lotusespritse

They only do those things if your engine is not working right.

The key is a crows foot with creative swivels and extension to get that one bolt off for the compressor. The rest is easy without lifting the engine.

I haven't done it, but I heard that the transom is bolted and glued, and very difficult to remove without damaging the one being removed. Which one is correct?

They have ones that are even lower profile than that one. They sit flush with the cigarette lighter and make it look like it was always a USB outlet. Here's the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07546TJXF/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07546TJXF&pd_rd_w=S2VQn&pf_rd_p=c83c55b0-5d97-454a-a592-a891098a9709&pd_rd_wg=iDYLW&pf_rd_r=C867FF8VMADV48YA7AM5&pd_rd_r=17b50985-0934-44a1-9680-0ed8009b67ae&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFUQlc5TUlVNVVFVVgmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAxMDg4OTFLTEpCQzlOMUhLTEYmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDI1MzIzMjJNWlBJTzc3REsyS1Amd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWMmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Old thread, I know, but I am going through the AC compressor replacement right now and wanted to share some info on this thread since it comes up in the search. Good news! Despite every thread saying you have to lift the engine to remove the compressor, I was able to remove it without disturbing the engine. I did disconnect the oil lines to get more room, which were easy to break free on my car. And I disconnected the AC hoses attached to the manifold so the manifold was easier to maneuver without putting stress on the pipes. The trick to doing it without moving the engine was to use a 17mm crows foot wrench with an universal joint that I taped up with electric tape at the strange angle needed to get the one hard-to-reach bolt holding on the compressor, and then used several swivel head extensions to my ratchet to apply the turning force. There are 3 long bolts holding on the compressor. The other 2 are very easy to remove, but do the hard one first so that there's no extra friction on that hard to reach bolt. The crows foot barely gets it off, but it does the job. Fortunately, you can see the bolt in question from the area between the chassis and the body, which makes it much easier to do the work. Once you get the 3 bolts out, you can move the compressor forward and use an 8mm allen key socket to remove the manifold. I then pushed the compressor forward to give room to get the manifold out, and then the compressor has a ton of room to come out of the chassis. I have the new compressor on the way from Rock Auto, and I am sure it will be fun getting it back in, but I don't expect it to be that bad.

That's a bit of a sad story that a significant Esprit ended up with someone that didn't have the means to keep it up. A common Lotus fate. Even if you don't drive the car, you still have to insure it from theft, etc, so I am not sure how he thought it saved money to keep it in the garage. My Esprit with 41K of agreed value and zero deductible is around $600/yr to insure with Grundy, that's about a 1/3 of what I pay for my modern Jag XF's.

I can now see why owners had issues checking their oil level. Not an issue with my SE or V8, but my V12 Murcielago has a dry sump, and checking the oil level is not easy, nor conclusive. You have to drive the car to get it good and hot, then rev it in park for 1 min between 2100 and 2500 rpm, then shut off the engine, and within 1 min check the oil level with the floppy and hard to manage dip stick mounting above exhaust manifold that is inside a burning hot engine bay. And because you were just revving it, the oil is splashed everywhere in the neck and fouls the reading no matter how many times you pull and clean the dipstick. Plus the car always has nice clean oil on it, so you can't really see it on the dipstick. You have to use a paper towel to make an impression to get a better idea. In the end, I just make sure to put in the right amount on oil changes and do them frequently.

100 quid says it's some form of this: "no earthly idea why you would be upset with them touching your property"

That's good. But FYI anything over 10 years old is considered unsafe for driving. It's bad with any super car, but this is why it's almost impossible for me to park the Lambo anywhere that I can't keep an eye on it. They will definitely try to get in the car, but what can be even worse is when they sit on the car to take pictures. 99% of people are cool with cars like these, but that means 1 out a 100 were raised by wolves and have no earthly idea why you would be upset with them touching your property. Literally no idea.

Doesn't get any better than that! How old are those tires? They look great, which means probably original with the car. If they are, I hope you're not taking a very spirited "spin" on 30+ year old tires.

How a 4 poster works and how it's correct to keep an Esprit long term on stands are two completely unrelated things. I jack mine up from those points, but I rest it on the strong points on the chassis for periods of extended work. Mechanics really don't care about your car like you do, so I wouldn't go by how they treat the car. The guy that was considered the God of Esprits here in the US was witnessed moving Esprits around his yard by their starter motors! Hope you don't think that's a good idea too! LOL But hey, maybe you're really good with and enjoy fiberglass repair, so don't let me stop you.

You should hurry, as it's not good to leave the fiberglass body hanging on those rear jacking points (or front jacking points) for too long or you'll crack the body.

Roger's commented on these types of threads before. He'll tell you they had to ruin the chassis to fit the V8, and that's why the 4 is more fun to drive. But as someone that has owned both, but not someone that has such a loyalty to the 4 cyl because I didn't work on it for decades, the V8 is way more fun to drive!

Well now, if you can get the wife to agree to do some of the things that she's always given you a massive NO!, it might make sense to get her that 911!

I hate Porsches, but they can do 0-60 in under 3 secs and over 200mph. That's a lot faster than the Esprit.