Andyww

Is the joint needed in case of a very slight driveline misalignment? Maybe thats not an issue. I do think this is a problem with is going to affect every Turbo Esprit eventually. The splines on both halves wear out becuase there is a very slight axial movement when the clutch is activated and also corrosion sets in, there is no oil in the area and moisture can get in. On mine both parts were very corroded and also the circlip.

The version with integrated A post finisher does not have a change point in the parts book. It suggests the earlier without the finisher can be fitted, or the later with finisher, to any car. But, be very wary of replacing the capping rail! Its very tricky and delicate. It would be much easier to mask around the triangle and paint it satin black in situ.

Just to correct something I wrote above, to avoid anyone condemning good parts, after fitting the spring, shaft and circlip into the primary shaft there IS play on these. It must be designed-in as I mentioned, to cater for slightly off-axis drive. The play is 5mm if the primary shaft is held and the input shaft moved side to side, measured at the clutch end, all new parts. The play on the worn shafts is over 20mm !

Expensive business! Yes spacer to be added. I dont think this spline wear was all caused by the circlip issue. I think its been happening over the life of the car. The collateral damage of the circlip was only the crank, which I caught in time. I noticed before I first put the box back in, when the circlip was still fine, that there was around 5 mm of play if you moved the input shaft side to side, measured at the clutch end of the shaft. I thought that was normal, maybe to take up any misalignment in the drivetrain. Its not, beause with the new parts there is no play at all. It seems in normal use, there is a small amount of movement going on there which has caused wear over the years. The circlip issue was likely caused eventually by this wear, rather than the other way round.

Quite a few expensive parts involved in this repair! The tool I made to remove the speedo nut which worked before, didnt this time so I bought the proper tool from HML along with all the other parts.

Unfortunately on closer inspection I think the outer half of the primary shafts splines are too worn and I may need to replace it as well!

I have the HML reversed CWP so the thrust on that should be correct as per Citroen but you could be onto something. The input shaft is the other shaft so its possible under acceleration the primary shaft has a small end float in the forward direction and the splined joint is locked under rotational load so the float is transmitted right up to the spigot bearing. Thinking about this some more, I would have noticed when I put my engine back in, if the builders had put the spigot bearing in recessed as I know if should be flush. So it has moved. Whatever the cause of the forward heavy force, the problem arises because the spring is always pushing the shaft in contact with the spigot bearing (via thrust washer) so the force does its damage instead of there always being a few mm of space provided by the circlip when its doing its job. Whatever the cause of the force its momentary but repeated and instead of resetting each time (with circlip) its like a ratchet only pushing forwards each time. BTW my flywheel is actually perfect, my picture is very misleading!

I was getting an intermittent grinding noise when pressing the clutch. I examined it pretty much immediately and knew something was very wrong so removed the gearbox and the input shaft stayed in the clutch when box was pulled back. The spigot bearing was very tight, I used an internal bearing puller to wind it out and needed heavy force. There is no possibility the spring could have moved it. But some people do seem to have reported it having moved. Maybe its something to do with the input shaft being hard against it,via the washer, and when the clutch is engaged there is some extra vibration or force which momentarily pushes the shaft very hard against it? Its odd. Thinking about it, if you are accelerating and engaging the clutch, the clutch friction plate will be tight on the input shaft under rotational load, even if its lubricated, and it will at this time be pushed towards the engine by the clutch pressure plate. That could cause it. If the circlip were working it would tend to reset this small movement back again, each time. With no circlip it would become an incremental movement rather than just a relative one. Thanks for the offer, I need to order a new input shaft as well. This is very worn, seems unrelated to this new issue. So I may as well order clip at the same time.

So it finally happened, I was another victim of the circlip on the gearbox input shaft failing. If anyone says the circlip is not important, they are wrong! This has happened only around 1000 miles after putting the engine and box back in the car. Yes I should have changed the circlip but didnt. What I did do before putting it back in, was make sure the clutch shaft was being retained in the gearbox against the spring. It was. But now it is not! Fortunately I have caught it before it has damaged the crank too much. For anyone not aware, the clutch shaft is splined into the end of the gearbox primary shaft and the joint is spring-loaded. The spring pushes the clutch shaft against an internal circlip which is supposed to limit movement. If the shaft gets past the circlip it is then in rotational contact (clutch depressed) with the nylon thrust washer on the spigot which runs in the spigot bearing in the end of the crank. It very quickly wears out the nylon washer under the pressure of the spring-loaded shaft and it disintegrates. Then the shaft can move towards the crank and grind into it. Some people say the spigot bearing can be pushed in. Maybe thats the case but seems strange as its very tight in there. I think mine may have been fitted slightly recessed when the engine was rebuilt, and the nylon washer was preventing contact but not 100% sure on that. So I had to remove the box again I managed to remove the old circlip from the box without removing the bellhousing. Awaiting new one from Harry at HML. Also found the splines on the input shaft are really worn so I will replace that also. The proper fix for this is of course fit a proper ball bearing race in the crank. Sadly cannot be done without engine rebuld (again ).

Lotus must be spending a lot of money with Youtube. Almost always when I view a Youtube video there is the ad for the Eletre showing either at the beginning or in the middle. Its understandable that the algorithm has me flagged up as someone interested in Lotus but its popping up incessantly which is getting somewhat annoying. Its actually poor targetting as I only really watch Esprit videos. They should be targetting viewers of competing brands and models, which the Esprit is definitely not!

The missing Essex #002 The last time I saw that car was in a warehouse in Tottenham in about 1984. There was not much of it, no engine, pretty much everything that could be re-used was removed. Then it was sold off by the factory. But it does have the Essex 002 decal. There were two Essex-livery cars there. I cant remember if it was this one or the other which has holes drilled all over the engine bay area where temperature sensors had been fitted for testing the turbo engine, where they were concerned about heat issues.

The tubular strip which was fitted in the window frame groove on later Esprits makes a big difference to wind noise and fits all Esprits as they never changed the actual frames. The ex-Chapman Esprit has some anti wind noise measures, one is the A pillars have trims which overlap the screen, making a very clean edge there. It doesnt do a lot for the looks though and surprisingly looks like a bit of a bodge. I think exhaust boom at certain RPM is a problem on mid-engined cars owing to the short manifold to silencer pipe. That issue could be cured using a Helmholtz resonator, a closed pipe teed off the main pipe. But would need a lot of calculation and experimentation, plus welding capability.

Crikey I was thinking of going but thats put an end to that plan unfortunately. Things are bad enough at J10 when its open! That whole project is a disaster area and for very little benefit, there will still be traffic lights at the junction even when its finished.

X1-9 rear lights on Esprit S1 F328 was definitely not a parts bin car hence the £3000 front lights, £400 mirror switches, etc etc. Everything was bespoke as was 308. To try to get back on topic a bit: I would expect Lotus to use many Geely parts for the interior as the whole Emira interior is made in China, Lotus having closed down the trim shop. Everything arrives pre-assembled. Having had a factory tour the other week, it was surprising just how much is brought in as pre-made assemblies compared to even the days of the Evora.

Yes they seemed to lapse sometime around the 355. I owned a 328 and I can categorically state there were no Fiat or Alfa parts which were visible. I spent hours trying and failing to find equivalents!