My Lotus Esprit S3 on Air and V8 power

[white out]

What temp thermostat do you have in the car?

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Photoshoot for RetroCars done and dusted.
Just a couple of pics I took on location at Bristol.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Got some new ARP stainless carb studs in the post, going to replace the china junk Mr Gasket studs. Have a bit of a balancing act now with the V8 scimitar build also in progress. Never enough hours in the day to get everything done……..

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Updates and progress will be a little slow on the Esprit due to building the V8 Scimitar.
Fitted the genuine AeroCatch locking latches today. Really nice quantity compared to the rip off china crap I installed. As you can see from the pic the genuine ones are a little smaller and the locks are smaller also, they have a nice spring action and a backing plate that holds the nuts for the mounting screws so installing is also much easier.

The crap I fitted are called “D1 Sanko” and labeled as if made in japan! Don’t buy them!

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Going up Shelsley Walsh in the rain! Picture taken by Phil George (Monzaphil)



Picture taken by Chris Frosin (doing my photo shoot for Retro Cars in September!)

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Cheers guys,

Spent a few hours today at the breakers and came across a really nice servo for the Esprit.
It’s from a Honda S2000 and looks a pretty good match for fitting it’s the same diameter but has more depth, I first thought it maybe a double servo but I don’t think it is? Anyway it’s going on when I get some spare time and I will see how it performs.

[MisterLonsdale]

So f*ing awesome!!

[Thooooom]

the rain was awful! i heard it coming over the hill from behind the hillclimb and started to make a run for the car. takes big guts to drive up there in those conditions, especially in something like this haha.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Retro Rides Gathering was another great day until the rain came down! and Jesus did it rain! had a blat up the hill but it was way too wet! rear tyres just span when ever I tried to give it some beans....I was pretty nervous to be honest with everyone watching and taking videos so took it a bit easy as it was my first time! so sorry if anyone was expecting a mental hero run! may have looked a bit of a pussy but the last thing I wanted was video on youtube of me crashing! over heating issues seam to be near enough sorted now, but the next issue is battery going flat due to the fans and pump running when I turn the engine off, all the stop starts waiting in the queue plus the compressor filling the air tanks really rips the shit out the battery. So could only do one run.

https://youtu.be/EqvWcuvKxfE

Nice to meet up with some old friends again and made many new, plenty of really nice cars and some really mental and fast drivers going up the hill.

[itsjustkevin]

So much 80s <3. Quality build friend

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Trial and error yet again………..Oh what fun!



New pump still has not cured overheating! So have had another rethink and decided to mount it as close to original location as possible, I think having the pump close to the rad was pulling the water to quickly away and not having chance for the rad to dissipate the heat? As some have already suggested. The hotter it got the faster the pump would work which was making things worse! I had to cut some more bodywork away to gain enough room to fit it. It’s also a real sod to get at, Aaaah! the joys on modifying cars….

[anth]

The EWP80s are also prone to leaking, I'm on my second one. The 150 will be a good upgrade in terms of flow and reliability.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

thanks dudes, some more work in progress.....


I have decided to up rate the water pump, the Davies Craig EWP80 pump that I had installed just didn’t seem up to the job of keeping the V8 cool? This is the last thing to try now and hope to put an end to the over heating issues. The black pump is the EWP80 and is rated at 80 litres a minute, the alloy turbo looking pump is the EWP150 and yes it’s rated at 150 litres a minute! I plan to just use the EWP150 at first and see how it works out? And may even install the EWP80 as well and use it as a booster pump. The EWP80 is supposed to be able to cool a 5.0 V8 and if the engine is in the front of the car and has nice air flow through the front aiding it then maybe it can? But mid engine cars with all the air and water flow compromises? Any one thinking of getting a new EWP? Demon tweeks are doing a £80 saving on these when brought with the controller on greedbay at the moment.

My next build is a Reliant Scimitar SE5, it was free and I have always fancied having one so I can now at least scratch that itch! I did plan on doing another Esprit but the days of finding a project at sensible money are long gone! Shame…….had a really wild project in mind.

[coconutt]

Okay I see this car pop up in random places across the web and finally come across the build. Fucking badassery at it's finest!

[Tordah]

Awesome build! i´m really not that into Lotus, but there is one car i thought of when i saw this thread. KRB Trading´s espirit. Competes in Gatebil Extreme series, pushing 900 bhp.