snowrx

Have an auxiliary air pump somewhere pumping air directly into the exhaust to thin out the emissions! As did Lotus for the 80's Federal 910, driven off the exhaust cam and injected into the exhaust ports- but good luck finding the parts anymore they've likely been binned.

Wastegate not opening, engine going to overboost, resulting in fuel or spark cut would the obvious guess, but if you are showing no boost that's weird. Unless the boost plumbing to the wastegate also feeds your boost gauge. Check the plumbing, check your boost gauge with another gauge and maybe pull the wastegate cap and make sure you have movement of the valve if you are getting boost. I'm not familiar with the 88 engine management though, others should chime in soon.....

Spacer dimensions here look to be driven by the deletion of the throttle bodies, I wonder how long the stacks are inside that box?

As a WRX & Esprit owner, that would be a convenient dealer for me. Not that Lotus knows what an Esprit is anymore......

"They look real pretty!" Well I suppose I should of shined them up and set them on velvet for sales appeal 💎 I was just thinking you might have ended up with an extra panel as you were searching for just the right one. I don't have the LED to put in the panel hole, and I seem to recall yours were 75-77mm ,which would likely expose untrimmed areas on my console, so I'd have to get a taller one. Seems a bit much to buy another panel to trade, but if you're so inclined I could post these over the pond to you if you don't find another knob somewhere. The broken panel has been a low priority as I work on engine projects, and I've been too cheap to source one from SJ or JAE yet.

The pleas are starting to get to me- Would you have a tall (~85mm) HVAC panel to trade for the knobs off my 85TE? I could make new ones later from powder coated aluminium. You can't have my mirrors, they now have motors in them rather than the clicky solenoids.....

You may be able to take a mild little coil spring and glue it under the switch compartment lid to hold down a damaged switch strip.

Looks like all ended well despite much worry, but if one was to revisit the oil pump gasket issue: You can dry assemble the pump housing over the rotor/annulus with a piece of Plastigage (don't know UK equivalent brand, a deformable plastic rod used to measure small clearances) and check the pump end float just like you would fitting crank bearings. Then you can make an informed decision on gasket thickness, or grind the pump housing face to reduce end float. What would sell on these forums would be if someone found a similar diameter (OEM?) rotor set that was taller and made a pump housing (or doweled spacer) to fit it. The powdered metal innards could be had affordably, but a custom housing would drive up the cost. Said housing could feature a threaded port to prime the pump and oil galleys!

Were they hoping a thermal interrupter will reset and allow you to drive home (intermittantly) in the dark vs no lights at all with a blown fuse?

'77 S1 with body updates @ almost $35K USD. I missed this one on the EBay bot. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Lotus-Esprit/254090392140

With a dry engine, I push the first quart or two of oil into the turbo line/ oil gallery into with a transfer pump, using a ratchet clamp to get some pressure. The excess may go to the cooler lines, but at least there's some oil at the bearing feeds for startup. I also top off the oil cooler lines before I attach them to the filter adapter. As advised above, always give the pump rotor some thick lube to help it prime and move the air out.

Excellent promo, how's the welder shopping going?

Good to know the VW rear calipers bolt up to an early car. Will you have to unbolt them to bleed them? It looks like the nipple ends up towards the bottom.

Putin's pick is dragging the Republican party into a very swampy future. I hope they can find the drain before it's to late.

As Drdoom mentioned, I'd rule out retarded Ignition timing before I went back into the cams. If all the plugs are equally sooty, what is giving excess fuel to burn in the exhaust?

Yep, dimpled shims equal two sizes in one! Or at least half sizes. Flip 'em over as needed. Sometimes it's just the thing to solve the 3+3=7 problem, or get just a shade closer to a given clearance. I recommend a good micrometer to measure the dimple vs the outer ring to be sure of what you're entering into the spreadsheet. Don't blindly trust markings on shims either, measure them all.

I just made the whole thing out of stainless, so it can stay shiny longer. Riveted the two layers with aluminum spacers at the edge and used hex socket screws to attach it. I was trying to avoid a heat path from the front plate to the cam end covers through the fasteners, but if I did it again I would not recess the fasteners, they're a bit of a pain to access with the turbo in place. Unfortunately, my Federal Esprit has the exhaust cam air pump drive flange that sticks through and needs it own shiny disc. Someday I'll round up the parts to delete it.

I just used 8mm x 3mm cylindrical neodymium magnets, one per tappet, as I had them on hand. The bar type would be easier to manage, as the little round guys are harder to fish out after. Don't know if these will show up on UK Ebay or not, lower priced 50mm bars - https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-100pcs-50mm-10mm-3mm-N35-Super-Strong-Neodymium-Crafts-Fridge-Magnets-Block/391833303373?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=660836566323&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Some years but little miles on a set of eBay hoses. Fit was good, although I was putting a Stevens set on a G-car, which required some cutting up front. I had to upgrade the clamps to get them to seal well, although I did put them on dry, w/o hylomar or other sealant. No sign of degradation so far. They'll probably fail as soon as I hit submit reply......

I think I'd skip running a tap down the holes, for fear of removing any of the existing thread. My experience with taps & dies is they often don't exactly match the original profile, resulting in a looser fit overall after.

I made the two on the right from screw shells and T10 LED wedge bulbs so they would shine all directions inside the gauge.

If you've not yet considered dimming, here's what I did. https://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f164/pwm-dimmer-g-car-dash-led-s-356713/ I had not thought of using internal strips, I just made some screwbase with 5730 LEDS in the original lamp holders. One could go wild with some RGB strips........

This is the other method described, drill a recess with a guide block and press in a plug with some sealant into the Aux housing oil passage to the hole that feeds the head. Only easier to do if you're leaving the head on, and it's value as far as boosting pressure is open to debate.... I wish it was as easy to add a wider pump rotor!

Going to be a large box of missing parts somewhere. Hope the shop doesn't dump them on Ebay. It might be worth a reasonable ransom attempt to get them back, especially the charge cooler, fuel rail and plenum cover.

Zero boost would be atmospheric pressure, engine idle would be vacuum (below atmospheric) so if it's a true boost gauge that sounds right to me. I've run the VDO boost gauges in other cars and they seem reliable and relatively accurate.