tomcattom

Go on then, put me down for one of the larger chargecoolers please.

Wow, its been over a year since I've had chance to do anything on my Esprit. A building project at home and other events have taken priority over the car sadly, but I managed to sneak out to the garage this evening to have a go at fitting my new stainless steel chargecooler pipe. Back before I got the car back on the road I identified that my OE alloy pipes were leaking. I sourced a replacement at the time only to find it had been manufactured incorrectly (one of the pipes was too long), so I refitted my leaky original and I've just kept an eye on the coolant since then. Thankfully it's just a weep, but it needed sorting, so a friend of mine from another owners club offered to get a stainless replacement made through one of his contacts, using my original as a template. The additional metal plate is a one-off trial. I suspect the leak on my pipe was potentially caused by something fired at the pipe off the wheel, so this is an attempt at a debris guard of sorts. I've no idea if it will actually make a difference, but its worth a try. This is it fitted in situ. Just need to top the chargecooler circuit up again to check its all sound and refit the undertray, but otherwise it was a pain free installation and only took me a little over an hour to change. Oh, and my oil cooler union is weeping so I'll need to nip that up too!

Is he doing it stop motion style like @GTK?

As far as I know the model is modelled from one of the real film props, so I'm assuming that's what they observed when the designed the model 🤷‍♂️ Progress has been delayed due to me managing an extension build in my spare time here, so I've actually got packs 3 and 4 here waiting to be assembled now, so last night I completed pack 3. The engine and gearbox are now more or less complete and married together. More metal parts again here and some nice detailing on the spark plug leads and belts. Yes, I am aware the belt has slipped off the exhaust cam pulley, I corrected that after taking the photos. The main chunk of the backbone chassis arrived with this pack and its quite a weighty bit of metal too!

Not been able to spend much time on the forum over the past month or so while I've been managing an extension being built on the house so I've only just seen this thread. Really sorry to read about it and I wish you a speedy recovery @Sparky!

Exactly the same problem with the set I got from SJS for mine. The swore blind they were right despite the photographic evidence to the contrary, so they were returned. I got someone to make up some stainless replacements if you're interested. Bit heavier than OE but will last and are the right shape. This is the one I had made up @Gjk. Not sure on what the retail price will be yet, but I can check for you if you're interested. The slotted metal plate is an addition I requested on my pipe specifically, the rest appear as OE. My original pipe was leaking due to damage sustained from what I assume was something being fired at it from the wheel, so this was an attempt at a simple debris guard for the pipes where they emerge in the front wheel arch.

@MarkKassim does the larger chargecooler fit under the engine cover without modification? Also what is the reason for placing the filler plug on the side instead of the top as on the OE cooler? Will that not make filling and bleeding more difficult?

I have indeed done that job. I would point you to the following page on my resto thread, but sadly the pictures don't seem to work any more If @Bibs can't restore them I'll have a rummage and see if I can find them and post them here again. This is the process I used: Remove the driver's seat, taking care of the potential for snapping studs off the seat frame if they look crusty. Easily fixed if you do snap them though! Peel the carpet up off the driver's side sill to reveal the various access holes into the sill where the cables run. Towards the rear bulkhead end of the sill remove the forward nut from both cables completely, disconnect from the lever in the access hole at the other end of the sill and then remove the threaded sections of the outer sheath from their abutments. Disconnect the cables from their respective rear calipers and remove them from the clips along the trailing arms. There might be a couple of cable ties along the way too, possibly. Next find yourself a couple of meters of reasonably thick 3-core electrical flex (or similar) and some PVC electrical tape. For each cable in turn tape the last foot or so of the caliper end of the handbrake cable to the end of the electrical flex with tape strapping the inner and outer parts every couple of inches so it can't pull off when you tug it! Pull the cable from the lever end through into the cabin until the end of the flex appears. Remove the old cable from the flex and attach the new cable to the flex in the same manner and then pull the electrical flex back through the other way, again taking care not to pull too hard and rip the flex through the tape. There are a couple of grommets on the cable that you will want to retain, unless you're replacing them too. There's a pair at the back of the sill in the bulkhead and another pair just aft of the fuel tanks where the cables emerge into the engine bay. I used a touch of silicone grease to lubricate them so the slid along easier when refitting them from each end. The rest of the assembly is the reverse of the disassembly and then you need to consult the manual for how to setup. Being an 89 car, you have different rear calipers to me, so the adjustment process is likely different.

Just my luck that you would have a meet in Bucks the weekend I'm down in the south west visiting family.

I bought some of the bigger versions of those from SJ, do they not do those? An alternative might be P-clips like these perhaps? I've used these for other applications on my car. https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/A4_PClip_RbbrLnd.html

That's depressing and more to the point makes me wish I'd bought one much, much sooner, not that I'd have had space to keep and run one had I bought all the way back then. Adjusted for inflation thats about £3250 today, but either way makes the real deal look like an absolute steal by comparison. That said I don't have any running costs for the model Back on topic the second pack of parts arrived a week or so ago so I've now assembed: A seat; the covering is actually soft touch and has a cushion under it, a nice bit of unexpected detail The inlet manifold and carbs have been fitted to the cylinder head I built in the last pack The gearbox and bellhousing - it's made of metal and quite weighty.

In no particular order I spotted these today. - A pair of Lotus Carlton's - A red Emira and a yellow one doing Sporting Bears rides - I think I also clocked a liquid yellow Elise returning from a Sporting Bears ride, but only glimpsed it from a distance - A red Esprit Turbo keeping a Jag CX-75 company

It hadn't been rectified when I fitted mine during the peak of the COVID lockdowns.

What colour is that @unity1? Looks a bit like something from the early 2000's MG Rover Monogram scheme; Typhoon or Poseidon perhaps?

Spotted this morning (Sunday 14th) about 11:20 going north up the hill between junctions 3 & 4 on the M40.