The story of Little Red Riding Hood

[Jacques]

all right, 3 days spent, and Little Red Riding Hood is once Again shaking her head.

 

To be honest, it was a bit of a pain, trying to reassemble the aircon hose coming grom the radiator, and the bracket for the condenser. Anyway, where there'sa will, there's a way, so it turned out to be pretty easy in the end. Saturday spent on making the primary cooling system ready, refilling and bleeding it, plus of course the oil system.

Sunday spent on the chargecoolersystem as per main water system, and airducts plus reinstalling lightmotors and sprinkler system.

Monday spent on rebleeding both watersystems, reinstalling gearchange, install the horns, y-stays, fog light wireing etc.

Now I just need to clean the Esprit and Wax her. Engine runs smooth and potent.

I used castrol Radicool SF coolant, after having talked to Castrol UK about their various soloutions.

I also run Castrol engine oil (Edge FST Ti 10W60) and gear oil (syntrans Transaxle 75W90). Will see how it runs on the longer run with these products. Finally the headlights were adjusted a fraction.

The rods for the headlights plus the round brackets supporting the head light motors are left as they were, as I would like to make a set similar in stainless. Other than that, every single bolt, screw, nut and washer plus rivet, rivnuts etc are new, almost all in stainless. All bracketry have beed blasted and either resurfaced as per original or powdercoated. All foam bits have been renewed too. All cables and connectors have been cleaned up. Bolts had a liberal dab of Wera ceramic anti seize 1400deg cel. paste.

Hose clips are now stainless, and those I did not change yet, are ready on the shelf.

Next is some fancy suspension ans big AP brakes (Lotus marked calipers, please).

As the main watercooler had a potential soon to come leak, I had it rebuild as describes ealier. Two new oil coolers and  had the chargecooler radiator and the air con radiator pressure tested. Work as new.

Bleeding was real easy, as I had the front on a set of steel Wheels to raise the front and let out the air.

Another day, I'll install the sportscat and a tubular manifold. Should set some extra ponies free and minimize turbo lag.

A few pics.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

Spent all day driving Little Red Riding Hood to test if the new cooler system Works okay.

 

And it...

 

Works.

 

Close to home, at an intersection, I passed two Young ladies on the sidewalk talking, and overheard one saying to the other: Wauw, that's a seriously nice car!

 

Such is life.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

All right, Vanya was kind enough to remind me, that an Esprit can actually rust, as the window frames on the doors are made of aluminum, but on later cars, are made of ... steel...  argh, Lotus why on earth did you do that?

 

So I quickly ran out the door to inspect, tore off the weather seals, and found .... rust ...

 

3 small Places  where Little Red Riding Hood had become infected with the nasty steel worm. Fortunately not deep.

Immediate medication was to sand it down, prime it three times, paint it three times, and put seals back on.

Left is only a few small scars in the bottom where the seals sits, and cannot be seen from outside.

And that is why I never saw it in the first place.

Little Red Riding Hood feels relieved and can once again shake her head.

Thanks and a beer goes to Vanya, when he shows up at Copenhagen Belt Party in July

 

Cheers,

Jacques

[ChrisJ]

Jacques - you might want to check the bits of the window frame that you cannot see - page 71 of the parts manual. On my Excel, although there was superficial rust on the visible window frame, the whole front part below the door had gone and therefore was not connected to the door beam

[Jacques]

Argh! sounds bad!

 

Do you mean page 11.02A?

And do you mean the part of the metal "legs" on to which the window motor assy connects to?

Well, I'll take my doors apart tomorrow! I thin I had a look, when I looked at the door seal plastic and window motors, but I am not sure, So I'd better look at it asap.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

Cheers,

Jacques.

[ChrisJ]

Yes, that's the page. - it's page 71 on the online manual on the forum. I'm going by what was found on my Excel - and looking at both parts manual, they look very similar.

 

The window frame is attached to the door beam - 10.15A (page 41). On mine, where there should be three legs of the drivers door window frame there were only 2, the front one after had completely dissolved once it disappeared into the body of the door, and it was causing the frame to flap about a fair bit, and at 70mph there was a loud wind noise.

 

Passenger door is very quiet, so hopefully mostly all OK - although the door beam will need to be replaced.

 

Chris

[fjmuurling]

Hi Jacques,

 

It looks like you have the R&B fuel hose kit fitted. Any special tricks / tips etc for fitting or was it just a matter of removal of the old hoses and in with the new? (of course new o-rings)

 

Freek

[Jacques]

Hello Freek,

It was really simple, and just a matter of plug and play.

A pair of aluminium spanner is advisable for the fittings.

Unfortunately they don't make a return fuel hose kit, though it is needed as well. No new hoses from Lotus are available as far as I know. I asked R&B if they could make a kit for me or generally available, but they answered no.

Be aware, that the hose kit can be a Little bit short, and it needs length to be able to Flex and from engine movement.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[fjmuurling]

Hi Jacques,

 

thx info, I have the R&B kit. In the proces off installing (among a lot of other jobs). Would also prefer a bit longer hose. As for the return fuel hose I will have a local shop fit a new hose (Gates) onto the old fittings.

 

Cheers,

Freek

[Jacques]

Good idea. I would just like to have a similar install like the fuel feed.

I don't know the black tall fitting (from the kit) that sits on the top of the tank, for dimensions etc. Maybe you do?

Or could measure it, before you install it?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[fjmuurling]

That part is already installed. I can measure it but that will take some time before i can do it. (no time to work on the car)

 

Cheers,

Freek

[Jacques]

Hmmm, I took off the doorcard on the right hand side door the other day, and cleaned up everything regarding to the movement of the window. Sprayed it with teflon spray, and voila, it rushed up and Down.

Then back on with the doorcard and it was half speed again.

 

Does anyone know a cure for this (doorcard pressing at the window)?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[Barrykearley]

You should have a brushy thing rubbing up and down against the window???? Is that on there

[Jacques]

Yep, and in place, not fallen off. There is fair amount of "drag" in that system. With the doorcard off, it runs much faster.

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[Barrykearley]

Shall have a looksee at mine - it's slow but I've just lived with it - only goes about 3/4 of the way down as well...l.l

[Jacques]

So, at the Copenhagen Belt Fest 2015, Sparky and Chris changed the cambelt, the tensioner and the aux. belts. Here's a small test of that afterwards. Little Red Riding Hood is very pleased.

 

 

That seems to Work just fine. As per Sparky's instructions, I may need a new adjustable suspension now, together with all the bushings and other stuff I have gathered on the shelf, ready for me to install it.

 

Some great 3 days at Copenhagen Belt Fest, where many gathered their Esprits and spent some days working on their cars, helping each other, and having a nice barbeque meanwhile.

Big thanks to Sparky and Chris.

 

Cheers,

Jacques and Little Red Riding Hood.

 

 

[Jacques]

And here is the same from inside the car:

 

http://youtu.be/4sKqVZhRRps

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

Got myself a nice toolroll from the states. Nicely made and fits perfectly where the Jack used to live. Now to select a nice piece of kit that fits and only the tools that is needed.

If someone who have more knowledge and experience on this, would comment on what is smart to bring on a longish trip, please feel free to chime in with a suggestion.

 

 

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[ChrisJ]

That looks great. Where did you get it from? I'd like one for my Excel.

 

Here are the tools in my 1982 Esprit tool roll.

[Jacques]

Thanks Chris.

 

The new toolroll I have bought, have plenty of Space inside, as in this:

So I am thinking of bringing a spare set of spark plugs, for example.

(It's a toolset meant for longer trips).

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[Vanya]

Cool! I got the same toolset as an xmas gift a year ago! I replaced my plastic toolbox with it, it lives on top of the battery

[Jacques]

Ah nice! What tools have you found most wanted, when driving somewhere?

I placed it in the front, because it could distribute weight better. Already heavy at the rear. And still preserve better steering.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

All right, here's some good news.

So today I had Little Red Riding Hood rolled on a reliable trustworthy very experienced tuners dyno. Used him before, and some tuning Company I know very well, also uses him. Well, in fact all the Guys WHO are serious about their cars. So no funny numbers.

My Lotus Esprit Turbo SE from 1990, showed on this really hot (for Denmark) day (27 deg cel), 298 Hp and 356 Nm.

Power came very nicely linear and so did torque, with no strange dips or spikes.

Max power at 6561 rpm and max Nm at 4763, but only very few Nm's lesser at 3250 rpm, and up to max.

Very satisfied.

My Esprit have only a k&n airfilter, a XXX bov (rather tight) and a silenced (that's a lie) Quicksilver exhaustsystem.

 

I can add, that I use Castrol Edge Ti 10W60 engine oil, and Shell Power 99 Octane fuel. No additives.

 

Noting that during the rolling session, at no time, was the cooling systems for coolant and oil, too Cold or too hot, Water at 87 degrees cel. Oil I can't remember. I'll ask him. Engine is very calm and not moving or vibrating in the enginebay.

 

More is on it's way, and I shall roll it again on the same dyno and as close to same conditions as I can.

I wil not tune the engine, but more like releasing the power it may have.

- I'll go over all connections again,

- maybe get an adjustable bov to insert at a different place, blowing directly in line into the inlet side of the turbo, instead of on top of the engine. This will use the gas better -  better performance, lesser stalling of the turbo.

- install a free flow cat, (already bought that)

- install an Alunow tubular manifold, (already bought that)

- install an Alunox extended coolerset (bigger, more capacity and same with oil cooolers). Ordered that, waiting delivery.

 

I can add that I just rebuilt all cooler systems, adding a Little better watercooler, and new oil coolers. Everything cleaned inside out. Not a spec of dust in my coolers.

I can also add, that I have already installed an Electric chargecoolerpump.

 

More later on.

 

Man, I would have liked to video that rolling session, as that Quicksilver exhaust system (the silenced version), was loud! Very loud! I'll do that next time.

 

Little Red Riding Hood is very satisfied as she had this chance to show off to a turbo'ed Golf III VR6. Well, that Gold had more power, but Little Red Riding Hoos is very close to standard, and the Gold is a fairly tuned car.

 

If you cant beat them, psyche them!

 

Loud Pipes Saves Lives.

 

Cheers,

Jacques (Spoilers Up Society)

[Jacques]

Well, even if the turboed Golf III had a bit more power, Little Red Riding Hood still is much faster on 0-100.

Had a hoot in Little Red Riding Hood today, as in racing around small narrow curvy hilly backroads up North.

Here's one from the trip up there.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

 

ps: Some nasty plans are in the forge.

 

Spoilers up!

 

[Jacques]

Error code 25...

 

Hmmm...

 

Jacques.