Llewelyn82

Cheers Barry! There’s been a ridiculous amount of work gone into it!

Thanks Sparky!

Selling my carb turbo, it is currently on eBay for £18.5k. Thousands spent in the past year, I fancy a change now hence the sale. Drop me a message if interested Video here:

You’d be better off buying mine!😊😊😊

I'd consider selling my 88 carb turbo (non-spoiler!) car... I've spent £thousands on it and it needs nothing. Message me if of interest

Me too - Very odd eh! But on my car, when it is disconnected the starter relay will not energise....

Got to the bottom of this and it wasn’t the starter motor!! Happy to snaffle a bit of humble pie I didn’t get any life out of the starter by jumping directly from the battery which was why I was pretty much convinced the starter motor was at fault. My jump leads are shite or I was being an idiot and not clamping it on well enough. Turns out at some point I knocked the connectors off the throttle jack solenoid which caused a voltage drop on the exciter wire. I haven’t looked at the wiring diagram so I’m not sure why but at least the problem is solved. And it’s another thing to check next time my car won’t start!

Well after speaking with SJ they are kindly sending me another starter motor.... Hopefully a working one this time !

Hi Clive, I can't get a meter on them unfortunately - It's all internal. The only thing I can measure on is the ground, the main "hot" post and the exciter input terminal (red/white wire connection). I get a healthy voltage on the exciter wire when the ignition switch is turned. So I've got good ground and power in the right places direct at the starter and it still won't work, not sure what else it can be other than the starter now! Battery had a full overnight charge and I tried again this morning to no avail so it's absolutely not the battery.

Cheers guys! I’ve been out this morning messing about although it’s raining cats and dogs and the car is outside at the mo so it’s not been much fun! So I’ve determined the engine earth is good. Also the battery is definitely good which rules out supply and ground issues. If everything is connected nothing happens except the ignition vacuum relay clicks once (relay in the drivers rear buttress). If I provide 12v direct to the (red/white wire) exciter input on the starter then the solenoid energises but nothing else happens. At that point I’d expect the starter to crank but literally nothing happens. Very odd. I've even tried jump starting off another car to eliminate spurious battery probs. My old starter worked fine until the solenoid contacts were too corroded to work any more. I’m at a loss! I will ring SJ on Monday and get their opinion! Anything I’ve missed?

Thanks sparky... The battery is fully charged and new-ish so should be ok. I’m getting 12.5v ish at the starter feed although haven’t checked the current. I’m not sure I understand your comment though - isn’t putting a jump lead on the solenoid and starter feed the same thing? I’ve already got voltage at the starter, which is permanent

Got a bit of a head scratcher... I bought a high torque starter from SJ to replace my original starter motor as it was basically on it's way out. Anyway I've fitted it but since then the starter motor relay (not the solenoid), clicks once and thats it. I don't get any joy from the solenoid at all. I've verified: Good engine ground A nice healthy voltage directly to the starter motor Momentary trigger voltage from the starter relay to the white/red signal cable which connects to the starter solneoid seems to be there I don't really want to have to remove it and then post back to SJ, and wait for a replacement etc so I'm hoping it's operator error! Anything else worth checking? The only thing I haven't tried yet is applying 12v direct from the battery to the solenoid exciter terminal. Will report back tomorrow morning on this. Any pointers in the meantime would be appreciated

What a great project!! Looking forward to more updates I was going to ask the same question about the respray!

It won't really be going the bin It is in a bit of a state though!

The whole thing is going in the bin!

Quick update - Car is fighting fit again.... Almost! 😁 First test drive happened earlier this week following about 6 months off the road (unbelievable how time flies). Following my cleaning up of various grounds and connectors, and the installation of a new battery ground and a new ground from the o/s front chassis leg into the frunk which services the lighting, horn and washer pump circuits it was nice to see all electrics feeling a lot more positive, in particular all gauges (bar the speedo as it's mechanical) are rock solid and exactly where they should be. This has highlighted a new issue which is I am only achieving 0.5bar boost at WOT. I've checked all the throttle linkage which is fine. Also all vac hoses, intake hose, turbo to wastegate pos. pressure line are all new and in good order. Wastegate actuator on the other hand is in a right state... It's got a nyloc nut for the rod adjuster which I am sure isn't original, and the rod adjuster itself is only 5 teeth off max adjustment. Guessing the PO had problems due to a worn internal spring which has been compensated for over the years. I'm not messing around, for the sake of £12 I've ordered a new Garrett OE one. Will post the results when I fit it! The next problem is my starter... I've had an intermitted no start issue ever since I've had the car where even when I've got plenty of juice the solenoid just clicks rapidly. I whipped it off after work yesterday and, well, have a look at the state of it. I'm another £200 in ( ) but awaiting delivery of a high torque starter from SJ so hopefully it will be a nice little upgrate! Installation should be quick and easy... Getting to know this engine bay quite well now! All good fun....

Just catching up on all this! Great work mate enjoyed reading about it all...

That's going to be my treat once the car is back on the road! I'm waiting to savour fitting them! Cheers for the photo and info re the radiator carrier support bars, I did wonder if aluminium would be strong enough but they don't seem to be taking much load - At least from what I can see. I'll be keeping a general eye on things under there when I start driving it anyway so if things seem amiss with them I'll get them changed...

Thanks @drdoom I will be keeping a very close eye on the rad! To be honest it'll be around 30 mins work to remove it second time around should it fail as all my new fixings are stainless (and greased!) so no rusty old bolts to cut off next time around It was cheap, therefore a gamble I was willing to take but we will see what happens. Regards the AL pod stays, they are not under any stress so figured AL would be OK, but again we will see! Every day is a school day...

Another pleased punter here! Quality is unbelievable and Steve a pleasure to deal with (I'll be needing a boot carpet set soon as well!)

A long overdue update!! Fuel tank now in! Also replaced "while I was in there" Filler neck tube (as I had to cut it off to remove) Vapour balance pipe things (satisfying job as mine were absolutely shot). Re-routed the vapour pipes to vent underneath the car where the expansion tank overflow pipe is New stainless balance pipe (should never rust!) All new hoses between the fuel tanks with stainless Jubilee clips I also renewed all the expansion tank hoses, again very satisfying! Not many pics as I end up getting carried away working but here are some: Foam salvalged from previous tank: Tank slightly narrower (for easy future removal!) but was a perfect fit, here you can see it before it was pushed up against the fibreglass bulkhead: And she's in! In other news - headlining, seatbelts and rear window trim in (can't remember if I already posted this!) New header tank fitted (£20 ebay special but seems to do the job but some fettling was required😞 Cam box O Ring replaced and heatshield cleaned up (photos from before, not after!), which cured another oil leak! Daily nearly written off by a HGV while it was parked!! Then to cheer me up my new carpet set arrived from @Steve V8 - Unbelieveable and can't wait to fit!! Some shots during and after a clean following the shit ton of work undertaken: Then after a sporting drive, look what I noticed underneath the garage door (a common site for Lotus owners probably!?) So after basically completely stripping and rebuilding the rear of the car, it was time to do the same to the front (sob) Some rust on the chassis, probably from a slow leak for many years! Needed a bit of TLC for sure: Sexy new rad and fans (thank you China) ready to rock and roll Yes I know people are nervous about cheap alloy rads but for what I paid I am will to take that chance). Mounted on shock absorbing bolts which should aid longevity. And she's in: New supports made from some tube ally I had! Decided it was also a good time to add another earth post in the frunk so I ground down a bit of the chassis to fresh metal and installed a cable/earth post and wired all my lighting, horn, washer pump etc grounds to it: I didn't take pics but I cleaned up all the loose crap off the chassis and then kurusted it before painting it all in black hammerite type paint. Looks miles better and should be protected now! Further updates soon!

I’ve started playing around with cameras and thought I’d do a quick driving vid in the Esprit... Still got a lot to learn yet but hoping to do a long video all about the Esprit and ownership challenges etc when I’ve got to grips with things... I do quite like the audio at the end of the vid though, which was basically a microphone in the boot!

T1-R is a good budget tyre... Competent - not ‘amazing’, but great value. And they come in Esprit friendly sizes (ish) I agree about the Pirelli’s being far too expensive, I would have liked them on my carb turbo but can’t justify that amount of cash on tyres! Can they really be 4 times as good as the Toyos? I doubt it...

Looks a nice mod, should help keep the turbo cool(er) as well

Beginnings of a new fuel tank (stainless). It will be slightly heavier than the original but I figured it was a safer bet than doing it in aluminium.... If anyone wants one making please send me a PM, it'll be similar quality to Axminster and a fair bit cheaper.... Obviously it will be baffled etc, I'll upload more pics as it develops but I'm happy so far