My Esprit V8 project

[V8-ESPRITS3]

looks like could be the same car

[silverfrost]

I have clam shelled both ends of one of my esprits Rob     To do the above in that picture for road car would offer no gains imo , as this is one argument folks have with the old GT5 G shaped cars,  Once you start building a car like this it is no longer an esprit,   The chassis and suspension to me is the most important thing on the esprit, Then its decent looks.   Once you start changing these they are no longer an esprit as the suspension and chassis on the above car none of it is the esprit anymore. 

Major chassis change that you are on about seems madness and will also require the car to be re checked before road use and also for insurance purposes.  My advice would be and take this with a pinch of salt ! ditch the air ride, fit normal adjustable suspension, get the audi v8 fitted and enjoy the car    

But you are like myself and enjoy projects so you probably will go ahead lol  

 

P.s if you are bothered about the tyres rubbing and getting it lower,  it will be easier to remove the inner wheel arches and glass them higher or put customer liners in than having to reweld and adjust the whole chassis imo !

Also rob ebay has a turbo body shell for sale at the moment,  its only at 100 bucks at the moment,  but if you have the storage space,  I would buy this as you can cut this up to your hearts content and try out ideas rather than cut your s3 up.  Way better to practice on a bare shell than your car,  Even more so now with the current prices these cars are going for imo. 

[V8-ESPRITS3]

yeah I may bid on the turbo shell if it stays at a low price you must spend hours on ebay looking for stuff!

do you have any pics of the clams you done? the rear looks tricky was going to have it on hinges like the tailgate so both could be opened, but I think the body would need to slide out a little to have clearance.

I have a full roll cage but may only fit just the rear half, this would help with mounting the hinges and gas struts. I have pics of a pink turbo race car that had clams but they lifted off.

 

 

[silverfrost]

Haha,   No i do not spend hours on ebay lol,  I just know what keywords to use to find the stuff quickly that may intrest me !    i think the shell will go for low money as shells are always a pain in the arse to store,  That said for that kind of money it would be worth going to Bristol armed with a cutter, chopping the roof to use to de sunroof a car and get the windscreen out, then drop the rest at lotus bits for someone to use as repair sections 

I have a few pics on flash stick i think somewhere, will try and dig it out one of the days,  sadly i lost a load of photobucket pics even before the almighty photobucket fxxxked up everyones projects thread around the world sadly 

It is better to show the conversion with pictures than explain it,  not hard on the rear end and no you can away without a sliding action, you can use the hinges but they need extra support as the fiberglass roof corners take to much strain.  Front is easy just think GT40    same as no need to slide, you just need to make the body cuts in the right place for it to work but still  look asthetically pleasing to the esprits natural form. 

The esprit race car you showed above Rob,   I think looking at the pictures that this was before it changed into its later renderings,  I am pretty sure this is the KRB car that is on Speed hunters when it was yellow with sitting on large bbs cross spokes and an audi v8 twin blown mootr,  and now owned by another owner having been rebuild and repainted white with a blue stripe and sporting new modern lemans rims 

This fellow managed to run massive wheels and sit them in the arches,  I have no idea what it looks like when the car is raised or even if it is on air,  some of the crazy stancers have it fixed in a mad camber postion all the time with fitting air ride ?

When i saw the above car Rob i though you had sold yours and the new owner had exported it to Japan,  It has the same extented air ears and even the the slight door drop the lhs door 

 

 

[V8-ESPRITS3]

19 hours ago, silverfrost said:

 i think the shell will go for low money as shells are always a pain in the arse to store,  That said for that kind of money it would be worth going to Bristol armed with a cutter, chopping the roof to use to de sunroof a car and get the windscreen out, then drop the rest at lotus bits for someone to use as repair sections 

 

 

I think the screen will be junk as the shell is picked clean of every item! I could do with a screen myself as mine has started to delaminate

I have bid on it and it sells for £100 then its worth the trip

[V8-ESPRITS3]

19 hours ago, silverfrost said:

 

This fellow managed to run massive wheels and sit them in the arches,  I have no idea what it looks like when the car is raised or even if it is on air,  some of the crazy stancers have it fixed in a mad camber postion all the time with fitting air ride ?

When i saw the above car Rob i though you had sold yours and the new owner had exported it to Japan,  It has the same extented air ears and even the the slight door drop the lhs door 

 

 

yeah have seen it and shows the issue of negative camber as I also have, removing the inner arch liner will not solve the clearance I need as I also want to fix the camber and go lower when aired out and parked

the suspension does not allow for this as the Esprit has such high suspension and ground clearance, for me the Esprit is its looks, stance, sound, power, then chassis,

[silverfrost]

Hope you bag the shell Rob 

Regarding the chassis mod that you propose,  have you watched the Overhauled Lotus Europa with Chip Foose,  they do a similar thing with the europa chassis by lifting the suspension pick up points.  Saves cutting of the whole front of the chassis they just cut the trumpets/towers

 

[V8-ESPRITS3]

3 hours ago, silverfrost said:

Hope you bag the shell Rob 

Regarding the chassis mod that you propose,  have you watched the Overhauled Lotus Europa with Chip Foose,  they do a similar thing with the europa chassis by lifting the suspension pick up points.  Saves cutting of the whole front of the chassis they just cut the trumpets/towers

 

yes I did see it, may not have to cut the front if I can get some custom made front uprights with the spindle moved up as the yanks call a "dropped spindle" 

the rear location points maybe not so hard to do the bottom lower link could be raised above and attached to the gearbox mount location.

The trailing arms can be raised easy by just drilling the mount higher as its location is just a flat plate and has room to go higher.

 

[V8-ESPRITS3]

On 9/20/2015 at 19:35, V8-ESPRITS3 said:

 

 

my plan is to have it at this ride height and be able to drive it but at the moment the arches touch the tyres and the camber angles are shocking! I know I will have to mod the arches but the camber can only be fixed by changing the suspension location points at the rear. If I used a longer adjustable top link as used to adjust camber the driveshafts and lower links would still be at a horrible angle.

[silverfrost]

The thing i do not get though,  and i am not getting at the air ride been fitted to an esprit and understand what perks the air ride has for the scene you like,  but  if you want a low esprit,  why not just lower it ?  I got my s3 not far off hitting the deck,   41 inches from floor to roof,  wheels sat in arches, only drama was speed humps and very steep incline driveways.   Handled fantastic, in fact just like a go cart lol.   

Just cant see why you do not maybe decrease the wheel width size at the rear a little and drop it on standard adjustable suspension, tucking the wheels in as it gives the same look as lowered  air ride but without the mad camber problems.  

 

[Techspy]

So I found this thread while researching airbag suspension for my s4. I am not into lowering it to a "lowrider" but want the ability to raise it for speed bumps, parking lot entrances etc. Mine sits pretty low now and I do get some wheel rub when hitting dips etc at speed on the rears. My question is will these bags fit directly to my current struts, replacing the springs? I have SPAX on now and already have an airpump system from another project I could use.  I am guessing there will be other mods needed, especially for the front. I was hoping I could add a bag to the existing setup kinda like i did on my SUV to lift the rear a bit when hitching a trailer. Not really interested in swapping the springs for bags and thought a "helper" bag would work. Thanks for any info.

http://www.kmwperformance.com/product/UA-02-ST-SB-14

 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Techspy

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Wow has been a long time since I have been here!

John they are what I used but they do not fit without a lot of work! they dont clear the top arms (too wide) and also rub on the chassis. You can buy some small air bags/springs which fit on top of the springs on coilovers which can raise the car around an inch to solve your problem. Shame photofucket wrecked every ones post by removing pics as you would have seen the work needed. If I can find info on the ones I am talking about I will pass it on.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

https://www.kamispeed.com/Fortune-Auto-Air-Cup-Lift-System-p/for.air-cup-base.htm

something like this is what you need

[Techspy]

Thanks for the info. That is a bit more expensive that I had hoped! I have 3 sets of front spoiler lips and keep a refurbed set ready to go on when I scuff one up. I think I will keep that plan for now

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Started to do some work again on my old project.

I have not seen this done before to an Esprit, a few race cars have had complete rear clams that lift off.

Mine just flips up like  a Ferrari F40 the rear top quarter stays attached to the rear tailgate . The hinges and struts seem up to the job taking the weight no problem.

That rear section does not weigh much anyway and I am not going to use the glass window.

I plan to make a frame to support the rear bumper, valance and rear lower quarters so that will all stay in place.

This is going to be great to gain access to work on the car I am getting too old to climb over the back into the hatch!

 

[eddie lotus nj]

I wanted to do this with mine, somewhere I took a picture and cut it to do the same thing,  I was going to cut and follow the air scoops down to hide some of the cut. Looks great there

[V8-ESPRITS3]

2 hours ago, eddie lotus nj said:

I wanted to do this with mine, somewhere I took a picture and cut it to do the same thing,  I was going to cut and follow the air scoops down to hide some of the cut. Looks great there

Thanks Eddie yes cutting by the air scoop ears would work very well but I still wanted to use the filler locations. I did consider that and think its maybe the best way to do it if you want to use another way to fill the tanks.

 

[silverfrost]

Very cool Rob,  Make sure you get some white flow coat or white epoxy on those cut lines, just  with a small paint brush to seal it before she soaks up any moisture, and causes micro blisters   

Look forward to seeing this project come on

 

 

[V8-ESPRITS3]

8 hours ago, silverfrost said:

Very cool Rob,  Make sure you get some white flow coat or white epoxy on those cut lines, just  with a small paint brush to seal it before she soaks up any moisture, and causes micro blisters   

Look forward to seeing this project come on

 

 

Thanks Dan I did not think fibreglass would take in moisture? I will paint the cuts asap! its going to need a full respray at some point when I have finished.

[silverfrost]

Yes broken / cut will always soak up moisture,  and apparently hold it for a good while also  

[lotus-62]

WOW! ,  Rob you are a brave man to cut up an esprit like this.....  I will follow this post with much interest.

[silverfrost]

You could always look at fitting larger intake ears also Rob,  I made these years ago out of sheet alloy,  but grp ones would be more prefrable imo,

This was also clam shelled but from the doors backwards, windows are poly carbonate with rubber seals for the frame,

Colin Chapmans  S1 esprit prototype was clam shelled but yours is a good design also and keeps the weight down,  

 

[V8-ESPRITS3]

I like your project Dan is it a new one on the go? I did make the side scoops bigger on mine with some alloy spacers. Do you get problems with heat with your Audi V8? 

[silverfrost]

No this one is years old Rob about 9 years  , it was clam shelled on the rear and later the front also,  So many changes in ideas etc, It will get finished but i have a 79 body also that is currently in the Emerald isles still awaiting collection,  This will be built as a wide body Group 5 design,  I would of used the black one but the extra panel width the clams would not work due to how wide i need the car, the clams would flex to much.

The silver v8 has no cooling problems,   the only time you get a slight coolant rise in temps is when static in traffic on a hot day,  this is due to the extra coolant travel,  i.e the V8 was from a front engine car,  so the radiator was right next to the engine,  so Audi designed the water pump and circulation accordingly.

A quick blip of the throttle provides a sudden extra burst of circulation which brings the temp down straight away.   Also it has a second electric pump fitted to the heads/ heater matrix lines to provide extra coolant circulation when static,  3 core radiator and a larger oil cooler fitted with a fan that kicks in with the rad fans.

I live in Japan so never get chance to work on them as they are uk side,  will sort out shipping at some point point but need to look to more into regulations as the silver one is to loud exhaust note wise and i think it will need cats ?  Also need to find out project wise as i have the docs for the projects but not sure how you get on for registering uncompleted projects.   Sadly not as simple as just filling an iso container and shipping.

Also to register a car over here you need to register a parking space,  and do not fancy leaving the silver one out to cook in the sun in one of our parking spaces,  so need to find storage,  lots of head scratching to do lol.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

look forward to seeing some updates and more pics Dan. You could make a small frame to beef up the clams?

I got some more work done today! I finished the rear frame to support the rear bumper, valance and lower rear quarters.

I also cut out some more inner body work, it was tough plucking up the courage to sink the disk cutter into the body to start with but glad I did it!

Lot of work still to do but also a little less to do....LOL

Edited July 9, 2019 by V8-ESPRITS3