My Lotus Esprit S3 on Air and V8 power

[V8-ESPRITS3]

This thing has blown up on my facebook feed. Well played.

Awesome cheers bud!

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Bagged esprit has been done hasn't it? Which came first?




http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/11/...otus-featured/

Hi,
I have been accused of taking credit for being the first or misleading by not answering this question? I did not answer it as I did not quite understand the question. I am not the first to do a bagged Esprit it has been done before by Dean who has a silver/blue Esprit with BBS type alloys. All credit to him he done it first. Maybe near 2 years ago so if you have not seen it look for it its a awesome car.
Rob

[Aitch]

Bagged esprit has been done hasn't it? Which came first?




http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/11/...otus-featured/

It has been done before. But it doesn't mean that a) this is a common or "played out" type of build or b) not 100% awesome. We're not talking about a bagged MkV golf here

[V8-ESPRITS3]

at the retro rides gathering

[Earl]

Car looks soooo good=) The only thing it could use is some spacing of the wheels but I completely understand the meaty tires due to the v8.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Ok small update on progress, really just trying to improve air flow in the engine bay.
I have a few ideas and just trying some out to see how it goes.
One problem I had with alloy sheet covered in fibre glass was the fibre glass would soak up the heat and keep it!
I am now looking into removing the fibre glass and just having alloy. I have brought x4 8 inch fans, 2 will go at the rear of the engine bay and will suck hot air out. The other 2 will go at the side of the engine 1 each side and blow onto it.


I also plan to make an black alloy tonneau cover to cover it all and also make a heat shield to go under the air filter,
I can then use the ears as air inlet feeds to the side fans and also feed cold air direct to the air filter

I am going to box this in more so it will vent out the left side onto the exhaust


I know some of you Esprit owners have used bilge fans and did look into that put as I am not keeping my car stock, I didn’t won’t to restrict/compromise the air flow I could by using 3 inch fans. I shower extraction fan is small and noisy and not that efficient and I guess the bilge pumps are similar? These fans are quiet and flow a fair amount of air. I am going to have the thermostatically controlled and a manual override switch for those traffic jams! And yes it’s safe to say my confirmed fetish for holes!

[V8-ESPRITS3]

brought an outdoor Carcoon. Not cheap! But could be worth every penny if it does what the makers claim, time will tell……..
hope it keeps my car safe over winter




Not much done to the Esprit lately, I have been busy with other projects (Lamborghini Gallardo replica) and having a major clear out of engines, parts, and projects just too much to do and no space or time to work on them!!

[OSSHWA]

I'm not huge on air builds but I give respect where respect is due - and this thing is without a doubt pretty rad.

[DutchStance]

Amazing car!
Got a build thread for that Lambo rep?

[kevvy_dawg]

^ what he said..?

New pants required...

[anti.engineered]

absolutely love it

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Yeah will do a build thread on the lambo when I get the Esprit in a more finished usable state.

been a while so better get on with it!

Here are some pictures of the stock Esprit rad and the new alloy Cosworth rad, it’s a bit bigger and the core is much wider so I will gain more water capacity and hopefully improve the cooling.


Fitting fans to the new rad is easy as it has more brackets unlike the original item


Picture of how I had the original Esprit rad laying near flat due to clearance issues with running a low car.

[Shepherd]

Great build!
Not a fan of V8 swaps, but well done! Looks great

[MkI]

look schweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Mounting the rad is simple with the stock Cosworth side lugs, I just made up some mounts from alloy U section. Not yet finished, have some spare time today so hope to get it done today.

When fitting the rad I have decided to change the angle and have it sloped forward as apposed to backwards I have seen other cars like this? Not sure why it may work better? this actually worked out better fitting the hoses and fans with it angled forward, I cut the front lower floor to gain more room and to enable the rad to stand up a little more to increase the amount of air forced into it.


Also checked clearance for fitting the A-Frame and made sure it fits wouldn’t want to remove the rad every time I towed it! Yes I expect break downs! The car has given me no reason to trust it to be reliable………its still an old Lotus with Lucas and British Leyland parts at best. I still love it and still get a buzz from seeing it every day which is why we do it.






While I was under the car at the front I noticed a little leak from the small hose feeding the heater matrix, the joining tubes were rusted to hell and the other just fell apart when I tried to remove the retaining clips. That was a lucky escape catching that in time as that would have caused a major break down with all the coolant pumping out! All fixed now with stainless tube and new stainless hose clips.