The Long Old Road Ahead (Time to Strip!)

[bigsi]

simon the guy who did my head can do this work, hes in raglan, very good at what he does. i can give you his number etc. gimme a call tomorrow if you get a cahnce

[Simon350S]

Well Ive gone and bought some tyres....

225/35/17 front

275/35/18 rear

Gone for the slightly narrower widths to try and minimise the chances of scuffing the inner arches...??

Not sure about the fronts though, may look a little wierd as that width and profile are gonna look like elastic bands!!!! and the rolling diameter is lower than the originals.....

Quite happy with the rears as that is only 1cm narrower than a standard v8...

See what I think on the fronts, may send them back and change to 215/40/17, although dont want them to look too narrow on the v8 wheels...!!!!

Got to order my sexy blue anodised suspension now...!!!!

Waiting for the final price from Mel Broome @ Lotus for the retrim, may well be looking at changing the seats again due to the drivers being broken around the mounts...!!!!!! Bloody ebay!!!!

Need to get the crank reground and sort some new oversized bearings and finish cleaning the engine bits and I can start rebuilding it..... Hopefully picking up the gaskets at the show on sunday....

Planning on sending the interior off while I'm doing the engine and mechanicals as I'm guessing they'll be a fair while before they are finished.... Project planning!!! WOW!!!

Once I get the tyres mounted I can offer them up to the car and work out what I'm gonna do with spacers and new hubs/front brakes etc.....

Too many jobs to do..... work seems to be getting in the way.... maybe I should ditch the job and just concentrate on the car!!!!!

Got to buy some paint and start doing my chassis....

Time for bed now though, maybe I'll get all this done in the morning!!!!!!

Night night

Simon

[silverfrost]

Hi Simon,

Things look like they are coming along well mate, esecially with all that project planning

i think i need to get some of that

Your wheels should lok the nuts as for your front tyres i feel your 35 profile will look ok, i

went the opposite way to begin with by fitting 45 profile tyres on the fronts and they just did not look

right, but changed them to 40mm profile on the front and they look ok i think, so im sure you will be

ok with 35mm but it will feel more like a go cart until you get used to it after thew 60mm profile

As for your rear tyres 275mm on a G car will look brilliant i run 255 40 17 on the back and i thought

they were wide yours should look fantastic,

good look with the rest of the project its coming along nicely chap

regards danny

[Jussi]

Excellent work Simon

Can't wait to see it finished, good luck

[Simon350S]

Not done an update on the project for a while so thought I'd let you know what I've been up 2....!!!!

NAFF ALL!!!!!

Will spend the next few weeks working on my motivation to get off my ass and do something useful....!!!

End of update.....!!!!

Simon

[trackmagic]

For a liner puller I simply turned down some aluminum round stock and cut the sides on a band saw to clearance the block. From there I drilled a hole in the center and made a drift that would bolt to it and then punched them from the bottom. If you have some extra hands that would be good to catch the liner.

Have fun,

Jeff

[Simon350S]

Well.....

Just been over the Isle of Man working on the Manx rally... Met up briefly with Stuart islandbloke (who helped us out with a little local knowledge, thanks mate...) but didnt get chance to go for drinks as the car busted early saturday...... so got a early ferry home....

One upside is that I returned with a brand spanky new pair of genuine AP rotors..... 330mm x 32mm.... that makes them bigger than the standard 350S brakes....!!!! YUM YUM.....

Need to start working on my little lady again and get these bad boys fitted......!!!!!

May be able to reuse the existing front hubs and just machine the bolt holes offset from the originals..... Will look into this, either that or some nice sexy new ones, maybe titanium.....????

Gonna chase up mu shocks and springs now.....

Simon

Edited May 14, 2007 by Simon350S

[bigsi]

dont you need to think about the engine bits first!! lol you daft head you!

sell that bike and get it done!

[Simon350S]

Just bought my suspension......

[islandbloke]

I think there's a law against exporting bits that could be remotely useful to we Esprit owners over here!

Shame we couldn't organise an Esprit lap of the TT course for Simon, but mine's STILL in dock having her head gasket done, and Glyn Harper is hitting his old turbo with a big hammer...

Nice to meet a forum member though, however briefly. I think this is a great group and would welcome any other members who fancy hooning on completely unrestricted roads!

[dazmans3]

Hi Jon

As per most things the header tank is well rotten!!!!

Lucky I bought the upgraded cooling kit....!!!! Brand spanky new one included with the kit!!!! Along with a plastic expansion tank..... Came with about 50 million little bits and pieces and no instructions!!!!

Luckily Dave (I think it was Dave) from Lotus forwarded the relevant documentation to me, turned up Saturday... makes more sense now!! LOL

Hi Simon

I ve been reading through your current project. I ve taken quite an interest as I have just taken my engine out due to Head gasket failure.

I re-did my cooling system 2 yrs ago. I have the Cooling Mod already fitted to mine. I Changed most the hoses for Silicon. Basically worked out cheeper than gen pipes from Lotus at time.

However, I had to take loads of phots & I even drew my own diagram of the lay out. Cause as you've prob noted there is no diagram for this in the old Service & parts manual.

If you haven't already figured it out, Then I can email you a copy of the diagram I made up? Andy Jenkins has also modded his cooling system after I gave him a copy which prooves my drawing wasn't that bad after all. Though, I did get a B in art O level. ( Yes thats 'O' level, not GCSE)

If it also helps, as I am about to put in an HC engine, I noticed that the lay out for the early stevens turbo is very simular to the mod given to the later S3 turbos. Just has a few different shaped hoses and minus the external Thermostate, but the flow set up looks the same.

Daz

[Simon350S]

Getting impatient....!!!!!!

Got my discs.....

Got my wheels.....

Got my tyres......

Got my enthusiasm.......

NEED MY SUSPENSION......!!!!!

3 week turn around, but its been like 1 1/2 weeks and they still aint turned up....!!!!

Ok Ok Ok...... still 1 1/2 weeks to wait but I just cant...... need all that blue annodised glory in my kitchen and then on my car....!!!!!!!!

Sorry dont mind me.....

Off to bed to dream of alloy glory...... if they aint what I expect I'm gonna be well gutted...!!!!!

Simon

[Simon350S]

OK

Now the BigMans cars gone from my garage, this weekend will see the return of mine....!!!!!

I think I'm gonna try n get one corner done each weekend......

Front end another 2 x weekends, including recores n stuff..... although I have to squeeze the cargecooler rad in there somewhere.......

Just had a price to retrim my entire interior, including the elise seats, with Wilton, loverly carpets, all for

[bigsi]

All confused now, as i wasn't gonna get the whole interior done, but for that price I dont see the pint in spending the time and money, recolouring it all and replacing sections that'll need doing.......

All I'm missing is the

[Simon350S]

sell that damn bike......cha ching!!!!!

The bike aint going....!!!!!

By the way the bloke had some stunning Red carpet from a Ferarri he trimmed, would look lush in your car dude...!!!!!

Maybe able to sort out a group buy if u want your car done at the same time....!!!!!

Would ask Troy for a quote, but the lazy git..... looks like he's gone 2 bed....!!!!!

Edited May 30, 2007 by Simon350S

[t70]

might be interested in new carpet myself.....

[bigsi]

i might pop down on the weekend if your about, i will need directions though!

[Simon350S]

OK......

Now I've finally got my garage back........

Time to start back on my car....!!!!!!

Oh.... wait a minute....!!!! I can't...!!!!

Previous occupiers didn't vacate fully....!!!!

Right 1st job.... Sort out tools...!!!!

Few missing....... Few gained.......

Dont think any of them are yours Dodgy..... think it was all mine and Troys in there.......

Then on to clearing to floor and giving it a wash out with Punkys left over JIZ and a jet wash....!!!!

The longest job was picking up all the left over nuts, bolts n washers, separating them into several pint cups.....

Next up was removing the car from the wall of the pub....!!!! Quite literally, there was about 5mm clearance from the rear arch to the wall.....!!!!

Best not put her in the garage stinking dirty... so I decided to give her a good warm soapy wash.......

No way on this earth was all the tree sap going to come off with a bucket of soapy water..... think thats gonna be a propper polishing job..... never mind, that can wait, just wanted to get the worst of the crap off of it.....

While the car was drying I made progress on the worktops, sorting, cleaning, organising, binning, again a very long and booring job...!!!!!! coffee muggs in the double figures were found amongst the debris on the floor and worktops, all with differing amounts of pennecilin growing..!!!!

Then came the time to push the old girl back where she belongs.....

And here she is with her little sis parked along side and with clean worktops...!!!!

Now I can start work....!!!!!

Need to sort out fitting the wheels first while all the current suspension and all is still on....

Taken loads of measurment today, from the internet and think I've got enough info to get a provisional set of spacers made.....

Think I'm going for 15mm spacers front and 62mm spacers rear......

That puts the rear edge of the new wheels in exactly the same place as the old, i.e. hopefully no clearance issues......

It means that the fronts will stick out approx 30mm further each side...... and 40mm each side on the rears....

That should fill the arches a little better....... will need to check with a rule when I get home to make sure this'll give the desired effect I'm after.....

Roll on the work... I'm up for it now.................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simon

Edited June 4, 2007 by Simon350S

[SE Owner :-D]

Mate,

Great work as ususal.

Always willing to help you if indeed you need any - let me know man and i'll zap down and thrash your arse at pool - we could make a sequel video too.

Rog

[arbell9]

Mate,

Great work as ususal.

Always willing to help you if indeed you need any - let me know man and i'll zap down and thrash your arse at pool - we could make a sequel video too.

Rog

I would up for that, we do need to film Lord of the Esprits II, The return to the fridge.

Really simon if you wants spare hands, moral support or someone else to read your latest jazz mag set a date.

Alex

[matk]

I'd be up for coming down again and painting wheel arches, sanding things, drinking vodka, building hangovers............

[hilly]

Taken loads of measurment today, from the internet and think I've got enough info to get a provisional set of spacers made.....

Think I'm going for 15mm spacers front and 62mm spacers rear......

That puts the rear edge of the new wheels in exactly the same place as the old, i.e. hopefully no clearance issues......

It means that the fronts will stick out approx 30mm further each side...... and 40mm each side on the rears....

That should fill the arches a little better....... will need to check with a rule when I get home to make sure this'll give the desired effect I'm after.....

Roll on the work... I'm up for it now.................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simon

Simon

Those new offsets sound a bit extreme, are you sure about an extra 30mm each side on the fronts ?????

Your new intented rear track will be similar to mine so that puts the rears close to the edge of the arches, but the fronts sound too much.

I can take a photo of what an extra 8mm on the front looks like.

Hilly

Edited June 5, 2007 by hilly

[bigsi]

i dont mind coming down, breaking something , cleaning it, then putting it on the side to be fixed, and then cleaning it again.

i like cleaning bits i do!

[Simon350S]

Cheers Hilly that'd be good...

Not looked at it myself as I did all the calculations in work, without seeing the car..... and making a few assumptions....

Will take a look later when I'm back up my house...

To everyone else......

More than welcome anytime....

If it looks like theres a nice weekend coming up and I've got the bits.... I'll let you know and your most welcome to come get drunk...!!!!

Will be renting 2 of my rooms out though as I need the cash like desperate....!!!

I'll be down to 1 spare room with double fouton and 3 x comfy sofas..... a kitchen floor and the hall.....!!!

Cheers for the offer guys...

Will let you all know...!!!

Simon

Edited June 5, 2007 by Simon350S

[hilly]

OK, been out with the camera this evening and taken a few shots of my wheel positions.

The fronts are 7.5J 16 rims and have an extra 8mm of offset (above the standard 7J 15 ET23 of the BBS rims due to the new brake discs sitting over the hub) and so added to the the extra 6mm of the wider rim give means that the edge is now 14mm closer to the arch.

The rears are 8.5J 17 (BBS is 8J 15) and with all the spacers, discs and stuff means that the edge is 40mm closer to the arch at the back.

Now the rear looks a bit too far out at the moment because the camber is all screwead as I have had to take the engine back out (long story, I'll tell all in my next conversion update) so the ride height is wrong. When the engine is back in then I'll take another photo.

I have still got the drawing for the rear spacers somewhere, so if you give me the details of your rims (size, offset, PCD, centrebore dia etc) I can modify it for your install.

I'll even be able to draw up the front spacers as well.......

Hilly