johnpwalsh

Sorry guys looks like I forgot to put on the date, it's the weekend of 25/26 August.

Hi folks, just a short note to say thanks for the invite to this mornings meet and breakfast, as always it was nice to see a few new cars and meet new faces. Keep up the good work. All the best from. Wendy & John. Club Lotus NEScotland. . Feel the love. Keep the faith. Love the Lotus.

Invitation to TLF and LEGS. Hi guys, one of our group ( Colin Thatcher) has organised a run from Aberdeen via, Braemar, Callander, Loch Lomond, Oban, with overnight stop, Fort William, Aviemore, Granton on Spey, Alford and return to Aberdeen. We have links to three good hotels in Oban where at least six of us will be staying. If anyone is interested please get in touch via our club email. Regards. John & Wendy

Hey looks like a plan, Wendy will circulate this through our guys and see how many takers but put us down for 1 car with 2 bums on seats. John.

Hi Bibs, can you add Colin Thatcher to the list with his Elan+2

Hi Bibs, can we have some of your spotted cards for our neck of the woods please. Regards. John Walsh.

Hi Gordon, get in touch, one of our guys has a tidy one which I dont think will be to much money. John.

Hi Andy and thanks for your comments, after loads of discussions with loads of friends all in the Lotus community on what to do and how to do it plus the fact that when we were at the the SVVF classic car show at Glamis over the weekend I have been given several choices of alternative Esprit S3's so I have now decided to go down the insurance claim route, after all that's what we pay dearly for, at the moment the insuance assesor has said it will be a class C where I will be able to retain the salvage and make a good repair with a proper sorted engine etc, so now just a case of wait and see. But she will live on. gauranteed. Thanks all. John.

Hi Brain put me plus 1 down, we are going to come and invade your group with the old Eclat if thats oK, I believe Scott Gib and Gordon maybe plan to attend as well. Cheers. John. Hi Brain put me plus 1 down, we are going to come and invade your group with the old Eclat if thats oK, I believe Scott Gib and Gordon maybe plan to attend as well. Cheers. John.

Update. Carbs removed and all the melted material from the K&N filter and then found that the vunturies on the left carbs had also gone, cleaned evrything up and fitted the carbs that Scott had loaned me from his Elite project, got the beast started and she is spewing out unburned fuel from the carb so after discussions with Scott and a few others the conclusion seems to be a broken inlet valve, ouch, I have now sourced a correct set of carbs to replace the damaged ones and a posibe cylinder head but as I know the engine is a bit worn and burning a bit of oil ( as Lotus do) I think I will either go for a complete engine rebuild or take the option of a good used low mileage engine I know of so this means she will be in hibernation for some time as Wendy and I have another big project on the go the month after next. As we were determined to have both cars at Glamis this year and the amount of work that has gone into getting her all cleaned up after a 3 month stopover at the garage she is loaded on a trailor and WILL be at Glamis for the weekend this decision was taken after managing to get the Banana through her MOT this morning so Wendy will have her initiation drive of the Eclat to Glamis very early on Saturday morning with me in hot pursuit in the camper and trailor, now is that dedication to Lotus or what, or are we just bloody mad. Hope to see you all there, and thanks for all the messages. Now if anybody has a GOOD and reasonably priced 2.2 NA engine going spare you know where to find me. Cheers. John.

Still trying to find the cause of the fire, I recon a backfire and a collection of fuel in the K&N filter which ignited, the fuel lines were all new as they were leaking and cracked so I replaced them just a few months back which was a blessing or could have been much worse, the part I am not sure about was why she started to over rev but I obviously dont know if this was part of the fire, her trying to suck air into the carb or something more but I hope to find out today as I collected a set of carbs this morning from Scott and plan to fit them today and see what goes. Cheers John.

Thanks Tim, fingers crossed and with a little help from some of our friends an attempt will be made tomorrow to get her going again. John.

Thanks Andy, plans are now afoot to borrow a set of carbs tomorrow and try her out and see if any aloy has been sucked into the manifold, I doubt it as it they should have closed, target now to sort her out tomorrow ready for an attempt at Glamis this weekend so with a little help from our Lotus friends again she may just live to run another day. John.

I hate to say it but at one point I did think sod it just let it burn, then I thought, I have put so much blood sweat and tears into this thing since I bought her last year that would be a shame so finger tips were sacrificed but got the fire out.

Well today she finaly beat me, the beast beat me well and truly and even got my finger tip's. Here's me thinking, she is now all taxed and tested, valeted and looking real good for the weekend so lets give her a wee run, well thats what we did, about half a mile when the throtle jamed wide open so I quickly dipped the clutch and pulled into the side of the road, she then settled back to normal so I thought ok lets turn round and go home, then the missfire started and I though oh sh++ what next, then the BLUE smoke and I thought oh sh++ I have blwon the engine, then the black smoke and I thought, what the fu++, jumped out and opened the hatch jst as the flames were begining to shoot through the engine cover and again I thought what the fu++. Flames were leaping from the airbox which I then tore off, flames from the air intake pipe which I grabed and tried to pull off and the bloody flames all over the newly fitted and fresh petrol pipes which of course I couldnt pull off. First on the scene were three joggers with a litre bottle of water which I grabed and tried to douse the flames, no joy, then I remembered the extinguisher behind the seat, grab it pull the pin and cover it with dry powder I thought, well that was a no no as it had lost it's pressure, by this time the flames were licking up onto the rear glass and I remembered I had just put a gallon container of water under the bonet for the weekends jaunt so I grabed it then continued to sprinkle the contents over the increasing flames, this eventauly worked and the fire went out with a bit of help from me pulling bits off by hand at the same time. On investagation once things had cooled down I found the left hand carbs internals had all but melted, the K&N flter had a large melted hole in the middle of it. So the moarl of this sad tale is always check your fire extinguisher works, make sure your mobile phone is handy, charged and has a signal, and allways make sure your petrol pipes are in good order as I am sure that if mine hadnt been replaced just a few weeks ago things would have been far worse. I have a strong suspicion that she will not make Glamis this weekend. John, with slightly sore finger's.

Hi Bauke, do you have any electric door mirrors. John.

Wednesaday morning and the Esprit is at the garage 07.30, 08.30 left the garage complete with new MOT, Glamis here we come. Now just an axle to fit to the Eclat and maybe get two down there, MOT booked for Friday so just hope the rain stops and I can get on with the work.

Sorry to hear of your problems, I also run an Eclat in Scotland and have heard that the wrong type of thermostat can be fitted and can cause the problems you seem to be having, this system cant be run without the thermostat as it is aparently directional, you may want to check it out on other threads. Good luck. John.

Read this post a few weeks ago and managed to purchase a pair of Golf struts at a local breakers for a huge £5.00 the pair, now fitted to my S3 and work perfectly. John. Club Lotus North East Scotland.

At last the beast is back home but now an MOT failure as it had ran out while while it was at the garage for the last 3 months but I must say the new four branch sounds awesome. I gave her a quick once over before heading for he anual stressfull hour at the test station and she came out with a failure slip which was not to bad considering the amount of abuse she has endured over the last year. n/s rear service brake poor, n/s rear parking brake poor = 1 sticking calliper. lower steering joint totaly shagged, always wondered why she tended to float a bit. Time to dig out the spares box again only to find the uj I had was the wrong one, never mind just order one up I think's, P Matty's have one in stock but cant send it for a couple of days as they have been flooded out, Oh Sh++. So at the moment our street looks a little like a breakers yard, 1 Lotus Eclat in the drive minus a rear axle as I have now decided to get her back on the road after a two year lay up, 1 Lotus Esprit on the street on axle stands with no steering waiting for parts, 1 BMW 320 m diesel just failed her fist MOT due to a duff tyre and guess what, 3 day delivery. 1 motorhome sitting on the street with a puncture and no spare. Now that's what I call a good start to a trip back home, never mind fingers crossed at least one ready for Glammis this weekend. We hope to see loads of you there.

Hi any update on this one, I am having the exact same problem, the car will run for about 6 miles then start to missfire then eventualy die on me, if I leave her for about 10 mins then she runs fine again. John.