Neil Potter

Depends on why you love the Esprit. For me it’s the looks above all, so it’s the S2 closely followed by the S3 N/A, then all the others. V8s are a bit too bodykitted. I think I could look at a gold or dark blue S2 all day.

There’s another Car Craft, in Broxburn. Used to be run by a guy called Neil who was pretty knowledgeable, he was working on a nice blue dry sump Esprit when I took mine there for MOT. Sadly he’s retired but garage is now run by a guy called Mirek who knows his stuff - did the timing belt service and some other bits for me last year. Would def recommend him. I too got weary of trying to get time with Craig.

Thanks gents I'll get the emery cloth out. Engine earths should be OK, I added another one as a precaution a while back. Battery is a 3 year old Yuasa, spends a lot of time on a conditioner so I'd be pretty miffed if it's that but will check. I had thought about ignition switch, hope not as I bet it's a real pain to replace!

Afternoon folks, it's been a while since I've been here with a problem - two whole years without a hitch! Starter motor started doing the thing where there is a click and then nothing, intermittently. Assumed to be the solenoid on the way out, so this was the excuse I needed to replace the original Lucas lump with one of the hi-torque units (which incidentally are not quite a trouble-free fit - the terminals are on the bottom of the unit so your cables may not stretch). All well for a couple of starts, but now doing it again. I'm baffled as the click can only be the solenoid in the starter, and the trigger wire must be working. I've tightened up the positive terminal on the battery on the basis that maybe it's not getting enough juice to fire the motor, but it still happens. Any ideas? cheers, neil

SJs has an aftermarket version which looks OK. Note the number plate lamps are identical although obvs clear, you could replace those with something generic and then dye or put a red led in the number plate lamp fitted to the door?!

Can pretty much guarantee your calipers will have seized after that time. If you are replacing the master cylinder i reckon you may as well hoik off the calipers for refurb, not too expensive. You’ll be annoyed if you get it running but find your brakes seized en route to MOT.

Also consider Car Craft in Broxburn. Think they have had some changes recently but they were working on a dry sump turbo a couple of years ago when I took mine over for an MOT. Guy in charge knew his stuff, can’t remember his name though. Some enthusiastic younger guys there too.

Interesting technical stuff, thanks. I have seen info elsewhere suggesting max advance from the vac capsule was up to another 20 degrees on the 910 HC carb turbo, which seemed high to me. Looking at Thomas’ map in general terms it looks like vac or boost moves advance up 5-8 degrees/retards it around 5 respectively. It hadn’t occurred to me that any adjustment would help under boost conditions, as this isn’t catered for in the stock setup. I guess this may be the result of your injection settings though. What As long as cruising without extra vac advance doesn’t cause any actual damage I’m happy, but sounds like a wise move to dial a little in until i can get to a RR session.

That’s really interesting, thanks. I honestly thought there would be vacuum at cruise, but sounds like the vac capsule doesn’t really add much. It has a neutral effect at warm idle for sure as both sides of the capsule get manifold pressure unless the cold start valve applies vac pump vac to one side to increase advance. Maybe it has some effect on the overrun briefly, i thought it was there for emissions and engine longevity. No matter, i’ll stop worrying. I have a very slight hesitation at cruising speeds when varying power slightly which wasn’t there before and I have been putting down to lack of vac sensitivity in my ignition map. Really need a rolling road session...

So I have removed the dizzy on my carb turbo and put in a Nodiz electronic ignition. Works very nicely now but I haven’t yet got any vac advance programmed into the map, mainly as I don’t have a laptop with a decent battery. Question: If I cruise at 70 say, which previously would have had extra advance dialled in from the dizzy vac pod, do I risk causing damage longer term or just wasting a bit of fuel? I have an idea from somewhere that the extra advance preserves a cylinder bore oil film?

I needed to replace some of that felt in the footwells on mine and still have a big roll of it in the loft if you need a piece. I left my foam in place as it was in OK condition and I’m not convinced by Dynamat. Foam is quite heavy though and iirc there are 2 thick layers on the bulkhead.

Yeah, thanks. What’s going on with that header tank? I quite like the red leather.

Challenge accepted. S2 exterior. S4S chassis and mechanicals. Interior more Stevens than Guigiaro, def the boomerang binnacle. Dark metallic blue with cream leather. More buttons, switches and subtle lighting inside. fly by wire gearshift? Sexy AI voice sounds uncannily like emily blunt doing an impression of joanna lumley says “good morning neil” on opening the door, possibly set to complement me on occasional displays of skilful driving. Seeing as it’s already a work of imagination, would be interesting to fit an alfa v6 or mazda klze v6: just to see what it would be like...

UK Sportscars have a black X180 turbo up for 35k! Looks nice paint and interior but engine bay unloved and something weird where the header tank should be. don’t think I’ve seen a Stevens carb turbo above 25k before.

The sensor is pretty standard I think, variable resistance one wire to the thermostat housing, would imagine it would work with lots of gauges but not necessarily accurately. Have a look at Spiyda Designs, they have a gizmo that sits between gauge and sender that can be calibrated so you can use any gauge with any sender. At least that’s what it looked like, I didn’t buy one in the end as my fuel gauge anti slosh unit mysteriously started working again! Funnily enough it’s the water temp which is most prone to condensation on mine, though it doesn’t happen much.