1978 Lotus Esprit S2

[Freemason]

Took delivery of my 1978 Lotus Esprit S2 today. Had it transported down from Queensland to Sydney. Here it is just after unloading from the truck:

 

Edited September 11, 2013 by Freemason

[Tocus]

Nice! i just opend the topic below this one (my 78 esprit s2) and it has orginal the same colour

daimond silver,

 

i hope you will enough the car much, is this your first lotus? or did you have ones before?

[Lex Templar]

More pictures please!! Great looking car

[rizla603104]

Looks great!

[Freemason]

Some more shots of the car being delivered in the early morning light next to the Garden Island naval base in Wooloomooloo, which was the only place in the area the truck had enough room to unload it. 

 

This is my first Lotus. Previous owner had the engine rebuilt and body resprayed. Car was imported from the UK around 1995 I believe. Description on the ad was:

 

"Good original car, 2Pac metallic paint, complete engine rebuild less than 50km ago, priced for quick sale"

 

One of the first things I did was remove the yellow stickers on the back and sides. It's also missing the 'Styled by Giugiaro' badges on the sides; might have to get some of those from SJ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2013 by Freemason

[Freemason]

Thanks!

 

You can't really see it in these shots, but it's got a horrible gangsta window tint all over everything but the windshield. It's almost totally blacked out and even from the interior it's pretty dark looking out. I'm pretty sure such an extreme shade of tint is not legal in NSW, so I'll have to get rid of it for the registration anyway.

 

Aside from that I'm very happy with my purchase. Interior is straight, engine looks very clean, it drives great, can't wait to get it registered and start enjoying it! Oh, but clutch is super stiff and heavy, I'm wondering if this normal...

Edited September 16, 2013 by Freemason

[Lex Templar]

Yes tint on an Esprit is a big no! And they are hard enough to see out of as it is. Car looks very tidy.

[GavinT]

Silver, one of my favorite esprit colors. Looks great. Enjoy!!

[simon a-b]

Looks very pretty.  Add one vote for the rear glass, the main reason I chose S3 not Turbo... and ditto on the tint!

The clutch shouldn't be super heavy, worth an inspection...

Cheers,

Simon

[ramjet]

Very nice Antonio. Looks great.

[Loose Cannon]

Great looking S2 (as they all are). Looks like it has lost the body decals during the respray, but at least they have kept the black sills/lower 1/4 for the original look.

 

Also someone has possibly mounted the rear number plate plinth an inch or so lower in order to get the "LOTUS ESPRIT" script on the back. Check some old photos, but it might need raising to be inline with the lights for total originality

[Freemason]

LooseCannon, thanks for the observations. That misaligned number plate surround is going to bug me like hell now that you've pointed it out. Definitely have to get that sorted otherwise it's going to drive me crazy! Judging from pics of other original cars looks like you're right, it should be in line with the tail lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone do the number plate surrounds new? I haven't seen them on Lotusbits or SJ's.

 

I'll have a play on the weekend and see if I can adjust it up a touch.  I'm assuming I can get in there by removing the boards behind the tail lights from inside the rear hatch area. I also noticed the rubber behind my number plate surround is knackered, I'll see what I can do about that as well.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Freemason

[Nelly]

SJ do the numberplate surround - search for "rear number plate plinth" - SJ079B0020, £30.25.  They remanufacture most of the S2 bits in fibregalss and the quality is very good.

 

Its only two bolts which hold it on, so should be easy to either re-drill the plinth or bodywork to move it up.

[Freemason]

Thanks for that!

 

Pulled some bits off today. Discovered that a previous owner has drilled those two outer holes to get the number plate plinth lower:

 

 

 

 

 

Number plate surround and rubber seal have seen better days.  I'll be ordering a new plinth from SJ.

 

 

 

 

 

Chipped paint on window frame, and door sagging like crazy. Lots of work before this is concours ready...

 

Edited September 21, 2013 by Freemason

[Freemason]

I'm wanting to replace the tail light surrounds, found that both sides come apart in two pieces, like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this how it is meant to be, or has mine split? The replacement part on SJ's seems to be one whole piece. On mine the inner part has been riveted in, and the outer surround is secured by self-tapping screws from the back. Is this how the tail lights are meant to be? If not, what do I have to do to get them back to original? I think I need to get two new surrounds from SJS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And how do I get the rear lenses off?

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I also confirmed the original colour of the car: red.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Freemason

[v8vantage]

If the door is sagging then the hinge pins are worn and you will have to replace them. Unfortunately you have to completely disassemble the door to replace them, but look on the bright side you'll have to do that to powder coat the window frames anyway!

 

Roo

http://www.jpsesprit.com/Blog.htm

Edited September 24, 2013 by v8vantage

[Freemason]

New alloy water header tank from http://www.andywiltshire.com

 

Still debating with myself whether to get it powdercoated black or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weight savings:

 

Edited October 4, 2013 by Freemason

[vintaylor]

I say leave it as is .. its a suttle way of giving a better visual in the engine bay ..

 

Here's mine :

 

 

 

By any chance.. if you come across this bracket at any point would you let both Paul Coleman and I what its supposed to be used for?  Either of us can't figure it out!

 

[Loose Cannon]

Can any S2/3 owners confirm if that is how the SD1 light units are held in on? Pop-rivetting brittle plastic lenses seems a bit dodgy, yet the fixings look like they have been on for a long time.

 

On the S2 Elite/Eclat the rear light fixings hold the bumper on, so would not be surprised if this was a period Lotus production method!

[Freemason]

Vintaylor, I'll look out for that bracket! Mark: I'm also curious about the lenses. Seems as you say a very "dodgy" way of fixing them to the bodywork, all rivets and self-tapping screws.

I think I might keep the header tank unpainted, I kind of like the look of the raw alloy.

Oh, and how do I fit thing? Is it a simple bolt on bolt off job? Anything I need to look out for? Is it something a technical ignoramus like me should be able to handle? What do I do with the coolant that's in the original tank?

Edited October 4, 2013 by Freemason

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

 

As far as I am aware there are two threads welded onto the chassis .. Basically disconnect all the hoses and remove the two nuts and it should come straight off.. 

 

Regarding the lenses.. mine were already taken off the car.. But I have followed slewthy's advice and installed self tapping threads that allow the lenses to be fastened to the body using bolts..

 

http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/51780-help-fitting-rear-light-clusters/

[Freemason]

Took the LH ear off today. I could see some rubbish in there that I couldn't get out, so I decided to remove the ear. Undoing the M5 nuts from the inside was the biggest pain in the #$%&*.

 

 

 

 

Looks like a wasp or something decided to make its home inside the air scoop.

 

 

 

 

 

Replaced the rusted bolts and washers with new Pro-Bolt titanium ones:

 

 

 

 

Bolts in:

 

 

 

 

While I was rummaging around all this fell out of the space above the ears:

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone know what it is? Pretty sure it snapped off that red hose you can see on the top there. The plastic/rubber is all brittle and just breaks up in your hands:

 

Edited October 9, 2013 by Freemason

[marcbria]

I believe that is the gas tank vent. It should wrap around to the other side and to a vent. You'll want to replace is before taking it out again. Look up around the big gas tank fill pipe there should be a little connection there is joins too.

 

Brian M.

[Freemason]

Sent the pic to SJ and they've confirmed it's the fuel tank vent pipe, part No A036L0085V. Apparently I need six metres for one car. Where is it supposed to finish up exactly? That silver end piece looks like it could plug into something.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Freemason

[marcbria]

Search the Giugiaro forum, there are quite a few posts about it and how to replace it. Its a very common problem on ours cars for the hose to break down and the passenger compartment to smell like gasoline as a result. On my car, for example a previous owner took the liberty of removing the entire vent system... still trying to figure out how to replace it.

 

Brian