New V8 owner with Gearbox paranoia!

[markh450]

Hi All

 

After doing a bit of a restoration job on an Excel Se for 6 months, selling it, buying a 911 and then buying the excel back (then selling it again!). I took the plunge last yeat and bought a mustard yellow V8. Its an early 96 car, but with the twin plate clutch and a factory post 2000 lotus engine.

 

I've had it over to Chris Foulds and indeed Leeds Lotus main dealer for a once over and cambelt change. Thankfully all have confirmed what I belived / hoped that it is a very nice car. 

 

 

I absolutely love it! I will be putting a slightly loader exhaust on, I'm no boy racer but even the sports silencer (which mine has) is distinctly underwhelming!

 

However, with all the talk about self destructing gearboxes, I have yet to even consider giving the car full throttle in 2nd gear. I appreciate this is a rather subjective question, but how gentle do you really have to be when in second with the V8's? I'm not wnating to be doing anything silly such as standing starts etc, however I would really like to experiance that awesome drive out of a corner in 2nd rather than having to short shift straight to 3rd everytime.

 

Having had a 996 911 before I'm no stranger to 'forum generated' paranoia about impending engine destruction etc! so it would be nice to get some real world feedback from owners telling me yes I'm being silly or NO don't press the loud pedal past 50% in 1st or 2nd gear.

 

I should add that I believe mine has the sport 350 mapped ECU, which removes the boost restriction in 1st and 2nd I think?? (boosting at approx 0.6 bar) 

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

Mark    

 

  

[Bibs]

The weak points of the 'box are the 2nd gear syncro and 5th gear. Be gentle from 1st to 2nd and don't go on and off throttle roughly in 5th and it's fine. That said, they don't break often but it is near it's torque limit in a V8. 

 

A couple of Sports cats will improve the noise nicely too

[markh450]

The weak points of the 'box are the 2nd gear syncro and 5th gear. Be gentle from 1st to 2nd and don't go on and off throttle roughly in 5th and it's fine. That said, they don't break often but it is near it's torque limit in a V8. 

 

A couple of Sports cats will improve the noise nicely too

Thanks for the advice, I feel better now! I feel like a boy racer saying it but mine already has de cats and a sports exhaust but still sounds very quiet, I have to open the window to hear the exhaust much at all. 

 

I've ordered a centre exit kit from PnM, I have opted to have additional silencers put into the pipes (its normally a straight through affair), I will connect this to a pair of 'gutted' standard cats I have (as my currently fitted decat pipe has rusted on the end weld). hopefully this will improve things!  

[MartinL]

Its like the horror stories you hear about every V8 engine having liner problems, its just not true......

Use the car, IF it breaks, fix it !! little point in having a supercar if youre frightened to use it.

Never had problems with my Sport 350 box on road or track.......

[steve930]

Lovely looking car Mark.

My car has now done 130,000 miles & the gearbox has never been apart!

I don't see an issue with using WIT. I do in all gears but I don't rush the change from 1st to 2nd and if accelerating hard in 5th when I back off the throttle I back off gently. I've done just over 12,000 miles driving like that.

My car has ported heads, 350 ecu, 200 cell cats & no silencers

Regards Steve

[markh450]

Thanks again for the comments! lookign forward to getting out in it this weekend now (weather allowing!) 

[Vanya]

A couple of Sports cats will improve the noise nicely too

They'd better. My V8 has straight pipes after the cats and it's about as loud as a Nissan Leaf. My Turbo SE exhaust puts it to shame, wide open throttle or not - and it has both a silencer and a sports cat!

[markh450]

They'd better. My V8 has straight pipes after the cats and it's about as loud as a Nissan Leaf. My Turbo SE exhaust puts it to shame, wide open throttle or not - and it has both a silencer and a sports cat!

you've got me wondering whether I should have gone for decats and straight pipes now....   ah well, we'll see (or hear) in a week or so when they arrive! 

[superdavelotus]

I've had mine for 10 years and tracked it twice in the early years. It running 400BHP for the last 9 years. I used to welly it in pretty much every gear apart from first and it's been fine. Take the advise from others above, standing starts, 2nd & 5th gear etc and you'll be fine.

I drive much slower now so never an issue!

 

 

Regards,

 

 

 

David

[Advantage]

Is that Simon's old car? (Simon in Hampshire rather than Simon in Wales)

[markh450]

Is that Simon's old car? (Simon in Hampshire rather than Simon in Wales)

Hi

 

It is indeed. I picked it up last October, in fact it still has his number on the car! (SLV)

 

All credit to him for the fantastic condition of the car.

Edited March 19, 2015 by markh450

[Elite 4.9]

really great car !  love those V8's

[steve930]

you've got me wondering whether I should have gone for decats and straight pipes now....   ah well, we'll see (or hear) in a week or so when they arrive!

The difference in noise level between the standard cats and the 200 cell one's I'm now running is huge. Tested with a phone app sound meter, my car is 98db at idle speed! I'm running the centre exit pipes btw

[markh450]

The difference in noise level between the standard cats and the 200 cell one's I'm now running is huge. Tested with a phone app sound meter, my car is 98db at idle speed! I'm running the centre exit pipes btw

98db at idle!!

I'll be running devoted cats with a pnm silenced centre exit pipe, looking forward to hearing it at last!

[Vanya]

98 dB(A)???????!?!?

[steve930]

the centre exit I have is unsilenced, The db reading surprised me but bibs tried the sound meter on his phone when we were at the NEC a few years ago and iirc his phone was within 1db of mine!

[Grahaml]

This is injteresting - I think my soon-to-collect V8 has a pretty standard exhaust and I wold be interested in making it sound a bit more "special" too.

Encouraging to hear how the V8 can last (130K miles) and be driven in the gears as I guess I too will be a bit wary pf the gearbox I suspect.

 

I'm in a similar situation to you Mark - having just moved from a porsche 911.

 

Graham

[steve930]

that makes 3 of us, prior to the lotus I also had a 911, 1980's 911 turbo

[GhostWKD]

Aha, wondered when this car would turn back up (as I do with all of the Esprits which come up and disappear from sale). Went to view it when it was first advertised and was incredibly close to buying it, congratulations on the purchase of what looked and felt like a fantastic car

[markh450]

Thanks Alex! I've had around 1000 miles in it it so far, though it only a weekend car really. I had the cam belts changed despite Simon (previous owner) doing them last year, it was probably JCT600 spooking me, but when I went there they suggested I had them done as a precaution as they felt they were too tight. I only used JCT for this as they still have the 'tensioning' tools and although it would probably have been fine I didn't wnat to take chances on the cambelts. 

 

 

Other than that and a new anti roll bar and bushes at Chris Foulds Lotus it has turned out to be a really nice car.

[markh450]

This is injteresting - I think my soon-to-collect V8 has a pretty standard exhaust and I wold be interested in making it sound a bit more "special" too.

Encouraging to hear how the V8 can last (130K miles) and be driven in the gears as I guess I too will be a bit wary pf the gearbox I suspect.

 

I'm in a similar situation to you Mark - having just moved from a porsche 911.

 

Graham

I'm sure you will like the Lotus after the 911. Not sure which 911 you had, but for me the Lotus felt more of a 'challenge' to drive than the 3.6 996 I had, in a good way. I do find that you need a little more road than the 911 to enjoy the car to its max. I tend to head out before dawn into the peak district to take advantage of the quiet roads! 

 

When I have fitted the latest exhaust I will have had 1.) decat pipes and Lotus sports silencer (IMO far too quiet), 2.) decats and straight pipes which exited either side, (IMO too loud) 3.) Soon to be fitted, gutted cats (as my decat pipes have rusted through on the welds and a mildly silenced centre exit kit from PNM.

I'll let you know how I go on.

[fmxa]

Its like the horror stories you hear about every V8 engine having liner problems, its just not true......

Use the car, IF it breaks, fix it !! little point in having a supercar if youre frightened to use it.

Never had problems with my Sport 350 box on road or track.......

 

Spot on 

[j900jpw]

Had my Esprit for 8 years. Agree with the others, careful change first to second and no hard off\on the power in 5th. Other than that full welly everywhere especially when trying to pull away from my mate in his R8!

 

Cheers

[Jexsi]

I have PNM silenced de cat pipes and central exit exhaust kit, it is still not very loud.... I think that the cabin and wind/road noise isolates a lot of the sound from the driver, people have commented on how nice the car sounds when it goes past them so it probably sounds a lot different from the roadside than it does from the cabin.

[Jexsi]

I have PNM silenced de cat pipes and central exit exhaust kit, it is still not very loud.... I think that the cabin and wind/road noise isolates a lot of the sound from the driver, people have commented on how nice the car sounds when it goes past them so it probably sounds a lot different from the roadside than it does from the cabin.