silverfrost

Fully stainless jubilee clips for me all day long, Always use a 1/4 inch drive rachet and socket to tighten then, Folks kill them with screwdrivers lol.

Hi Rob Had forgot that you pulled the engine and box ! I You could always get rid of the rear quarter glass and replace with a large intake/scoop that sticks out and fibreglass it in, it will also make the rear clam more ridgid at the same time. My main concern cooling wise would always be your radiator angle, but this is hard to change due to your air ride set, I personally would keep the cut to underneath the body waistline trim on the rear quarter as when the clam is closed the join looks tidy. You can go plenty of ways with it, use the tailgate hindges and bond the tailgate to the rear end, so its lifts as one piece , or make an ultra light rear end and fit it on lock pins downside it is a pain to remove, I did not get chance to weight the rear lourve, but they are actually fairly heavy, Would be nice if someone could find the mould and just hand lay using a single sheet of glass mat or carbon to make it super light weight. You can loose a lot of weight of the rear end once you start cutting, inner arches, loose the rear bumper. quarter glass etc Look forward to the progress and pics I have seen plastic rear screens used on quite a few esprit race cars, most have massive holes cut out to aid cooling.

Vin plate is missing from under the bonnet looking at the picture ? Love the way the imobilizer key has been put on the rear quarter just by the drivers door so the would be thieves see it had one fitted, so 80s. This will be a great car for someone, just over 6k with 22 hrs to go, it will be a last minute bidders war lol. Hope it gets a project page on here, would be nice to see this one restored, a very complete genuine project imo

Welcome to the forums Peter, The stevens N/A normally aspirated cars had no spoilers, early ones even had black sills. They are very nice cars but fairly rbeare and do not come up for sale often, But as said the GT3 would be the best option, more expensive, but the 2.0 turbo engine is bullet proof, it was late in the production run of the stevens models so benefits from mant advances such as chassis,suspension, interior etc.. Prices are now climbing on the GT3 , but the clean lines, nice alloys make it a great car, Chrome orange on this model looks stunning imo. Good luck on your search, p.s you could always look at any stevens model though and just have the spoiler removed as some folks have done in the past, then at least your search pool is open to all stevens models

I am more concerned about the rear inner arch liner shown in 4.30, looking at those grids, what a mud trap !

Sweet manifold on that lump Barry, is that an SJ product ?

You used sealant on cam covers ? Normally kept away from imo as it can end up potentially blocking the oil pump strainer ?

I do love the new Aero model, I think that is what it is called, Hammond off top gear purchased on a while ago, Also their little 3 wheelers with the spitfire teeth /mouth, painted on look awesome and look like great fun to drive. One of the very few British sports car companies left, that are still under family ownership

New rim barrels look super classy Ian, as does the rest of the car, Stunning

That orange one looks stunning, lots of hard graft and coin to get the silver one to that finish lol, It will be intresting to see what the silver one finally goes for though, projects are pretty thin on the ground now, most are purchased by the restoration companies. especially the early ones. Or Matt on here lol.

Stunning, love the workshop lotus colour scheme also, Rolling chassis looks lovely, lots of hard work and it shows, this will be a stunning car and will reward you with many happy years trouble free hopefully lol. Cant wait to see the body in the paint shop

Fabian will be drooling over this one lol

Rob, Glad you are still cracking on with this, I personally would keep your rear screen, They are 400 bucks to buy new, maybe more expensive to purchase iif the production run comes to a halt. If you ever sell the car they may want the rear glass because as time goes on folks will be buying the converted cars to put back to factory spec imo. I take it you gave Mike at lotusbits a shout to see if he had a lourve ? When you get one, pink stuff or grip tite it on plus drill the bolt holes also. Then run some tigerseal round the gap on the outside, ends up looking very smart . Just for looks Rob or are you still getting heat spikes ? May be worth adding mesh to suit your air intake ears while you are at it.

You can still purchase them brand new from the states, a fellow purchased all the factory spares stock when it shut and builds them to order. As you say they are much like the Esprit, well cared ones demand strong money, but some are absolute sheds. Renault engine is said to be asmatic lol, However i have seen a really nice one on the web that the chap converted to a vw vr6 2.9 engine, extremely good engine and ticks all the boxes regarding noise,power and used lump prices and upgrades that are on offer, only downside is a cast iron block, however i am not sure if the renault engine was cast iron ? Good luck with the search, they are extremely cool cars, they even made them gold in colour towards the end of the production run to try and boost sales, sadly it not work. Also not sure if the film has come out yet, but this normally puts a spike in classic cars as everyone becomes nostalgic and starts looking for them on the web ! Gone in sixty seconds put a good few extra thousand on Mustang fastback prices etc imo.

Welcome to the forums and good luck with the search

I have seen that video before Neil, I am sure i can remember someone saying it was not a real Essex though ?

Not very well parked either ? Looks like the owner was in a rush or sadly broke down maybe and ground to a hault ?

Pop an new coil on it, not expensive and easy to fit they can pack up given a rise in temprature when they are on their last legs,

I am sure it will be fine Fabian, your skills are pretty damn good chap with two Esprit builds under your belt, ok 1 and 3/4 lol , do not underestimate yourself !

Sounds great, Respray should also work out slightly cheaper in the winter months as the body shops are normally less busy that time of year imo. Yes scuffing fresh paint is always a worry, but plenty of padding and an old duvet or such like wrapped around the rear end will put your mind and ease from any potential damage ! Calipso red has always been a nightmare in the sun on old esprits and any red car for that matter lol,

Finally finished the desired design for project Kermit, I tried the wing extensions slightly more narrow but it did not give the same effect. Mixed in some wing, spoilers etc from another kit. Sadly until I get my cars and bits shipped over this is the only lotus fabrication I can do lol. This design will be built on a badly damaged S2 that was stripped for parts by a breaker. Basically the work will be the same as the model, extend the wings and glass fibre in the gap, Sills will be aluminium, Wheels will hopefully be S2 speedlines cut up and built up to 17" and 13" wide rear 10" wide front. Not one for the purists, but the 80s group 5 cars I have a lot of love for the designs. Anyway here are some pics just need to change the design from 1.24 to life size lol.

Good luck with the restoration Dean, The list will always get bigger on a restoration, better to just print off the lotus parts list and then mark what did not need doing lol. Car looks really nice so its a great starting point., what is wrong with the paint, has the red just faded or micro blistered ? Anyway looking forward to your progress and updates.

Could well be just a large collection of moisture, fingers crossed, just put some new oil in her and pop it back in,

Welcome to the forums, stunning looking machine and glad to see it getting used on track

Great work Daniel, Love the Collin Chapman sig on the rear quarter