Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Lotusfab]

Difficult bits to the professional! 

[Lotusfab]

Slowly it's coming together!q

So the heating panel knobs, how do you remove them. Well the larger one has a spring loaded pin. Just push it in and pull the knob off. The smaller one has a grub screw.

[Lotusfab]

Heat sheilds

I have had a chance to think about replacing the over wheel heatsheild. It has not been possible to obtain the thermal coefficient of the the new material. Without this to construct a new one from the new material would result in unpredictable performance, as the thermal properties might not be matched. The way forward for me is to wrap the original sheild to contain it, reinforce the edge with the Buddsy material and add an addition layer of new sheilding under the original. In this way the original design performance will be improved.The sheild is contained and athsettically it will look new. 

[Lotusfab]

There something of the 1970s about this car!

There a lot of trim. With terracotta carpet this will be visually stunning but very mush like the S1, you will love or hate it! 

With Lotus Gold leather carpet binding against the red terracotta it will be very bling!

[Lotusfab]

[eeyoreish]

You're going to get some serious screen reflection off that binnacle. Must have been hell driving the Bond car in the snow!

[Lotusfab]

Yep, it won't be like the non reflective Nextel coating on the S1, which they used in the space shuttle. There will be a lot of reflecting outside as well with all the gold and silver! 

[Lotusfab]

Heatsheild complete

the worst job so far!of course you won't see any of this when the outer part of the sheild is back on!

 

Seven rivets for the Aluminium to body. Three bolts to hold the ferrobestos to the aluminium and my extra sheild uses the same bolts with only one extra. I do not recommend any work on the ferrobestos sheild , as Buddsy says leave well alone! 

[Lotusfab]

After three weeks of hard work I progressing only slowly. Hard to believe Lotus could make any money out of these there are so many jobs to assemble one. Quite a lot of trimming left, pipework in the engine bay, engine detailing and cleaning new belts and filter then the engine to put back and all the electrics! Then weeks of fixing problems. Never ending. 

[Andyww]

Its all a bit tight around those shields where the exhaust goes through, hope the new shields are not much thicker than old ones. 

They didnt make any money, they made a loss on each one at that time

[Steve4012]

Andy is absolutely right Fabian. I've just put the exhaust back on my dry sump and the heat shield had been worn away slightly where it's closest to the body at the rear. If you're out of position here you'll probably really struggle to get the silencer to fit correctly and the tailpipes won't be central to the rear valance cut out. 

[Lotusfab]

This sheild is now thicker. The exhaust fit on the S1 was awful, even after buying a brand new stainless set. I have to replace my exhausts maybe I should get some made to fit the car?

There's a lot of diy exhaust options available these days.

[Lotusfab]

The solution  to the exhaust problem maybe to get a stainless made to measure from Longlife in Carshalton or similar. Off the shelf is never very good on these cars???

Anyone got any pictures of the exhaust?

[Andyww]

But you dont really want to make the pipes thinner.

There is only just enough room for the 2 pipes through there no matter what the shape is.

[Lotusfab]

The usual problem is when the tailpieces are correct the front ends of the exhaust contact the body. I am assuming this system is as badly made as the S1. Surely a bespoke system will achieve a better Fit? I will find out soon! 

Where is the fit tight? Is it as the enter the sheild or on the bend? 

[Andyww]

The Turbo systems were originally made by Double-S Stainless Exhausts and they were pretty good quality, but they come close to the top of the spring mount and also almost contact the heatshields at the sides and top-front.

One other issue is the flexy joints are very delicate and will break and leak if flexed too much when they have been used then removed. Under the braiding there is a bellows made of very thin stainless steel.

[Lotusfab]

I don't think my downpipes are stainless as they look like rust pipes! 

[Andyww]

They cant be original then, as the Turbo all had stainless. Trouble is, like most SS systems the flanges are mild steel so they do rust. 

[Lotusfab]

Will dig them out and post a picture. They look pretty grim! The tailpiece is new but the two front pipes are very old. They are very cheap from S and J but I think Longlife bespoke maybe better? 

[Lotusfab]

Time to pull the finger out! 

I intend to work double hard and finish most of it by  the end of next month! Should be doable. Thanks to PNM Engineering and Pete, I have the missing brake line holder bracket for the front and a spare one! I could have made one but this is better.

I am replacing all of the hoses, so Silicon or rubber??? It's not as straight forward as you might think. I have researched it. Silicone  seems better in many ways except one, it doesn't seal well to metal- especially old pipes! The pipe ends have to be repaired anyway, so the sealing surface is perfect. I am starting to think for inaccessible areas I will use rubber. Leaks or seepage in any of these areas, such as the rear radiator pipe chassis exit, would be very undesirable and a pig to fix. The life of the rubber will exceed mine. On other visible areas I may use silicon. There are a lot of pipes on this car -- so better disappear and order some! 

I hope to get some of the new terracotta carpet in so the dash can be put back. There's an issue with my dash that I can't quite put my finger on???

[Lotusfab]

Turbo water pipes all 32 mm and 38 mm. The diagram really complicated the reality, simple! Here you go!

[TAR]

I think your car can't decide how old it is judging by the confused centre console air vents.  

[Andyww]

I am reminded of the time, many years ago we had a Dagenham Ford Escort delivered to the office as a fleet car which had been build with a different trim level on the left and right side of the car on the line! 

[Lotusfab]

37 minutes ago, TAR said:

I think your car can't decide how old it is judging by the confused centre console air vents.  

It's getting older like me! 

Any respectable Bond replica has to have a cockpit stereo, here's why! The  Bond Car.pretty awesome! 

[Lotusfab]

If like me you wish to get a little taste of Bond in your car, I'm selling my spare RM310 cockpit stereo. (Lotus for sale)The Bond model is a RM610. Here's my RM310. Better in a way as it has a built in amp. The RM610 has a separate amp to install. I hope someone on here with a Lotus buys it. It would be nice to keep it in our community.