 1), without an A/N fitting, that goes through the tube running under the injectors on the top left of the DFV.  I think the other two are oil pressure and line to the clutch slave(??).

 

 

I'd appreciate any help.

 

Thank you,

 

Mark

 

PS You can't miss the fact that the mechanic is smoking while working on the engine!  John Player Specials??  How the world has changed, including F1.  Can you imagine seeing this in the pits today??



Advertisement

#2 Michael Ferner

Michael Ferner
  • Member

  • 7,151 posts
  • Joined: November 09

Posted 23 December 2021 - 21:58

Well, an easy answer to the first one could be rear anti-roll bar?



#3 Ray Bell

Ray Bell
  • Member

  • 80,052 posts
  • Joined: December 99

Posted 24 December 2021 - 01:01

I don't see how it could be anything to do with the anti-roll bar...

 

It looks like it's some kind of fluid flow adjuster.



#4 dolomite

dolomite
  • Member

  • 1,182 posts
  • Joined: March 01

Posted 24 December 2021 - 08:27

The 72 didn’t have driver adjustable anti-roll bars. I think somebody suggested in a previous thread that the device in question is an electrical cut-out switch?

#5 FelipeMarinho

FelipeMarinho
  • New Member

  • 2 posts
  • Joined: August 21

Posted 24 December 2021 - 14:21

This seems to me to be the hewland gearbox shifter, as a steel cable comes out of this part that goes to the cockpit. In Brazil, my country, we call it a tambulator, but I don't know the name in English.


Edited by FelipeMarinho, 24 December 2021 - 14:22.


#6 Ray Bell

Ray Bell
  • Member

  • 80,052 posts
  • Joined: December 99

Posted 24 December 2021 - 23:14

The gearshift linkages were solid rods...

 

It appears in another photograph I found to have a fairly solid electrical cable attached, giving credence to the cut-out switch mentioned.

 

1221fr-DPLotus72switch.jpg

 

It's not present in very many photographs at all, suggesting it was either a very late modification or not used for very long.



#7 Garsted

Garsted
  • Member

  • 183 posts
  • Joined: October 10

Posted 26 December 2021 - 17:25

It appears to be very close to the hydraulic line to the rear brakes. Could it be to control a pressure modulating valve to change front/rear brake balance?
Steve

#8 Ray Bell

Ray Bell
  • Member

  • 80,052 posts
  • Joined: December 99

Posted 26 December 2021 - 18:40

You can see the cable which is screwed to the upper arm of the fitting...

 

I found another pic which showed the cable screwed to something else in the same area, this switch wasn't present, but I have lost track of that pic.



#9 dfc

dfc
  • New Member

  • 11 posts
  • Joined: September 12

Posted 27 December 2021 - 08:02

Could the lever activate the return of oil from the catch-tank to the main oil tank or the engine (to be scavenged and returned to the main oil tank)?



#10 Ray Bell

Ray Bell
  • Member

  • 80,052 posts
  • Joined: December 99

Posted 27 December 2021 - 09:38

Clutching at straws...

 

I found that other pic, clearly there's a battery cable (likely the earth strap) in that area, but no sign of that mechanism.

 

1221frweblotus27rear.jpg



#11 addled

addled
  • New Member

  • 27 posts
  • Joined: November 14

Posted 20 May 2022 - 09:27

With apologies for the very long delay in responding, many thanks to  all who have posted in response to my first question.

 

The 'adjuster' - the purpose of which, unfortunately, still seems to be a mystery! - appears in most of the pics I've been able to find of the 72 in its 'D' guise, both in 1972 and earlier.  It is clearly shown in Tony Matthews excellent cut-away drawing of the 'D' done before the JPS sponsorship. https://imgbox.com/rk1csgAn.  This pic taken at Monza in1972 shows the adjuster knob on the right of Fittipaldi's helmet.  It has some sort of marking on it, which might be a clue to its purpose.  Unfortunately the image isn't very clear but it seems to in to show something like a fork with two points - any help????.  https://imgbox.com/soBEtSto

 

BTW here is my 1/12 scale adjuster on transaxle - in progress.  https://imgbox.com/wRpNKSrY

 

Does anyone have a sense of what was plumbed to each of the three lines in the other photo?  imgbox.com/vJgxFMwE.  Line numbered 1, which simply goes through a grommet into the chassis (no A/N or other fitting), also runs through the 'tube' that sits next to the left side injectors and carries wires between the tub (mainly instrument panel switches) and the spark box.  The others seem to be rear brake line (2) and oil pressure (3)???

 

Regards,

 

Mark


Edited by addled, 20 May 2022 - 10:14.


#12 Gary C

Gary C
  • Member

  • 5,571 posts
  • Joined: January 01

Posted 01 January 2023 - 20:37

Er.....and the mechanic in the first pic is definitely not Eddie Dennis.

#13 Gary C

Gary C
  • Member

  • 5,571 posts
  • Joined: January 01

Posted 01 January 2023 - 20:48

Have just spoken to Beaky Sims and the mechanic in the first pic is Trevor Seaman.