V8 FOU

Not looked into this, but an oil cooler is an oil cooler. If needed on my car I would be phoning Mocal or similar. Not difficult to fabricate brackets and hose ends. It's all possible David!

Ah, fame at last! I measured my clutch pedal effort before and after the conversion and it now has approx 40% reduction in effort. I need this being disabled with a very poor left ankle. I guess as a conversion I would charge about £300 There was much debate and fault finding about the idle conversion on here. It has been on my car for around 4 months now with no problems. The main benefits are a quicker gearchange due to the revs dropping faster (bit like the effect of a lightened flywheel), the car is less likely to stall on pulling away due to the more stable idle, and it doesn't irritate with a slow idle decay! No stalling with a/c or pas loading etc. I could fit the same set up for about £300 with fully adjustable temperature of cut in of the second iac. Also, I have fitted some very high quality rod ends to the gearchange cables from the oem manufacturer which are the ones that Lotus should have fitted! These are about £100 / pair as opposed to £12 for the oem ones! Fully sealed with no slack. Made some switch covers too! So if anyone is interested, let me know. Just trying to help! I also have full alignment gear too...... Almost forgot. Thanks David. Good to see you!

Interesting. What was the smoke problem? It would be interesting to do a cylinder leakdown test on a fairley high miler such as yours. Mine has only done 29000, the last 2000 in the time I have owned it since last November. More than it has done in 8 years! Anyway, perhaps the above and a dyno test to see if it is still up to scratch? Plus a look down the bores with a borescope? I have both bits of equipment if interested!

Ooh, a tad sensitive,eh? Well, I have no "beef" , but I am curious as to the raison d'etre of your set up. Let us look at the maths. Lotus are in real trouble and have been particularly so over the last year or two. I guess that you would justify your loan of your car as a promo for Lotus? Sooo, being that in general, Evoras lose about £20/30K in the first year, so perhaps we can assume you car has "cost" Lotus with maintenance etc around £20K +. Lotus have sold YTD 99 cars in this country. I do not know the mix of Elise/Exige/Evora. There only 468 Evoras registered and 68 sorned(!) So, let's assume 80 Evoras sold? How many of these sales are of a direct or indirect result of your custody of your example? Shall we say 20 to be generous? So it would appear that each sale has cost them £1000 - about 1/3 - 1/4 of the dealer margin or a further loss to Lotus on each - I do believe they already make a loss on each one produced? I'm not being pedantic or picky. Just curious of what is in it for Lotus, that is all. Lotus are, as I said, in real trouble financially. They have cut costs drasticaly and are trying to make a turnaround. Surely, loan cars or as we have been led to believe in the Bahar tenure, gifted cars, are a yet another addition to their costs? I am happy to be proved wrong, but from my perspective, Lotus need all the help they can get in reducing costs. I have a long term passion for Lotus from a long line of ownership and cars though my workshop stretching back to the early 70's racing a Mk1 Lotus Cortina. I don't claim to be an expert just some 40 odd years of experience as an engineer and passionate lover of the brand. Like most, I want to see them succeed and flourish. To return to the OP question. If you are a great supporter of the brand and the company, why not buy the loan car to have as your own? I did say thanks when the Esprit stopped and to all the other 10 people who offered help! So, I hope that answers your question! Lastly, phew, I would ask what your "beef" is with Paul Clugson? Perhaps you would like to invite him to reply on here to any issues you might have with him?

Usual press silly season. Kick them while they're down, etc. Create a story out of nothing, don't let the truth get in the way of a "good" story etc ad nauseam

Knowing of his deep love of that company, perhaps Paul will lend him a car for a year? Probably be about as useful as to him as the last year has been for Lotus

I would have thought that with Lotus being a very low volume manufacturer, the emission and safety regs are not so stringent. But there again I may be talking balls. Personally, I would much rather see the Esprit with a Lotus engine, but in reality I s'pose a "foreign" one will have to do.

Oh dear! Regassing with Halfords Specials is SO good for business........... This is how it should be done. Replace the receiver/drier. The system needs to be vac'd for at least 30 mins to get out any remaining damp. Then the correct ammount of PAG oil is added. Then 1.2kg of gas. Too much gas and the oil won't "float" on the gas and the compressor will seize. Get it done properly!

^^^ What he said! We, optimistic Lotus Owners, have a bit of a warm feeling about the future at last!

As I have said many times, it is sales not shipments that count. How many cars are out on loan / test that are counted as sales? and what good do those cars do? If the T125s have left the factory, were they sales? A few years ago Harley Davidson were sued in a class action by shareholders for saying that the figures were 300000 + - but it turned out that this was shipments / loans etc and the true figure was nearer 250000. The share price plummeted. Unhappy shareholders... etc etc Hopefully in this new era for Lotus, where we will hopefully see more honesty and truth, things can only improve. It certainly looks good after these various announcements this week.

So, being relaistic rules at Lotus at the present. Good thing too. There has been far too much pie-in-the-sky during the Bahar times. No point in publicising cars that won't be built. Just show cars that are about to be released or are actually available to buy/order. Esprit? We aren't going to see that I guess for at least a year - so let them tell us when it is ready and not have everyone speculating and second guessing. As I said being sensible and realistic rules at Lotus now - so good luck to them and let's hope for a more reasoned future.

Replacing just the seals is a no no. Especially if the caliper is seized. The bore needs to be honed and checked for size. I would suggest you send the PAIR to Big Red for reconditioning. They have done a number of calipers for me and their service is very good.

That's rich coming from the HMRC. How about their sweetheart deal with Vodafone, letting them off many £bn..... Or BT... or many others.... Makes a few bob from these torch sales pale into insignificance

The Esprit was also a bit grubby. Didn't stop the photographers. Made a young 5 yo lads day having his picture taken sitting in the Esprit. Never seen such a big smile!!

Interesting. So where do I buy my chip from? Was thinking of PUK as it would come vat free to me.... Not so sure now!

Perhaps this is a more realistic figure. Less cars being given away / out on long term test etc. Maybe they are selling off the returned long term test cars instead? Usual thing as with most manufacturers, is it sales or shipments? Maybe the 82 cars are now sales as opposed to shipments in the bahar era.....

Some people,eh? What's wrong with a shamless blag? I will be there tomorrow for breakfast and back on Sat and Sun.... up in the VIP suite. Eating in the kentagon. Etc....Probably blag a drink or 3 on Sat as she will be driving me home (as the Esprit will be staying there).

Need to re-arrange a few things , but should be ok for all 3 days. Probably drop off the Esprit on Fri and leave it there for the w/end as I will need to be at the w/shop Fri pm and Sat am. What sort of times are we talking about here for arrival etc? Would also need a second car pass for the lift back on Fri etc if that's possible? Hopefull it will be ok to leave the car there (securely) over the w/end so that it would be on display without the need to move it and cause anyone disruption. Oh, a blag of a few laps would be good too!!!!

I should be able to do this. Was delivering a car to a customer on Saturday, but I should be able to delay that. Just enough time for a wash and polish for me and the car.....

The Evora has a lot to live up to. I agree about the ergonomics etc, but I have driven an Exige S and an Evora and found the Esprit to be more my sort of car. In a word Drama. Not because of any problems, but the presecence and whole Esprit experience. Keep us posted on how things go.... May well be passing through CH later this year in my esprit...

I would guess that getting someone to look at it for you to assess its condition etc so you can decide where to go with it. There are plenty of people on here qualified to give a (slightly biased) opinion on it. Tell us where you are located... and plenty will pop out of the woodwork, or should I say, the fibreglass work.....

If the carrier is supported properly it can't crack as you press each bit out one at a time. An impact gun can help to free off the bolt too and as it is rotational impact, no damage there either!

Best way is to remove the carrier complete, cut the bolt and use a press to remove the remains.

How does this check condition / check for cracks work? Gates will tell you that it is almost impossible to assess the condition whilst fitted. Struth! People will next be advocating checking the tension by twisting the belt thru 90 deg!!

You are right on that one! My eyesight isn't what it used to be, so missed that one. BTW, gearbox seals are almost impossible without the special tool. Easiest to do them with the bushes, seeing as the driveshaft will be hanging off with the rear carier removed.