1981 S3 V8 conversion

[punky]

Congratulations Hilly

Oh boy! I know what that feels like.

Mmmmm. exhaust fumes, the sweet smell of success :yes

[USAndretti42]

I bet that was music to your ears. Well done.

Next step is to drive it.

[Matt-watts]

Congratulations Hilly !

I've been following your progress since you started and before buying my esprit, your motivation and skill are quite amazing

Well done ! and please keeps us posted

Watts

[hilly]

Just realised I haven't posted any pics of the exhaust I had made, so time to rectify that....

The exhaust routing was a challenge as I wanted :-

1) An X pipe due to performance and noise reduction properties.

2) Quiet enough to take on a track at some point in the future.

3) Still retain the boot (trunk) floor so I can keep it looking as OEM as possible and make it a little bit practical.

All these things don't tend to go together. What makes the whole job more difficult is that there in no room above or below the gearbox to run pipes.

After making a model out of plastic pipe and cardboard boxes (see earlier post) I figured out a solution (if a little bit unusual) and got an exhaust fab shop to make it up.

So this is what I ended up with.......

Connection to the ABZ manifolds.

Here you can see the routing over the drive shafts and through the chassis. It misses all the vital organs like oil cooler and gear linkage.

Now we are getting to the business end, as you can see space is tight to fit everything in.

The X pipe in all it's glory, it is a bit damp due to all the bloody rain we have had over the last few weeks.

A close-up of the welding.

The pipe work looks a bit low and vulnerable at the back, but it is higher than the lowest part of the chassis, though I am tempted to make some sort of guard just in case.

The biggest size straight through silencers they could get in was 7" in diameter, and they are not amazingly long either (the twin tail pipes had to go unfortunatly otherwise the boxes would have been even shorter) so I was a bit concerned about noise output levels.

However it is actually quieter at idle than the old Lotus exhaust, which is a result, I guess the length helps (if it was straightened out it would be half the length of the car) keep the noise down. The silencers are also re-packable, so if it does get a bit loud with age I can just put some more innards in.

It also sounds pretty fruity when revved, well it does from the drivers seat anyhow, I don't have a video of it yet as I haven't had anyone to hold the camera while I press the loud peddle up to now, I plan to rectify that this weekend.

And to finish off, here is what the dash looks like at night

Hilly

[fenton]

That looks absolutely amazinggggggggg . Can't wait to see it, hear it, smell it, go green with envy about it, want it and probably a few other things

[Simon350S]

As per usual......

Not an awful lot to say apart from..

NICE...

Simon

[silverfrost]

Looks fantastic Andy,

the exhaust looks great and the console looks well cool a lot better

than the loti one

regards danny

[Günter]

that dash "glows" fantastic , beam me up scotty!

by the way, nice exhaust welding, wish my stock-exhaust would look that good to ...

[hilly]

Right!!!!! 2 updates in a week, you don't get much better service than that!

Quite a constructive week as I got a bunch of stuff sorted.

However, just to prove that everything is not always a triumph (my work mates keep threatening to start an anti-blog of this project as I have screwed up so many times) get a load of this.....

The engine is idling much better now, but I just couldn't get the PID idle value settings right for the VEMS ECU. I scratched my head a bit and decided the fly-back diodes in the stepper chip were not man enough for the job which meant it couldn't hold position correctly. To test my theory out, I wedged an extra diode in the back of the idle valve connector, then I heard this loud POP and the ECU then started emitting smoke

PHOOEY!!!!!!! I had forgotten that the ECU was still powered up and I must have shorted the diode wires while pushing them into the connector.

Stepper motor drive chips don't like short circuits, this is what happens when you do...... spot the hole......

With that chip removed and a new, non-knadgered one fitted it was working again. I then found out while checking the ECU was fixed on my work bench, that the reason it didn't work initially was because the stepper frequency was way too slow. So I blew up the ECU for nothing

Anyhow, moving onto more constructive stuff, I needed to get the hand brake working.

The Lotus rear calipers were totally different to the Hispec units on the car now, so I needed to mod the ends of the cable.

One nice but a bit rusty cable end.

Use an angle grinder to get the end in a shape that would take an M6 thread.

Cut the thread, which was much more difficult than I expected, as it was a right pain to hold.

Screw on the nice shiny (won't stay like that for long) clevis joint.

Yippee!!!!, a working hand brake.

Next the radiator header tank. It is on the car (actually was) but was bodged on to allow it to run, however it leaked like crazy. So I spent an hour today fixing the pipe work and figuring out a bracket to hold the tank instead of bits of wire. I'll make a nice bracket next week when I get some more metal, but here is where it will end up.

Came up with a plan for the exhaust brackets (the only thing holding them up currently is the manifolds!!), again, I am waiting for some metal to turn my ideas into a metallic object.

Also fixed the non-working oil pressure light (the bulb had fallen out of the holder), the fuel gauge (my gauge doesn't work with the Lotus sender) and figured out why the head lights won't stay up (I goofed with the wiring).

And that is about it for this weekend.

To wrap up, here is a vid of the thing being revved a bit as I have had so many requests !!!! Bare in mind that the fuel and ign maps are totally wrong (and my 75 year old dad was having to scrabble around in the foot well to reach the peddle whilst staying out of shot), but it does rev up a bit.......

Hilly

[Bibs]

That sounds animal

Great work Hilly

[fenton]

sounds like a beast, how fast do you think she's gonna go

[hilly]

sounds like a beast, how fast do you think she's gonna go

Too fast !!!!!!

[silverfrost]

Andy,

Sounds fantastic my neighbours are going to hate me when i finally start my baby!

Glad to see you got the rear end sorted as Troy said you should consider selling

it as a kit for people wanting to fit renault boxes!

Great work as normal regards danny :yes

[hilly]

Andy,

Sounds fantastic my neighbours are going to hate me when i finally start my baby!

Glad to see you got the rear end sorted as Troy said you should consider selling

it as a kit for people wanting to fit renault boxes!

Great work as normal regards danny :yes

Ta Bibs, Shane and Danny.

Producing a rear outboard brake kit for the 'G'cars is a possibility, not sure if anyone will go for the cost though.

If you up the rears then the fronts will need massaging as well and by the time you have got 4 discs, 4 calipers, made the brackets, spacers and other bits and bobs you are looking at over

[Simon350S]

Sounds yummy mate....!!!!

Maybe one day soon I'll have a car I can do the very same thing to.....

RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! POP POP POP BANG BBBBBUUURRRBBBBLLLLEEEEEE BBBBBBBBBBUUUUUULLLLLLLLBBLLLLLLEEEEEEEE BBBBBBBUUUUUUUURRRRRRRBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEE

Simon

Edited August 4, 2007 by Simon350S

[Günter]

the sound let me expect a nice deep "broom broom" in load change. It will bee realy funny on a country road... . Cool sound, man!

But Hilly, do you think the pressure in Handbrace cable endpart is still enouth? The metall is now [after grinding an threatening] thinner than in the past, i would expect the holding force has changed?!

Or is the visible spot in the inner end a setscrew? Other way is to shortening it a little bit an turn the wireends seperatly into the endpart plus some tin to hold it

[hilly]

[quote name='G

[Günter]

Ok this sound "high tech"! [can't be cheap; right?]

Hydraulic handbrake; whow!

In fact it was the disturbed-"crimped" force that makes me worry, but if you say it is only some metall removed and hydraulic assisted, no worry at all...

fantastic work, do it so far!

can you post some actual whight data of the whole car? What is you're calculatet performance now, as there is a lot of things done and you go forward to finnish... ?!

Edited August 5, 2007 by G

[Simon350S]

Hey dude.....

If its theoreticaly a hydraulic handbrake is it road legal????

You need a MECHANICAL device, I know this will pass a MOT because it looks like a conventional system.... but if it were to fail while you were away from the car and cause an accident you may have some issues....????

Simon

[hilly]

Hey dude.....

If its theoreticaly a hydraulic handbrake is it road legal????

You need a MECHANICAL device, I know this will pass a MOT because it looks like a conventional system.... but if it were to fail while you were away from the car and cause an accident you may have some issues....????

Simon

It is a mechanically actuated mechanism.

Built into the back of the caliper is a piston (this is why it sticks so far out the back compared with the normal Billet 4 unit) which is operated by the arm connected to the cable.

As the arm is moved it pushes the piston in to islolate and close off the normal hydraulic feed and then continues to pressurise the caliper, clamping the disc. Quite clever as it automatically compensates for pad wear without any complicated ratchets etc.

It is in effect totally seperate to the foot operated hydraulics, instead of using a bit of metal to move the pistons it utilises the fluid already there and is hence legal, I think........

As per usual, there is a disclaimer with the calipers about long term use, but they do have the correct approvals for road use.

Having seen it working I know which system I prefer.....

Hilly

[hilly]

[quote name='G

[Günter]

It was more a case of I was fed up with the Lotus engine dripping oil on my drive

instead of that, you are now the owner of oil spots in your backyard...

More importantly though, I fancied the challange of doing something not done before just to see if I could do it.

Plus I like sweeping up the bits of metal from the lathe/mill.............

Hilly

good attitude , man!

need some setting tool for timing-beld job, but can't manufacture the pins perfectly only with handtools ....

[Simon350S]

It is in effect totally seperate to the foot operated hydraulics, instead of using a bit of metal to move the pistons it utilises the fluid already there and is hence legal, I think........

LOL Like the way you put that....

Simon

[hilly]

Bit more progress this week.

Exhaust mount.

With the only thing holding up the exhaust currently being the manifold, I defo needed something to hold up the back of the system or it won't last very long before it breaks.

As I had to make up my own brackets to line up with the chassis mounts on the Esprit it meant I could use the bolt holes on the bottom of the gearbox to screw a carrier for the exhaust to.

So I started with a 900mm x 300mm sheet of 3mm thick steel sheet and a 1 metre length of 25mm steel box section.

Chop up the sheet a bit and here we have the beginnings of an exhaust bracket.

After welding the 3 bits together I then discovered a flaw in my master plan, I couldn't get the carrier back on as the exhaust is in the way, phooey! So the rear section of the exhaust had to come off, I am SO glad I asked the fab shop to put a couple of joints in it.

With the carrier bolted back on I added the box section to clamp to the silencers and then a bolt on strap across the top to stiffen the whole lot up.

Here is what the finished article looks like with a couple of strengthening webs added and some of the corners chopped off to neaten it up a tad.

I still need to add a couple of bits of metal to mate up with the clamps for the silencers, but other than that it is done.

I have however just realised while doing this update that I didn't take a picture of the carrier with the exhaust fitted, that will have to wait now till the carrier comes back from powder coating.

Hilly

[hilly]

It is all getting very close now, just a few fiddly jobs to do before getting it on the road, the British weather is slowing things up though as it keeps raining

I couldn't use the old Lotus header tank as it is too big to fit in the available space, in fact pretty much most tanks are. I had a good hunt around trying to find something suitable and eventually found the one pictured a couple of weeks ago.

It is the right size, looks nice and even has a sight window so you can see the fluid level, so I splashed the cash and bought it.

Things were not so rosy when it turned up however as the hose fitting were the wrong size, no big deal, I'll just make some that are.

What I didn't spot though was that it doesn't have a pressure relief valve in the cap. I can't just fit one from another car as the thread is totally non-standard, so I have got no option but to make one.

More head scratching and I ended up with this.......

Turn up a valve body to fit inside the cap.

Next machine up a tap washer as the seal.

After a while making up parts I end up with this lot.

All assembled together this is the finished cap. The screw in the top is to adjust the pre-load on the valve spring to get the relief pressure to 13lb/sq-in.

Next the bracket to bolt it to the engine, in between all the rain this weekend I managed to use up a bit more of the 3mm steel sheet.

With that now done I can drop off the next batch of parts for powder coating which should take a week to get back, so with a bit of luck I should be tearing up tarmac soon.

Hilly