DrieStone

Am I crazy, or is this the part in question? https://www.sjsportscars.com/parts-and-accessories/A079F6277F.htm (#9 in the diagram below)

I just took the car out today and things seem to be running pretty well. To clarify: 1) Set the engine to 10° TDC and rotate the distributor until the LED comes on (I actually just hooked up the red/blue wires to the battery with some alligator clips so there was no need to turn the car on). 2) Remove the amplifier out of the circuit, per Barry, there is no need for the ignition amplifier. Just run right to the coil. I removed the amplifier entirely and just left a bolt to use as a negative lug.

I don't know if you have better options in the UK/Europe, but in the US there really aren't many options. I ended up running 17" wheels which gave me some options. I built a set of wheels based on BMW two piece wheels (I stretched the rears 2 inches so I have a staggered 17x8 and 17x10 setup). I found a set of Falken Azenis tires to fit then (225/45R17 and 275/40R17). I know there are purists that want to keep things stock, but my stock wheels had seen better days, and I chose a wheel that still has an OEM feel (I think).

I just heard back from Barry. Just for anyone who is doing this in the future, Barry says that the amplifier is unneeded, so just run the wires to the coil as in the instructions.

I'm finishing getting my 123ignition installed in my Esprit and I'm not entirely sure how I should wire this up. I just manually attached the distributor to the battery to rotate it to the correct position, but now I need to do the final wiring. Should I just skip the amplifier and run directly to the coil? It seems like I should keep the amplifier in place, but it's not clear how it should be wired (I have a connector with a red wire and a blue wire that used to go to the old distributor). Both wires out seem to have positive voltage when the car is on, so does it even matter how I connect it? I assume I need 12V for the internal logic, but the black wire just has to be "the other wire" since the ground is the blue wire. The 123Ignition website doesn't cover amplifiers at all, but my guess is that Lotus had a reason for installing one.

I received my unit this week, and I'm going to try to install this weekend. Not sure if you remember, but Barry's note says to set it to 10° BTDC. I'm reading this as I should ignore the directions that say to set to to TDC and set the engine to 10° and rotate the distributor until I see the LED? I had Barry preprogram the unit, so it sounds like I just set the engine to 10°, set the LED, and I should be good to go. I just want to make sure it's not something I do through the software (set the car to TDC and set an option in the software to 10°).

I’m going to get under the car next week and I’ll see if there’s any play in the output shaft, but to your earlier point, I can’t imagine anything else causing this issue. I am certainly aware of Harry, and he was going to be the first person I reached out to once I have more info. I thought if the bearings were easy to find, I’d just order a set in preparation, but I’ll wait. Thanks!

Good thought. My scraping is back and it has to be that output. Where can I find a parts diagram for the output shafts? Looks like it may be fairly easy to do a bearing swap?

I ended up trying it this way, but the rotor started rubbing on the bracket on the other side (although at the top, vs on the bottom earlier). I don't think this is a run out issue because the rotor doesn't wobble when I spin it (just eyeball on the gap in the bracket). Somehow the bracket is tweaked. I took a flapwheel to the lower mounting surface of the bracket, and took maybe 1/2 mm off and that fixed my issue. I checked and rechecked that everything was sitting flush since it seemed pretty extreme to remove material, but everything sits right now and the gap between the rotor and the bracket is pretty even at the top and bottom now.

My Esprit is almost roadworthy again, but I was having some rubbing in the rear. Sounded like brakes, other than usually something like that would stop if you applied the brakes (and this doesn't). Ordered new rotors and pads, but when I got under the car I see that the rotor is rubbing the inside of the caliper bracket. Looks like it would take about the width of a shim to center the rotor in the bracket. I figured I must have put the shim in the wrong side of the rotor when reinstalling, but after pulling everything apart I had a shim on each side of the rotor. My monkey brain thinks I should move the second shim onto the other side (two shims) to make up the difference and call it a day, but I feel like I'm missing something. Both the Service Notes and the Service Parts manuals aren't very detailed here, so I'm not sure if this is acceptable or not. I did try swapping the rotor, but the new one hits the bracket too.

I know this is super old, but I was wondering the same thing. The parts list (A082M6304F) says 3/4", but it's 5/8"-18. I designed a new knob and nut in 3D and printed them up. This pic is just PLA for testing, I'm going to print in black ABS for the final. Link to the Thingiverse STL files: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6113037

As a note, my hazard switch was non-functional. Seems like I'm not the only one who has had this issue. I wouldn't be surprised if most of these switches work similarly. There's someone who designed a replacement piece that you can print (if you have a 3D printer). I was able to fix my own switch using his model. You can grab his model here: https://grabcad.com/library/s3-lotus-esprit-hazard-switch-rebuild-part-1

I found his info an ordered a unit. He said that he's sold a bunch and he's waiting for more units to arrive. Does this require removing the carbs to gain access, or can this be done (painfully) while the carbs are in place?

Yes, I meant accessory. Brain mix up there. I don't necessarily have an issue with it, but I was originally trying to diagnose a fan issue and I thought one was still broken after I fixed it (I was going to get back to it later, but when I had the issue with the radiator, I discovered the fan came on full speed on high when I turned the key to on). The wiring of the fans is pretty weird: On low: Both fans run on low On med: One fan runs on high, the other doesn't run On high (except for key "on"): One fan runs on low, the other doesn't run On high (when the key is "on"): Both fans run on high It's just interesting that not only can you not run the fan on high when the car isn't on, but high moves less air than even low when the car isn't on. Also note that the fan relay does nothing except for when you switch to "High". Low and Medium uses the switch to supply power to the fans. Interesting. It does seem like a failure mode. On the US cars, however, the internal fans are on one fuse (#1), but the "logic" is on another fuse (#21). It does look like the compressor is also on fuse #21, but I can't seem to see anything else that could have caused the issue. There must be a worn wire or something under the dash. From what I see, there's no reason you can't pull the otter switch out of the A/C loop onto its own fuse. Although, I may put a switch under the dash that energizes the radiator fan relay instead. I suppose some of the irony is that one of my blower fans was seized and one radiator fan was partially seized because the shroud was bent out of shape and the blades couldn't turn. I freed up both motors, but neither of those should have affected the fuse for the otter switch.

Now I have to take that all back. I tested both ends of the plug to see what was happening (for future reference, black and blue get shorted when the switch is energized, and the brown & yellow are the temp. I reconnected everything and no shorts. I'm left wondering what happened. Maybe another wire under the dash was getting getting shorted? I don't know. I'm probably going to reassemble and cross my fingers. Total side note: I thought my HVAC fan wasn't working on high, but it appears that it only runs full speed when the car is switched to on (not aux). I'm going to assume this is by design. Another Lotus oddity.