The story of Little Red Riding Hood

[Jacques]

Yes they are, and came as a complete kit, that I have been waiting for, like 8-9 months, as two of the lamps were unobtainable, and Cibie moved their production to China (I think), and could not deliver for a very long time, to any importer etc.

It's a kit from PNM and it is very nice made. All you need is included. I was told that a lot of dealer have been waiting for these lamps to be remade by Cibie for quite some time.

As far as I know, backing plates etc. can be bought seperately.

I will make you aware of the following, as it is not stated on anyones webpage:

As both lamps are convex, one hole for the rear part on each side is too small, and will have to be cut/giled bigger to fit.

I just taped the ned backing plate in stainless on, marked the holes to be drilled for the new rivets (which you need to buy), and marked the circle which to file bigger/enlarge, and took the new backing plate off and filed it to fit (the area is red on the Picture), poprivets in alu to hold the new hardware, new Philips extreme bulbs in new lams, vacuumcleaned everyhing up, and lamps on, front covers on with new screw, and viola, a LOT of light, better, bigger, brighter, whiter, wider and longer.

As the new system is not quick snap on/off like the old plastic turn 90 degrees thingies, you may find it fiddly to change a bulb, as you have to reset the lamps angle Again. Make one side, and adjust to other side or make a measureing stick like I did.

Quite simple and with a very good result. better light, no more rusty backing plates and non-turnable plastic thingies.

Little Red Riding Hood is most pleased, as she can now see the big bad wolf in due time to avoid him.

 

As to what quality the lamps are, it remains to be seen. Likewise for the bulbs, but there is a real difference.

No overload on generator, battery and wires, as they are same wattage as old standard ones. No silly hid, splid, hud, tut or other such stuff

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

Little Red Riding Hood got herself some rattleing, and it came from a Loose engine undertray, because some of the captive inserts were deformed and Loose, and 3 had broken bolts in them.

Well managed to take the defect ones out, without making the hole larger, and vupti! got some new bolts and big washers, and all is good.

Little Red Riding Hood is happy again

 

Question: What are the extra 3 small holes at the rear, in the middle of the tray (last Picture) for?

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Neil Potter]

Great pics of the undertray Jacques - I don't have one and was wondering what it looked like.  And cheers for the response on the headlight refurb; looks like that's my next job now!

 

Maybe of interest: my car has an original-looking plastic filter at the end of the vacuum pump vent (the hose cable-tied to the chassis tube on the left in your last photo), presumably to stop dirt getting into the vacuum (although the pump blows out of the tube I think).

[Jacques]

Hey Neil, could I please have a picture of said filter?

 

Thanks,

Jacques.

[Neil Potter]

You're in luck, I got a photo with the filter in when I booked some ramp time last year:

 

[Jacques]

Thanks Neil,

I'll try to get one.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[MrDangerUS]

Fabulous job on the wheels, Jaques! Work of love!

[Jacques]

Hmm.. Thanks John, but there are much Work to be done still. I will get on to that, when my seats are finished. I need some more 8 titanium 8mm locking nuts.

I need to take the barrels apart after sanding them by hand for around 6 hours each. Then find a media that I can blast the inner barrels in and then powdercoat them silver metallic, refresh the sticky stuff and reassemble it all.

I also need to find a Company that can refinish all the nuts, as I fear they may rust, despite my treatment.

I will look into that soon before Winters time, so that Little Red Riding Hood can get her new lighter dancing shoes on

 

They are nicer and more Classic and most important: lighter !  than the Awi which I have on now, which I also really like for discreeteness and sheer size. As the spokes goes all the way out to the rim, they look bigger than say a set of Futura's.

 

Now, if only I could find a set of late style OZ Nova...

 

More later.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Chillidoggy]

Just wondering if those extra holes in the undertray are to let any accumulated oil out?

[mdw]

I can tell you what the holes are for...................... to put bolts through.   Next question is what are the bolts for and  havnt got a clue.  Pics below show mine as I received it with the car.  Not sure if it was original to the car though.

[Chillidoggy]

If the section has a moulded, upturned lip on it, then I'm sure it's to drain oil/water. Otherwise, it'd be slopping around in there forever. I'm thinking the lips are in there to strengthen the tray.

[mdw]

Oil/coolant leaks  will run out of the large triangular hole in the middle of the tray...............guess how I know.  I agree re the upturned lip to strengthen it but have no idea re the 3 holes/ bolts.  I could imagine them holding pipe clips but  none were on mine and they would need to be the open type or would be a nightmare to undo every time you removed the tray.   

[Jacques]

That's a nice tray you've got there Malcolm, I better get mine painted

 

I agree on the lips strenghening the tray, and that oil would run out elsewhere. As that section is upswept, I don't think it's for draining.

Must be something else. Maybe an early type had something else put on there, so open clips would hold it (the tray) to whatever that would be.

 

Anyway, I am still having Little Red Riding Hood on a diet (for some time), and since I took the spare Wheel out, as I will never use it anyway, I thought why not add the V8 carpet to make it nicer? I am sure Little Red Riding Hood will be prettier

I cannot buy that carpet though, and I looked at some pictures of said carpet. I ordered some from UK, bought some edgeband, and made a model out of paper.

Then applied that to the carpet (I will make both a grey and a black one), and made a few of them.

Next is my wifes sewingmachine

 

More later

 

Cheers,

Jacques

[Jacques]

So today I tried to sew on the edgeing on the two carpet pieces. It came out more or less okay, and I will have few more attempts to have a few extra carpets on the shelf for future use.

I will then glue velcro on to the underside of the carpet and on to the car, so it's easily removed if need be, rather than glue it all in.

Here's the carpet in Black and grey.

I'll hopefully finish it by tomorrow, and post a picture of the finished article.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

And here's the finished article.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

 

 

[Vanya]

Nice! The front compartment makes for a great place to store luggage - now it'll get less dirty too! 

 

Next you need to put up some shots with the Esprit loaded to max with groceries, bags and suitcases

[Jacques]

He he, we'll see.

 

Meanwhile Little Red Riding Hood is on a diet, so I got these new carbon headlight covers and some b-pillar trim.

Nicely made and they weigh 76 gram for a pair of b-pillar trim and 170 gram for a set of headlight covers. I doubt that is lighter than the extrmely thin plastic on the originals, but at least they are nicer and stronger. Particularely the last point is of interest in this case, for me.

I'll get back to the originals another day.

Oh, and the exhaust is on it's way out. The part I am thinking of is the cat and it's related tube. Mild steel and old, blocked and heavy. I hope to finally get rid of the ebps and throttle Jack in the same time.

A new bigger diameter stainless steel tube and free flow sportscat is now with me, and I will install it asap. That set incl. bracketry weighs just under 3 Kg. More precise data later on. It should give a nice weightsaving and some propper HP's. On my Corrado I did something similar, and rolled it to 12 HP's more than before. Quite a gain. It remains to be seen on the Esprit though. A Quicksilver zorst is already in place and is much less restrictive compared to an original exhaust system. I suspect the sportscat etc.. will help reduce turbolag as well. Many small Things lead to something bigger .

Now, if only that banana manifold would come my way...   

 

Cheers,

Jacques

[Vanya]

The sports cat does wonders for the drivability and exhaust note! It makes the car sound terrifying in acceleration and if you've got no muffler you'll get loads of popping on overrun!

[Jacques]

Hi Vanya,

I have the Quicksilver system with a small mufler, but already now, it bangs and pops when I let go of the throttle and let the engine decelerate. But it picks up nicely with that Quicksilver system and the blow off valve I installed earlier.

Looking very much forward to the new bigger tube and sportscat!

Did someone roll their Esprit before and after such a cat?

 

And is it a general recommendation, to install a new oxygen sensor?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[Simon350S]

Looking good mate

[Vanya]

And is it a general recommendation, to install a new oxygen sensor?

 

If you have a factory cat and O2 sensor then I wish you good luck removing the O2 sensor. It will probably be fused to the cat with rust. I got mine off using a 1 m long torque wrench. Sure it came out, but I wouldn't have put it back. Get a new O2 sensor, and get a genuine one while you're at it!

 

The 4-cylinder cars entirely outclass the V8 in sound.....it's pretty incredible.

[Jacques]

Point taken on the oxygen sensor, but what do you mean about the sound?

 

Cheers,

Jacques

[Vanya]

Well as you know I now have 2 Esprits which I usually take out at the same time (The missus is partial to the V8 while I stick to my meat 'n' potatos SE). Anyway, I can tell you flat out that my SE with the SJ Supersports backbox and sports cat sounds far far louder and more aggressive than the V8 with straight pipes (ok I have stock cats on, will exchange them for 200 cell variants soon) - but the SE just sounds cooler at idle and during acceleration.

 

I'm told its audible at great distances, and the popping sounds quite intimidating.

 

The V8 is the more refined car and I love it, but the exhaust note is pretty "meh". The centre exit US exhaust gives it a burble but ruins the look (IMO).... 

[Jacques]

Ah! Thanks for the explanation. I am mostly for the 4 cylinder cars, but that would be on my assumption, that they are lighter and maybe also steers better. The v8 being an americanized version of the Esprit, roughly speaking (no offense).

Sounds (!) good.

 

Vanya, how about that ebpv delete thing you have? As I have now bought a tube PNM says is longer, They delivered with the tube, s kind of flattened ring to insert as connection, but as a sort of gasket only, and the bolts will tighten it completely. How thick (long) is your ebpv delete thingy?

Shall I take your mentioning of getting an original oxygen sensor, that the aftermarket ones are not so good?

 

And thanks Simon. Now I have got to bribe "someone" to visit Denmark and change my cambelt )and a few others too). 

 

Cheers,

Jacques

[Vanya]

I don't have any EBPV spacer of any kind since the sports cat SJ sell is extended to compensate for this. I do however have what I assume is your "flattened ring" - this fits snugly between the flanges of the catalyst and the exhaust system. Id say that ring is maybe 10-20 mm thick at most? 

 

Re O2 sensors: The aftermarket ones are tantamount to gambling. They seem to work fine on some cars, but I could no longer drive mine after mounting SJ's cheapo variant - on a cold start as soon as the car went to closed loop it would just die. If it didn't die, it would stall out the second I touched the gas pedal.  

 

The V8 being Americanized - I would agree with this assessment. You definitely feel the weight in corners, and the SE feels more like a go-kart by comparison. However, you could drive the V8 for hours without sweating or getting back pain, or losing your hearing due to excessive wind noise, or getting tired due thanks to the softer ride. The latter also makes for fewer bathroom stops on road trips - bladder doesn't get quite as shook up.... Also, the V8 has instant power going for it. Touch the gas pedal and watch the needle flick away to illegal speeds....no need to hit 3000 rpm first.