thom_77

Lotus made its recommendation for the NCT replacements when they went out of production; they recommended P6000's... but now they went out of production also in the proper sizes. I know that Kumho makes the Ecsta ASX in the proper sizes, which is an UHP V-rated tire. I've been thinking about switching over to them as I've heard good things about Kumho in general, and the options are limited at this point. http://www.kumhousa.com/Tire.aspx?id=b8040f9f-7760-4f75-87e5-6cccb4ac8e1e&cat=24

Yeah, no... it wasn't there before the clutch was done this second time. The rear brakes were done about three weeks prior though. I mean, like I said, there was always an occasional squeak, but not constant like this. Anyway, I brought it up this morning, and went out for a drive with my mechanic and he heard it as well. He applied a little bit of handbrake as we were driving and it seemed to change the pitch so we were thinking that it maybe had something to do with the rears. Went inside and put it up on the lift to have a better look, and while he didn't see anything that would obviously point to a squeak like that, he did see something with the rear calipers that he wanted to adjust. He showed me and explained it to me but it kinda went over my head. Something about a pin and something sliding out of place. I could see what he meant, I just forget the actual names of the parts. Anyway, he said that he had an idea to fix it, so I left it overnight and I'll connect with him in the morning. Make any sense?

Shopping trolley? No, its the latest sound my car likes to make. So I finally picked it up today, after having the new, new clutch installed along with the new air intake hose. I decide to take the car out for a nice long drive, and notice some squeaking. Hmm. So I roll the windows down all the way to try and see if I'm imagining things, and nope, its squeaking like crazy. I say 'it' because I really don't know what is doing the squeaking. Its just extremely irritating and definitely noticeable. Think old rusty shopping trolley. I've always heard the occasional squeak, but not like this. Its not the suspension, because it doesn't happen on bumps; its more of a rolling noise, and happens regardless of how fast I'm going (I went through a tunnel at speed and still could make out the sound), but it seems to be way more noticeable below 20mph or so... although that could just be because the engine/wind noise isn't as bad. I'm going to bring it in tomorrow for the shop to have a listen, but any ideas what I could be looking at? My rear brakes are brand new and my fronts are about 75% new, and all the calipers were bench tested. Maybe an adjustment is necessary? The noise doesn't stop or change upon braking though, only when the car comes to a complete stop. Bearings? Something need some lubricating? Arghhhh.

I think that everyone would agree that I probably have the dubious honor of winning this little contest. According to my best guess off the top of my head, I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 in parts and labor. I'd have to check my records though, just to be sure. But that just means I can add $30k to the price if when I want to sell it, right guys? Hahahahaaa... just kill me now.

On an Esprit, the body isn't integral to the chassis, so the glass roof doesn't effect the stiffness or handling of the car. The only thing is that it might be slightly heavier, but not enough to be consequential, I would imagine. Beyond that, I've been in a glass-roof Esprit and it really does add greatly to the driving experience.

Yes, I did buy a new intake pipe which was delivered to them last week... and their parts department promptly lost it. Soooo they're buying me another one of those as well. And I know they have the workshop manual too... because I gave it to them! But yeah, they've actually been in contact with JAE and Dave Bean with a lot of the work in general, particularly the turbo replacement. I'm just baffled by all this. Literally everyone I know is telling me to just sell the friggin thing at this point and put myself out of my misery. Sparky said he'd be in touch with me next time he can make it to NYC, so I'm definitely going to take him up on that offer as soon as possible.

Ok, update number two: Put the shop in touch with Dave Bean Engineering, who sold us the mounts in the first place. As it turns out, there is a set of large washers that are to be installed with the mounts, which were not installed. My shop said that the car didn't have them when I brought it in the first time, and they're not overly familiar with the setup so they didn't know to order them the first time around. This caused the new mounts to break, apparently. So thats that. Anyway, they've worked out what needs to be done and are going to be ordering new ones and installing them free of charge for me. As for what this had to do with the clutch burning out, I have no idea. I'm just as well to let them think that the bad mounts effed up my clutch, if it means that they're de facto responsible for the failure completely. Which they are either way, but still. Soo yeah. Thats the story at this point. I literally have no idea what to do to make this easier... I am a part of the local Lotus owners club, and they have recommended a mechanic to me, but he's pretty far away and has a loooooonnggg waiting list for even a diagnostic. Like, several months. I do intend to have him give the car a once over though as soon as I can get on his calendar though. Most of the club people are in New Jersey or Westchester, and its almost impossible for me to set aside enough time to get out there just to deal with my car. Sooo I bring it to this shop, which is across the street from my office... and like 50% of the time everything is fine. But the other 50% turns into some vast ordeal. Like, they rebuilt my carbs and did my timing and it all runs wonderfully. And at least they gave me a nice new Porsche to drive while its being worked on (blasphemy!). But its really a tough situation now... I've spent an ungodly amount of money chasing the dragon with this car... more than enough to buy a very nice Esprit V8 or a near-perfect S4. I mean thats kind of irrelevant as I bought the G-style because I wanted it, not because I thought it was the cheaper option, I'm just thinking that maybe I'd actually get to drive the thing occasionally had I bought a newer one. I dunno.

Funny you should ask, because I was just about to start a new topic on this, as I spoke to the shop about 5 minutes ago. So we came to an agreement that they'd replace the clutch for me in the spirit of our working relationship (i.e. without actually admitting they did something wrong), which is fine with me, as I just want the car fixed. The parts were ordered (disc was on backorder so it took a little bit of time for everything to arrive), but they installed this week and was planning to pick the car up tomorrow. Anyway, I got a call from the mechanic this morning telling me that as he was finishing up the installation, he noticed that my BRAND NEW motor mounts are collapsed now also. We put these on at the same time the clutch was done, so they only have less than 500 miles on them as well. The mechanic said that the rubber in them had completely deteriorated, likely because they were old parts. Now, he has a theory, which is that the bad mounts could have contributed to the clutch wearing out prematurely. He had an anecdote about an old Chevelle he owned a long time ago that he burt out three clutches on within a two month period because his motor mounts were bad. It sounds like that could make sense, but the Chevelle was a mechanical clutch. So really I don't know anything else right now beyond the fact that I need yet another set of motor mounts. I have a call in to the parts supplier who sent me them (Dave Bean Engineering), and I hope that they'll replace them without charge now. Sooo yeah. Thats the situation as of right now. Are there better mounts out there? Polyurethane or anything instead of rubber?

The seller keeps referring to it as an S2 though?

Hahahahaa I've had mine for a year and have yet to put 1000 miles on it!

Hey everyone - Since the car is currently getting its clutch done (again), I was going to order a new turbo intake hose for them to install while its in there as well (seeing as my current one is made mostly of duct tape). The parts supplier said that they're nearly $200 though! How can a four foot length of flexible hose cost so much? Are there cheaper/better alternatives??

Out of curiosity, was this the red one that's been on Ebay intermittently for the last year or so? Located in Atlanta GA, I believe? That looked like a fantastic car... He had the ad taken down when I purchased my car, otherwise I would have probably gone for it myself.

I didn't know that Goodyear made a Z-rated in that size?

It's the original Jupiter Red. Its actually a metallic with a clearcoat and looks really great. Rare too, as far as I can tell. And yes, I believe you're right about the Federal requirements, which is why I think they lowered mine. Yeah, the ride is extremely harsh in my car. I can't drive over cobblestone streets faster than 5-6mph, and if I hit a pothole it will shake the car so hard it switches the wipers on. Is that normal?