Greg D

Thanks everyone for your help, I have got the Otter switch working by cleaning the terminals with emery cloth and contact cleaner (Thanks Chris) it cuts in when the temp gauge reads about 100, seems a bit high but they turn on and the temp drops quite quickly. Seems like I have dodgy connection or there is something wrong with the air con unit as sometimes when you turn on the air con it does not start (nor do the fans), all you can hear is a clicking under the dash when the control knob gets to about 3/4 around its travel, when it does decide to work there is a loud click from the engine bay and the idle adjusts to take up the additional load. A dodgy air con motor?

Hi All The other day sitting in rush hour traffic the temp rose close to 100 deg which it hasn't done before so I switched on the air con to get the fans to start, but nothing happened. Traffic flowed ok so it never got too much over 100 but normally the fans kick in and the temp drops down when sitting for longish periods in traffic. Not being that good with electronics I have only tried the following. I removed the fans relay and tried one of the other relays next to it and the fans kicked into life straight away, obviously a slightly different type of relay as the keys were out of the ignition! I purchased a new relay but this has not helped at all. It doesn't look like the air con is switching on either. Before I jump in the car and drive down to the auto electricians are there any suggestions for fault finding this one? The car is a 1988 carb Turbo. Thanks.

Thanks Bibs, no special design! we just cut and welded the two 90 deg long radius elbows together. We were also worried about the distribution as well but it has turned out remarkably well, when you put your hand against each outlet pipe at idle you can hardly tell the difference, and visually following the car there is no difference. Not sure how this worked out like this! does yours use long or short radius elbows at the distribution point? After fabrication we thought short radius bends would probably have been a better choice because of the restricted room under the car, but in the end it fitted with no problems.

Hi All I have just fitted this system to my car, I supplied the materials and a workmate fabricated it. We modelled it off a photo we downloaded from the net. The pipe is 2-1/2" 304 stainless, the muffler is also 304 and is 5" diameter and 400mm long with fabricated neck rings for the ends so we could butt weld the inlet pipe and exit flange. It turned out really well as it was all very much experimental. It has a nice deep throaty sound that everyone comments on so we must have guessed the design right! (I was worried it might turn out excessively loud with the small muffler) The car is an '88 carb turbo (no cat).

Thanks Roger, Adjusted the sunroof and I now have some clearance, not a lot but it misses.

Hi All Since I have had my Lotus (1988 Turbo) there has always been minimal clearance between the tail gate and the glass sun roof. When I open the tail gate (with sun roof closed) it has some times rubbed on the sunroof. I have managed to increase the clearance by opening the sunroof and pushing it as far as I can forward before closing it, this only lasts until it is used again and goes back to its natural position. I thought I would adjust the tailgate by moving it back slightly, although the gap at the back looked good, I still tried. I only moved it 2mm a side by undoing the three M6 bolts on each side of the tail gate hinge but this was enough to stop the tail gate opening again finally got it open! Am now nervous about adjusting it back and closing it! Has anyone else had this problem with the clearance between the tail gate and sunroof? And how do you align the tail gate up so that it will open again?

Thanks all, have had a good look at the door Andy and will need to put some time aside to fix it correctly as you recommend. Still if it gets rid of the noise it will be well worth it. Cheers.

Hi All This one is really bugging me! I have read through most topics on this but have come to a dead end. My passenger side door will not compress the door seals at the top corner of the door which leads to annoying wind noise. I have replaced the rubber seal (new one) which attaches to the car. I have not replaced the one on the door as it looks in very good condition. I have adjusted the door as much as possible by loosening the two window frame bolts and moving it in as far as I can while maintaining good window operation. When closing the door against a single strip of news paper as a test it does not compress it. Any ideas for further adjustment? Or is this a feature of the car?

Got the car back yesterday after having the master cylinder overhauled. They re-sleeved it after finding pitting in the bore. Hopefully this was the cause of the problem! Pedal feels good and the car pulls up nice and straight, still might take it easy for a while it was a horrible feeling having no brakes! Thanks all for your advice.

Thanks everyone for your replies / advice. I pick the car up on Monday so will check out those suggestions Justin before I drive it away. The original fluid could well have been in there a long time. The day it happened was while driving in traffic with no hard braking at all, just lots of stops and starts and then a bit of open road. I think I will go down the Master cylinder track first and see what we find from there. Will let you all know the outcome. Cheers.

Anyone got any ideas on this one? Driving home the other night I noticed the brake pedal required a little bit more then the normal travel to start slowing the car down, it was only just noticeable and I had only travelled about 15 kilometres by this time. But a further few kilometres on, going down a good hill I applied the brakes and the pedal went straight to the floor! I managed to pull over pumped them a few times and the pedal got a bit firmer. I got to my local garage that was only a couple of kilometres away. I stopped in his yard and got the mechanic to look at it, by this time the car had been standing for about 15 minutes and the pedal was back to normal and everything working ok! I was going away for a week so I left the car with him to check over but he has found nothing wrong. The fluid was clear and full (has now been changed). No obvious signs of leaks or seals passing. He took the car out several times and the brakes are working fine. At this point we have not started stripping anything down. The only suggestion so far is that the hand brake may have been on slightly and boiled the fluid. I am pretty sure the brake light was off when driving home and thought if this was the case I would have at least smelt hot brakes when stopping in his yard. The car is a 1988 Stevens Carb Turbo. Anyone had this happen to them? Was wondering what people thought before starting to take things apart Cheers.

Thanks for these, love reading these old articles.

Thanks all for your help. Could anyone tell me the best overhaul kit for the gear change mechanism? Had a look on LEW but the Gearshift Repair kit from Espritism.com seem to be out until they start trading again in 2009.

Hi Ian I have a 1988 Carb Turbo and it has just done 40,423 miles or 64,676 Km's. There are 4 of us going so I figure I can spread the weight over all of us I think your right, but Just trying to make the most of the opportunity.

Hi Everyone I am heading over to the UK in a weeks time for a 7 week holiday I have a small shopping list of parts for the Esprit which is mainly around door rubbers, glass top rubber and other cosmetic items. I was wondering if any of you have any advice on 1/ The best place to get parts and 2/ Anything I should probably consider getting seeing as I live in New Zealand. Kylie has suggested some rear discs. I will be based in London and West Purley in Surrey. Any idaes?

Thats a good looking car Michael, looks in really good shape from the photos. Let me know how you go. I take it it is fuel injected? Mine has the twin carburettors.

greg D = Greg Dollimore. New Plymouth. New Zealand. 1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo SCC082910JAG13818

Hi Michael I got the car from the Auckland Lotus dealer. I was looking at importing one from the UK when I go over next month. I called the dealer to make sure the Esprit's comply with the new New Zealand import regulations. He called me back a litle while later to tell me about this one. I was really after an SE but the car has a very good history and I did some back ground checks with the prevoius owner so in the end took the plunge! Happy hunting, let me know how you get on.

Thanks for that Roger, Yes it is a carb one! I will check it out.

Thanks guys. Time allowing I'm going to have a look this weekend. Hope I find it's the hoses and nothing to major.....

Hi Everyone, Well, I have read through the Forum on this one and will go through the checks recommended but just wanting to know what the old hands initial thoughts are on this. A little while after the car has been started a fairly strong fuel smell comes from the drivers side only seat belt upper opening. After the car been standing for a while it goes away. Fuel cross over line?

Yes, Just as Kylie said it is silver. I am sure you will know the car Kylie it has been in auckland most of it's life. I called the owner who had it between 2000 and 2005 to check it out and ask a few questions. He gave it a good report and it has a good history. Really going to try and use it as much as I can as a daily car, although with all this rain we are having Can't make this Sunday's run but I will get along just as soon as I can!

Thanks everyone, This going to be fun . I am heading to England in June for 5-6 weeks so am starting to make a shopping list. The Lotus is a long long awaited dream. I was originally looking at importing one from the UK. This is a fantastic place for information, I have a lot to learn. Have uploaded a couple of photos, I hope, first time doing this, just after parking it on the drivway, not the best photos. You sure can expect some questions from me in the very near future...........

Hello All Just joined the forum and in the process of joining LEW. I purchased (last week!) a 1989 Lotus Esprit Turbo. It's in great condition and travelled 39,000 miles. Just going through it and tidying up a few small things. What a great place for information, doing a lot of reading!