Unique Elite

[tinky]

Ok ive been asked to start a new thread on my elite project.

Il start by telling you abit about the car then add to it with updates ive already done some i will be changing as im not happy with them and others in the pipeline.

 

The car is a 76 elite which i was given from a relative.

After removing the body and finding the chassis abit worse than i first thought i decided to look for a replacement.

While searching and knowing the engine was going to need a rebuild i came across something i just had to have. This was a complete rolling chassis with engine all ready to go.

 

Ok a bit about this now. The chassis is a one off built for the guy who i bought it from who was going to use the elite floor pan and build his own body to use on the elite chassis. This was a protoype for a car which he was hoping to put into production from what i was told and with this money seemed to be no object as i also got about 4 or 5 folders with plans, option and receipts of everything to do with this. Most of the work was carried out by spydercars.

 

Right now il tell you about what i actually got.

 

Highly modified chassis  this was converted to outboard vented disc brakes all round.

wilwood 3 pot calipers to the front, spax adjustables all round, split rim revolution 17" rims with michelin pilot sport tyres. Jag lsd, Borg warner t5 worldclass gearbox and a small block chevy 5.7 injection engine as used in a corvette c4.

 

As i said there was no expense spared and the only used part which was fitted was the jag lsd which was a recon. I was just lucky enough at the time to have been looking for a chassis and had abit of savings behind me at the time to purchase this.

 

ok il leave it there for now.and add to this the jobs ive done and some of the problems ive had along the way and still having but its all part of the fun.

Feel free to ask anything about the build and il do my best to answer as there's probably loads ive missed out,

 

[ramjet]

Hmm. This is going to be real nice I think.

[Barrykearley]

I'm just concerned this could be recklessly fast.........

And I want a go!!!!!!!

[tinky]

I'm just concerned this could be recklessly fast.........

And I want a go!!!!!!!

yeah i agree with you there but the thing is can they ever be to fast 

 

Lately ive been thinking alot while the engine is out can i do a bit more im looking at making my second exhaust system for it.

Because im limited for room i was wondering if i can bring the exhaust forward to try and mount a couple of turbos upfront somewhere. i even thought of putting a charger on but i dont really want anything sticking out of the bonnet.

The turbo i think could be done but might have to do that another time later down the line. but i think it would be fun.

[Barrykearley]

There's some stonking looking oil free turbos on the market now............. Ohhh ........

Get it mobile and useable - make you smile - then tinker some more

And to be fair - I'm very happy with the stock hp of the esprit....... But more wouldn't be wasted!!!!!

[Dunc]

OOOOCHA!   that looks the bomb....! 

 

How far from being on the road is it?

 

Is this the Lotus designed LT5 engine from the ZR1?

[CharlieCroker]

That looks awesome, just add a seat and steering wheel and off you go!

[Fueltheburn]

2 bits of interesting reading here..

An Elite I had seen a while back on youtube and oil less turbos (which will come in very handy next year).

 

I like it when something gets abandoned and brought back from the brink... there is something a bit more special about it's resurrection.  Keep up the good work Tinky, this may turn out to be something of a "street sleeper" 

[rjwooll]

What a great project!

 

However do you really want to install turbos? The extra heat in the exhaust manifolds could be tricky with the fibreglass body. Surely 5.7 normally aspirated litres is already sufficiently dangerous!

 

Good luck and I look forward to reading your updates

 

Richard

[tinky]

Ok just thought I'd do a post while on a cig brake from the lotus.

Firstly thanks for the comments everyone.

Right one of the mods I did was put the steering column and stalks from a vectra in this was due to original being damaged and also to give it the tilt option for a better position. After driving the car I found it extremely heavy to turn at slow speed ie for parking etc. This is when I looked at putting in power steering again but was hit with the problem of having no room as the pipes on the rack would hit the engine front pulley. After alot of head scratching I decided to go down the electric root and once again needed to modify the column. In the end I opted to use one out of a corsa and I must say it worked first time and better than I expected. While it's out I will get some pics and post them on here.

My end result left me with a vector tilt coupled to the corsa motor then down to a ford steering rack this has also been fitted with a quick rack but this might be changed back to standard at a later date if it make the car abit twitchy at higher speeds but il have to wait and see.

Edited June 20, 2015 by tinky

[tinky]

Ok heres a some pics of the fabricated column.

 

 

All this bolts on to the pedal box when back in car, i will try and remember photos when i get round to fitting it back in.

[Barrykearley]

That looks ace - fancy one of the on the esprit

[tinky]

The wiring side is quite simple all you need to do is get a power steering controller from ebay about 30 quid and that plugs into the control box then its just a case of connecting a perm live, ignition live and and earth thats it. the hardest bit was mounting it, not that its hard more time consuming as i had to keep putting in and taking out the pedal box to trim it away to get it fitted into position and then making brackets and re strentghening but well worth doing in my opinion if your struggling to do it the normal way.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

I love this project! updates! updates! updates!

[tinky]

Well hello all again sorry there's not been any updates on my project but due to personal reasons the project was put on hold. But on top of that when we had the floods at Christmas  my workshop took a hit and we had 6ft6' of water cover everything.  There where 5 vehicles including 1 on the ramp which even got it plus all the tools including alot of electrical stuff like welders compressor etc etc. Been itching to cracking on with it again but after the flood we had the electricity cut off as they said it all needed to be checked out. (ours was working fine at this point was even still on day after flood)  Anyway while power was off people where breaking into workshop daily and they even decided to pinch the main cable which feeds our workshop. Now alot of the workshops have power back on but we're still waiting due to cost of new cable so can't really do much at the moment. Anyway just wanted to show my face and I haven't give up on my lotus and I will be starting again as soon as I can.

Here's some pictures you can see where the water came to on the wall on the Fourth one. Also my mates crewcab you can see the mess it left behind inside and out just stinking sludge everywhere. 

[silverfrost]

Lyndon, 

That is crap news about the floods mate   Hope you got something back of the insurance and glad to see that you have not lost your enthusiasm for the project as that flooding would of tested most people.  Pants to see people looting and breaking into workshops, garages etc when this kind of stuff happens, absolute f""""ers with no respect for peoples property what so ever. 

Look forward to the updates and hope you get back on track with the project soon.

[tinky]

Dan

No luck on insurance side as we don't have any on workshop.

Where we are its known for flooding so if you can get it you pay a fortune then you need to meet there request about thing etc like keeping things a certain height from floor. We've had the unit about 15 years now and this is the third flood time it's been flooded but the most we've had in that time is 9". On the morning of flood we knew it was going to happen so we went down and lifted everything up off the floor including vehicles by about 2 ft thinking we'd be ok. As the water started and the speed it was rising we made the decision to get out and went round the side of the mill to the highest point which doesn't flood. Within 30 minutes it was above our knees. Fire brigade wouldn't come for us as there wasn't am immediate danger to life and said we needed to make our own way out. The mill is next to the river irwell which is a big river and as we made our way out we had to fight the current of the river through water which was at chest height as we had to pass through a deeper point. One slip from any off us could of been fatal as you would of been dragged down river. 

[silverfrost]

Sorry to hear you had no insurance Lyndon,  Gutted the water went so much higher than before but at least you guys are ok, we all love cars but not worth killing yourself for, they can be fixed you cant.  wish you the best and look forward to seeing the work commence again in the near future