Saving an Elite

[esprit s2]

Have had my Elite project for about a year now. Progress has been slow but fun!

Comments and thoughts welcome.

[matk]

Thats going to take you a while but well done!

[GavinT]

Hi Paul,

Good for you for getting stuck in. Sure it may take awhile but it'll be so satisfying when things start coming together again. Keep up the momentum.

[Stokey]

Hi Paul, Happy New Year!!!!!!

Progress on my resto has been painfully slow as well So far since we last spoke I have fitted a re-cored radiator, new fans, new tyres, stripped out the seats & carpets, replaced one side of carpet, half sorted the headlamp vacuum system, got the indicators and hazards working, fitted new shockers on the rear, new coil springs on the rear &refurbed the rear drums.

Sounds a lot but believe me, with moving house, I have struggled with finding the time to spend on her.

Will hopefully post some pictures in the next few weeks.

Jase

[USAndretti42]

You may not have made much progress but it looks like you have done a lot of work. Interesting photos. I hadn't realised the doors were such a funny shape at the front where it goes forwards past the A post. And it was interesting to see the heater layout. Shame it's been left to corrode so much. Congratulations on undertaking the task of putting one of these back on the road.

[Kimbers]

Holy crap! If you finish that then I will shake you by the hand! Some of those parts are so rusty it looks like its been under the sea!!

[mat grant]

Hi,

Man that is rusty! I thought I had a lot to do on mine! Good luck with the restoration....

Cheers, Mat.

PS - there is one photo i can't even work out what it is a photo of, it's so rusty - and I've stripped my eclat chassis and rebuilt the car with an Excel chassis, replacing all the bushes along the way.... There is a photo of the passenger side of the car with the door off, and a can of WD40 sitting on the tunnel cover - the photo below that, what is it???

[Loose Cannon]

ebuilt the car with an Excel chassis,

That's the way forward methinks, you could end up with a useable daily driver at the end of that

[esprit s2]

Mat, that picture was taken from the rear of the car, you can see the drum on the left of the pic, the nut around the top/middle is one of the body bolts/nut, then the bit going off to the right is the spare wheel holder frame.

I've bought a new chassis from Lotusbits, a galvinised S2 one. I want to rebuild the car as close to its original spec as possible.

The wife helps out when I need an extra pair of hands which is nice!

[Mark Blanchard]

Hi Paul,

Good luck with your restoration. Hope you don't eat into the Esprit money bringing it back to life (when your Esprit gets sold).

By the way, is your Elite in Roman Bronze?

Here's Ian's old 503 in Roman Bronze (he sold it for £2k).

And here's the Boss in what looks like the same colour.

[esprit s2]

That looks fantastic! Mine is "Roman Bronze" or brown as I like to call it.

[Mark Blanchard]

I was told it was quite a rare colour.

[eliteman]

Waw! You are brave my friend but i am sure it will be worth it in the end. Good luck, i think the bronze/brown looks good too. Look forward to more pictures in the comming weeks. Liam.

[The Nut]

Paul,

Brave man, can I borrow the wife to help with my head, ( see engine & Ancilliaries / Gearbox - Eclat Headgasket. ).

It a lot of work but enjoyable in a funny way, not to sure why yet, which is a bit worrying. Keep the photos coming, yours must be one of the worst I've seen.

Best regards to all,

John

[esprit s2]

Of course you can John, PM me your address and I'll pop her in the post.

I'm really enjoying working on the car at the moment and I'm sure it'll get even better when I start building the new chassis up. Can't wait to get back to the UK so I can get cracking!

Jase - good to hear about you progress buddy, you should start a restoration thread or blog as it would be good to see exactly what you've done.

[Stokey]

Will do Paul, Glad to hear you are OK!

I will get some photo's on here this weekend.

Jase.

[esprit s2]

Some chassis prep today, nothing major.

Jase - still waiting to see what you've been up to!