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.

I’ve made a bit of a study of this as I’ve recently rebuilt the motors, renewed the rose joints and replaced the headlamps and mounting plates. And I still have a wobble, though much improved. For me it’s not the pod pivots as i can’t detect any movement at the pod attach points. it’s not the plate the rod attaches to. it’s the flex of the fibreglass the pod motor assembly attaches to. It’s not really thick enough, and when i manually wobble the pods the motors move too. On the X180 there is a weedy metal bracket around the motor on each side which attaches to the bonnet floor, but doesn’t seem to help. I think Lotus changed this on later models. i think the solution is a beefier bracket or a hefty plate between the motor and the rear of the pod cavity.

What a kind offer. I think I’m too late but I’d love a set if still avallable!

Right, it's all done. Alan, thanks for your further insight and as a result of your pictures I now have the same hydraulic bearing puller - possibly the manliest tool I own. Once old pump is out and the pulley adapter is on the new pump it didn't seem too bad to fit back in the car.

It's not a fun job. I got 3 out of 4 pulley bolts off then for a change had a go at the middle allen bolt holding the pump in. The whole pump came away because there wasn't a top bolt in place, strangely. That made things easier, and the whole thing came out in one piece eventually. So the pulley bolts were a waste of time. My bearing pullers aren't up to the job of pulling the adaptor thing off, new one on order. Alan, looking at your photos it looks like you had to at least pop the back off the pump to be able to push the adaptor onto the shaft - I was hoping to avoid messing with that as my old pump failed mysteriously when the back of it popped off just after the MOT and it vomited the innards over the bay. Might try heating the adaptor up first see if it goes on without putting too much push on the shaft. Did you transfer that outlet pipe fitting with the gauze in the end from the old to the new pump? What oil did you use to refill the pump? I am thinking about drilling a hole in the pulley to make it easy to brace it if I ever have to remove pulley bolts again. Then again, 2 bolts have held the pump fine for at least 4 years...

Hi Robin, That tube and the reducer look very like mine. The neoprene has held up well, doesn’t seem to deform. I found one small tear in it a couple of years back and gaffer taped it, looked at it again this year and couldn’t find any more. And either it stopped sounding like a bear or it’s become normal to me!

Fantastic information gents, thank you. I’ve been waiting for some bits with a ball hex fitting as I have been stuck at the second bolt, still not arrived but I’ll have a go at the pulley bolts over the weekend. It can’t be worse than dashboard removal for contortions!

Just to say I loved that article and I absolutely salute your work Fabian. A fantastic achievement!

That Bluapunkt looks fantastic! I might even have bought that if I hadn't got the Pioneer DEH80PRS; which is lovely and doesn't jar in the cabin, but it just doesn't have the heft and quality feel of those 80s and 90s units. I honestly would pay more to get rid of shiny plastic. I kept the Alpine tape deck which came out of my car when I got it in 2012; quite collectible now it seems. ICE is important to me.

Afternoon all, Vac pump replacement finally underway as I’ve had enough of my unsatisfactory electric alternative. Couple of possibly silly questions: I believe the way to do this is to remove the pulley in order to get to the highest bolt, but how do you do it? Is it a push fit or do you need to take the 4 bolts off the pulley? New pump has a thread inside the shaft so is there a hidden bolt inside the pulley? If it’s push fit how do you suggest removing the pulley in situ and how do you fit the pulley to the new pump in situ? If it’s bolt removal how best to hold the pulley without damaging it? Do you need to remove the diaphragm bit as well somehow, to get the pump out? cheers!

I’m going to lower the tone with my list: 1989 Ford Sierra 1.6 1994 Ford Probe V6 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX 2000 Ford Mondeo TD 2004 Ford Mondeo ST220 2006 Citroen C4 1.6hdi 1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo 2013 Ford Focus 1.6tdci Of these my least favourite was the Scooby: my first and only new car. I had to do a long commute and came to think it uncomfortable. Handled beautifully but engine laggy and coarse, pretty basic inside and never really felt that fast with the lag. The Mondeo diesel was totally reliable for 4 years and, like the Citroen, earned my respect despite being head over heart purchases. The Probe was a joy, fabulously smooth and great sounding engine, all the gadgets. Regret selling it. The ST220 was a better car on all measures but wasn’t special. The Lotus was bought when I’d concluded that I had the means to have a practical cheapie for a daily and the dream car in a garage, so I didn’t need to try and find it all in one car.