mike_sekinger

@fjmuurling Did you receive your uprights yet?

Nice to see the progress. Loving the door beams 🙂

That`s a very comprehensive work list. A lot of work ahead for you, but you will know the car inside out afterwards and get great satisfaction from getting her running again afterwards. If you don`t have already, you are absoliutely going to need the associated Service Notes. If you give me an email address over PM, I can send you the Sections that you will need. With the list of seals and bearing to be replaced, you are pretty close to taking the engine back to bare block rebuild. That would give you a chance to check every component before re-assembling. New roller and shell bearings all round. With the top- and bottom-end rebuild kit, you can completely refresh every seal and gasket. I would also suggest introducing the scotch key safeguard into the IMS and pulleys. For your compression check, remove fuses B3 and B4 (primary and secondary pump and injectors). Make sure to charge your battery fully beforehand. I would also be looking at inspecting the clutch and turbos to see if they may need refreshing. Lots of folks on here to help, so ask if you are unsure about anything along the way.

@cschriks The engine should idle smoothly at 850-900rpm. If you are seeing vibration at these engine speeds, then it is not the IAC. Any additional information on the kind of vibration or noise might help to give greater insights.

You would be well served the get the car on a lift or stands so you can check underneath to better understand where the vibration/noise is coming from. What kind of vibration/noise is it? That would help to direct the investigation. Engine / gearbox mounts would be a first thing to check

Final update on this thread All customer pairs are in shipping or have been collected. Final image of the production run items These are available via JAE Parts.

Low mileage 1997 V8 that has been parked-up for 8 years. Auctioned ended unsold after reaching 54,000€ in bids. 1997 LOTUS ESPRIT V8 - 31,055 KM (collectingcars.com) The car is for sale at 67,995€ on the Dealership website.

I totally recommend the Zircotec range of coatings. - colours range of coatings are up to 900 degC - white coating is up to 1400 degC I would have thought that the colours range would be sufficient and they do have a nice Yellow Gold Performance Colours™ | Zircotec

Hi Steve, Getting stuck in ! Have you decided which colour coating from Zircotec? Mike S

The turbo to manifold nuts are a special thin-wall 12mm shouldered nut. They have a real tough time given their position so low down in the exposed engine compartment. On the positive note, you are getting the full experience with this renovation 🤣

Getting ever closer to the first major test in May. Driveshafts fully installed and now ready for setting up the max. clutch throw for the carbon pack.

Yes, he is reaching out to the 4 customers. Shipping quotes to follow.

Buying and selling cars (europa.eu) You should not pay VAT in the UK, but seems that you are likely to be due to pay import duty + local VAT

Good weather is coming...... dusting off the old girl.

I ran a GTO Engineering upgrade kit and LSD in both my 510bhp V8 project. 1st gear is straight-cut and of course whines, but I did not have any other issues. It was great and handled the extra torque without any issues. I did not spent alot of time in 1st or second gear. The only reason that I moved completely away from the UN1, was that I wanted a sequential gearbox with dog engagement that could handle a much higher torque rating.

What a beautiful V8. This is a real opportunity to get a well maintained car.

Update: Progress a little faster than planned - the individual customer uprights are completed machining ops and ready to go for clear anodising. Excellent work Aira !

A long journey ahead Steve, but you are going to feel an immense sense of pride when this fires up at the other end of the restoration. The dipstick tube cannot be fitted with the exhaust manifold in place, so keep that in mind when putting it back together.

Just sharing for those excited about this kind of thing - tapping the wheel bearing mounting threads. 336345507_6245838725438758_9019126366892414110_n.mp4 Still on-track for completion by the end of next month.

The tappets can hold pressure for a long time. The tappets are a multi-part assembly, so things can break. It is possible to take them apart and re-assemble, although I have never needed to do that.

I doubt that there is anything wrong with the tappets. When `hard` it means that they are pressurised with oil. The `soft` tappets are free of oil. When re-installing used tappets, you will have a mixed bag of pressurised and empty tappets.

Are you sure that it is the cam seal and not a leak from the cam cover seal that is pooling there The cam cover seal has a difficult job given the sharp angles around the front cam bearing. The Service Notes specify the addition of a blob of silicone on the corners to ensure a good seal.

Hey Freek, Here you go:

Short update on the individual customer pairs: Machining is underway with the LH upright 1 machining op away from completion. Forecast for completion (including anodising) is end of April. Thanks to all involved for your continued patience. Further ordering will only be possible via re-sellers. Details on that and future pricing are being negotiate, but direct orders with Aira will not be supported in the future.

Hahaha.... yeah. That ended well 🙂