Specifically the ones with a hairdryer bolted to the engine. I like the looks of them, they seem to be fairly cheap for low-ish mileage ones out here but the old saying "Lotus = lots of trouble, usually serious" comes to mind.
How fast do I want to run away?
They burn waay too easy for me to ever own one. If an engine management issue causing it to run rich and get the exhaust hot enough that by the time you notice and pull over enough of the body work is on fire that all you can do is walk away and call your insurance, its a car I never want to interact with any more than to stand and look at it.
i don't think i've ever seen one in proper working order.
Somehow there is someone who takes a TR7 and another guy who takes a TR8 to my guard base every drill.
Idk what that tells you, lol.
Travis_K wrote: They burn waay too easy for me to ever own one. If an engine management issue causing it to run rich and get the exhaust hot enough that by the time you notice and pull over enough of the body work is on fire that all you can do is walk away and call your insurance, its a car I never want to interact with any more than to stand and look at it.
From what I have heard this is more or less correct, though the flip side is that as long as you maintain it with a fine tooth comb they are actually very reliable, drivable and return surprisingly decent fuel mileage.
Travis_K wrote: They burn waay too easy for me to ever own one. If an engine management issue causing it to run rich and get the exhaust hot enough that by the time you notice and pull over enough of the body work is on fire that all you can do is walk away and call your insurance, its a car I never want to interact with any more than to stand and look at it.
Megasquirt seems to be a great way to fix that. Or just install a EGT gauge...
Ohhh, Lotus Esprit....so much want....so much fear of repairs.
The doors can sag and the underbits rust. I wasn't a huge fan of the trans (90 esprit). If you get a Turbo, get one with the chargecooler. On s2 cars the tires are hard to find in the right size.
They are pretty but mostly a headache IMO.
i love the sound that engine can make with an uncorked exhaust.
yes, it feels like a kit-car a lot of the time, but at least theyre not boring.
we could ask the question.. what engine fits?
In reply to mad_machine:
coughcoughcough
I would avoid the 1988 model (US) as it's transmission is from Citroen and the ring gears are becoming unobtainium. Well, there's one place in the world you can get them, but that's it. Also, the Bosch EFI can be a headache. 89-up cars have GM MPFI and are much better. The SE and up models have the charge cooler. The ultimate 4 cylinder car (ultimate Esprit in my opinion) is the S4s. You should subscribe to the Yahoo turboesprit list. Good cars come up for sale on there. They are a PITA to work on. The general rule is that if you can see it, you can't touch it and if you can touch it, you can't see it.
And, yeah, they can burn.
Speaking of ABZ V8s into mid-engine swaps...anybody here ever heard of Paul Woods? He put one in an AW11.
http://www.woodsport.org/joomla/index.php/engine-conversions/51-v8/28-v8-conversions
The most appealing swap i ever noticed in one was an SHO v6. Im sure there are other swaps that make as much or more sense but i like the fact that you can find entire SHO donors for sub-1k which is great for if you blow up your SHO motor. I doubt that is true for 4.2 Audi V8s. Im curious to know exactly how much that guy would have in his TWO audi v8s if someone didnt give him a 2nd one for free.
turboswede wrote: In reply to mad_machine: *cough**cough**cough*
That was an awesome thread. Thanks for making my day a bit less boring!
SlickDizzy wrote: From what I have heard this is more or less correct, though the flip side is that as long as you maintain it with a fine tooth comb they are actually very reliable, drivable and return surprisingly decent fuel mileage.
In other words, a typical Lotus - wrench the weekend to drive during the week.
93EXCivic wrote:Travis_K wrote: They burn waay too easy for me to ever own one. If an engine management issue causing it to run rich and get the exhaust hot enough that by the time you notice and pull over enough of the body work is on fire that all you can do is walk away and call your insurance, its a car I never want to interact with any more than to stand and look at it.Megasquirt seems to be a great way to fix that. Or just install a EGT gauge...
Avoiding mid engine fiberglass cars would work too 
Travis_K wrote:93EXCivic wrote:Avoiding mid engine fiberglass cars would work tooTravis_K wrote: They burn waay too easy for me to ever own one. If an engine management issue causing it to run rich and get the exhaust hot enough that by the time you notice and pull over enough of the body work is on fire that all you can do is walk away and call your insurance, its a car I never want to interact with any more than to stand and look at it.Megasquirt seems to be a great way to fix that. Or just install a EGT gauge...
Boring.
The 910 engine is fairly reliable, based off of an aluminum casting by the foundry Lotus used for F1 engines of the Bedford truck 4 cylinder engine, plus a head based on a Cosworth DFV. It is quite capable of putting 300+ down at the tires with little more than a good tune up and a chip. 350 is doable as well. You'd better have your magic transmission oil in for those levels, though, and not try it in 5th gear. I got ~24 MPG +/-, if I could keep it out of boost, which isn't easy. In fact, it was real hard to keep the car out of triple digits. A guy I know dropped the hammer on the way to a high speed "shootout" in Kansas. I think he hit 180 for 10 minutes and backed off when the temps started to get too high, and that speed was off his GPS. This was a 89 SE with a chip. He said you could watch the gas gauge drop and I think he said he went through a half tank or more in that 10 minutes.
From knowing a former Esprit owner, the reliability of these automobiles can be measured with a stopwatch and is real close to the published 0-60 time.
Oh, ahh... Problem areas: Gas tanks. If they haven't been replaced, they are probably leaking by now, or just about to. Exhaust manifold: They all crack, even the last revision (3rd, I think.) Front brakes on the cars before the S4/S4s are weak, but OK with EBC Yellowstuff (Hey, GRM Advertiser, full page ad on page 132 of June '13, y0 ). By weak, I mean will heat soak and fade on you. Never had the fade again after going to EBC Yellowstuff, including running it on the track. AC's seem to go out a lot. I fixed mine and converted it to 134a just before she committed suicide. New AC compressor was like $150 or so (standard Sanden.) The elbow under the dash starts leaking freon and you'll never find it if you don't know what to look for. Headlight motors need rebuilding, which takes a $15 rebuild set from an online vendor (standard GM motors.) They will hoover up everything on the road, so you need to flush out the radiator fins occasionally. The cross reference list on my web site is pretty popular with Esprit owners. I have officially retired from keeping it up and Atwell is the new Keeper of the List, which he publishes in a spreadsheet in the Yahoo group. Back tires last about 8K miles.
Frames are galvanized, so zero rust issues there.
Dr. Hess is it really the car running over rich and the exhaust getting too hot that causes the fire problem?
93EXCivic wrote: Dr. Hess is it really the car running over rich and the exhaust getting too hot that causes the fire problem?
Considering the aforementioned leaky gas tanks, I'd think "maybe not"...you'd have to have some extraordinary rotary-like temps to ignite unburned mix in the tailpipe.
93EXCivic wrote: Dr. Hess is it really the car running over rich and the exhaust getting too hot that causes the fire problem?
I would think the opposite, just from running nitro R/C cars, I know if I wanted to get my head temps down I would enrichen the fuel mixture. I didn't measure exhaust tempts though so maybe it made them outrageously hot.
Perhaps no other car better exemplifies mid-1980's supersexy supercar. I would love to own one, but I would probably be afraid to drive it.
t25torx wrote:93EXCivic wrote: Dr. Hess is it really the car running over rich and the exhaust getting too hot that causes the fire problem?I would think the opposite, just from running nitro R/C cars, I know if I wanted to get my head temps down I would enrichen the fuel mixture. I didn't measure exhaust tempts though so maybe it made them outrageously hot.
That is what I would think to but I haven't seen a clear answer on why they catch fire and I would figure that is something the OP would like to clearly have answered.
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