I’d like yours Steve but then you’d have nothing to drive, buy the blue car, you know the Blue car [emoji12]
I had an S3 Turbo HCi - last of the paper dart shape. It was kind of a love-hate relationship (worked on it a lot myself), but quicker than contemporary Ferrari 328.
Lol, I spent a week with stitches in both hands after the biopsy. Came back as squarmous cells in both hands and now have like 5 stitches in both hands for 2 weeks
Yep. Gasket - exhaust and head. Prev owner buggered it, and the exhaust studs are so close to the bodywork, it's a prick of a job to get in there.
So do the engines have an inherent cooling issue requiring upgrades and once fixed it was pretty reliable ?
The only way to make a Lotus Esprit reliable is put a Toyota engine in it. Then you'd only have the gearbox, brakes and electrics to let you down.
The irony of your comments Ian is that I believe by 1985, there were a lot of Toyota parts being used by Lotus, certainly the Lotus Excel had Supra gearbox, brakes and differential. I’m certain the S3 turbo update in 1985 used Toyota components in the front suspension too but can’t recall from which car but most likely Supra. Before that, Esprit S1 & S2 front suspension and brakes were from an Opel Ascona, except dampers and springs. When GM bought out Lotus, the then M100 Elan (in development) had to ditch the excellent Toyota Twin Cam for an Isuzu unit. Initially, the head of Lotus 907 engine was developed on the Vauxhall slant four and Colin seriously thought about ditching the whole bespoke engine and just fit the Lotus head on the Vauxhall slant 4 engine (much like the Twin Cam engine was based on the Ford Cortina block).
So Pat, why do you think Meraks are ****e? I would've thought with the North-South (longitudial) engine layout, the handling balance would be really good. The Citroen souced brakes provided really strong retardation (but super sensitive), and the gearbox was decent too (same as used in the Citroen SM/Esprit). I have to admit, the engine wasn't Alfieri's finest effort and its probably the only thing that puts me off them - unreiable and a bit gutless when compared to its Italian contemporaries. The cam chain design on the V-6 looks like trouble from get get go. Is there something else I'm missing? (sincere question as I've never driven one or know someone that had one)
Seeing no one can go any where the NSW Police are not having double demerits during the long weekend, apparently we are all rule weary https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/double-demerits-scrapped-for-nsw-in-october/news-story/2bebaa7d7d2a8989bcc3035c40528e2b
Sure have. looks very serious driving a 308. Concentrating on all that power Image Unavailable, Please Login
No, you've pretty much nailed it. Slow, heavy, unreliable, and what is it with the spare? No specific first-hand experience, just looked at them back in the day - ended up buying a GT4.
Heal with steel. A chance to cut is a chance to cure. Put the patient in one room, and the disease in another room.
My specific car had a dickhead previous owner - drove it with an exhaust gasket leak for months until an exhaust valve burned out. Lots of deferred maintenance stuff. I got it pretty reliable in the end. Horse was going to trade it for a QV, but the Esprit was miles quicker - I lived to regret that decision.
That's a bit cruel! Gearbox was OK, but the linkage was shyte. Electrics - on a par with Italian electrics. Brakes were terrible - not fixed until the S4s
I looked into it Kim but didn’t do it for the reasons Greg gave…The biggest job is reflashing the ECUs…The rest is bolt on..I ended up buying a genuine CS TCU which made the gear changes faster and far more aggressive…Very easy job!…You could also do the conversion of the 430 exhaust to CS spec ( There’s a guy in the states that does it)…That would change your car a lot with a small outlay..Then see if you like it…It really changed my car hugely on the CS TCU..
I’ve lost weight since this photograph was taken, just saying [emoji12] and the car was on boost when the picture was taken I had to focus [emoji849]
