V8-ESPRITS3

Yes on its way to a new home in Wales. Unfortunately for me my health has gone to shit. I have been diagnosed with cancer and will never be able to finish the car. This could be my last Christmas and I am totally heartbroken at having to let the Esprit go. I did not want to leave it to my family to deal with selling the car after I’m gone. I wish Ian all the best with finishing the Esprit it’s a big project and I believe he’s going to get it done. Thanks Guys for all the good and bad times. Rob

I brought the Canley GT6 uprights and new spindles and fitted them to my S3. I used my hubs which fitted direct to the spindles and used the S3 brake discs. You do need to weld the bottom mount to the lower arm as it will pivot. It is not perfect but it is all that is available and better than the trunnion.

My Son has brought it, and we are doing the restoration.

Thanks guys coolant was not mixed with oil it came out green and no cream sludge inside. So it looks like just the coopers head gasket failure when stood for god knows how long.. Not had any spare time of late to do any more work on it.

It came from Arizona so it was not damp! had antifreeze in the water so was coolant 100%

I have just pulled the engine out from a federal S2 JPS Esprit its only done 13k miles (Speedo reading) but the engine was part dismantled. It had been stood for many years the exhaust cam carrier had been removed from the engine and the exhaust manifold was missing. The cam belt was still fitted and it all looks great and all the inside of the engine is nice and every thing looks untouched. So it looks like the cam carrier was removed to fit/remove exhaust manifold. The car had a single box big bore stainless exhaust fitted and part of a down pipe, so all looks like previous owner was fitting a new exhaust hence why cam carrier removed to gain access? I have stripped the engine down and I believe the engine is really low mileage and 13k could be genuine. The only issue I have is coolant in the sump which was quite a lot. The oil was nice clean and brown on the dipstick and all the insides look right apart from the oil pickup pipe strainer was rusted due to the water in the sump? The head gasket fitted was a coopers and looked like new. Removing all the engine parts just looked original from new and never touched before. So how has the coolant got into the sump? Either it has leaked in from the base of the liners or the head gasket? I am in the process of cleaning the block and once all cleaned I will fill the block with water to check the liners. Anyone else come across this before?

look forward to seeing some updates and more pics Dan. You could make a small frame to beef up the clams? I got some more work done today! I finished the rear frame to support the rear bumper, valance and lower rear quarters. I also cut out some more inner body work, it was tough plucking up the courage to sink the disk cutter into the body to start with but glad I did it! Lot of work still to do but also a little less to do....LOL

I like your project Dan is it a new one on the go? I did make the side scoops bigger on mine with some alloy spacers. Do you get problems with heat with your Audi V8?

Thanks Dan I did not think fibreglass would take in moisture? I will paint the cuts asap! its going to need a full respray at some point when I have finished.

Thanks Eddie yes cutting by the air scoop ears would work very well but I still wanted to use the filler locations. I did consider that and think its maybe the best way to do it if you want to use another way to fill the tanks.

Started to do some work again on my old project. I have not seen this done before to an Esprit, a few race cars have had complete rear clams that lift off. Mine just flips up like a Ferrari F40 the rear top quarter stays attached to the rear tailgate . The hinges and struts seem up to the job taking the weight no problem. That rear section does not weigh much anyway and I am not going to use the glass window. I plan to make a frame to support the rear bumper, valance and rear lower quarters so that will all stay in place. This is going to be great to gain access to work on the car I am getting too old to climb over the back into the hatch!

I did cut the lexan sheet to size today. The glass is 10kg? thought it was much more and the 5mm lexan is near 5kg so not much weight saved! The lexan also has flex so will need some vents or slots thermal vacuumed formed into the sheet to stop the flex. That black bonding which stuck the glass in is a sod to cut away! I used a stanley knife and pallet knife and cut from the inside out. At least with glass free I can now get much better access to the tailgate and view how to fix it to the clam section.

Hi Dan, at the rear I have cut just under the waistline trim as I also worked it out as the best way to hid the cut-join, from the side I have cut at an angle behind the filler caps so they can still stay in place. I am using the tailgate hinges and struts and will bond the clam to the tailgate which I think will work ok. I also plan on using an extra prop to lock it into place when raised like the F40 due to my bonnet being ripped off on a bad windy day! I dont want the same thing to happen to the clam! The rear bumper, valance and rear lower quarters will stay again like F40 style. Photo shows cuts in red. I thought the turbo louvre was made of abs and light weight? I have lexan sheet would be nice to get that shaped in thermal vacuum to the shape of the turbo louvre. Progress is slow I have not touched it in around 2 years and only just start working on it again.

I dont get much spare time to work on it Dan. Still has no engine or transaxle fitted. I am doing a rear clam conversion and want to lose weight so want to use a lourve or polycabonate instead of the glass. I did email lotus bits may have to phone them

I have a rear glass hatch screen for sale or swap