dmckenna

Andy - 20,569 posts - flippin 'eck you should get a real job !!. Great to hear from you. Paul - you'd better be joking about at least 1 of those !! All is well here, replaced the Esprit with two boys, one is 3.5 and the other 1 year. Both are into their driving and have already got the electric cars !. Love watching the F1 with Dad and getting their go-karts for their 4th birthdays.....live on !! Cheers David

Hey !!!!!!!!!!! WoW, how has this forum developed since I had my GT3. Owen..........have you still got her ? So, now I live in Berkshire, nr Reading. No Lotus on the drive but wondering if someone with a spare seat wants to pick me up on the next hoon. Just for old times sake but be good to catch up with you lot again....and see the cars. mail@davidmckenna.co.uk or will check back in here.......... When is the next meet ? Cheers David (the one that put the red race chip in a Norfolk Mustard GT3)

I know, how scary eh ? And she's had to get herself an Esprit just to think I'd be interested too !!

Same old clever witted Bibs :-) Katie - just seen your post and your location - you'll never guess where I live now ? - Burghfield Common too !! You wouldn't happen to have a blue V8 would you ?

That's your Mum's car Bibs ! I know 'cos she picked me up in it last weekend B)

You cheeky buggers !!! :-) I miss you lot - need to get another car to keep you company. I've currently got an RS6 in the garage and a Brabus Merc on the drive. RS6 is fast as hell but far too safe, not much fun and never breaks down. That said it's only got 150hp less than an F1 car, is 1.4 seconds slower to 60 than an F1 car and still get's the family, dog etc in the back whilst your watching TV. Am now selling it. The Brabus is a diesel ! - 45mpg and 0-60 in 6.4 seconds - slow by Esprit/RS6 standards but does 900 miles on a tank which is nice. Am seeing Jon and Red this weekend for a catch up - hopefully get a spin in one of Jon's many Esprit's he seems to be collecting. Also keep in touch with Fishy who as you're probably aware has got a Lambo these days and some decent chick to go with it :-) It's my 40th in Jan - do you know anyone that's done a day in an F1 car - quite fancy that ? Maybe I'll get in touch with Mr Hill again......... Cheers David

I know it's been two years since I sold my Esprit and was probably last on here. Still miss the car but going back through some old photos just found this that made me laugh so thought I'd share it. Kind of sums up the Esprit life....

It was a very fast car with #11 fitted - and really flew but did cause some additional servicing problems of course and made the car not as reliable as it had been previously. Still miss her :-(

The last time the manifold was replaced on this car to my knowledge was in 2005 by Steve Williams, that was a brand new one but nothing to say the 'inbetween' owner hadn't had a problem and had it repaired/replaced too

That's my baby !!! - I can remember the smell of that engine bay now !!! - Glad to hear she's in good hands and back in the home county too ! She looks great Owen, there were quite a few of owners before I that only kept her for a few months at a time - I had her for about 3 years and had some fantastic fun during that time - she's got to be 10 years old now - wowow ! Are you still running the famed #11 chip ? It went through two turbos but was good (and fast) fun. Here's a pic of her with the old wheels on - the plane couldn't keep up and then had to cheat with the afterburners - unfair !! http://www.davidmckenna.co.uk/Davids/Car%2...t3%20vulcan.jpg Crikey !!! - What a list - There was probably a few of those things that I knew about (like the light switch image and some loose wires) - I though the guy you bought it off was in the trade and knew what he was doing !! - Overspray, clock/boost gauges swapped around - OMG - Just glad she's in good hands now - looks like yet another manifold has been required - I read your post - what a hole !! D

PMSL Where did THAT come from !! - Brilliant - here's another to remind you of the good times

haha - still waiting for the new one to come out mate. Things are good though - baby on way - now got an audi estate ! Owen !!! - How is she ?? - I still miss her loads - how long you had her ? tell me more....

:crybaby: Just thought I'd sign back in - don't have the GT3 anymore but good to see everyone is still hooning along !!

Doug, I've just seen this thread by fluke after looking at the piccies for the Factory visit (which look great btw). I've got to say how shocked I am and deeply sorry that you've got this problem. I feel guilty as although everyone experiences various probs with the Esprit, you're still in the honeymoon period and should not be having this grief. As you're aware the car was maintained to a high level and of course had various bits done on her that gave the performance that others have talked about. That said, as you know increased performance does result in decreased reliability. Hopefully this may help/explain some of what you've seen. The spark plugs were originally NGK I recall, but decided to change them for Iridium ones. Remembering now I had a very (and I mean most people would never notice) minor misfire under load at speed in 5th (about 90), I was flumoxed (!) about what it was, checked the leads, realised that they'd been attached incorrectly at the coil (something Jon refers to) and re-connected them thinking this MUST be the problem. This was last year I think (it maybe early this year). It wasn't the problem so I looked further. I noticed that a couple of plugs were showing signs of running hot so I ordered a pack of lower temp ones and replaced them on C1 and C2 I think, this cured the misfire under load so after testing I left them in. I think in all confusion I probably left the original ones in - but was happy with curing the fault so went on to something else. Apologies if this has caused a problem, but at least you know the reason behind it. Not sure why the original plugs were hot or breaking down but assumed this may be because of some other change (like the de-cat/chipping etc.).Things were back to normal. wrt the boost control not working - well that's a new one on me. I know it did work perfectly (you will have noticed reduced boost too when the engine was cold). We both spoke about this on the test drive that it gets restricted to .25bar until warmed up (about 60c I think) and then will let full boost through. If this was failing you would have seen the check engine light as the ECU would have seen wrong inputs from its sensors. Could this be something else you mean ? There was an issue with one of the vaccuum control pipes a month or two before it was sold. I was in the car in Manchester and she developed a very bad lurching /poor engine control. The car was limped down to the local Lotus dealer who put their scanner on to find out what the problem was - lots of head scratching and 3 hours later the problem was found - a decayed rubber pipe that has split and was letting in air. They replaced the pipe and believe it or not didn't charge me for the pipe OR labour !! I was well chuffed. Hence why no invoice in the pack of paper I gave you - it was also so blimen simple that I was annoyed. On the way home the pipe blew off where they hadn't attached the new one properly but knowing now where it was (in the middle to the right of the turbo as you look at the car from the rear) I plugged it back on properly and was away. This is the typically silly things that Lotus owners get annoyed about (just like the turbo wastegate split pin I told you about). wrt being beaten off the lights by a Ford Focus - well shall we say that would never have happened in my day ;-) I think there turbo comes in about 1900rpm so will get the jump on a GT3 until the turbo starts spinning, that may be a whole second later, that's a fair bit of ground until you catch up. Power, weight and all that. To be honest and knowing how close this group is, if there were any known faults the car wouldn't have been sold until they were rectified. I am so terribly shocked and sorry that she's off the road - I only hope that you can get her fixed and back giving you some joy asap. If you want to talk to me, please ring and I'll be as helpful as I can - I want the best for any Esprit and of course you matey. btw I liked your wing mirrors, not sure about changing the spoiler imho (I searched for your threads). Were you serious about replacing the engine for an Audi one ? Best Regards David