Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Lotusfab]

Fuel sender 

well had to replace mine. Got one from PMN as there is no direct replacement. It's compatible with the smiths gauge. Only snag you have to solder the arm together. In my case it was long enough if you can bend a curve in a straight piece of wire!w

[Lotusfab]

Has anyone got any centre badges in 38 mm that they have spare? I have three originals, one in 38 mm and two in 36 mm. So any would be useful. 

[Dan E]

I got one Fabian you are more than welcome to it

It’s not new though

 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Dan, will pm you!

[Dan E]

Actually looking at it, it’s really not that bad at all. Send me your address I will send it in the post when I get back from the US 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Dan, will do! ????????????????

 

[Lotusfab]

Bumper

Well, I removed all of the plywood and made a completely new piece. I reinforced it at the bumper mount points. It's now bonded in with polyester fiberglass.  Wood T nuts were used in 8 mm to hole the brackets. The brackets came from Bell and Coville via the deroure website. Five new ones,  as they were all shot. Because the wood is new I only fixed the centre bracket and one bolt hole in each corner bracket. I will fit the rest when I have tested the bumper fit on the car. The bolt holding the bumper is an 8mm x 25. Mm. Through a large washer. I'm going to paint the i back  in Epoxy black to finish the job. Reasonably fiddley to do this requireing a lot of tools. New rivnuts for the side lights. I have found an unused original side light to replace the one I broke. I need to fill some surface in perfections and get it sprayed satin black, almost another job off the list!

[Lotusfab]

Wheel nuts

well I got a sample nut( left one) It's better that the previous one but still the profile is wrong, plan B? The correct profile is that of a Wolfrace nut, but just can't seem to locate one. Need a CNC machine!

 

[Lotusfab]

[silverfrost]

Hi Fabian,  

   IIRC did Jonny aka the PITS not look into having this done by Mike at lotusbits ?

[Lotusfab]

Hi Danny,

not sure will ask them, thanks.

[silverfrost]

Maybe worth shooting Jonny a pm first,  I know they are not going to be cheap but is was only jonny that wanted them made on his jack jones as no one else was as compomotive mad as him at the time so the price would of been more i should imagne,  Hopefully a few more folks could get on the band wagon now and reduce the outlay cost ?   

Speak to Mike about cost and then try and gather the numbers on here for a group purchase maybe , between yours and the pits ocd you should be able to come up with something mate 

[Lotusfab]

Bumper nearly done. Just got to trial fit, drill other bracket holes and Epoxy black the rear. Quite a bit of effort here!

Side light

Inwas lucky and got a boxed brand new one. The box is BL or Austin Rover(I think), can't be bothered to look up the logo! Saw it on parts boxes years ago.

where do the gaskets go? Here's the answer, just foam. Could easily knock up new ones out of closed  cell foam.so one gasket on outside and one between lense and body of side light.

Oh and the bumper before!

[TAR]

I've got this to look forward to as well. You have done a great job there.

 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Tim. Didn't take that long in man hours, but totally necessary. Anything forty years old made like this will have deteriorated if any water has got on it. This will now outlast me! I'm on to the next problem, calipers!

calipers

the challenge is to identify which model they are so that I can buy the spares for a reasonable price. Does anyone know?

Theres a company called Big Red. They look quite good so will use them to help identify the correct parts. Will of course post the results here so no one has to waste time working this out. Crazy after all these years there doesn't seem to be any info?

[Lotusfab]

Brake servo 

also need to service this. I am considering splitting it apart, has anyone done this. I believe it's a type 50?

Somebody will probably be along to confirm this, I hope? He type 50 appears to be fitted to the Landrover series 2/3. A service kit is available for £20 or a brand new replacement for £58. Has anyone either repaired or replaced thevservo? I'm not that happy with just replacing the external seals Inwould like to see what condition the diaphram is in. Can't find any pics on here or the service part installation. 

[Lotusfab]

I think the servo above is a direct replacement for the type 50, but as with all things Lotus I could be wrong?

If it does replace the Type 50 it doesn't seem worth repairing a 40 year old one.

[PhilW]

Fabian

I have the same issue.  Even if you split it can you get the internals? I don't know.  And can you get it back together well enough?  SJ's will redo it for £200 odd pounds.  I understand they are done in a garden shed by some old boy somewhere.  That could be wrong though.  I don't know about the Landrover connection.  The Esprit one is definitely off the Capri 2.0L Laser though.

[Andyww]

I did buy a scrap £15 servo from Ebay for a Capri and tried to take it apart. It cant really be done. The casing is swaged on, with what must be a very large piece of tooling. The swages cant be levered open in a way which is reversible. In the end I sawed it apart just out of interest to look inside and then binned it. 

One thing I did notice is the action of the servo relies on a rubber pad on the plunger mechanism being compressed by the pedal action (not the diaphragm, a flat pad). As with any rubber pad that old I suspect it is a lot harder than it was when new, and so we are likely all driving with degraded servos. It would be very interesting to know if that new one fits.

There isn really any point in bothering with what car the rest of the braking system comes from IMHO as the auto factors generally list the Esprit for these parts and they are the same prices as on any other car. But the master cyl is Capri 2.0. I did find the complete rear caliper overhaul kit from SJ though didnt fit in the slightest. Had to send it back.

[Lotusfab]

Mmm. Thanks Andy, I was going to try and split it but now that idea is over. I bought a new master cylinder from S and J. In theory the above one is a direct replacement, but we all know how Lotus changed things, maybe the bolts will be in different places? Maybe I will order one and see. My original may well be fully serviceable, but I would like to know the parts are new. I could fitbthe service seals and try it out. Meanwhile the research continues. If the above one fits it might be the perfect solution?

[PhilW]

If it does you have saved me a lot of hunting on ebay!

[Andyww]

I think the things to look out for are the hole pitch of the cylinder, which visually looks correct, and the pitch of the mounting to the body, which cant be seen. 

Also the Esprit uses an extension which runs through the chassis to the pedal so this needs to be capable of being fitted in place of the existing clevis, which will only be possible if it can be removed.

The only way might be to buy one, perhaps they will refund if it is wrong?

[Lotusfab]

I ordered one from John Craddock. The Clevis pin bit unscrews, so the esprit extension can screw on. The rest should be correct as the servo is a type 50 in the parts manual, we all know that doesn't mean much though! 

My original could be cleaned up and used but if this works it will be a better solution, after all the original is nearly forty years old!

The bumper is almost done. I trial fitted it and the bolts are exactly in the centre of the body fixing holes, what a relief! Only putting the centre one in first and then trial fitting the top brackets and finally the bottom is a must. If you don't ere will be a lot of holes in the wood and scratched paint!

[PhilW]

Will be interested to know re the servo.  Let us know.

Cheers Fabian

[Lotusfab]

Fingers crossed!

Will let everyone know, as usual.

Looks real pretty, but will it work?