Bought an S4S after all these years

[paulob1]

My first lotus was in 1984, series 3 2.2 i did 60,000 miles in ayear in it, it never broke down and was the most fun i have ever had in a car.  most of it driving...

 

anyway at long last i have plumped for an S4S, bought from a chap in Chelmsford, Coachworks company...

 

car didnt get home the gear linkage came adrift and i lost all gears except 3rd and 4th, then some idiot braked in front of me to let a chap cross at a junction, I slammed the brakes on it stalled and would not start for a few minutes, pushed off the road....then she started...no reverse so had to be pushed back...

 

anyway get her home and have a look underneath, they have siliconed the gearbox drive shafts to stop them leaking, its very fresh silicon so a real bodge..am now wondering what else i will find...tyres are on the wire inner edge, tracking and wheel bearing i suspect are in need of replacement...

 

she was cheap so nothing too bad, this car will be brought back to life...we will do the drive shaft seals next week along with new gear linkage bits just to make sure she is tip top here...then we will change the oil and give the engine a full service plugs and filters...last service was a B service but we will have to check the service book for what is next...i assume it will need a cam belt change sooner or later..QUESTION .is this an engine out job...

 

I will upgrade fifth gear as well at this  point too...and maybe go for a stage 1 upgrade once I have sorted the other bits...

 

QUESTION How much boost should i be showing...doesn't feel massively quick at the moment, but i guess 300 bhp isnt great anyway...

 

things i will do before the next mot fit new exhaust and at least stage 1 injectors to give me around 350 bhp...think that will be enough for now...

 

NEXT important QUESTION...source of paets anyone know where i can get the parts i need from...lotus direct or from bell and colville local dealer...etc etc...

Edited March 5, 2015 by paulob1

[Kimbers]

Bell and Colville are excellent. Their staff are very knowledgeable, even of the old stuff. Ask for Scott.

 

I'll leave those with more knowledge to answer but the S4S was very quick. Sounds like a small issue. Check your chargecooler. If its cold after running its working, if its hot its not. The impellers break down quite quickly so may need changing. That's a bag full of power right there.

 

that's the sum of my knowledge. I'll leave it to others, but well done! Look after her, they are a great investment as well as a great car to own!

[Simon350S]

1 bar of boost on the S4S

[Bibs]

Bell and Colville are excellent. Their staff are very knowledgeable, even of the old stuff. Ask for Scott.

 

Scott left about 3 years ago

 

Ask for the Lotus Parts Dept, they'll sort you out nicely

[Mark Blanchard]

Sorry to hear your problems. Is your car a blue S4s?

[jimblob]

Your chargecooler will be broken, they always are.

oh Mark b has a good question is it blue? and did you break down in chiswick?

[ramjet]

With all the checks you guys have to get done yearly at MOTs, how do the tyres on this get past etc?

 

Congrats on getting an S4s. Will be worth it in the long run.

[pete]

did it come from Stocks in Chelmsford

[qwerty123]

0.8 bar normal boost and 1.0 bar on overboost ISTR

 

Consider an electric chargecooler pump and a plug for the mech pump. The impeller breaks down over time so hard to detect the power loss but it's worth up to 50 hp!

 

/patronising mode on

When you do finish renovating it, make sure the tyres are good and be careful coming off roundabouts in second gear, all that torque (and there's loads), wet roads and an unbalanced car from the changes in camber will send you spinning before you have a chance to catch it. 

/patronising mode off

 

Congrats on the purchase btw

[paulob1]

I posted this again as i could not find where I had posted in intro's anyway, thanks for the info...my old 2.2 s3 had the great propensity to rotate, i know the feeling well...since then i have had big powered rear drive cars so understand the main issues....mid engined cars unforgiving for sure.

 

I am certain I am not getting max power it feels slow to me...mind you my other cars are not slow and I may just be being picky...boost is getting to about .8 and 1 bar so that isnt it...

 

will still go with a stage 1...

 

Anyone know the address of the guy in Europe  who does all the ecu upgrades and other bits etc.

oh yes it is a blue one and no i stopped on the M3.M5 slip road area yesterday...have identified the leak from the drive shafts, Mark assures me they did it but obviously not well enough, I own a garage so we will get to it.

 

got to then set up the suspension and tracking as it is wearing the tyres on the inner edge very badly at the front...and feels a tad wayward at high speed...120 plus...private road your honour

Edited March 6, 2015 by paulob1

[ramjet]

http://ttp://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/72534-new-lotus-s4s/

 

[NeilP]

Spinning on roundabouts - yes I remember that well.

We're driving from a wedding to the reception venue, me in a yellow SE... Onto the roundabout, onto the slip road, lose the balance and away she went.

Ended up on the grass verge pointing the right way without any damage - a lucky escape except we were bring followed by few of the guests.

Needless to say during the eve I was being asked 'were you driving that car'

[GhostWKD]

Ouch what a horrible first experience with the car.

 

I think I know which car this is so will chalk them down as one to be weary of should a car I'm interested in come up.

 

Sounds like you've got plans to bring it back into order, best of luck with doing so

[Vanya]

I am certain I am not getting max power it feels slow to me...mind you my other cars are not slow and I may just be being picky...boost is getting to about .8 and 1 bar so that isnt it...

 

Hmm..sounds odd if you're getting full boost. Does the needle hold at 0,8 if you keep your foot planted?

 

My Turbo SE feels a like a beast compared to the V8, despite the power difference. Power delivery should feel dramatic from the 2.2, especially in its S4s outfit.

[pete]

This one then

[Zolder]

In your second picture, you can see two unconnected pipes just behind the crossmember, are these the heater pair or the chargecooler pair?

[paulob1]

thats my girl, tell me more re the two pipes if you can...will go under tomorrow to have a look.  As with the purchase of anything this old you can go two ways pay top dollar and have to fix things or pay bottom dollar and have to fix things.  I generally go for bottom dollar and fix it myself...

 

Hopefully I end up with a better car than before..

getting the rear sorted is job one, sealed and running.

 

then i will slowly get to work on the engine and the suspension, the tracking is definitely out on the front as one tyre is badly worn on the inside but I suspect this is a wheel bearing..once i have checked the important issues, ie the oil leaks i will get onto the front end issues.

 

the suspension upgrade is happening for sure but want to get everything working as normal first.  will remove the rear end and treat everything...are the poly bushes in the shop the ones i need to order..need a full set for the rear, anyone know how many there are and which ones I need to order..is buying from the shop good for the forum..?

 

Mark the guy i bought it from has been mega Helpful so far, he was willing to take it back and sort the leak but I would prefer to do it myself so i know its done right...he is sending the bits to do.  the wheel bearing we have yet to determine if its gone or not...

 

the engine is rough running to my mind but I have not had anytime to think about that yet...this car does not feel mega fast...

oh and anyone know where I can get a new splitter...

[Bibs]

Buying from the shop is very good. We're essentially a free club so those purchases help fund keeping us open

 

Lotus still have one of the sides for the splitter, the other is obsolete but SWLC may have some left...

[Sparky]

Gonna take a guess on the pipes - I believe the disconnected ones are to the heater matrix, but I reckon somebody's swapped over to the chargecooler pipes (both ends) to maintain a cooling system, thereby taking the chargecooler out of the loop?

 

So, does your heater provide warm air?  If you take the chargecooler filler bolt out, is there any water in there?

 

Replacing those pipes is an engine-out job, but we did devise a method last year to avoid that.

[paulob1]

Hmm thanks Sparky that does not surprise me, this car has been carefully bodged...by someone knowing what he is doing..easy to deny and no comeback....

 

so there are four pipes let me understand this.,..two go to the charge cooler, two go the the heater matrix, is that right.

 

so either the heater matrix has failed or the charge cooler has, the fact it has no power may mean its the charge cooler thats been bypassed.  

 

is the charge cooler cooled by the same water in the engine/coolant system...

 

I am assuming the charge cooler is easier to repair than the heater matrix...which are always pigs to sort..in any car...

[Vanya]

If the wheel bearing was off wouldn't it be making noise, especially during turns? 

[Chillidoggy]

I took this yesterday, looking straight into the rear of the chassis backbone, and it might help. The top pipes are the engine coolant, in the middle are the air-con pipes, the heater pipes are bottom left, and the chargecooler pipes are bottom right.

The chargecooler circuit is part of the engine coolant circuit (at least it is on the S4s), so a leak in the chargecooler circuit will lower the engine coolant level too.

It also occurs to me that I never wanted to see the car from this perspective!

[paulob1]

Hey thanks Guys panic over, the car had its rack off for a refurb at the time, so the cooler is all connected and the heater works so no problems.  Mark the Guy i bought it off seems totally straight, so dont get the impression he isn't, he has not tried to sell me anything hooky.  I am now pretty certain the car is good I am just used to a bit more power..

 

I am just going to get the rear end sorted this week, then am taking her to a friend who does upholstery and he will redo the seats gearstick gator and handbrake.  Then its time to start improving the old girl...lots on my list...

 

Will then go for an ecu upgrade and a turbo upgrade to head for 400 bhp.  cant imagine 350 will be much better than the current 300 or whatever it is...

 

will then decide if it needs new rotors and brakes and suspension and a new exhaust...planning to keep my spend to about 6000 but that may be tricky with the engine mods...

[Bibs]

Some inspiration...

 

http://www.thelotusforums.com/latest-news/our-news/take-an-esprit-and-make-a-few-changes/

[Chillidoggy]

I'm happy with the S4s engine performance, but not with the brakes. On my car at least, the two are a mismatch in favour of the engine.

 

I'll be investing some time, money and effort into making sure it stops properly next.