The birth of LotusRescue

[Bibs]

Very nice mate

[Al]

Good to hear an update from you these last few weeks. You had gone worryingly quiet…. 😆

[johnpwalsh]

Latest update on the Ice Blue Metallic S3 N/A. She's on the road as of todays 1st drive out. I Hope :).

 

Update on the shed find of 9 weeks ago. All up and running now. Registered as historic vehicle so now Tax and MOT exempt. I wanted too make sure she was up to MOT standard so had her booked in at my usual MOT station. Although she couldn't go through the system MOT computer as if a fault was found, that would cancel out her MOT status. So Mario the garage proprietor suggested doing the same MOT, but without the PC input. Couple of items came too surface. 1. Brake fluid loss on O/S rear caliper ( leaking pipe union), poor function on O/S front brake Sticky calliper, now changed ), Emissions too high,  bearing in mind the carbs have not been touched as yet but will be getting a tweak. Not too bad at all. Issues all fixed and now well up too MOT standard which she will officially go through again next week just too keep me happy as I believe every vehicle on the historic register should at the least have an inspection for brakes, steering and corrosion as failures on these to items can very easily lead to a death on the roads. So after all that, I thought it was time for her 1st proper wash and polish 30 + years. The results speak for themselves I think. 1 pic is as found, the remainder, as she is now. After a short test drive and all being well. Tomorrow (Sunday)she goes for a run. AA card in wallet just in case lol.

And all made possible with the help of

Donald Mckewan the brother in law, who spent most of his 2 week holiday cleaning and preparing parts for refit, and of course my long suffering wife, Wendy Walsh (bleeding brakes and building leg muscles) and Kev Rennie (next door neighbiour at my workshop and proprietors old man) who helped out a little bit lol. Thanks to you folks help, she was turned around from a seized engine, brakes, shocks etc too an absolutely cracking rescue within a very short space of time working evening and weekends..

 

And a very grateful thank you to Eileen Jack for allowing me to purchase her late partners car. I am sure Mike would be happy with the outcome as it was always his plan to bring her back to life.

Just did a quick count and this makes my 4th S3 plus 1 S4 SE. Ands still in the early stages of rebuilding and S1 and S2.

Anyone with an interest in an S3 Turbo of the same colour scheme in stunning new paint and interior, just to be put back together, give me a shout as I am seriously considering selling my turbo due to not getting time too work on her at the moment, or the foreseeable future. Thousands spent on her, and I mean thousands.

As found after being dragged out of the shed. 

And now. Must add, she has one of the quietest engines in an Esprit I have ever heard, other than the noisy

fuel pump which will be changed to a Fawcet as soon as I get chance.

 

[exeterjeep]

Great to see another one 'rescued'.

[johnpwalsh]

Ah well, she tried. 47 miles and she died on me. Checked all the usual items and no joy. Lots of chat with AA and PC plod who were all good by the way, and an hour later she started again. Decision made to head for home and AA happy chappie suggested he would follow us the full distance home as if we broke down again, AA policy is no second call out for the same fault, so AA chappie put into his system, pole tow home :). Anyway, same distance and she did exactly the same, just died. It was noted that both times it happened (52 miles the 2nd time) was when we slowed down for a roundabout on the dual carriageway ( an indication of lack of fuel on demand !!) regardless happy AA guy offered to run me home so I could collect my own truck and come back and fetch her, he explained it could be 3 to 4 hrs before a suitable low bed would be available to recover her. No sweat, offer accepted. Home get the truck, go back, pick her up and back to safety. On returning for her about 1.5 hrs later, obviously she bloody started and drove onto the truck. At this point I was thinking fuel evaporation as it was a bloody hot day, then speaking to a mate of mine this I mentioned that the fuel pump that I fitted, didn't drop out when the system was up to pressure, just kept running. Kerching, lightbulb moment, ( I hope) could it be the fuel pump is over fueling and pressurising the system to where when she is on low revs i.e at a roundabout for example she is flooding as she backfires immediately to cutting out. Replacement SU pump sourced this morning (Monday) and will be fitted tomorrow and do another run just to see. I also have a fuel pressure regulator that I can fit into the system if required.

Anyone have any other thoughts. Coil was checked to make sure it wasn't breaking down and spark was good at the time she stopped so guessing the coils fine.

[drdoom]

Sounds like impaired fuel flow to me. Had an Alpine long ago in which the tanks had been painted internally, and when that flaked off it largely but not entirely clogged the outlets, starving the engine. After sitting for a time enough fuel would seep through to permit starting and running for a short distance until again fuel flow came up short of demand.

Good luck

[kkv444v]

It sounds similar to issues I have encountered with fuel pump failure (Excel and Sunbeam, though a non-standard pump on the Excel that got very hot when it was failing). Was it an original SU pump?

[johnpwalsh]

None original pump on her. That will change tomorrow as I now have a spare SU which I will fit and see if there is any changes.

 

[johnpwalsh]

So after a bit more fettling end of last week on the S3 shed find. We made our way up the coast today to a fairly local show at Buckie which had 700+ entries on show. Bit overcast and light rain in the afternoon, but not too bad. So, on arrival our four cars ( there were others on the showground) cars were given a special award to celebrate 50 years of the Lotus wedge. I was then asked to get back to the car where we were handed another award. This time for best survivor car of the show. 10 minutes later, another award by the judges for car's you don't see any more. Then too cap it all, the S4 SE which I have been servicing and maintaining for the past 5 years (now with a new owner) goes' and win's Best Lotus on show. That's 100 more miles under her belt now, and she just turned 27000 on the way home, and the 1st time she has gone out and back under her own power with no miss haps. Well, almost. The horn did decide to part company with the bracket just a couple of miles from home.

Lol, she always has to get something in. What an end to a perfect afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All reactions:

41Wendy Walsh, Bob Barton and 39 others

 

[johnpwalsh]

Couple of better pics of Sundays show.

[johnpwalsh]

Well, my local paint shop have gone and knocked it out of the park again. Full respray and colour change back to original Silver A03 from Silk Red which it had been done in many years ago. That's respray No.4 now completed by Mario and his team. and another fantastic result. Another 2 too do and we are almost complete for the beginning of next year. Yep, this past year has just been a tad busy. Sneak preview pic, more to follow later as I just picked her up this morning.

 

[C8RKH]

Looks stunning @johnpwalsh. Can they also sort out the paint bubbling issues caused by moisture in the shells that we can get on the Lotus cars?

[Bibs]

That does look epic! 

Esprit's don't suffer from osmosis Corkers but if these guys know fibreglass well, I'm sure they could help on the later cars. 

[C8RKH]

Thanks @Bibs, you got where I was coming from straight away. My VX is showing a few bubbles on the passenger door that will need looking at...! 👍

I might have a word with them re a colour change

 

[Bibs]

Good fibreglass paint shops are hard to come by. Another option worth a call would be The Beaconsfield Workshop - the did a great job on @Gasman GT3's car a few years back.

[Gasman GT3]

Cant recommend Beaconsfield Workshop highly enough, great guys nothing too much trouble. 

[C8RKH]

I'm sure they are excellent, but, a bit of trek from Perthshire.  👍

[johnpwalsh]

14 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Looks stunning @johnpwalsh. Can they also sort out the paint bubbling issues caused by moisture in the shells that we can get on the Lotus cars?

I'm pretty sure they can Andy. Their secret is time between coats, drying time enhanced by gentle heat to reduce moisture and promote curing. AND THEY WILL NOT let anything out they are not happy with.