SE High Wing C Service

[CHANGES]

12 hours ago, Sparky said:

Incredibly, it's not leaking.

Is that not what the captain of the Titanic was told  !!!!.. 

and we know where that ended up... 

[Sparky]

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Peter will have to spend a lot more to bring this car back to its former glory!  I should report it to the RSPCE.

[Chillidoggy]

Just keep playing until the last moments, then step into the lifeboat.

[Sparky]

As skipper of the Californian you'll be along shortly, no doubt.

[Chillidoggy]

1 hour ago, Sparky said:

As skipper of the Californian you'll be along shortly, no doubt.

 

Judging by past performances, Trev's the captain of that particular vessel.

[Sparky]

I know I keep on about it, but I'm astounded at the abysmal bodges I'm finding on this car.  This must have been a sustained attack lasting years, I believe before Peter's ownership.  I failed to remove the RH tank today after encountering several more such bodges, too many to mention here.  But today's winner is the plenum.  No gasket, a gallon of sealant, and one fixing that confounds me.  At first glance I thought it was just a sheared bolt, but it appears to be a stud, slightly bent at the end.  Whatever, it's in there for good.  Having removed all other bolts, separating the sealant was irksome, but the plenum still wouldn't come off.  Turns out it's secured at the backplate with a nut.  The backplate thread is shot.  The stud won't drift out, so I have no idea what's holding it there!

Shedloads of cabling repairs to be done during the refit.

Spot the other weird stuff...

 

[rocket63]

Good god man. What devils were beset upon this poor car !!! Interesting route for the fuel pipe on the plenum 

[Sparky]

Honestly mate, it's horrific.  Hard to believe it was running.  I'm sure I'll find more...

[fsrowsell]

Why are the leads routed forward instead of at the back of the engine! Strange.

[Sparky]

Probably because the entire turbo heatshield assembly is missing! I've had one fabricated, and will reroute the leads.

[Chillidoggy]

What colour is that rear window surround carpet?

[Sparky]

I do believe you're extracting the Michael.

[silverfrost]

That bolt looks like its been glued and whacked in there to keep it in 

[Sparky]

Imagine how much fun I had trying to get the plenum off before I found a nut behind it.

[silverfrost]

I can well imagine Sparky, This car seems to full of bodges all over, but on the bright side you do not own the car so at least you do not have to pick up the bill for the parts or labour,  Its like looking after someone elses kids for the day, they can be badly behaved but at least you know at the end of the day you get to hand them back over ! 

What i this car does have though is spirit, to of run with so many problems is amazing,  it should be called Christine ! 

[peterm9911]

In my defence, as merely the increasingly horrified owner of "Christine" (nice name, I might go with that), I just bought the bloody thing.  The dealer said it it had had a C before I bought it, I later took it to a local lotus dealer and paid for another C, no-one mentioned any of this stuff.  If only I'd known about this forum beforehand!  Hey ho, it's only money.  If only I had some...  Still, it's a pretty looking car :-)

[Chillidoggy]

1 hour ago, Sparky said:

Imagine how much fun I had trying to get the plenum off before I found a nut behind it.

 

Maritime industry-approved, accepted, and innovative bodge for a broken bolt if on a ship miles from anywhere at sea.

Never expected to see that on a car, though. Impressive stuff.

[Sparky]

Not your fault, Pete!  It's amazing how many short cuts and bodges can be found on Esprits; unfortunately yours seems to have enjoyed the full set.

[Chillidoggy]

1 minute ago, Sparky said:

Not your fault, Pete!  It's amazing how many short cuts and bodges can be found on Esprits; unfortunately yours seems to have enjoyed the full set.

 

Have you had a look at the Ranco valve yet?

[Sparky]

Academic, really, as nothing works on the heater system!  Not sure if I dare open that can of worms.

A C service specifically requires check/inspection of pretty much everything I've found.  Quite sad that it can go through 2 alleged services without a mention of these things.

[Chillidoggy]

6 minutes ago, Sparky said:

Academic, really, as nothing works on the heater system!  Not sure if I dare open that can of worms.

A C service specifically requires check/inspection of pretty much everything I've found.  Quite sad that it can go through 2 alleged services without a mention of these things.

Be interesting to know which dealers were involved.

[silverfrost]

Peter,  Plenty of cars out there out still like this condtion, sadly a few years ago many had been purchased because the esprit used to be cheap to buy secondhand and lots of people used to run them without doing anything on them and bodge certain things, this of course did not help the lotus esprits reputation,  as they are in fact well behaved cars if looked after.   

Very sad that as you say this car ahs been serviced etc before,  your lesson has been learnt not to go back to those places !  However it has been known for people to stamp service books with their own rubber stamps that they have got hold of, or had made !  

At least its good hands now and you will get a well sorted car back when sparky has worked his magic. 

I think its a beutiful looking esprit,  I normally hate the high wings to be honest but had never seen one in silver before until i read thi thread,  The high wing model looks great in silver , Its a rare car and well worth the effort that is been put into it,  All the work is now well documented so if you choose to keep it or sell her on afterwards it should give you the rewards of reliabilty and a finacial reward also if you chose to sell 

[Barrykearley]

2 hours ago, peterm9911 said:

In my defence, as merely the increasingly horrified owner of "Christine" (nice name, I might go with that), I just bought the bloody thing.  The dealer said it it had had a C before I bought it, I later took it to a local lotus dealer and paid for another C, no-one mentioned any of this stuff.  If only I'd known about this forum beforehand!  Hey ho, it's only money.  If only I had some...  Still, it's a pretty looking car :-)

Still - could be worse.

you could have bought the red high wing from a dealer down south with the aim of driving back to Scotland in it.

shame it only managed to be low loadered into Mattys with no gearbox oil seized solid

[Vanya]

@Sparky have you been tasked with dismantling the suspension yet?

[Sparky]

Fortunately, it'll been done!