Another esprit to return from the grave......

[Günter]

yeah..that type of is more like it

workspace seems to be good enough for engine & gearbox and at least exhaust work.

Would say with the small 'quarter light' bonded in (made out of polycarbonate too .?!) could add more stability on the weak flaps above fuel-tank wrist-line.

An 'pin' on each rear end corner and one on every side next to the fuel-tank bay could also help on relocation if it comes down. If you go and concept the car for an 'stronger' engine with serious BHP -would an full cage not be of use too ? Especially as you can use that for an additional stiffer support to the clam hinges on the rear roof line.. . As you already mentioned that there some work on the rear door-rest and support bar needs to be done too.

best wishes !

[lotusross]

I'm getting some ideas now too..... that looks like a really good idea.

But anyway - to save weight - you may want to consider using a plastic inner fender instead of the fiberglass ones that were originally there.

GM used them in Corvettes - an inner liner for the wheel well.

That would save weight.

[silverfrost]

I'm getting some ideas now too..... that looks like a really good idea.

But anyway - to save weight - you may want to consider using a plastic inner fender instead of the fiberglass ones that were originally there.

GM used them in Corvettes - an inner liner for the wheel well.

That would save weight.

Hi Jason,

Had already done that mate, first thing i chopped offf They weight loads! and i mean loads. Think im still going to cut the rear section out and mesh it but dont want to at the moment for stability reasons, One thing that i do need to start thinking about is how to keep the bloody thing up! No room in the cabin for my bit of long wood Thing tailgate struts will be a pain and cause to much flex, Maybe some sort of telescopic pole me thinks.

Will have to see whats the weights like when the window section, quarter glass area is done im going to use plexi glass through out the car bar the drivers window and windscreen, and may be leave the firewall one glass to be on the safe side!

Regards danny P.s with a V12 under the hood you could defo need this to work on the engine, but dont hold me responsable for butchering a decent condtion car

Regards danny

[lotusross]

No - I think it's a good idea - Lotus should have thought of it - but it probably cost too much to do in production.

I believe the silver show car was set up like that.

The idea of a telescopic pole is probably your best bet - McClarean used it on their MG6 Road car back in the 60's. Same type of hood opening.

Jason.

[silverfrost]

Hi Guys,

With the weather been decent today pulled the car out to get some whole car images so I myself and others can see what it looks like as a whole! I think it looks pretty cool seems to suit the G car wedge shape and when

the engine and transmission get installed it should make it look a bit meaner Anyway here are some full veiw pics!

The more i look at the thing the more its becoming a track car and not a road car, Thing for the time been i may change my priorities and instead of finishing it all for the road, just get the engine in, brake conversion, some bodywork, quick paintjob and thrash it just on the track

Regards danny

[mike_sekinger]

Danny,

You´re doing such a grand job on this one

I absolutely love the front hinging clam and look forward to seeing the engine that will grace this beast.

Cheers,

Mike S

[silverfrost]

I absolutely love the front hinging clam and look forward to seeing the engine that will grace thi

[Günter]

those pictures are just what I meant with turn it with the other side up !! Yeahhh ..great 'race' feeling....like it

Sidenote, as I hope your not angry about my steady suggestions: You mention that you need to have an support holding the clam up ?! What if -in case of you can fabricate it easylie , to use some sort of 'hinge/support-bar' combination. Something that is attached to the GRP-section (or probbably the frame bar) on the side of the existing fuel-tank bay. It goes up half way, does have an hinge point in the midle and the next part goes up the other half way up to the profile were your tailgate will be fitted (laminatet) in stable. If you calculate the available space next to the engine heads (in the hope the engine will not be an monstrosity wider that the existing frame dimensions..) this construction should fold down and is placed just on the side. You will need to have some sort of 'savety lock' in it ...but basically it works like the sliding hoot supprt bar as seen on the front hood of old Esprits. just not as an conception with two profiles sliding one in the other, more like an foldable 'folding rule' with only two sections

[silverfrost]

Hi Gunter,

Your suggestions are more than welcomed chap along with everybody elses, more brains are better than one, Also i would also probably still be makeing hindges for the back end if you had not persisted and im really glad you did, it looks 100% better opening that way. As for the hindges yes that may be a good way, I know what you mean as the old triumph spitfire front end use to use one!

regards danny

[saggitarius]

Hi Danny

To the question of a pole to hold the rear clam up; just looked at a friends custom Citroen 2CV, to discoveer he used a telescope fiberglass "walking stick" that are popular in Norway.  When you twist them they lock/unlock.  In his case he only connected it at the upper end (by flattening it a bit, drilling it and putting a bolt through it) while the lower end was free to be placed somewhere solid in the engine compartment when erected.  I guess your clam will be heavier than his bonnet, but if the force is applied end on it will manage a lot.  If you need something sturdier maybe one of those poles used for 500W garage lamps?

Anyway it's fun to see the progress on this.  "Take it all the way out" :-)

Geir

[lotusross]

Great work - keep taking and posting pictures please -

Looks like I will be having another project this winter before I send it out for paint.

I love it - this would look awesome on my car.

Jason.

[silverfrost]

Great work - keep taking and posting pictures please -

Looks like I will be having another project this winter before I send it out for paint.

I love it - this would look awesome on my car.

Jason.

Yes mate will do, have to agree with a V12 under the hood your car would look awesome with this mod,

Regards danny

[ian4455]

Danny,

Nice Job, looks great with the rear end and going to make working in the Engine bay much easier.

[silverfrost]

Hi all,

Just a small update on the project and a few jobs done, Still removing bits from the car to save weight, The heater matrix,heater blower etc have been ditched, the bonnet has been removed and stripped of all weight, I have seen on a lot of the esprit track cars a flat piece of perspex has been used on them for the bonnet and this looks strange to me as the car looses some of its charector, so once the bonnet was off i removed the metal hindge plates and also the fiberglass inner skin which actually weights a hell of a lot and the end result is a nice thin bonnet that will be held down by four bonnet pins!

The next thing i have looked at for weight saving is the glass, The car had been used for sprint/hill climb etc and had been fitted with some plastic glass on some of the windows and had not aged well, I have now removed all the glass and will be replacing with polycarbonate clear plastic, very strong,very light and scratch resistent to a certain extent due to a added material on top. Also was going to leave the windscreen glass and while removing it for the prep and paint broke the bloody thing along with many other words came out when i saw the crack appear! So im tempted to use the lexan polycarbonate for this to and under most track laws you can use this stuff as long as its at least 5mm thick. Just not keen on how it will look afte the wipers have been used a few times, but the weight would be a bonus also if its bonded back on the same as the normal screen the cars body strengh should not be affected.

Another weight save is I have removed the headlight motors and binned them, I know i will still need the light but have an idea to retain the function but save the weight, Im going to use 5mm diameter alloy rods with unions on the end to operate the lights, this will simply be a on rod from the cockpit to another long diagonal rod connected to the lights, when pushed it will lift the lights and will lock into place to keep the lights up! Quite looking forward to making this set up as it cuts down the electrics and saves weight! just aiming for washer bottle, brake servo, and brake and clutch master cylinders under the hood and thats it!

Will get some pics of the pile of partsand excess fiberglass that are piling up, nned to weight it all at some point to see what it is, The rear clam frame is going well will post some pics of the new layout when its finished.

Regards danny

[silverfrost]

Well, Its been a while since this thread has been updated and just to let you all know i have not been idle im updating with a litle post, The big change to the car is the colour its now green/black its a ral colour and was painted with high density gloss roller! £35 for two litres and they can pretty much get any colour! no primer needed just flat and prep the body as you would normally do and roller away, between each coat flat etc and very good results are acheived, the product is rustoleum combi colour, you just mix it with normal white spirit to thin as required. This was a simple solution for a track car due to the very good finish and not having to move the car to and from the paintshop plus you can just paint bits when you need two, plus its very cheap,

Another set of rear wheels have been added as 8 inches where just to thin when it came to tyre sizes so the rears are now 11 inches by 15 , the tyres fitted at the moment came with the wheels and will be changed out for 295 50 15 and the fronts will remain standard wheels but the tyre will be wider, I had even though about putting the old rear wheels on the front but they would stick out a bit to much

All the windows have know been fitted the cabin firewall is still glass for fire safety reasons but everything else is 5mm polycarbonate. the little track mirrors have been added and the bonnet is now held down by bonnet pins due to the bonnet been stripped of its shell to save weight! The clamshell still needs finishing and i purchased it as it will save me a lot of time on fab work, just needs some fiberglassing on the bits by the b post that are to short. Have been getting loads of parts but dont have much time at the moment but its progressin

Also have had some number stickers made up for the bonnet, doors etc they look really nice, will also maybe run some white stripes down the car..........but have not decided yet, will be nice when its all one colour. Engine wise the new engines ready to go in when the sump gets welded.........but its when it gets done i dont know! have been waiting ages...

Edited October 9, 2010 by silverfrost

[silverfrost]

Hi,

Have changed the colour scheme slightly, Had been playing on my mind for a while to make the car slighty more track car like, Well after getting some number stickers made up by a local sign company and had a thought about viper stripes which to be honest i did not like the though of just two stripes running over the car, Found these online and are three part stripes and are a bit like like the new lotus race car design,

So with all these stickers decided to have a bash and lay them, some parts wet layed, some just stuck down normally, Don't really want to go to mad with graphix just a classic look was what i was after, don't think it suits the car to bad ... what do you guys think..

Also trying to source some slicks at the moment which is proving difficult, Have decided on these as the car will be trailored to tracks so car tyres are pointless and slicks also look the dogs dangleys and perform well. Also starting to look at using rose joints in the suspension rather than bushes,,,not sure that's going overboard though

Regards danny

[skiing]

Looks great - where did you get your rear wheels? are they new or just refurbished?

[silverfrost]

Hi Henry,

The rear wheels where purchased second hand, luckly they are in good order and where simply polished and came up well, Also they are five stud and i was able to use the slightly later S3 hub as my early turbo had the four stud, have kept the 4 stud 7" inch essex alloys on the front. You can no longer purchase these wheels from compomotive i.e you can get split rims still but not the old style with more outer bolts.. I have kept the old rear essex rims for this pursose as the car is for the track and accidents happen.

Really gutted i did the green colour now with lotus coming back in to F1 in black and gold. Have not painted the rear end yet so make go back to nice shiny gloss black with gold livery........... Depends how hard the decals are to remove Ebay is your best bet but they are rare also try race car forums etc. Still after slicks but they are hard to find in 15" wide profile as the tyre size falls into the GT40 race car tyre size category which means £320 a tyre I boot my whole v8 for less than that!

Regards danny

[red vtec]

Where did you getthe rear bit with Bury Road Garage on it? I used to live near that Garage in Tottington!

[silverfrost]

Hi Chris,

Fleabay, It had been on there for donkeys, and as the back end of the black esprit had had the spolier removed and glassed, The yellow one had the spoiler glassed in so it waas smooth and already had quarter glass/plastic built in £100. The postage was £200 which is what put people off, however I collected myself, six hour round trip with a big yellow rear end strapped to the roof rack of my estate car! It has saved me loads of prep time and also has the old light clusters so i could bin the non origanal ones that came with the black car.

The guy i purchased it from was Nick Warren aka Lancia4wd on ebay, Nice chap have never had a drama with him, my silver esprit and Hillys Red esprit where purchased many moons ago from him aswell. He often sells project cars, I know somebody had a problem with buying a silver sports 350 a while ago.

But Nick is not a Mechanic or car exper and he has never said he is, He has a rather good knack for getting his hands on old esprits! And thats brilliant if your after a project car for restoration but they are always sold as seen, Decent friendly chap and have never had a drama with him, same as many other people on the forum.

Regards danny

[LOTUSMAN33]

I have used Nick before too, as Danny said he is a sound guy and easy to deal with. I bought one of my JPS Esprits from him and he had loads of other cars in his barn. If anyone is after parts he is worth a try.

Your car is looking great Dan and love the wheels, I had similar on my first S1 about 15 years ago which was dressed like a Turbo.

[wayneb911]

Danny F***ME i been missing out this year. Awsome project once again. Keep up the good work. Would love to catch up some time and see bothe the cars.

All going well i will be building a new workshop in the next few months and then looking for my next Esprit.

Regards

Wayne

[silverfrost]

Hi Wayne,

Glad to see you back mate and hope everythings sorted, would be good to catch up sometime mate, Hope you get hold of another project soon chap,

Have not done much on this new project for a while , Tempratures to low to paint or fiberglass! Also tempratures to cold for my enthusiasm, will all kick back into action when the weather gets a bit warmer

Regards danny

[wayneb911]

Hey Danny

Just wondered how much this cost you? Anyone know of any as Hilly says "BASKET CASES" LOL

Wayne

[silverfrost]

Hey Danny

Just wondered how much this cost you? Anyone know of any as Hilly says "BASKET CASES" LOL

Wayne

Wayne, there is a s3 on pistonheads that for sale, its in a pretty poor state but not as bad as this one was, Think its nick who selling it, give him a shout and see what he would let it go for, or if he has any other cars in the pipe line,

Regards danny