FridgeFreezer Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Haven't had one apart for a long time but I wonder if you could remove the gears & turn them around too? The input & intermediate I think you could, it's the output gear I'm not sure about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share Posted March 5, 2019 It's been a while, but a little progress has been made. I got some nice tires shipped from US (quite a nightmare to find a seller that would ship them and quite expensive to get through customs, as they don't seem to conform to some EU regulation). Next to a standard tire for comparison. Some trimming might be needed... Also got the new block on the engine stand, ready to start the build: And I've taken out most of the interior to swap the pedalbox for a manual one. Definitely not an easy conversion! As soon as my 2-post lift is available again, I'll take off the body and have a go at the driveline. Ashcroft has supplied a nice set of pegged lockers (forgot to take pictures) and I'll want to redo most of the suspension bushes and balljoints as well while they're easily accessible. I seems Lagoda 2019 is no longer a realistic goal... Filip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Someone appears to have fitted your steering wheel on the wrong side Filip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share Posted March 5, 2019 Ross, that's actually one of only 2 of my cars that is LHD, all the others are RHD. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Of course! The Lotus’? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 And others........filip has a car habit that makes me look good. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted March 6, 2019 Author Share Posted March 6, 2019 Just Lotus (all RHD) and Range Rover (1 RHD, 2 LHD) at the moment. 😉 And I am planning to sell a couple... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 On 3/5/2019 at 2:36 PM, landroversforever said: Someone appears to have fitted your steering wheel on the wrong side Filip! Better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Perfect Ben. Jsut have to make sure you've got a passenger to read the dials! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted March 14, 2019 Author Share Posted March 14, 2019 I spent last weekend getting the wireloom ready for the MegaSquirt (thanks again @FridgeFreezer). With a little help from my friends, including the resident electricat. Great for stripping wire ends! We put the MS on another P38 for a trial run, so as not to have an untested controller on a newly build engine. Good thing too, as we did need plenty of starting to get the VR parameters working. But in the end she did fire up! 😄 Some tuning needs to be done, but at least the concept of using all original sensors and wireloom is proven. Next step is to take the body off the car, remove engine + autobox and replace with the new engine and manual gearbox and install the lockers (with a bit of axle refurbishing on the side). Filip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 Any more progress Filip? Have you got the body off yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 Yeah, some progress, but not as much as expected... The body has been off for some months now, blocking the 2-poster. Pedalbox has been forced out, replacement manual one is on the bench but needs to be adjusted, as it's from a diesel and doesn't have the bracket for the throttle cable. I didn't see that coming, but should be easier to solve than all the bracketry needed to add a clutch pedal to the original pedal box. Axles have been rebuild. First attempt ended in a severly deformed 20ton press. Ben helped me adding some bracing and that was enough to get the bearings out. Only just though, and the parts that went flying when it finally gave made some serious dents in the steel frame. Ashcroft lockers are in, chassis has been cleaned, Arnott GenIII airbags finally arrived, so prettyg much everything is ready to build up the chassis again. We also made good progress on the engine, it's all but finished. But I kinda lost drive when I needed to helicoil some of the rocker bolts... And that was almost 2 months ago already. 😔 And then other things came up, like a 928S that needed quite a bit of work. Tomorrow I'm gonna conintue, promised. 😁 I'll see if I can dig up some photos. Filip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 Some of the engine build: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 I like how the gold-top Lotus just accidentally made it into the parts picture 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 To be fair, it's hard to take a picture in the workshop without a Lotus in the background Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 1 hour ago, elbekko said: To be fair, it's hard to take a picture in the workshop without a Lotus in the background It's hard to come up with a polite response to that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P38 Paul Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 8 hours ago, elbekko said: To be fair, it's hard to take a picture in the workshop without a Lotus in the background Hi Filip , how long have you had the lotus for ? Regards Paul . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 You've got some money going into that there V8.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 Paul, I got my first Esprit back in 2011. Unfortunately that one was lost in the fire in 2015. A month later I had bought another one to replace her, also a Turbo SE. She has been my daily driver ever since and will continue her duty for the foreseeable future. Early 2017 I swapped a Triumph Stag for an Eclat Excel and later that year I was offered the ELan JPS and just couldn't resist. Plan is to tidy up the Excel and sell her, as I prefer to drive the Elan which means she's just sitting there gathering dust. Bowie, yeah, I didn't spare expense, but all withing reason. I don't plan on building an engine every year, so this one should be a bit special and be good for many enjoyable miles on and off road. Sure, a standard 4.6 would have been fine as well, but now I know why I keep my office job. And there are far worse things to spend one's paycheck on. 😉 Filip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Indeed! Fair play man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P38 Paul Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 37 minutes ago, Escape said: Paul, I got my first Esprit back in 2011. Unfortunately that one was lost in the fire in 2015. A month later I had bought another one to replace her, also a Turbo SE. She has been my daily driver ever since and will continue her duty for the foreseeable future. Early 2017 I swapped a Triumph Stag for an Eclat Excel and later that year I was offered the ELan JPS and just couldn't resist. Plan is to tidy up the Excel and sell her, as I prefer to drive the Elan which means she's just sitting there gathering dust. Bowie, yeah, I didn't spare expense, but all withing reason. I don't plan on building an engine every year, so this one should be a bit special and be good for many enjoyable miles on and off road. Sure, a standard 4.6 would have been fine as well, but now I know why I keep my office job. And there are far worse things to spend one's paycheck on. 😉 Filip Hi Filip , only asking cause my cousin had one of these with a heavy metallic gold roof , I would go as far as to say it was metal flake & in real nice nick , it has bought back some fond memories seeing your Elan , regards Paul . PS , what's the best water pump you can get for the P38 , plastic or metal impellor ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escape Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 Paul, the gold roof (and sills) were standard on a special edition of the Elan +2 to commemorate the victories and championships of the John Player Special F1 cars at the time, specifically the 50th victory of a Lotus F1 car. It was a limited run of 50 cars initially, but due to popular demand a total of 115 were made. Mine is number 57. 😎 So if your cousin had one, chances are it was also a special edition. It came with a UK plate, but not sure if that was the original one. I'll look it up if you want. As for waterpumps, I've never seen a plastic one with a damaged impellor, usually they just start leaking, as do the metal ones. Metal may seem better, but I don't think it matters. Filip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laptom Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 Nice build! What kind of rockers are those? Are the heads itself also ported/flowed? Good that you saved the manual flywheel. I'm looking for them for years, but are impossible to find (without costing a kidney or liver). Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 7 hours ago, Laptom said: Good that you saved the manual flywheel. I'm looking for them for years, but are impossible to find (without costing a kidney or liver). Martin at www.rrpartsltd.co.uk might have one but postage would be killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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