Roger 912

I don't know why but since owning my Esprit over the last ten years, I seem to replace the gas lifters on the rear engine cover every three years, but the last year of each three without any lift at all. I am now on my third set and even when I open the catch, I have to lift the back using the louvres as there is no room to get my fingers in and then I have fashioned a prop to hold it open when raised. Looking at the ones that I have used in the past they appear to be 250 or 300 nm. Is this too low? Apart from ordering expensive ones from Lotus, surely there is a make that lasts longer than my Gabriel ones that will do a maximum of 18 months to 2 years.

The other day, I went to lock the door on my 89 Excel and the key lock had disappeared. When I took the door panel off I could see that the plastic that holds the barrel of the lock and also the mounting of the handle to the door had all collapsed. We have an expression out here in South Africa that translates in English to "A farmer makes a plan", so I put all the pieces of the handle and lock back into position and using an electric glue gun, stuck the whole lot back together. Could someone tell me which car these door locks were originally intended for as I think I should try and replace it eventually. For some reason, I find that I am driving my Excel more often than my 1984 Esprit Turbo. Such a great car but I wish the build quality had been better.

Ever since I have owned my 89 Excel, which is for the last 8 years, I have noticed a problem that if I try and accelerate briskly when the engine revs are below 3 000 there is a grumble from the gearbox telling me to drop a cog or back off on the gas. As soon as the revs go over 3 000 the grumbling disappears. It does not worry me unduly as it has not got any worse and tells me to drive better. Any ideas what the grumbling can be.

Once the pod is up I cannot access through the pod hole and the access point under the car just gives enough room to turn the knob should it jam. This has been ongoing for quite a few years now. I just wish I could douse the entire motor in WD40. I am sure that is all it needs.

On my 89 Excel, the passenger side headlamp cluster is rather lazy in opening and makes a terrible squealing noise both going up and down. I have lubricated everything that I can get to but with no success. Any ideas what it could be and how do I get access to the motor itself, if that is where the fault lies.

Some typical comments about LOTUS on the facebook page of the Air Show. It would appear that the Esprit had a petrol leak and rather than try and start the car, they moved it to a safe area. Is that an S1?

On my 84 Esprit Turbo, the cam cover on the top bank appears to be fitted incorrectly. Surely all the Lotus names should be in the same plane. Unfortunately it would seem that it cannot be turned around as the oil filler would foul the plenum. Is this the case with all Turbo engines of is there something wrong with my installation.

I must just relate a little episode that happened to me when I purchased my 84 Esprit Turbo with the engine that was blown. I trailered the car to a workshop in Cape Town where they removed the engine to check it over and not having the space to store the car they asked me to take the car home and bring it back when the engine was ready. When I collected the car from them, I attached a Y bar towing frame to the front suspension and with a chevron trailer board set off on the 150 kilometre journey home. As we were about half way home we were on a ridge with a rather strong cross wind traveling at around 120 k.p.h. when suddenly the top rear section of the engine cover, complete with glass and louvres took to the air and went flying across a dual carriageway right over the top of oncoming traffic and landed in a field behind some barbed wire. Unable to reverse the car with the Esprit hitched to the back, I parked on the side of the road and walked the hundred or so metres back along the road and climbed through the barbed wire fence to look for the errant panel. When I found it, I could not believe my luck as it had suffered no damage whatsoever from its aeronautical acrobatics. I could not believe just how heavy this lid was but I managed to carry it back to the car and placed it back in position on the Esprit, making sure that it was well tied down. I realized that the idiots at the workshop had failed to replace the bolts at the hinge that secures the lid to the main body, but I took some responsibility as I had not checked it was secure before leaving on the journey. A week later I was phoned by the workshop to tell me that the engine was beyond repair, but amazingly, within a couple of weeks I found a l.h.d. Esprit Turbo, also from 1984, that had been involved in rather a bad front end collision and I was able to purchase the wreck and use that engine in my Esprit.

Hi Rick. No it is just the binnacle that gives the reflection problem and I have seen them in black from the factory to overcome the reflection problem. On my Excel it is the same. Light leather and a black binnacle, bus some idiot took silicon to it and made it shine. It needs to be matt black.

I know that my Turbo Esprit is a 1984 model, but I am wondering if there is any way that I can find the exact date that it left the factory. The VIN number is SCC082910EHG11789 I have never owned a car this long in my life (10 years) and I take her out regularly, at least once a month, for runs and, without tempting providence, she has never let me down once. This coming weekend we have a run with the local Garden Route Motor Club and we are going to lunch at a small village called Storm's River and we are driving through two passes, the Natures Valley and the Bloukrantz Pass rather than take the direct route. The below photograph was taken on a run through the passes I did a year or so back and it shows the river at the bottom of the Bloukrantz pass.

The last owner and I believe the first owner of my car went to Connolly Leather in the U.K. in 1994 and purchased a pile of hides. He then brought them out to Cape Town and had a local upholsterer completely re do the 1984 Esprit Turbo. The only problem was that the instrument binnacle was also covered with the same colour leather and driving the car in sunlight, the reflection of the binnacle on the windscreen is like driving through fog. I have had to place a small piece of charcoal material over the binnacle to stop the reflection.

Just wondering if anyone has removed the cover from the original steering wheel and what it looks like as my outer covering is rather sun damaged an I must either remove it or replace the wheel itself..

Thanks Andy. That top bolt / stud, does that run through a tube between the two halves of the upper section wishbone? Whilst it was up on the hoist it looked as though there was but it does not show a tube in the attached general layout in the workshop manual. Any ideas how to unseize the rod / bolt from inside the tube and bushes on that top one? We put a long extension on the socket but it would not budge. Diesel oil as a lubricant?

I received my new front suspension bushes and took them through to my mechy to install. Well, that was the idea and it should have been easy. They are the ones marked 14 (two of them) and 21. On inspection, the bolt marked 15 on the attached is not a bolt but a threaded rod with a nylock nut on the rear and two nuts on the front. Unfortunately, the rod has seized inside the front bush and even with the nylock nut at the rear loosened, the rod will not turn as it appears to be seized solid. On the passenger side, it is exactly the same with a threaded rod, not a bolt as shown, but at least this one is not seized and can be removed with difficulty. The other problem is that the lower bolt that goes through the lower link assembly, the bolts on both sides of the car have been mounted with the bolt head at the rear of the lower link, instead of forwards, making it impossible to remove the bolt to replace the lower link pivot bush as the bolt is up against the fibreglass of the footwell. My mechy has said that he will have to cut away the fibreglass to remove these bolts. Can anyone comment on how this could have occurred on this 84 Turbo Esprit of mine and has anyone any suggestions as where to go from here?.

All I am missing is the outer pad anti rattle spring as shown in the attached. Is there not a company that sells second hand parts from damaged Lotus cars? Thanks for the help. Have you any idea the cost of the complete front kit.