Artie

Thanks sir! Not quite the same fantastic results you are getting, but I'm pretty happy with the results I have gotten, especially considering we painted it in my garage "booth" I made out of plastic and HVAC filters and a high volume fan! Lol! I guess I'll have to invest in a new jack......Or get my sorry arse in gear and get my FD running so the Esprit can have her throne back!

Fantastic work Dave! She is looking spectacular! What on earth did you use to get her so high in the air to put her on those big jackstands? I barely fit under my jackstands at their full height(full safe height I should say)! Of course I'd put her on my lift, if I didn't have a blown up RX7 occupying the space atm! Damn right foot!

Thanks Rog! Had clear bra paint protectant put on last week and new tint! Now I can drive without fear of rock chips! WooHoo!

Thanks Alex! Mission accomplished!

Lol! Thanks Henry! I was going more for beautiful and sinister at the same time...... Did I accomplish that?

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f164/fresh-paint-my-89-turbo-oh-boy-108649/ Here is another thread on the process, a bit more detail here. And the final product: http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f164/presenting-109717/

Oh damn, youre right! Lol! The lights have all been "tinted" slightly to be blacked out and "stealth"! I did some more polishing today and hopefully install the rear lower valance tomorrow night. I'll do the final polish before I install the spoiler and rear light panel so I don't damage them!

Okay guys, been a bit lazy here. Been posting up on the Lotustalk board. The car is fully painted, but am still a few parts shy of completing the assembly. Had a small electrical fire yesterday so my garage is out of commission for a few days until the wiring is repaired. Anyway, here are some updated pics.

C'mon over Travis! Bring all the pieces! It's a messy procedure, but it is well worth the effort! Here's a proposition for ya! I'll paint your car, you build my engine when it blows up again! K?

Okay guys, I finally got some paint laid today and made a bit of progress! I painted a few small pieces and will work up to the bigger pieces hopefully later this week. I laid 3 coats of DuPont Chromabase Black and 4 coats of Urethane clear, in case you were wondering. Here you go for now. Before: Uploaded with ImageShack.us After: Uploaded with ImageShack.us Before: Uploaded with ImageShack.us After Uploaded with ImageShack.us Before: Uploaded with ImageShack.us After: Uploaded with ImageShack.us

WOW! Would you look at that!!! WooHoo! That offside headlight is maladjusted!!!

Yes Felix, I live in the states. I will be panel bonding the arches, no bolts. Basically a plastic adhesive that holds door skins on metal cars without welds! I will post pics as I progress, don't you worry!

Felix, I only got the S300 arches for the rear of the car. I got some carbon fiber GT-R front canards that will be used instead of the S300 bumper. I wanted to do a few more updates, like the spoiler etc, but shiipping costs from UK were and are cost prohibitive on my project. I like the wide fender look in rear, the fronts seem to just be lost in the body to me, not enough to really make them worth the effort of installing. I do have the Sport 300 lower rubber lip, and a friend is going to help me weld up an upper engine bay brace similar to the S300 one. The main focus of the project was to address the cracks and broken pieces and make the paint one complete color, not 4 different areas of white. The black will look fabulous and once the wheels are painted and remounted, I think the car is going to be completely transformed! Should be shooting a few things with paint and clear this weekend sometime, so I will post updates immediately as they take place! I have also taken most of the interior leather header rails and pillar covers off and glued some open cell foam into the empty spaces to absorb a bit more sound, possibly making the interior a little less noisy on the road. I'll post those pictures up later this evening. Anything I can do to improve the quality of my experience with this car, I am willing to do. The foam may add a few ounces of weight, but since I have no cat or EBPV on the car, I have not added any weight! I am anxious to finish and see the results of my efforts!

WOW! I haven't returned to this for 2 days and all hell breaks loose! That's GREAT news to hear from John himself! I will be looking into this as soon as he offers the kit! Would love a bb turbo and I would have his old Stage 2 turbo for sale with less than 7500 miles on it!

Felix, at first look, it seemed that the arches were the wrong angle and dimension. As I worked on notching the seam line portions, it occurred to me that the lower lip on the arches needed to be ground down some to bring the lower portion closer to the body and thus pulled the upper edge against the body and also pulled the arch closer to the body and that sorted out the angles and edges close enough to make the curve of the arch match the curve of the body. Minimal work to make it all line up. I've heard of others having the same issue you had, but mine didn't take much to get to match up nicely. Planning on starting to shoot some paint this weekend. Will post up pics as I progress! Artie

]NO problem Geir! There are many little things that can be updated and amended on these cars to improve their comfort level and beauty in my opinion. Whenever I work on mine, I look at ways that things can be improved! When restoring things of this vintage I am not of the mind to go "back" to original. I want to improve on the design and make the final product better and more reliable and if possible, more beautiful than original! That being said, I have some more progress to report. I ordered a set of S300 wheel arch extensions. After some massaging with the sanding wheel and grinder, I test fitted them to the fender. And they fit almost perfectly! I am just installing the rear set as my front wheels come just to the fender arch, my rear wheels protrude about 3/4 of an inch and the wheel extensions will look fabulous. I also got my door edge trim back from the powdercoater and looks a treat! Much better than the old flaking off matte black finish. While I finish up prepping and sanding the repairs on the body pieces, I have also started work on my paint booth. To ensure a fabulous, dust and dirt free spray job, I am enclosing a self contained pain booth in my garage. It will have a ventilation system and it will mimic a downdraft type setup, although it won't be as sophisticated as a real spray shop, it will be far better than just spraying it in my garage and destroying everything else in the garage. The booth materials cost me about $100 usd with the tarp, wood, plastic and staples. I had some old hepa filters that I will affix to the ceiling of the booth and tape to the sheeting allowing air to be pulled through them and filtering out debris and dust. I will affix a box fan down at floor level on the far side of the booth and tape the edges of the fan to the plastic and a cutout for the fan to draw air through the unit. I will attach another heating/ac unit filter to the back side of the fan to filter out any particles of paint and overspray so I don't paint my driveway with fumes as the fan exhausts outside the 3rd car bay of my garage. attachment=19130:wheelarchextension.jpg]

Wow! That's a huge commitment for a car that was run in such a limited production!

No worries Paul, those of us Americans who've been here for a while have learned the "real english" spoken here! Spanners etc are understood! Good luck on the search, hopefully we'll see a picture posted up soon of the new acquisition! Artie

That's what I'm saying! If we have a serious group of new owners or people that want one, we NEED to get it strongly represented so it CAN be done and not end up a puff out, as before!

I'd be willing to bet if we get enough people together and pony up a committment to buy several units from him, he would get something going. But I have seen many things over the years get started and no one ponies up the $$ or GBP's for the product. I know in most cases, volume sells, and if only one person calls and requests, it doesn't mean it's going to happen. Now, 15 people call or sign up, then you have a decent volume warranting some action! Artie

Paul, welcome to the wonderful world of the Esprit. First off, try www.lotusespritworld.com, there is lots of documented information there that you are seeking. As for Cambelt change intervals, it's also posted there, but relatively minor work for a mechanic such as yourself. I've done mine 3 times without any problems. Second, the gearboxes are good reliable units, however, I don't recall reading about many wearing out, just breaking due to over stressing. I've flogged my car pretty hard at times without issue, and it is far from stock.

Hmmmmmm! I like what I'm hearing!! Subscribed!

Mark, If this is the first car you have begun modification and restoration on and have little technical experience, you may want to leave this job up to a professional. The process can be daunting. I am prepping my car for paint as you saw in my other thread under the restoration blogs, but I will leave the painting to a professional. I wanted to undertake the repairs of several of the broken and cracked body parts to be sure they got repaired correctly and timely without being overcharged for them. Since most if not all of my damage will be hidden under bumpers or behind them, they will be unnoticed once the paint is shiny and new. I have scheduled with a painter to come and paint the car in my garage in a paint booth I have been building, so I can oversee the entire process once I am done with the sanding and prep work. This way I can see if I want to add more clear once we get to that point. I have purchased all of my paint, clear, primer, sealer and glass repair and mat. My total materials cost for these items was almost $1400USD. I will pay the painter another $1500 to paint and I will have a few hundred more dollars in replacement parts, seals, gaskets and associated items to get her back to new. I have learned a lot in the process and have taken my time over the last month or so sanding, repairing and fixing small imperfections etc. I am using Urethane based paint as it will bond nicely to the fiberglass and lay down nicely and smoothly for a mirror like finish. You may check with a local painter and see if you prep the car and bring him the pieces, how much they will charge you to spray on the paint. Most of what you pay for in a paint job is the prep work and disassembly/reassembly. If you can tackle those things, he may shoot paint and clear for you for a fraction of the cost and you will learn how to take the parts off of your car that you previously didn't know how to and get to address any unseen issues like I had. My car had a huge 19 inch long crack in the dead center of the front overhang of the body behind the front bumper. I used 4 layers of glass and mat inside and out to repair it and it's as good as new!

I have one on my Esprit. I will have to take a look at the markings. His website has information about the flow capabilities of the turbo but no specifics on A/R and compressor sizing..

I got the WC years ago, have had the car for 7 years so I got it when I first got the car. There was a another local SE that the guys son wrecked and totaled and I bought the old parts before they salvaged it. I emailed FP today also and they informed me of the same thing. Remember, a BB turbo won't get you more HP, just spool a bit faster. The newer CNC'd compressors and turbine design will be worth looking into over the old very inefficient T3 designs. I had a local diesel turbo shop modify my turbine wheel even more and I also did a substantial amount of portmatching and smoothing of the turbine housing, compressor outlet and intake system and head work on my engine when it was overhauled last year. Artie