Jumpin Right In

[bigmike208]

I traded a custom Titan for "sweet" now that she is home I have noticed a few things, oil pressure high upon start then drofts to zero when idling and 1/2 way point when in throttle,oil leak coming from I do not know yet and antifreeze under transaxle. The turbo boost gauge doesn't work and the red light on the dash binnacle is red(bottom one on right side of binnacle, has a snowflake design) The car starts fine, when warm it kicks down to idle and it is fast and shifts well. I am going to pull the engine and transaxle and rebuild them. Would like to know if I should go through it all or try to fix what is broken. Also would like to get more H.P any ideas would be great, 350-400HP would be perfect.

Thank You all in advance.

P.S. I need a workshop manual and owners manual 1991 esprit turbo se

[Drfatz]

I ventured down this road starting about 9 months and LOTS of $$$ ago. I bought a wrecked SE from a guy in Illinois and decided to get 400 bhp out of her Unlike you my car was totally apart when I got her. Since yours is currently running I would fix all the problems I could now before you start the rebuild for your bound to create many more issues when you start changing things and upgrading. As for the light on the dash I believe that is your ice warning light? When I removed my interior I just pulled out the entire ice warning system (who drives this car in the winter anyways? )

The boost pressure gauge actually runs off of a sender unit which is back in the fender well on the (US) passenger side. These things are junk so I just installed a new VDO mechanical gauge and ran my own pressure line up to the front.

Can't help you much with the oil pressure problem, though the mechanical sender is inherently finicky although it sounds like you have other issues as well.

If you decide to upgrade fuel lines, turbo, exhaust etc hit me up, I just went through all of that and can make your life a lot easier.

There are a lot of great people on this forum that will help you out...Good Luck!

-Graham

[bigmike208]

I ventured down this road starting about 9 months and LOTS of $$$ ago. I bought a wrecked SE from a guy in Illinois and decided to get 400 bhp out of her Unlike you my car was totally apart when I got her. Since yours is currently running I would fix all the problems I could now before you start the rebuild for your bound to create many more issues when you start changing things and upgrading. As for the light on the dash I believe that is your ice warning light? When I removed my interior I just pulled out the entire ice warning system (who drives this car in the winter anyways? )

The boost pressure gauge actually runs off of a sender unit which is back in the fender well on the (US) passenger side. These things are junk so I just installed a new VDO mechanical gauge and ran my own pressure line up to the front.

Can't help you much with the oil pressure problem, though the mechanical sender is inherently finicky although it sounds like you have other issues as well.

If you decide to upgrade fuel lines, turbo, exhaust etc hit me up, I just went through all of that and can make your life a lot easier.

There are a lot of great people on this forum that will help you out...Good Luck!

-Graham

hooray on the great people(like you) on this website. I finally got my workshop manual and hopefully plan to remove the engine in the next 2 weeks (business allowing) I got a nasty oil leak somewhere and my turbo gauge is acting funny. seems to run fine, but I guess I wont know untill she is all set-up. I would appreciate any suggestions on what to do to her and get the most bang out of her.

Mike

[t70]

I agree with DraftZ. If you have the car in basic runing order and all the little bugs fixed first, then when you modify it you won't be wondering what you did wrong to create these little bugs.

[tjs98jetta]

hooray on the great people(like you) on this website. I finally got my workshop manual and hopefully plan to remove the engine in the next 2 weeks (business allowing) I got a nasty oil leak somewhere and my turbo gauge is acting funny. seems to run fine, but I guess I wont know untill she is all set-up. I would appreciate any suggestions on what to do to her and get the most bang out of her.

Mike

I have an original owner's manual for my 1991 SE that I'd be happy to copy for you if you still need one. Where are you?

[Drfatz]

hooray on the great people(like you) on this website. I finally got my workshop manual and hopefully plan to remove the engine in the next 2 weeks (business allowing) I got a nasty oil leak somewhere and my turbo gauge is acting funny. seems to run fine, but I guess I wont know untill she is all set-up. I would appreciate any suggestions on what to do to her and get the most bang out of her.

Mike

The boost gauge runs off of a transducer that sits behind the passanger (US) side gas tank up in the body. I removed mine entirly and ran a boost line up to a new VDO gauge in the dash. If your gauge is acting funny it is most likely a failing transducer or a bad connection to the transducer.

As for oil leaks...I just rebuilt my car and it leaks I have a nice little leak coming from the plate where the turbo oil feed and oil pressure sender connect to the block.

Finally, if you rebuild the engine and need some shims I might be able to help you out for I have a few extra.

-Graham

[lotus4s]

What are your cylinder compression readings now?