chris

Thanks for the response Grahame. Just looked at the email from the company identifying whats required and how much to fix it and assemble the engine. Title says 907 engine which is obviously wrong and is making me seriouly question whether its a good idea to get them to do the work. They may be great, but I haven't heard of them before and don't really want to risk something like this to an unknown quantity. Will make some calls today and see if I can get a Lotus specialist to take on the work instead. Currently tempted to pay whatever is owed to local garage and get all jobs done by a specialist as my confidence is severely waivering, especially as I have found errors with work they have done on my other car.

Hi everyone, Just wondering if anyone has had any dealings with Classic & Modern Engine Services Ltd in Bracknell? The garage that was building my engine has run into issues with their usual suppliers and have sent it to this company for assessment. They have highlighted some issues and provided a quote for the work. They are not a company I have heard of in the Lotus circles before and therefore thought I'd ask here before agreeing for them to do the work. Grateful for any views good or less than hot. Cheers Chris

Cambelt with engine in situ - fiddly but not the end of the world. Exhaust manifold removal with engine in situ - took days of patience (not something I’m known for). Drivers side fuel tank with engine in situ - 2 days effort but achievable. Strangely the worst bit was getting the pipes and ducting refitted. passengers side fuel tank with engine out - should have been a breeze but is still fighting me and yet again it’s the dam pipes and ducting!! Worst one ever to date was replacing the hand brake cables. If it hadn’t been for my hero neighbour at the time, (wee jimmy) it would have defeated me. The routine one I loathe is taking the dam seats out. The bolts sheared years ago and were replaced with Allen key cap head bolts and nuts. Not helped by the introduction of sound proofing, new carpets and S4 seats.

If you want a modern double din touch screen then take a look at this: http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EGuides/EModifications/stereo.html I’ve actually fitted climate control to my esprit however the stereo install is the same principle. This unit is good value for money and it’s not very deep as there’s no cd. Has Nav, radio, camera input, Apple car play, Bluetooth etc etc.

Otter switches maybe??

Hi Chris, I kept the centre mounted 88 oil cooler on my esprit and then mounted an air con rad and larger charge cooler rad to the standard 88 undertray. I have put an SE bumper on which has a larger opening for airflow however It’s using the original 88 rad ducting. There are pictures of it in the projects area called the never ending project if you want to see how it fits. I also wouldn’t use the original ECU. Currently mine is on an omex 600 however if I was doing it again I’d use a 710 as the ignition control is better. I converted the carbs to fuel injection rather than doing an engine swap. How bad is the damage, could the engine be rebuilt and converted? I’ve been thinking about fitting larger exhaust valves to mine and then maybe taking the opportunity to turn it into a stroker engine 🤔

I keep looking at the continentals. Mrs has fallen for the ghibli and can’t stand the bentley which is making it harder (not impossible, just more difficult). I like Petes suggestion of a scimitar. other options could be: P1800 Aston Martin db7 or 9 jag xk8 and xkr’s are reasonable prices AC 3000ME saw one for sale this week Maserati 4200 or granturismo depending upon funds. Which model of TVR is it?

Personally I think the gear change on the Esprit is down to the age of the parts and how well it’s set up. Having replaced the cables and translator, plus taking my time to set it up correctly, my Esprit gear change is better than its ever been. In fact it’s a joy to drive!! I actually prefer the SE and S4S over the GT3, but each to their own. I really like the excel however a sorted Turbocharged Esprit is in another league.

Will take some pics if I get chance. Car desperately needs washing and polishing however can’t find the time or the inclination lol.

I think Pete at PNM Eng may have a 2nd hand one available. Might be worth an ask.

I’ve got the PNM Eng kit fitted to my car and they are brilliant!!! Totally transformed the headlights, look good and will last longer than standard lamps. Have replaced the other bulbs with led to complete the look. When I last spoke to Pete he said that a lot of owners were converting to these and of course they do kits for other lotus models, not just the Esprit.

I quite like the little Figaro. my version of the cav was a 405mi16x4 saw one on eBay this morning but way too much work and no where to do it☹️. got loads to do to the Esprit but just can’t find the motivation. Have managed to tick off one of the bucket list cars though so might see if I can muster the enthusiasm to give the ghibli a clean and polish.

How bad is the corrosion and have you had a quote to repair/replace it? If it’s under £1500 to replace and change clutch then get the work done and keep it. As Steve says “better the devil you know”. Plus, If it’s only an advisory then it might not need anything doing to it for another year or longer.

You could look at using the alfa rears on the Esprit. No one to my knowledge has ever done it and so it will be a voyage of discovery with a likely high price tag. Might be worth trying to find out if the alfa rear calipers are the same as the later esprit rears? If so then you could just get the pnm brackets and discs (see option 2 below). standard rear options are: 1.new replacement rear calipers from a VW on original size discs. 2. Brembo rears from an S4 onwards with larger discs from PNM -expensive and heavy 3. as option 2 but used as a handbrake only and fit 4pot calipers. 4. 4 pot calipers with built in hand brake - great brakes, rubbish handbrake (don’t do it)!! 5. 4 pot calipers on a 300 or 320 disc with a wilwood mechanical Handbrake calliper. I have this fitted on my 300mm rears and am quite impressed. 6. 4 pot calipers on 300 or 320 discs with a hispec electronic handbrake caliper. Think they are only on a 320 at the moment but confirm with PNM. Very expensive!!! options 1 and 2 give you an alright handbrake but only a single piston rear brake. Options 3-6 give you great braking on the rears whilst driving but with various handbrake effectiveness.

I’ve done the main outstanding jobs of: bleeding all 4 brake calipers (Thought that a bit of air had got into the system as had slightly more travel in the pedal after fitting the handbrake calipers). Re-calibrated the actuators on my climate control system to give me full temperature control and diagnosed Why the compressor wasn’t engaging (all fixed). made a panel and a some trim to encase my climate control heater box and sealed it all up to stop any drafts and help maintain the internal temperature. reattached the door lock mechanism which had decided to pop out of its clip and with the door card off replaced the led of the lotus symbol shadow light. Replaced wiper with a Bosch aero twin blade. Still to do: fit passengers shadow light. fit usb connector to panel in boot so that it’s easier to plug into the ecu. install omex aux wiring harness for idle air control valve. Decide whether to bother installing a usb charger, courtesy light and ecu usb connector into glove box. Attempt to get lotus graphics Wallpaper onto the double din stereo. what I should be doing: going through the lockup and sorting out what needs to be thrown, what to keep and get together the lotus stuff to sell! don’t really want to wash it, as a neighbour reversed into it in the car park and damaged the front. Waiting for the lockdown to lift so that I can get it to the body shop and get it repaired.

2020 - 2015 maserati ghibli 3L petrol 421bhp A lotus and a Maserati🤤,what have I done!!!!! 🤦‍♂️ 😬

The Brembo is definitely good but IMHO it’s not much better than than the hispec fronts. Plus you would have to spend in excess of £500 to get a set of custom bells and rotors for it, and that doesn’t take into consideration the faff of working out the alignment. If you have the standard kit from PNM then you will have 284mm front discs. Personally I would upgrade them to the 310mm which Pete sells (£300). I would then put a set of CL RC5+ pads (£120) in it and be amazed!!! out of interest, what are you running in the rears mate?

couple of questions mate: What size disc are you running on the front at the moment? My 159 had a single piece disc, does yours have a rotor and bell setup? What wheels do you have fitted? cheers

I’m sure you have probably checked this already but are both doors locked and have you changed the remotes battery? I’ve had issues getting in to the drivers side on mine which ended up being the rod popping off the lock. Passenger side was fine though. Just trying to think of an easy out. Failing that I think your best bet would be to try and break in to it using a wire or hook to try and unlock One door from the inside. I suspect that there would be flex in the door frame and room to get something in through the door seals (even if you damage then and ended up having to replace the seals afterwards). Good luck

Not according to the fella off eBay 😂

Jay two, that was mine, was prepared to let it go cheap for another esprit owner at xmas but ended up getting messed around (typical eBay). Got to the point that I started to think that I’d rather throw all the bits away than deal with the agro. Have actually got a load of spares that I need to clear as moving house. Have offered them all to PNM but my move date is looming and so I might just start listing them on the forum for sale site.

Giniw, valid point mate and I would have traded up to a later model if: I hadn’t done so much work to the car (things that would have to be done on a later model as well). It was economically viable (more manageable splitting up work per modification than having the capital to buy a younger car outright). I wasn’t so emotionally attached to her. Cheers Chris

Hi Jarle, First things first, upgrade the brakes if they haven’t been done already!! Main options are PNM (Hispec) or AP calipers both with larger discs. Looks like you have later wheels on so should have a few possibilities. IMHO conversion to fuel injection transforms the 88 turbo. Personally I would choose an ecu with fully sequential ignition and fit coil packs. I wish I had gone for the omex 710 over the 600 but you live and learn. If you do end up rebuilding the engine then I would take the opportunity to increase the capacity up to 2.5. Alternatively you could go down the “bolt on” route for performance and only rebuild when something gives up. Typical starting point is charge cooling (CC) with an electric pump. Go for the biggest charge cooler and rad you can as you really only want to do this job once. You could then up the boost in the ECU (if fitted) or through a boost controller. I managed to get 280bhp out of my 88 carb turbo with larger jets, a standard SE chargecooler, greddy boost controller and omex 200 ignition ecu. Ended up converting to fuel injection as I found tuning the carbs properly between idle and main jets was getting to be a pain. Next on the list is a decent mandrel bent exhaust at least 3” in diameter. Then a replacement turbo - a few options here depending on your budget but needs to be done in conjunction with a charge cooler and exhaust to get the benefit. Worth noting that the choice of turbo could change the size of the outlet that the exhaust bolts to so make sure you factor it in. Modifying the intake tract and plenum helps get more air in but again I would suggest this is done after everything else. Search for a thread along the lines of 412bhp...that will do nicely by ”Changes”. It will show you the art of the possible. also alunox manifold with efr 6258-g twin scroll turbo by mark kassim. Other nice upgrades are: S300 springs and adjustable dampers, LED headlights, and maybe a front splitter to stop the nose rising at speed. It’s a slippery slope this modifying game but good luck buddy and enjoy the ride 😁. Cheers Chris

Hey Tony, do you mind me asking what happened to the engine? Just thinking that a rebuild might be better than an exchanging it for a used one. assuming that is, you’re not doing a restoration project and there was no engine to start with. What model esprit of esprit is it, and have you tried the usual specialists?

Plus: connection from cc/rear of plenum to connect to carb balance pipes. flexible carb mounts different plenum backplate to loose the secondary injectors and install intake trumpets. lower pressure fuel pump & different fuel regulator Might also need to look at how you control the ignition, as standard ecu (if fitted) probably won’t like not having control of fuel. Can I ask why you would want to convert from fuel injection to carbs?