Snowed-in with the Ferrari Bug in MN

Welcome to the board. Please fill out your profile a little more. I live just north of the metro and have a Lotus myself (88 Esprit ). There is a Ferrari connection on the board for the local Ferrari club (Lee Sanders 512bb). Are you involved with any local Lotus clubs at the time. I'm also a member of the Lotus Owners Of the North. If you are not a member of any local Lotus club shoot me a PM and I can get you into contact with the president of our club. We do lots of drives over the summer and also get together for other events. There has been a rash of Elise buys over the past year in our club and I think there are about 15 of us that have them now (rough number).

 

I'm in Duluth and just picked up an 88 Esprit last summer. She needs some work but if I ever get it done I'd like to do some drives.

 

Lets see some pics man..... What kind of work do you have going on with it.

 

There is another member down your way. John S. He has a 348 that he enjoys quite a bit and he is a really nice guy. Haven't seen him around Fchat here for a while though. This is a great place to learn about Ferraris

 

i know that track well. But i drove it in the cars with the funny lights on top.

 

Here are a couple of pics.

I traded a 69 corvette convert for it in May or June last summer down in Appleton, WI.

I have yet to start it up or even try. Sad I know. The guy had it bouncing around from shop to shop and no one could seem to get it right. I'm looking for the time to go through the engine compartment, replace the hoses, get the turbo checked, new belt, make sure the timing is right... I hope it isn't too major (internal engine).

Otherwise there are a few spots that need paint work but the interior is good.
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Nice Esprit!

I'm looking for an S1 myself, for a planned LS1 project.
(See http://www.artandautomotiveclassic.com/Lotus.htm )

I plan on having to rewire the entire car, revise the suspension, brakes, hubs and restore the body and restore/update the interior.
...Just a small project, lol! Should take about a year, once I find the right car...Don't want to tear up a good one.

I look forward to hearing about you getting yours on the road!

 

I've contemplated an engine conversion myself a time or two. I try to convince myself that the hard work up front would pay off with ease of use and performance after... =) Yet once you have the sound and feel of an exotic engine it's hard to let that go.

I've seen several converted Esprits over the last few years on the web. I also just got some pice from a guy who did it to an S1 he had. Said it cost him somewhere around $7-$8 plus a lot of time. The pics are on my home PC and it might be a couple weeks but I'll send them over to you if you are interested.

If your serious about it have you looked into using a Porsche gearbox? It's my understanding that the renualt box is quite troublesome and it may be beter in the long run to just switch it over to 915 or later box. Plus there are a lot of places that make adapters/kits/cluthces that make it easier to mate Porsche boxes to american blocks.

 

It's funny you mention the sound, I'm modifying the LS1 to make it perform and sound more like a more exotic engine; individual throttles, uograded valvetrain for higher rpms, etc.

I have decided to go with Renegade Hybrids for the Porsche-Getrag G50 transaxle, modified for this use with cable-shift, and upgraded clutch assembly and custom gearing.

I'll have 450-500+hp when all is said and done, and likely just over 2,000lbs.
5th Gear takes it out to just over 200mph.

Yeah, I have a LOT fo work to do to make this car handle that properly and safely.

 

Sounds very interesting!

Keep me posted either here, e-mail or PM.

 

Sure, also you can check out http://www.artandautomotiveclassic.com/Lotus.htm.