esprit17

Update....All sorted, money transferred, invoice received ready for collection on Monday @ Hethel. Pics to follow

Thanks Max, Barclays stopped the transaction so it looks like I'll have to go down the same process. I'll raise it directly with Lotus as clearly this is not an appropriate customer experience. Hopefully they can sort it out to destress the final experience in future

Tring to pay final invoice but Barclays don't recognise the name of the account holder? Has anyone else had this issue? The advise from Barclays is to phone them up to confirm the details and then use Stripe as it affords more protection due to it being done via a debit card rather than bank transfer. Whilst everything looks legit, companies house shows late account submission. I'm paying cash so a lot of cash at stake. thanks

I had my test drive at Lotus Bradford JCT600 at the weekend. As an v8 Esprit owner and have a v6 deposit down on the Emira I thought I'd share my thoughts. Well, overall it was ok as I'm left with mixed emotions and my deposit still remains with Lotus, for the time being. Well known good stuff...the looks and the interior are great. The brakes, and all round visibility including the mirrors are way better than the esprit. Access and egress, especially as a passenger is soooo much easier. The supercharger whine, is something that I would get used to as I think it's an acquired taste. The real problems are threefold IMO: 1) the seat, whilst I understand lotus have dropped by an inch I cannot seem to fit. I know at 6ft 3" I'm at the border line of fitting in the esprit, hence I've dropped the driver's seat and make use of a wedge to support my right leg on long journey's but the Emira is confusing me. There is plenty on adjustment on the seat, I can push it back so that I can run out of leg length to depress the clutch which is impossible in the Esprit unless you're the size of Richard Hammond. What I struggle with his head height, as just where I need to put my head there is a bump covering the rear boot hinge. I hope that I'll be able to drop it an inch so will look to others to see if this is an option 2) Exhaust note, or absence of. I'm sure it sounds great outside but I'm the one paying so I need to be able to hear it over the supercharger. It was progressively louder as you go through the settings but it's still absent for a £80k car 3) Performance was ok, it feels too good a car! It's totally planted on the goodyears let alone cup2s, the chassis is so good that it needs at least another 100bhp to get anywhere close smiles per miles in the Esprit, which is a worst car. To be fair, I'm not looking to drive the car like a teenager, I'm nearly 50 but I do want to feel a bit more of a sensation. I know the i4 is the obvious route for more power but I'm old skool and prefer higher displacement engines. The seat and exhaust I'm sure I can address, the performance we'll have to see. I hope that Lotus support the 1st edition owners like Mclaren did for the MC12C and provided free retrofitted upgrades to improve performance. Anyway just my thoughts

Hi all, Just an update on the clutch/gearbox issue. I finally took it back to garage after it being off the road over the winter and they have diagnosed the problem as being a faulty reconditioned clutch. The car has been left with them as they await a new clutch. To be fair they are covering the costs and train tickets etc back and forth noting that this is the first time that they have witnessed a problem with a 'new' reconditioned clutch. keep you posted

Just spoke to the garage and he'll collect but will charge if its not his workmanship whilst I accept that, as the fault was present on the way home do they no bare the responsibility. Am i now out of touch with real world of expecting good service or am just being unreasonable. He says to take it to a local lotus specialist to diagnose the problem or take the hit with cost of him collecting, shouldn't this just have been picked up by an extended test drive after the work? He suspects that the issue is hydraulic and one of the cylinders is passing. Strange that i did not have this issue before the work and i though that the hydraulic system would not have been touched as the slave cylinder is just unbolted from the bell housing, slave cylinder was replaced a 5years ago. Does anyone else have any thoughts on things to check? thanks all

Spoke too soon, took it out today in the sunshine and after an hour, couldn't get reverse at all. The 1 by 1 of the gears further selection issues so headed home. I'll be calling the garage on Monday to get them to collect. Typical, less than two weeks to the Festival of Speed and was I was planning in taking the car as lotus is the main event. i'll share the feedback

Hi all, I bleed the slave cylinder and it was full of air and crappy dark fluid. Took the car out and was perfect albeit the weather was 15'C cooler than the pervious weekend so i couldn't replicate the condition. . The slave cylinder was replaced a few years back. So one thing learnt, anyone having gear selection issues including problems selecting reverse, should bleed their slave cylinder. This is something I'll be doing as part of routine maintenance from now on and certainly a cheap fix for once 😅 thanks all

Its a 98 so no red hose, I spoke to the garage and they suggested I bleed the slave cylinder. I don't mind doing this as its straight forward and saves driving down the M5 and all that holiday traffic. That said I'm not confident that it's as simple as air in the system...fingers crossed

Hi Tim et all, I collected the car on Friday. I ended upgoing down the reconditioned clutch route with AP plates as JAE system was a 1/3 more expensive after shipping and taxes, logically a better product but no UK support/ reconditioning should I need it in the future. In terms of the regrind price, as it was explained to me. They say they use a specialist who puts the flywheel on a larger diameter grinding stone to deal with the hard spots, they then mill the face step to the correct thickness. This is the only way that they have been successful in dealing with hot spots and thus are able to warranty the work. Anyway, new lotus flywheel, reconditioned clutch, reconditioned turbos ( Turbo dynamics were unable to recondition due to the corrosion/ condition) so they were redirected to turbo technics @£600 each All new turbo hoses, studs and heat shields replaced, B service including belts and some other minor jobs all in an eye watering £7.5K, that's £10K in a year with gearbox work As for the clutch judder, nothing at all, even when pulling away. This is a first of me and unexpected That was all the good stuff, unfortunately I'm about to make the call for them to come and collect the car as it is not drivable. At first, I had not problems with selecting the gears, it was more notchy than before 2nd to 3rd but I hoped that would just settle down on the drive home but then after an hour hit motorway traffic and started to have difficulty going down gears 4th, to 3rd and to second. After an further 2 hours of stop start traffic i arrived home. Selecting reverse gear required me to double declutch when previously it was ok. Decided to leave the car went out for another drive yesterday. At first no problems as i drove for 30mins on the motorway heading for the Cotswolds, sadly it was short lived as off the motorway the problems started again once with going down the gears in a similar way to the first day. As time when on but then I struggled going up the gears, even selecting first was becoming problematic. There were two points 1) i just could not select the gear as it was not there and I did not want to force it and 2) alternatively if I did then the syncros would grind. in our to nurse the car home i had to drop a few gears to drop the revs to get a gear. To prevent any possible damage or embarrassment i stopped for an hour to allow the engine/gearbox to cool. After which, with the engine down at 60'C i started again but could not get reverse, i had to stop the engine then select then start. So i aimed for motorway so lessen the use of the gears. I got home safety. So the question is what is the diagnoses? noting a rebuild gearbox 300miles ago, new input shaft etc syncos, and some gears, new clutch and flywheel Is this an adjustment issue and the fork is not pulling the clutch off, or a faulty clutch (release bearing) or the gearbox? Your experience is and guidance is appreciated :)

Hi All, The Engine is out and gear box split which has exposed flywheel hot spots. Below is the response from specialist which from my point of view gives a clear picture and options. I'm interested on the collective thoughts of the forum on regrind and recondition clutch £1,134 vs new flywheel and ap clutch at £2,200 or combination of the two. Your advice on this is really welcome The cause of the juddering clutch is the "hot spots " on the flywheel. These are clearly visible in the photos attached. We have two possible options. We could have your flywheel re-machined about £295 + vat or we could go down the route of a new flywheel in stock £590 +vat. Your call. I prefer the new option given the state of your flywheel and how bad the hot spots are. There is a chance that the regrind will not last given the differing hardness in the surface created by the hotpots. But that is your call really. As a matter of course we would advise you change the clutch. Either a recon unit about £650 or a new AP racing unit around £1250. Either option should be fine. We are out of stock of the AP units but should have them before the box needs to go back on We can refit the old clutch if you like but we will not warranty it in any way and if it also has hot spots on either of the pressure plates the judder will remain and accelerate damage to the flywheel as you will instinctively attempt to drive around the issue

Im also in at the 10 price

Sorry all, back on the forum and starting to think about all things Esprit again 6 months on from my gearbox / clutch experience. It really P1sed me off. Anyway I'm off to try SJ after 4 years of using another SW England garage. Lets see what Steve thinks to answer the questions above: .pilot bearing in the back of the crankshaft? just stated they needed to fit a new spigot bearing and clean the clutch splines. Where did the replacement clutch come from and did you see it before it was installed? The Clutch is lotus sourced Ap racing and was fitted at 54K the car has 60K now. This is a tough one, is the judder when you put your foot on the clutch or releasing or both? It may be that the plates or drive surface has some contamination which might also lead to some judder. Can you feel any binding when operating the clutch with the engine off, I'm not sure you'd feel it regardless due to the forces involved but worth asking. If you can feel it then I'd suggest that points more to the splines. Without taking it all apart again I don't think you'll really know. I'll check tomorrow when i get the car out but I'm sure that SJ will have a view. Whilst i'm there i've got a list to sort Both turbos need reconditioned - Mike S recommended Turbo technics - just go for a direct replacement or hybird? Oil pipes need replacing as they will not last the removal Engine out seems cost effective route as I need turbos, studs, head shields and belts all doing

Hi all, Had my car in to have some work done at a local independent. My gearbox was rebuilt 8years ago by a dealer with new input shaft and clutch the big ticket items. I was experiencing issues with quickly changing the gears 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 plus the gear lever would move half an inch when going on /off the power. So put the car in to a local independent to have some work done. The clutch was fine e.g. no judder before the gearbox was worked on and now i have significant clutch judder which is just and I mean just about tolerable when moving off but when come back down the gears and using the gearbox I now also get judder which i've never had before? Does anyone else experience this or is it something else? I was told that the garage had significant difficulty splitting the gearbox from the engine and was told that due to this the clutch splines may be damaged and I should consider a new clutch. @£1400, to late to stop the work The clutch was replaced 8 years ago and has 6000 miles on it. Whilst the gearbox work appears good and the grating when quickly moving up the gears has gone I'm a further £2K down and have a less drivable car than I had before. So i'm a bit miffed What's my options, without replacing the clutch or sending it off to PNM to recondition @£644 + VAT thanks All

I've been torn on whether I should write this as I don't want to add to the hysteria but I was similar to some of you posting in my dismissive attitude to this COVID-19 palaver until my brother got it. He picked it up in Austria skiing last week with 12 mates, all of which have symptoms with two being confirmed that rest will not be tested due to change in UK policy and are self isolating. Based on his case I'd not underplay the seriousness of this. He's early forties and fit but lives on his own and that's why its really serious. He's a bloke like most of us on here so pretty crap in keeping in touch let alone when he's ill. He had described his symptoms as just like any post lads holiday comedown. What transpires, he was confirmed as having COVID-19 after attending a local hospital testing booth 2 days prior. Basically the virus affected him to the point that he couldn't move haven not eaten or drank for a significant period of time. He was able to raise the alarm by using his mobile calling me. The emergency services were sent and broke into the property. They found him on the floor in his lounge. He was taken then to the Newcastle RVI Ward19 where he was fully assessed and given fluids. He was released a day later after the hospital felt that he was well enough to look after himself, we as family had a monitoring plan and there were as you'd expect higher priority cases. The performance of NHS teams were great but it was clear from conversations that they are learning on the job and don't have all the answers as yet as its still early days. Look who knows what could have happened if he was unable to make the call but to you all, have a good think about loved ones on their own and make sure that you have some sort of agreed monitoring with them. From my experience its people on their own irrespective of their age that are also at risk from this virus. Hope this helps you all.