1989 Esprit Turbo S Race Replica

[M Blur]

Rydning: How to you propose to increase torsional strength?

you want to do it properly, it's called a roll cage..

I have been in 2 other Esprits and driven only obne other but was amazed how soft they felt going round the twisties.. it also translates into less direct steering etc.. I had only known John Hazzard's which has a multi-cage, coil-overs etc and is being beefed up further for the new install..

def the way to go.. 8) I know whatever Robin makes will be awesome .. !

[rydning]

I was thinking to build a rollbar infront of the engine bay.

With fully triangulate the engine bay,+glue the roof.

The absolute most of the flexing is in the rear and needs work.

I didnt want to destroy the cabin with tubes.Mine is still a road car.....

I should have build a pure racecar for my purpose.But this is what I have and have already invested to mutch time and money in this car.

Edited November 19, 2007 by rydning

[t70]

Very interesting.. What about an "X" shaped cage over the engine, or/and under it for that matter?

[Tony94S4]

I dont think it will last for long........

If I can buy a Esprit very cheap I will build a fully race Esprit with no compromises.With a highly modifyed Lexus V8 with twin turbo 1000bhp+ and below 1000kg that will be INSANE for sure.I have a lot of plans,only problem is money and time.............

The one I have now I think to overhaul the engine and put in new steel liners with O-rings,some more headwork+cam,reworked sump,rods,convert it to E85 (gives 10% bhp with the same turbo).

And put the 6sp box into it.

Looks like we r on the same boat money and time problem,

to many projects at the same time, cant complete all of them

I am almost finished with my honda and the

costly rx 7,

hopefully early next year I will decide what to do with the

lotus,

I am new and getting addicted to rotary engines can't wait to

get my fd3s going, with the price and availability of 13b I may

even drop one in the lotus

on the 910 do you plan to stroke the engine or keep the stock crank?

best luck

keep us updated

[rydning]

on the 910 do you plan to stroke the engine or keep the stock crank?

best luck

keep us updated

I`m doing some research about this at the moment......+more.

[M Blur]

Garry Kemp has steel 2.5 l stroker cranks you could use,, really boosts the torque potential for sake of making the engine a little taller and maybe nto quite as rev happy for track work..

[rydning]

Garry Kemp has steel 2.5 l stroker cranks you could use,, really boosts the torque potential for sake of making the engine a little taller and maybe nto quite as rev happy for track work..

Well,not at the moment.......one of the 2,5 engines that he have build earlier do over 1000bhp and 10200rpm at the moment....and this is with stock pistons......

[t70]

That is quite an impressive hp number! As I recall, you had mentioned that he was using the steel liners though.

[rydning]

Hallaysen Folks.

Need to get back to Esprit mode after running snowmobiles the hole winter now.(still have over a month to the snow goes away).

[Artie]

How's the project coming? I am going to the dyno tomorrow and hopefully have all the bugs worked out to get some decent numbers finally.

Artie

[nodemgr]

"700bhp+ Supras do not folow this car."

awesome!

[rydning]

"700bhp+ Supras do not folow this car."

awesome!

Yes,and this is on a 3,8km (2,4miles) track.

[rydning]

Its a a while since did update this tread.....

I have had the engine apart and done some mods to it + overhauled it.

The engine was looking pretty good inside,but I had some consern after some oilsurge problem.

Weldet the sump and put the pick up 3 cm lower and furter back in the sump to try to solve some of the oilsurge problem I had last year on the track.This did seams to work mutch better now.

I have also bought a accusump I gona put in the car next week.

But did something stupid like putting a aftermarked headgasked when put the engine together.

This headgasked was much softer and didnt fit aswell as the stock, and did brake after 35km on the track,shit this engine is giving me a lot of work..

The stock goetse gasked I had lasted 1000km of track work and was still ok....

Did also do some more aerodynamic work on the car this summer and it feels like the car is squised harder to the tarmark now,Didnt do any lap with the laptimer because i still had some fine tuning and only got 35km this time.

Do any know of a cheep Esprit or a Esprit with a weldet rollcage?I dont need engine and gearbox,only a rolling car.

My next plan is build a fullrace Esprit and put the one I have back to a roadcar.

[Guest bharper]

posted this earlier, and got deleted, so you will have to figure out your own links..... google for example. I was not trying to sell either one, just info answering questions in this thread.

a company called paeco makes copper head gaskets that are supposed to work well for high boost applications, and they make a girdle from the cylinder to the block that gets welded in to keep the top of the cylinders moving around in 400+ hp lotus engines....

on the head gasket, you could make your own, get copper the thickness you want, use an existing gasket as your template. they also claim the gaskets are reuseable.

also, for a lotus with a cage, there is a full factory race x180 r1 project on ebay usa right now. enough said.

[rydning]

Interesting car.Does any know anything about this race Esprit?

Is it only missing the engine and gearbox?

[mchlrodrigues]

They claim that the car is complete less engine and transmission, and that it was one of the cars Lotus campaigned in the US. On another site they were asking $28,000 for the package.

[rydning]

Update..

I have been on the track several times and the headgasked seams to last now.Even on racefuel with 1,65 bar of boost and a lot of timing...only gets 1,5bar on streetfuel 98RON.

This Esprit is moving like h.ll,it goes incredible good with racefuel.

The mods I did to get the headgasked to last was: Glued the liner to the block,new stock Goetso headgasked,tighten the head to 85ft/lbs using ARP studs,did run the car for some hour,retorqued the ARP studs to 85ft/lbs again.

I could clearly see that the liners had moved inside the engine.So gluing them was a test.

The best way to solve this is to make new steel liners witch are 8/100 mm to big and heat the block up before putting the new liners in.

Movie of my car at the track.

Did do a Time attack race also but not on this movie.

The car was 3 sec faster/lap on the time attack do to better brake/vehicle balance.

Ps: are in some talk to M Blur about buying his race Esprit.Will see if I can solve the freight problem..

[M Blur]

yes - would be so much easier if you didn't live so far away...lol

Hope you work that out Robin as I think you will do more with the car that I'm capable of.. fastest racing/TA Esprit ever, I have no doubts you could make that happen..

Blur.

[rydning]

I`m back into my Esprit hobby after a long winter with modifying/riding snowmobiles..

But still have thoughts about the headgasked problems,mine is still ok...xross fingers..lol..

Have changed broken headgaskeds several times, so I have some first hand experience in this field.

And think I have a good/easy solution for the headgasked problems, we have when tuning for higer hp output on this engines.With out tearing down the hole engine.

I will get made Stainless Steel O rings at 0.004" (0,1mm)thickness to put between the gasked and head with

special serrated edge embeds onto the gasket.

To get better clamp and lock the gasked in place

Edited June 1, 2009 by rydning

[M Blur]

Sounds like a good plan Robin - keep us posted.

MVS are almost finished the 358 - will post pics here before she goes to Coys or a specialist dealer. Car now running a conservative 420bhp @ 5800 rpm on 600cfm holley and pump fuel.. (acceptable range and compression on heads is fine for pump) but Knightsracing she'll run 480 with a slightly larger holley (850cfm) and cam still set up for 8000rpm+.. springs ran soft above 6000rpm but you could tell by graphs that it's running a high lift cam (hence solid lifters) will leave that for the next owner. Shakedown, aero, MOT and paint and she's good to go. Love some of the trick stuff MVS have done and they should still get weight in under 1000kgs...

Enjoyed your vid but I think you need to come to Scotland and race some of the cars here.. you must get bored so far out in front.. lol

I am now racing in Classics with a Triumph TR8 team at Knockhill, Scotland and enjoying every minute! About 850kgs and 265bhp.. not so much grip, lots of lock and great fun..

Best regards

JB

[rydning]

Update...

It looks like I have find the solution for our headgasked problems.It have now lasted 2 seasons with 500bhp+.

I`m now considdering to sell my Esprit or and go for a Radical track car and might modify it with turbo...

460kg/1000lbs 200hp stock with loads of downforce...And with the turbo mods and 400-500hp it will be more than fast..LOL

But its hard to sell a car that I have put this much work into..

[nodemgr]

So the fix for your headgasket problem was the serrated o-rings?

[red vtec]

Very nice, do yu have any more pictures of the Brake cooling fitted?

[rydning]

So the fix for your headgasket problem was the serrated o-rings?

No,that was the next step. I put in liners that are solid in the block,problem was the loose liners that was moving/vibrating and caused the headgasked to fail.I also have ARP bolts and Autronic ECU with the right timing and fuel. I had problem already 400bhp with the ARP bolts,new ECU 450bhp and the liners attached solved it all.