1978 Lotus Esprit S2

[vintaylor]

I'd go ahead and cut it off with a grinder seeing as you have a replacement.

 

Steering column surround looks original

[vintaylor]

not sure if its just me, but do you have a blanking panel between the switches on the left of the binnacle and the gauges in the center?

 

As there should be a vent for the heater over there:

 

Re-posted pete's pic off the forum - Hope this is OK Pete

[Freemason]

Yes, well spotted! This is something the PO did. I've bought a new vent from SJ's, so at some point I'll have to see if I can restore things to original condition. I'd really like to pull off pod and rebuild the whole thing. Hardly any of the dash lights work, some of the buttons are loose,  and I tried to pull out the rusted air vent on top of the pod and it won't budge.

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

The air vent on the binnacle in mine was just pushed in place, you might be able to just pull the thing out or use a screw driver for leverage..so if you ever take the binnacle out it should be very easy to sort out..

Then the plastic air vent that surround that covers it from the inside of the binnacle is held in with silicone :

 

[Freemason]

Tackled a few odd jobs on the car today.

Started putting the rear hatch latch assembly back in after zinc plating:

Installed the re-trimmed steering wheel with new titanium bolts and took the seats out:

Removed these seat rails. I think the PO simply sprayed over the rust, I'll get these zinc-plated as well.

Looks to me like the side bolsters have had a re-trim, no way are they nearly 40 years old!

New titanium bolts, nuts and washers here. The old ones were completely rusted out.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Freemason

[vintaylor]

looks great Antonio, 

 

I love how you took everything up to the next level with all the titanium bolts

[Freemason]

Thanks! I'm a little obsessed with titanium at the moment, have spent a small fortune with ProTi replacing the endless supply of rusted hardware I keep finding on this car.

[vintaylor]

Be careful becuase there is no end to the amount of rusted screws and bolts you will find in your car! haha

[skiing]

What spec (size etc. are the titanium bolts / nuts and washers? I would like to swap mine as well... Thanks

[Freemason]

All different sizes. What I do is remove the bolt and nut then jump on www.protiglobal.com and find something that's a match in the measurements of their 'universal' section. If ProTi doesn't stock the specs I need Probolt is usually second choice. I definitely avoid anything made in China. I like ProTi because their stuff is fully forged and supposedly stronger than an ordinary titanium bolt. Motorbikes is their main market but I find they look good on cars also. Slowly working my way through the whole car...

[skiing]

They look great! - I am thinking gold bolts on a red car... 

[Freemason]

Yeah they look really good once fitted and it becomes very addictive, I can't look at a bolt now without thinking, that needs to be titanium...

 

Gold bolts usually look good on black and red.

 

 

Re-fitted the bonnet stay today with yet more titanium hardware:

 

 

 

 

Oh, and one question, this bracket that holds the plastic container in the background there, is it really meant to be fixed to the wheel arch with screws? The screws are brand new so this looks like something the previous owner has done:

 

 

Edited April 15, 2014 by Freemason

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

 

As far as I am aware the seat rails have plastic wheels in them.. I might be wrong but I would have thought you wouldn't be able to plate them due to the plastic.

[skiing]

My bracket for the washer bottle is situated on the side of the front boot rather than on the arch - so as you look at the car from the front it is on the right (my car is right hand drive) just back from the head lamp mechanism. 

[Freemason]

Hmmm...the S3 front and rear boots are significantly different to the S2, I wonder where other S2s have theirs. I did find this pic of an S1 though which appears to have the washer bottle in the same place you mention:

 

 

Vin, no plastic wheels on my seat rails that I can see, they seem to just slide on grease. I have no idea whether my seat runners are original or not. 

 

 

 

 

They look very similar to the SJsportscars seat runners SJ085U0009 though.

 

Edited April 15, 2014 by Freemason

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

 

They do look original.. might have been my misconception on the runners then.  Does the plating company offer to remove the paint and rust from them too?

 

My plastic container holder is mounted on the side on my esprit rather than on the wheel arch like this :

 

 

but then again the chassis plate is mounted on the wall like this :

 

[Freemason]

My chassis plate is also on the wall like yours, and not on the wheel arch.

 

I found the three holes for the washer bottle. It won't fit though because the previous owner has screwed on those Lucas things in the corner which prevents the bottle from fitting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, my washer bottle appears different, longer and not as wide as ones I've seen on others cars. And the cable is fixed on the side instead of the bottom.

 

 

 

 

Previous owner had a thing for pinning things onto the bodywork such as this thing here.  I wonder what the other holes next to it are for? I'd like to get everything in the front section as it should be and then get the all the holes where the PO has screwed and riveted things in filled and the whole thing resprayed. I think the bonnet interior is supposed to be the same as the exterior, not black.

 

Edited April 16, 2014 by Freemason

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

 

Wouldn't it be possible to unscrew that lucas thing and flip it round.. should be able to give you more access for the washer bottle bracket. My esprit also has those lucas things 

 

Might have to get that E11 sticker for my esprit if its original.

 

The esprits I was looking at all had the boot painted with the same body colour and covered in satin black on the boot floor area

 

Only god knows how many holes I had to fill in on the esprit because of PO's! 

[Freemason]

Thanks Vin, very helpful, as always!

Is your washer bottle like mine or like the S1 pic?

[vintaylor]

No worries,

 

Glad I can finally give advice rather then take it after 5 years on this forum!

 

Can you send me a better picture of your washer bottle .. Mine seems original but it is cracked all over.. Was thinking of getting the replacement from SJ but it isn't original

 

So here is a picture of the mounting holes on my car prior to stripping it :

 

and here are some images of my old washer bottle .. still haven't looked into the possibilty of refurbishing it:

 

 

You can tell how well my esprit was re-sprayed back in the day will all the yellow paint showing through all the brackets etc .. haha

[Freemason]

Looks like the washer bottle bracket has been bent to fit on the wheel arch:

 

 

 

 

After straightening it out on a vise, looks like it fits perfectly in its original position:

 

 

 

 

Washer bottle sits too high now:

 

 

 

The second pic seems to indicate that it's off a Cold War era Audi!?

 

 

 

 

 

So I'm assuming this is something a previous owner has done, and I need to get me a new washer bottle from SJs.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Freemason

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

 

Washer bottle doesn't look like the right size.. its definitely the wrong bottle..

 

The shape on mine is more square than that

SJ's isnt the original unit but it should fit .. Maybe Lotusbits can get you a good second hand one?

[Freemason]

Hi Vin,

 

Lotusbits don't respond to emails, so unfortunately I lose out on that option and they lose out on my money!

 

I reckon I'll get one from SJS, might as well get a nice new one.

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

 

I have the same problem over here in Malta .. You have to call them if you want to deal with them.. Mind you I did buy a few things from Lotusbits in the past..

 

I wonder if the washer bottle can be bought from somewhere else as it looks like a universal fitting

[vintaylor]

Hi Antonio,

 

Not sure if this helps but I managed to take a couple of pics of the washer bottle last night :