Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Lotusfab]

I believe the carburettor snapping at the float holder support is common and can be repaired. I prefer to replace as the carbs are pretty critical to your investment not going up in smoke. Of course I will have the engine bay fire extinguisher mod. Arguably even more important in a turbo than an S1 because of the increased fuel pressure and lots of extra leaky bits. Here's the extinguisher as fitted to my S1. 4.5L of extinguishant. The only problem being an inquisitive MOTer pulling the red handle to open the boot!

[Andyww]

That "ear" on the support snapping is caused by someone putting the shaft in wrongly and simply bashing it in from the other end without supporting the "ear" end on a vice or suchlike. 

Eurocarb have top covers listed but do they have the turbo carb version? Maybe its the same as standard but many parts are different. BTW SJ are supplying the wrong accelerator pump diaphragms if you order one for the turbo, I had to send them back, Eurocarb have the right ones.

[Lotusfab]

Yep I'm hoping the Eurocarb tops are the same. Here's the one, I hope. May have to visit them in Reading.

They can of course do a professional repair.

Looks similar?

[Lotusfab]

[jonroberts]

Regarding cleanup of your carb casings, I also found that ultrasonic cleaning didn't bring them up as good as I'd like. So I made a home-made soda blasting attachment from an old tyre pressure gun on my compressor. Couple of quid of soda powder from eBay and they came up pretty ok - not quite as good as aqua-blasting though. But the beauty of using soda blasting is that the soda dissolves in water, so a rinse back in the ultrasonic tank and there's no danger of leaving any cleaning media inside.

 

 

Oh, and a liberal spray of ACF-50 on the carbs and manifold (in fact any exposed alloy) helps to keep the surface corrosion down.

[Lotusfab]

Nice job Jon.

[Andyww]

Carbs come up pretty well using Scotchbrite, a fibreglass pen and WD40. Cant get into everywhere such as the space between the barrels though. Not as good as vapour blasting but its a quick and easy method without doing any strip down.

[drdoom]

What is a fiberglass pen, if you please?

[Andyww]

They are made up of many thin fibreglass strands tied together. I also have a finer one which actually looks like a pen somewhere.

The only issue I find when using them on the workbench is you end up with very tiny slivers of glassfibre on the bench which can be itchy if get into skin.

[Lotusfab]

I'm learning lots on this blog! 

[Lotusfab]

It's tempting to try and rush these restos, but that will never end well. I've decided I'm going for the full monty. I shall be taking the whole front end apart and replacing the  radiator. I will fit the bulkhead speakers and rear covers. I then have to dismantle the rear chasis again to replace the sliding spacers in the hub with new ones. Tomorrow all of the aquablasted engine parts will return and Tuesday it's up to see the engine expert Pete at PNM with all the engine bits.  Should start engine reassembly soon, but you know what this is like! I havn't looked at the gearbox yet! My must finish date is November for the NEC car show. I plan to take this and the S1. It's very likely I will finish by then. 

I still need the wing mirrors. They are the must have part. All my hopes are on Eric on here who says he might have some in a cupboard somewhere. Fingers crossed. Would be a shame to be thwarted this far along. So far I have managed to overcome just about all the issues, even the speaker grilles! Life would be so much easier if you could still by the parts. Maybe the answer to the wing mirrors is to manufacture more? 

[silverfrost]

Which sliding spacers in the hub Fabian ?

[Lotusfab]

Hi Dan, part 46. I have a studied thread I made up for the S1. I have already bought the new parts but havn't had time to fit them.

[Lotusfab]

[Lotusfab]

All very very clean. I think I going Ferrari and painting them. Why longevity I don't think the finish will last even with ACF 50. Now the head is carbon free it's all off to PNM tomorrow. 

The cam holders are equally impressive. Engine will need a quick run upto operating temp then a new filter and oil change to ensure no stray media.

I could never have got it this clean!

Very impressive repair by Paul at Cranford, can't even see it!

[Lotusfab]

Carbs

they need to be stripped. Then the parts can be aquablasted. The brass screws aquablasted separately in a special container. The body then sprayed in ACF 50 and they are put back together. They look complex but really are very simple when you split them down into what each bit does. The Lotus manual lists the carb type 45H for the Turbo (I think) then the jets etc all have a number which is also listed in the parts manual so you can buy. spares.I have lots of pics if anyone gets stuck. 

[Gis]

6 hours ago, Lotusfab said:

Carbs

The Lotus manual lists the carb type 45H for the Turbo (I think) then the jets etc all have a number which is also listed in the parts manual so you can buy. spares.I have lots of pics if anyone gets stuck. 

Isn’t it a DHLA40 on your car? I think the 45s came later. Different jet sizes. Section TDB, page 9

[Lotusfab]

Thanks GIS, I will look into it when I get a chance.

Engine

after a 10 hour round robin to Liverpool my engine is sorted! I spent most of the day at PNM. I'm regretting aquablasting! I now have to ensure every trace of blasting media is removed from the head and all the other parts, but especially the oil ways. This will take hours and hours, if any is is there it could wreck the engine. Also I have to dump the filter and all the oil after it reaches operating temp and change them. This is so if any media was missed it's removed! Would have been quicker to clean with brake cleaner.

Well the good news. Pete has been building these engines for over forty years. He knows most of the measurements from memory and knows  the engine and all of the potential problems probably better than anyone. He measured and went through every component. The good news for me is he confirmed engine has already been rebuilt with lots of new parts. 

Camshafts - good condition two new thrust washers supplied to bring endfloat to spec a B and C. All upper and lower gaskets supplied.

cylinder head - in his opinion it's had a skim and recon with some of the guides replaced. Pete replaced all of the head core plugs whilst I was there, he made it look very easy! All within spec, happy days!

Block liners all ok and have been honed. No wear lips. Bearing shells new with very slight marks due to dirt in oil. I ran it for 20 mins a couple of years back. Rings new and not worn in, Middle ring wrong way up. He supplied a ring installation sheet, the instructions from the ring manufacture differ from those on the internet. I will install them as per the manufacturor guidelines. As the rings are new no need to replace any. 

two new pistons. Con rods new. 

Crankshaft journals practically no wear. He measured the Crankshaft end float. It's 3 thou bang on spec. I got 12 thou with feeler gauges. It must have been moving when I measured it!! Having proper measuring tools helps! 

Water pump rebuilt and by PNM. They are the only company that run the pump on a test rig to check for leaks before sending it out! 

Pete then took the oil pump apart measured the wear and reassembled it. 

Alternator being refurbed as new- very reasonable pricing.

I have decided to recore my radiator which PNM can do. Having discussed it with Pete he does do aluminium because he says in a Road salt water environment he thinks it will corrode. 

Well well worth the journey. A real enducation into the 2.2 engine. He should really write a book on th e engine else all this knowledge will one day be lost.  I now have all the tips and instructions to reassemble and get a really good engine out of it. I would call Pete at PNM if anyone is on the same boat. 

Thanks PNM Pete and John for sorting my engine and suppliying all the parts at a really good price. Their website is new and all the time they are adding parts. They have just about everything but you have to phone. They have a massive stock of used parts which are not on the site. The only problem is it takes time to locate the parts as they have to sort through all of them. They supplied me the thin gear lever! 

Heres their new online shop!

http://www.pnmparts.co.uk/

[Lotusfab]

New core plugs in.

[Lotusfab]

Thanks GIS, I'm glad your keeping a watchful eye. Yes GIS is correct 40 H for the carbs.

[Lotusfab]

Have just ordered engineering oil stones to prep the mating surfaces for reassembly. The carbs are off fof aquablasting today. A big thanks to Bauke on here who has facilitated getting me the missing wheel lip! After almost three years of searching I have found one. I may not have time to. Disassemble the wheels before the first display, but I'll have a dammed good try to get it all done. I seem to be taking mire of this car to pieces than putting back together at the moment! 

For those of you who missed it their were two types of front wheel lip. The 1.5 inch with the cx500 on the outside( later and better design) andthe earlier 1 inch Essex Bond lip. Notorious for leaking. Although I have to say the way they are assembled has a lot to do with it. No leaks on any of my wheels about 9 months on! Without further adoo the Bond lip......

Thanks Bauke!

The top wheel is the Bond museum car in Miami!

So who has an Aircon knob I can have? Need two of the upper ones in the picture. And I need the Aircon panel the same text as the picture. Nearly there thanks to the help from so many people. This has really been a global effort spanning from Seattle to Singapore! 

[Lotusfab]

If you have a Marshall amp please pull all the knobs off and give them to me, they used the same Bulgin knobs! You might nit be that keen though. That particular amp is worth serious money! Itsbto a good cause though! 

Maybe our American friends who love to customise might do  a knob upgrade? I can get you some very nice aluminium knobs made by PNM in exchange for these old plastic ones? 

[silverfrost]

Great work Fabian,     And well done Bauke for sorting him out 

[Andyww]

13 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

If you have a Marshall amp please pull all the knobs off and give them to me

I want one too! Marshall JTM45 amp.

The originals were taller as they had a skirt area to hide the potentiometer nut. You can see on the Esprit ones where Lotus sanded off the skirt to make them less tall because on the Esprit the nuts are hidden behind the graphic panel.

Trouble is, if you search on the web there are also people wanting these for restoring the amps!

 

[snowrx]

The pleas are starting to get to me-  Would you have a tall (~85mm) HVAC panel to trade for the knobs off my 85TE? I could make new ones later from powder coated aluminium. You can't have my mirrors, they now have motors in them rather than the clicky solenoids.....