The <$20,000 exotic (my Lotus Esprit) | FerrariChat

The <$20,000 exotic (my Lotus Esprit)

Discussion in 'British' started by ATSAaron, Dec 13, 2016.

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  1. ATSAaron

    ATSAaron Formula 3
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    #1 ATSAaron, Dec 13, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I search Craigslist. Like that is literally my hobby. Almost two years ago I decided I needed a newer exotic (I've had a Ferrari 308 for ten years. Story here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/517629-lives-its-fast.html).


    I honestly can't recall what made me search Craigslist for Lotus. But I saw this beauty on the Dallas Craigslist. It's a 1987 HCI. The seller wants $10,000 but might take 9,000. The pictures in his ad were optimistic. I took these pictures to remind myself why I didn't' buy it. It literally needed everything. The bumpers were wavy/rust busted (308 owner's should know that term), the $1200 windshield was cracked, the door handle was broken, the interior was trashed. Yet the idea of a Lotus Esprit Turbo still haunted me.
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  2. ATSAaron

    ATSAaron Formula 3
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    #2 ATSAaron, Dec 13, 2016
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    August 2015: I started doing a little internet research on Esprits. The last version of the Esprit, the twin turbo V8 was way out of my play budget. But the early 90's with the "chargecooler" looked the exotic part and had respectable 0-60 times. Lotus called it the SE. A 1989 Car and Driver article put one up against the Ferrari 348, Porsche 911, Corvette, ZR-1, and Acura NSX.

    Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet vs. Acura NSX, Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, Ferrari 348ts, Lotus Esprit Turbo SE Archived Comparison - Page 2 - Car and Driver

    The Lotus came in last. BUT it won the 0-60 sprint and missed the 1/4 first place honors by just .1 seconds. It beat the 348 by a full second!

    The SE had lots of upgrades over the 1987 model. It had real electronic fuel injection from General Motors, an upgraded transmission from Renault, and taillights from a Corolla. Hmmm, perhaps with enough parts interchangeability this would be my new exotic.

    So I expanded my Craigslist search nationwide. I quickly found this car in Washington. It was the cheapest SE in the country at the time.

    These are the pics the seller sent me.
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  3. ATSAaron

    ATSAaron Formula 3
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    #3 ATSAaron, Dec 13, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    So we worked out a price. He took a little less than he was asking and I called Angel's Moving Autos and ordered an enclosed shipper to pick it up.

    Apparently it was moved from the small trailer to a big 18 wheeler trailer during transport. No problem. The guys that picked it up and the guys that delivered it were both very professional. The delivery guys assumed it was a $100,000 car and gave it the white glove treatment.

    I don't have photos to show, but I was treated with the following unexpected items when the car arrived:

    front left brake locks up after 5 minutes of driving.

    3rd gear syncho is destroyed

    rear tires are bald

    Why is the check engine light on?

    and OMG what is that smell?
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  4. ATSAaron

    ATSAaron Formula 3
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    #4 ATSAaron, Dec 13, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    We determined the front calipers had rust in the bores and the pistons were not retracting as they should. Google told me the front brake calipers for a Lotus Esprit are from a 1984 Toyota Supra. The local O'reilly's Auto Parts had calipers in stock for $145...for both. Hmmm, maybe this exotic this isn't so bad.

    Now on to that smell. I found this dead critter in the front trunk and evidence that he had been all over my new car. Ewww.
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  5. Lotaz

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    #5 Lotaz, Dec 13, 2016
    I am a Lotus fan and that's a nice find! Congratulations. There are some forums out there that have really good info


    Lotus Talk is the one I spend the most time on but there are others as well. Really good info and good folks willing to help out. When I first bought my car I was overwhelmed with all the little issues but found all the info and did all the work myself. Lotus dealerships in most cases are worthless even with simple things as ordering parts. British Racing Group can get many of those hard to find parts.

    Anyway congratulations and I hope to see more of your car progress in the future!
     
  6. Dakota

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    #6 Dakota, Dec 13, 2016
    I saw the red one on craigslist last year. Apparently someone had such a dispute with the seller after seeing it they made a ton of scam ads on him.
     
  7. rdefabri

    rdefabri Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #7 rdefabri, Dec 13, 2016
    I love these, but worried about the quality so I never picked one up. Given that my 308 and my E-Type have been rock solid, it's probably silly to worry too much.

    Also love the S4 models (I think yours is an SE with S4 rims), sharp looking and fast.

    My next car might be from this era, but possibly the ZR-1...not sure. Good luck with it, and keep posting, love to hear more about the car!
     
  8. rdefabri

    rdefabri Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #8 rdefabri, Dec 13, 2016
    Are those your MR2s in the background?
     
  9. URAS

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    #9 URAS, Dec 13, 2016
    Love the lotus esprit's! Two years ago almost pulled
    the trigger to purchase a level 3 96 model year for $18k Canadian. Instead settled on a lev l 2 71 Maserati Indy. Time will tell if I made the right decision but some days do reflect and think of the esprit.......
     
  10. Meister

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    #10 Meister, Dec 14, 2016
    esprits are fun. My 94 has been as or more reliable than every ferrari I've had in the garage. With such low production they pulled systems for many other cars so cross referencing parts can be done in a lot of places. Build quality can be lacking in some places, but in the end that was also somewhat the point. It doesn't have anything extra on it that will add unnecessary weight. Not sure why prices for these cars did not mirror 308's and 911's on their way up but for those who know about the car it's a super value.
     
  11. JasonMiller

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    #11 JasonMiller, Dec 14, 2016
    Ive owned two 1978 S2, a 1984,85, 89, 94 Esprits They are fun cars, the one I kept in the end was my 1985 (last year carb) G bodied esprit. My favorite Esprit.
     
  12. ATSAaron

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    #12 ATSAaron, Dec 14, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  13. ATSAaron

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    #13 ATSAaron, Dec 14, 2016
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    OK so where were we on the Lotus..ah yes, the dead mouse. I got that guy out of there and started de-scenting the car. I ripped out the low quality carpet the previous owner (or owners) had installed and purchased new carpet from SJ Sportscars in the UK. I still haven't installed the new carpet though.

    The wood veneer around the gauges was cracked and damaged. I decided to bring in a more modern look with dry-carbon film. I bought a small roll on Ebay for under $20, grabbed a razor knife and went to work. While I was in there I replaced the stock electronic boost only gauge, with a mechanical VDO boost/vacuum gauge.
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  14. ATSAaron

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    #14 ATSAaron, Dec 14, 2016
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    The aftermarket double din head unit the DPO (Dreaded Previous Owner) installed was awful. It did not fit in the dash and they had cut and damaged some of the HVAC controls in order to install it. I bought a basic Alpine head unit with CD, USB, Bluetooth, and more for $135 at Best Buy. I managed to find a replacement HVAC panel on Ebay in the UK.

    I had to remove and mig weld some of the bracket back together. The audio shop even cut the vacuum supply to the HVAC controls. This took me months to diagnose and fix.
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  15. ATSAaron

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    #15 ATSAaron, Dec 14, 2016
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  16. ATSAaron

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    #16 ATSAaron, Dec 14, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    The rear trunk carpet was missing when I bought the car. DPO never mentioned that. Luckily I found a guy parting one out in the UK. He sold me the carpet and a transmission. And as an added bonus the transmission turns out to be the higher rated one for a S4S. It's still on a shelf right now as we are wrapping up a long project at ATS currently. SO I just baby 3rd gear when I drive it.

    Air Conditioning. Of course it didn't work. I put a set of AC gauges on the car and put in a little R134 just to see what happened.

    NOTHING.

    There was no flow at all. I checked the sight glass on the receiver drier and it was rusty. That's a bad sign. So I started looking for the expansion valve. It's under the hood of most normal cars. Not a Lotus though. It's under the dash.

    Over the last 1.5 years I have become familiar with what we call "The Lotus Position" It helps to remove the seat first, then you can crawl under the dash like in the picture.

    Once I got the expansion valve off I confirmed it was clogged with rust. I ordered a generic AC drier and expansion valve off Ebay based on what looked similar enough in the photos. I bought a new AC compressor too, but since I know the engine is coming out in the coming months I have not bothered to install it yet. The old Sanden style compressor is still humming along. I do have to refill the R134 about once per year though.
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  17. ATSAaron

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    #17 ATSAaron, Dec 14, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I'm getting my story a little bit out of order, because I know I didn't' tackle the AC before I addressed the check engine light.

    So, as I mentioned earlier the Check Engine light was on. Some genius made a little software program called Espritmon that allows you to datalog the stock GM ecu. The DPO included an Esprimon cable, but no software. Luckily it's available for free download.

    I used Espritmon to determine that my check engine light was caused by a malfunction in the Quaddriver. The ECU uses the quad driver to drive several circuits: the additional fuel injectors, the boost controller, and the air conditioning compressor, engine overheat relay, cold start idle up, radiator fans, and the charcoal canister purge.

    Easy enough, I'll just buy a new ECU. I ran the numbers and found out it's the same as a 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais ($83 from Rockauto) but uses a custom Lotus eprom. Got the new ecu and...no difference.

    I knew my boost control solenoid wasn't working. I was only seeing about 8 psi of boost. Anyone who has read an article on the Lotus Esprit SE knows about the overboost mode that gives and extra 16hp (from 264 to 280hp) for ~30 seconds. This feature was not working at all. I started checking the boost control solenoid circuit. Everything looked fine. So I bought all new relays (about $4 each from Rock Auto). Finally in the process of replacing all the relays I managed to find a loose connection in the AC compressor control relay socket. That fixed the boost control issues.

    Yes, you read that right folks. The AC compressor wiring problem prevented the boost control from working. Yeah England.

    The boost control solenoid is the same as a GMC Syclone or Typhoon BTW. It costs about $23.
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  18. rdefabri

    rdefabri Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #18 rdefabri, Dec 15, 2016
    Oh wow - didn't know that! I LOVE SW20's, I would love to have one...hard to find in stock, or even mildly modified form. Indifferent to turbo or NA, but they are lovely cars, especially the later model years!
     
  19. sburke

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    #19 sburke, Dec 15, 2016
    Super cool.

    I miss my S4.

    Randomly found it on Craigslist, and flew down to buy it with no prep...


    On the way home the headlights stopped working with 3 hours to go. Hahaha
     
  20. David Lind

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    #20 David Lind, Dec 16, 2016
    Nice looking Esprit, and it sounds like you have a handle on its foibles. Just curious, though ... why would the PO sell a car w/ a dead mouse in the luggage compartment? Just trying to be an ******
     
  21. ATSAaron

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    #21 ATSAaron, Dec 16, 2016
    It wasn't visible until the spare was removed.

    Aaron
     
  22. David Lind

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    #22 David Lind, Dec 21, 2016
    Couldn't smell the deceased rodent?
     
  23. anunakki

    anunakki Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #23 anunakki, Dec 29, 2016
    Great thread and congrats.
     
  24. umsneeze

    umsneeze Formula Junior

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    #24 umsneeze, Jan 16, 2017
    Duh...it was the Lotus Deadmau5 edition.

    Seriously, I wish I could take a care like this and do what you are doing. Awesome and glad it's being saved.
     
  25. AHudson

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    #25 AHudson, Jan 16, 2017
    My last 328, which had just 11k miles when I got it, had been in the seller's warehouse for years. Obviously not a very 'driven' car, and was in serious need of a belt service.

    Before even taking delivery I got that done. The car arrived to me, I was all excited and on my maiden voyage turned on the AC and about jumped out of the car. The smell was seriously, shall we say, 'past its due date'.

    Seems a family of mice had gotten in the AC and heat vents, nested about, and laid down their lives to call the Ferrari a final resting place. I had to remove the entire interior, all the fresh air hoses, and do an chlorinated 'bomb' in the car. Finally got it it.

    When subsequently speaking to the owner and telling him my discovery, he said, "Man, I used to play football and had my nose broken a couple times. i can't smell a thing!"

    Loving this thread. Hoping to see updates
     
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