williamtherebel

Yes, it IS a long time since you let me have the dash vents! Congrats on getting your car up and running. I know you have had your ups and downs with it but hopefully you will get a lot of enjoyment out of it now. Especially going into the summer. Ive been driving my Eclat around at the moment and still get lots of admiring glances and comments. Happy Motoring.

Nice Elise on the A500 this afternoon. Anyone on here?

Saw this in a restaurant car park last week!

I wish I had seen this when I was having problems with my federal S1 that I had imported into the UK. I couldn't understand why the ride height of my S1 rode so high. After lots of discussion on here I managed to source a 'correct' set of springs (i.e. that lowered the car) from another owner on here. @gvy He also sent me the following vid if you want to check it out.

@kkv444v. Well spotted! I was passing the same restaurant and saw it was in the car park. (It must belong to one of the staff.) You are absolutely correct. Took another couple of photos.

My 1977 federal Esprit S1 has the same stalks as my 1976 UK Eclat. They are from Triumphs from the same era.

@kkv444v Many thanks. Its great on here. You can get any motoring question answered! Thanks again.

Whilst I was away on holiday I saw this in Buenos Aires a few times, I didn't recognise the badge. Anyone any idea what it is?

The car has had a good rest for 3 weeks to bed everything in. whilst Ive been away on holiday. Been out a couple of time since I got back and (touch wood) everything seems fine. Still no leaks! We'll see how it goes. Ready for the spring/ summer.

A few comments on the cruise. We were def newbies and had been advised we needed a drinks package. At £100.00 per day for both of us we did hesitate (we are not huge drinkers) but were told the drinks were very expensive. We could have any drink up to the value of $10.00 each which we thought wold be more than ample. WRONG!! The $10.00 glasses of wine were the cheapest plonk they could find. Pretty crap If you wanted better quality you had to pay extra. Maire went onto Bacadi and coke and I stuck mainly to the bottled beer. We also had 'free' wi-fi. There seemed to be something wrong with it because we couldnt send any photos, so got a tech guy to check it out. He sais, Oh you on;ly have the basic package. If you want to send photos its extra. I asked how much and he told me it was an extra $40.00 PER DAY! I declined. Service was fantastic, the staff were very attentive and the food was great. Organisation was top class. There were nice touches. e.g. when queuing at the Falklands to get back onto the ship via tender they came round with cups of hot chocolate. In Montivideo where it was pretty hot they had iced water and cold towels. All in all we really enjoyed the holiday and had a fantastic time. The cruise was just a means to get to where we wanted to get to, so it fulfilled its purpose. However we wont be going cruising again.

After Antartica we visited The Falklands, Puerto Madryn, Motivideo then back to Buenos Aires to fly home.

So, as promised some feedback from our Antartica adventure. Spent 3 days in Buenos Aires before the cruise. Impressive architecture. But as in all cities lots of poverty as well. With inflation running at over 100% many people are on the streets. Many with their children. Very sad. Anyway, after Buenos Aires onto Ushuaia then onto Antartica. (Paradise Bay and Elephant island). Breathtaking scenery. Of course photos dont do it justice. We saw whales, dolphins, seals, and penguins. However by the time I got my camera out there were far away!

Went out for a meal with the family and this Lotus wannabe was in the car park!

AND NO SIGN OF LEAKS !! EVEN FROM THE CAM COVERS!! We will see!!

Whilst the engine was out, painted the inside of the engine bay. Sprayed Waxoil into the trailing arms. Replaced the battery shelf because it had de-laminated and was pretty beat up. Made 2 new small shelves (they were missing but had the old bit of carpet so I could it use it as a template), and also the brackets that they fit to. Fitted new UJ’s on the passenger side which were a bit ‘tired’. Replaced the exhaust system. It still had the original catalytic convertor. (dated 1977!) It weighed a ton (well not quite) but I wanted rid of it. (adding lightness!!) I purchased a system from another TLF member. However when I came to fit it, it wouldn't! It was just slightly out, so just used his back box, my downpipe and purchased a flexible pipe to go between them. We had to cut down the original ‘cat’ to get the 2 ends with the flanged ends. My long suffering mate Roger did a good job on welding the ends to the flexible pipe. We'll see how it works when I fire her up. I thought I might sell the cat for the precious metals that were in it.(yeah right!) However when I looked inside all I could see was dusty crap! (I’m hoping the HP will improve.) Replaced the K & N filters that were already on. There were no trumpets on the carbs, so purchased a set and already had a set of better fitting K & N’s. Replaced my home made heat shields for the exhaust side engine mounts. There is no sign of heat damage so I’m well happy with them. A bit fiddly but well worth the effort. Treated myself to a new chrome header tank to replace the home made one that was on the car when I purchased it, complete with a rough iron bracket held on with jubilee clips! Replaced all the fluids – coolant, oil, gearbox oil, brake fluid etc etc Fired her up and started first time. With all the exhaust changes Im a bit surprised that the engine note doesnt seem to have changed at all. Had a short run out and all seemed ok. However when I got back and had a look underneath, I had been leaking coolant. On further investigation the small top pipe on the new header tank was broken in the rubber pipe. I was a bit shocked at how thin it is. Looked as if it had perhaps torn off with the side to side movement when fitting the rubber hose to it. I sent it back and they have repaired it, so now all good.

Wow cannot believe its been September since I posted anything! I took the Esprit off the road in October because there was a number of thing that I wanted to do over Winter. As usual its taken longer than I thought due to the "whilst this is off we might as well do that".... etc Due to wanting to do a few things we decide to remove the engine and gearbox. Because we had already removed the gearbox twice before, we thought it easier to remove them separately. Fitted new cam belt, renovated the tensioner and fitted a new V belt. Changed the cam covers for ones that actually said LOTUS on them.

WOW!! Love all the comments -- for and against. I must admit to being in the same camp as @C8RKH. My parents loved going on cruises but I just couldn't see the appeal. My mum and dad had photos dressed to the nines in evening suits attending the 'captains table'. I just couldnt see me in the same situation. However, theres no other way of doing this so Im going with an open mind so well see. No doubt I'll report back here in due course. @Spinney We are travelling with Paramount cruises who seem to specialise in these types of holidays. I would appreciate any pointers - do's and donts. Many thanks.

@Sparky Just a holiday. Its been on my bucket list for a while. Fly to Buenos Aires for a few days then on to Ushuaia. Then start cruising. We stop off on the Falklands, Puerto Madryn, Montevideo then back home. Really looking forward to it. Never been on a cruise before either!

Off to Antarctica in Feb for 3 weeks. Flying to Buenos Aires first for few days. Any suggestions. (Clean please!)

I also have a new Focus. On the road where I live there is a sharp bend, and if there is a car parked (legitimately) outside someones drive, my car thinks I am heading straight for it before I turn round the bend and as you say flashed up warnings, buzzer etc. Frightened me to death the first time. Now I expect it!

Hi Dave, No there are no injections but there are spaces for them I think. Yes, still working away to get it back to Euro spec. Ive sourced another exhaust system so I can get rid of the catalytic convertor. Apparently, beside the weight (4 kilo's !) I get an extra 20 bhp by getting rid of the cat. Or so it is said!

Yes!! @LOTUSMAN33. That exactly what the Eclat had. I wonder why though??? A mate of mine thought the lack of the 'Lotus' lettering might have something to do with Jensen using the 907 engine before Lotus. However, Jensen had their own name cast into the cam covers so I dint think it can be that.

Hi, When I purchased my federal 1977 Lotus Esprit S1, the first thing I noticed was that the word "LOTUS" was missing from the middle of the cam covers. (photo 1) Any idea why that would be? Many years ago, I purchased an Eclat to use as a donor car to keep my Eclat on the road. I noticed that instead of the casting saying LOTUS on the cam covers it had a thin piece of metal shaped to fit the oval with the word "LOTUS" printed on it in the same font as the usual casting. It was blank underneath, so Im wondering if my Esprit had the same thing but the metal is missing. Any ideas?? Anybody else seen this. I am currently taking the engine out to do various jobs, and am going to change the cam covers for a spare pair I have that say "LOTUS" on it. 2nd photo shows the replacement cam covers in the process of cleaning and painting.

@snowrx and @Escape. Talk about over thinking things! Of course some threaded bar is tons easier. I seem to be having more senior moments these days! Thanks guys.