skiing

I am jealous on two fronts - both the S1 and the garage!!

Glorious weather for the IOW - enjoy the gin! and fingers crossed on the next steps plan.

I have just had carbs fully re-built and it has new distributor and coil and leads and plugs - it used to be bit of a pig to start when hot but I have not experimented more recently - hopefully it is now much better! I think the leopard skin headrests are a very tasteful mod - one wonders why Lotus did not offer as a standard interior fabric at the time... 😎

I would worry about starting mine 40x on an off - hot starting can be a little uh interesting sometimes... but of course mine is not fuel injected which would help...

I think I can work out who this car belongs to! Or rather two cars - anything else you can share @Suddabym - did you get then to sign your leather seats heh? (one of the cars is I think your one)

Glad to hear you are home - always much better to back in the tender care of Tracey... hopefully they work out what is needed to get you 100% again very soon! Gin is also praised for its medicinal qualities as well of course - perhaps you should invest in one or two bottles?

Get well soon Sparky! I hope it is nothing serious and you will be manhandling an Esprit gearbox on your own, under a car in light drizzle very soon...

I found it very hard to find one of these for my S3 HC N/A engine - eventually getting one from Garry Kemp (via ebay) - a brand new one - but I think he only had one. Lotusbits also said they were planning on making some new ones but I am not sure when or what the final product will look like. Perhaps worth asking them a long with other parts suppliers around? Might be the odd second hand one on eBay - good luck!

Neat installation - I would worry though that bits would start to drop off mine with that quantity of bass... wing mirrors, trim pieces, rear view mirror etc...

I have Konis on the front of my S3 and OE lotus ones on the back but I am not sure you can get them any more - I am happy with Konis - I had the pro-techs before and the adjustment knobs fouled on the suspension and where munched... I don't think (from what I read here) that they are very similar in characteristics to the original armstrongs either... I would try and keep / refurb your rears for sure.

I would have a set of these if possible - my S3 has some completely non standard ones - 500-600 would work for me (if that is realistic).

I think on the dampers - if you have the originals still (Armstrong) then it is worth having them re-built which I think is possible - (there is a thread on here on this) - I wish I had kept my old ones!

As far as I am aware, there are multiple shims which need to be fiddled with to get it to go up and down properly and this a time consuming job - the plastic / nylon guide wheels also wear and jam and I think from what I recall, need greasing to some extent. Some people also put silicon spray or similar in the felt guide channels to help with movement. Also, the relay mod for the window motors so the power is not all going through the window switches can also help in improving speed - there are various threads on this on the forum. I find my windows certainly slow in cold / damp conditions and often need a helping hand for the last 5mm or so - I will be doing the relay mod and a general strip and maintenance this year...

Garry Kemp is known for being bit of an authority on these engines (I am sure there are others) - he is contactable via ebay where he has a parts shop - he has always been a great help for advice etc when I have spoken to him.

Max500 did a v good job on my rebuild for sure

Thanks Andy, Lotusbits dont have any - if i could arrange a courier pick up today / tomorrow would you be willing to part with them? If so could you PM me you postcode so I can see if it is possible / affordable - thank you so much! Or shall have to get from SJ on Monday - thank you so much - Henry

Hi all, huge favour to ask and maybe a long shot but does anyone happen to have one or two of the studs which go through the front top wishbones for an Esprit s3 1981 - They failed to arrive in our parts order and we were hoping to get the car done this weekend - if anyone has any anywhere close-ish to London, I can try and come to get them - you will be rewarded with cash payment / replacement studs / tipple of your choice.... thanks so much in advance

RM310 runs well without an amp - I have one in my Lancia - thanks, Henry

On further research, the airbox of an S3 actually sucks air from the right hand vent in the boot space which is filled via a hose from the left hand ear into the left hand vent in the boot space. The ram air modification changes this of course - but still not as warm as direct from the engine bay I guess!

From what I have read on the forum etc, the key thing as dr doom said is the cold air aspect - Having the K and N filters on each carb without the airbox causes the carbs to suck hot air from a cramped and hot engine bay - apparently retarding performance (and I would guess causing hot running issues when in traffic or not moving rapidly) - this is why most people suggest using the stock air box (sometimes with a sports filter inside - I have a K&N in mine). This means the air feed to the carbs comes from outside the car and is as cool as possible. People also shorten the air feed pipe which goes to the airbox from it's standard circuitous route to get more of a 'ram air' effect for the ear into the airbox. This downside or upside of this - depending on preference - is the induction noise increases.

I have just switched mine to historic and I contacted TFL confirm that it was now exempt and they responded that it was the case even though their site had not yet picked it up from DVLA -

Thanks Andy - I don't need to do mine yet - but it would be good to have the standard Lotus ride if possible

Interested to read this - how are the new SJ shocks working out in terms of ride etc?

yes the washer arrangement etc looks different to mine as well

I seem to remember when fitting the metalastic black ones which attach to the anti-roll bar to the chassis on my 1981 S3, that we had to grease up the anti roll bar (ahem) and I think we put the bushes in hot water to soften a little before (I think) before using brute force to get them on. Cutting them I think would negate their purpose / prevent them from doing what they should do...?