Jacques

On mine it's above and was like that when I took it apart. So I placed them there when installing new oil coolers. It stabilizes the hose/oilcooler, so it does not wiggle about and make the hole in the body bigger. It's been 3 years since I did that, and it is absolutely well working, tight and no leaks. Once the foam opieces and the air guide fiber pieces are in place, thay also help support the oil coolers in place and lessen vibes and bumps. So, on mine, there was a piece of foam on top of each oil cooler (between that and the underside of the body), and on the sides and the bottom to guide air. See pics, albeit I have renewed all foam with new firesupressing pieces, painted black withe heat resistant black paint, on these pics. But I copied the exact original parts. Hope it helps. Kind regards, jacques

Meanwhile I have acquired an original Sport300 front spoiler and the Speedo and rev counter also from Sport300. Plus a binnacle You may have to wait a bit more, as more original Sport300 parts are on the way. And then some. And then some more. They are waiting in boxes, for the day I have time enough for the next step. May I remind you, that the first Sport300 had SE door handles So that would be original. Not the S4 parts. Also, the S4s turbo is not the same as the Sport300, and also the induction hose is larger on the Sport300 (which I have also installed). It's smaller on the S4s. May I also remind you, that some Sport300 had factory installed aircondition, so a la SE. And some Sport300 came with S4 comfort seats, not the Sport300 model only bucket seat. The engine cover is also a modified one from the SE with the new style tailgate. I happen to have a set of the "tops" to be welded on the frame in a box on the desk, if you need to copy them. The powersteering suposedly demands removable strenghening bars on the front frame, which is welded in on the SE model with out powersteering. Personally, I prefer a set of rebuilt S4s wheels to adopt Sport300 width tires, over the higher profile smaller diameter Sport300 wheels. The Sport300 had extra bolts to hold the thin chassis in place to the frame. And it had thin noise dampers instead of thicker ones for the suspension (I've been told). And of course the uprated improved cold air supply for the front brakes. Some Sport300 did not come factory built with alcantara on the steering wheel, but normal leather. Kind regards, jacques

That, or it should be placed on the "experienced" shelf. Your car is no longer a plastic car, as some other car brands would have it. Kind regards, jacques

Good too hear. I've never used that classic oil myself, but some friends have, and they are okay with it in their 40 year old Laverda ball bearing engines. But that is another matter. I would expect the same as you have found, by shifting from Classic to Supercar. Two very different types of oil. But I will add to the old thread's content, that Supercar is designated so, because Castrol wanted to celebrate their approval by Köenigsegg in Sweden. That is the only difference. I called Castrol UK Headquaters recently and asked the tech department. And speaking of sludge, created by too much zink for example, I can add that while carmakers advertise their cars to use long life versions, these create way too much sludge, and I have personally seen many expensive heavily tuned Audi RS and VW Golf R engines (for example by HGP, which I have helped work on wither service or engine rebuilds)) full of sludge from long life oil. Just never use it. I avoid it like the covid-19. Keep a long distance Kind regards, Jacques

Cheers, Jacques

Made a quick stop at this working mill. Old used up stones behind the Esprit. This type of landscape with curvy narrow hilly backroads are my favourites for taking a good fun drive in the Esprit. It's easy to feel how the car responds to the road and the drivers input. A nice dance. Have a nice Summer! Kind regards, jacques

Robin: In Lotus Service Notes, section EMH.1, page 13, section I, the following is written: "... When first starting the engine after reconnecting the battery or ECM power suply, it may be necessary to partially depres the accelerator pedal, and to release the accelerator very slowly when first returning to idle, in order for the ECM to re-learn the idle air control (IAC) valve position. The time taken to complete the integrator and block learn re-learning process will vary from vehicle to vehicle, and will also depend on driving conditions. Gentle driving at steady throttle openings will speed the process. There is unlikely to be any differences in engine performance or vehicle characteristics during this period. ..." It is my experience, that if you don't follow this, the warm up idleing may be a bit jerky at first, until you disconnect and therefore reset the ECM once more. Kind regards, Jacques

Nice Lotus, but the noise must be a new version of the old military noise that was developed to kill people, that Kate Bush sang about. Cheers, Jacques

Somethimes this is preinstalled. Otherwise it's a good idea. Mine had none. Kind regards, jacques

If you do so, do wrap in the braided line with something else to protect it where it passes holes in the chassis. First you add new gromets from the slave end on to the new line. position them to make it easier to reach to pressfit. attatch the old and new line. Pull through. Old gromets may be needed to undo and remove or just pressed back in the end. Instead of suing an extra adapter fitting, redril and cut the fitting thread in the slave cylinder. No need for extra fitting and extra sealing rings. I filed down the new fitting a little bit to make it pass, rather than drilling and filing holes in the galvanized chassis. No problem ever in that. Kind regards, jacques

The nice people who lay new asphalt seems to drive 4wd jap scrap, and they probably even sit down on a memory foam pillow, while their 90 aspect tires with low pressure, run unnoticed over their uncredibly bad roadwork. Yesterday it happened with a positive speed over 109 km/h. Not typing which, as Danish police likes to read forums. Anyway, annoying as it is. Maybe it's just worn and became more sensitive as there is less friction and it moves easier? Kind regards, Jacques Derek: is there somthing I can do myself to overcome this? Kind regards, Jacques

agreed, but if possible, I'd prefer to have it where it sits now. Original placing. Maybe there are someone out there who can attest to this being too old and becoming a little sensitive or if there's somethig that be done to this specific original unit. Kind regards, jacques

Thanks. I am a little bit in doubt if I should install the clitch project now, or wait until I have collected the remaining parts for the gearbox itself. I am a little bit tempted to do the clutch now, as it would leave me better for knowledge if something needs to be corrected. The optimised gearshift project is also under way, but I need my parts returned tome from England, where they have been in "quarantine" for some time, to be copied. Meanwhile, I am now thinking of trying to make a super gearmaster, based on the late style Mk. 3 Lotus shifter, and something entirely different. I need to have a good thorough look at how the late Mk. 3 shifter works, and go from there to see, if I can transfer the way the reverse is selected, into a mech that is more positive, more slick and more precise with a nicel "click". I also have a little bit of trouble separating the collets and spring inside the late stype end cover, for a different surface treatment I'd like to do. Meanwhile I have now experienced twice that the til over stop the fuel switch is bouncing up, while I am driving. Bad roads.... Any good ideas to make it stay put? More later. Cheers, Jacques

I like the noble too. Very sporty car. And fast. Go on, loose the boring evora and get the noble. Kind regards, jacques

Next project is now including a few other bit and bobs:

I believe it's my gearstick and as I took it off years ago, the inhibitor was worn in a strange angle, making reverse a bit strange. So I asked a frind to make me two new ones. 10mm sounds about right. I loctited it on plus the bolt of course. I also had two far more precise steel pins made, and pressed in, slightly longer in the reach, so I could delete one more source of sloppiness. The new pins are pressed in at this picture. Maybe I can go find the other nylon part tomorrow. Doing this and installing fresh translator bearings etc. was one of the very first things I did to Little Red Riding Hood after I bought it. Kind regards, jacques ps: you should have that big bracket blasted, reshaped, galvanised and powdercoated to align things up as precisely as possible.

It was also more ordinary tv-series that brought a spark to nice cars, such as when "Pamela" had a black Corvette. Nice car! I then went and bought a COrvette poster. And motorcycles as well. The Kawasaki GPZ900R Ninja, that Tom Cruise drove. All my friends talked about that bike. Some went to buy it. When I had jsut bought a 750 Suzuki Gsx750es, it was something to go to the cinema and watch Days of Thunder. Actually a girlfriend and I went to see it twice in a row, because it was Winter and we couldn't drive the bikes. It gave the sense of speed. Remember "I feel the need, the need for speed"? Same with James Bond movies. When I was a child, there was James Bond cavalcade during the Summer vacation. Go see one for 1 pound. Of course we did that al the time. Or when we rented a vhs moviebox machine and one or two films. Mad Max was one. The point is, that at that time, we had to invest energy and do something to obtain the possibility to go see a movie (with a fast car or otherwise). You know. Call on the landline telephone, arrange a meet up with the friends; buy bus tickets, go buy cinema tickets, wait for the movie to start, while buying popcorn, check out the girls in the cinema, etc. It all took some energy and you actually had to do something. Today, on the other hand, you click one button on a cellphone, and you have 86" tv screen in front of your pillow. No energy, no smarting up, no bus tickets, no rental shops to go look for a good movie, no meeting up with friends. It's lazyness that killed the cat, in todays "I have enough in myself" or "look, I am as popular as James Bons because I have 9.999.999.999 followers on flutube, twitter, pipper, flopper, flacebook and what not. Ego thing really. Another example of this is when I ask a pupil in my class: "What do you want to be when you grow up"? "Nothing, I just want to be popular" is the reply (3'rd grade). But popular because of what? "Nothing. just popular, so I can have followers watching me, and I get free gifts from campanies such as clothes and shoes and hand bags". Because of that, there's no real strive and no real satisfaction of for example getting a "real" car or watching fast movies with fast cars. I wouldn't say pride, but the satisfaction of working, saving and finally buying the sportscar, for example, is very satisfying. On the other hand, the super expensive hand bag from a famous brand, is a much short term thing. One day it's the bees knees, the next it's nothing and the Greta population will use every oppertunity they can get, to put you down on the web. O course, as they have no guts to tell it to your fae, as they would take the risk of talking to a real person. Oh no! Wouldn't dare that. It's easier to spit on people virtually. If there's no striving, there's no inclination, there's no goal, and one just have to take a look at Fomula One, which is loosing spectators, everything has gone astronomically expensive, and the Greta generation is complaining about noise. Of course the aforementioned super expensive handbag being made from expensive rare what not material, is made so far away, that they can close their eyes and pretend it doesn't matter to them. So, with this attitude of everything being very swift passing by, why should there be a lust for watching a nice or funny car in a movie? Why even bother buying one yourself? No wonder everything is going down, with the odd exception. Back in the days, when we went watching Days of Thunder, everyone wanted to build their own racecar. Of course we couldn't. But we all had the inspirationa nd that stayed in our minds to later on, when we now keep an Esprit, for example. Today, peoples minds are directed the unreal world of online simulation of shooting things up and pretending to be someone important online in a virtual world. Not much interest in the real world. With the exception of physical life is suddenly threatened, such as during the chinese cirus discease period. Then suddenly youngsters want to spend time outside doing something, talking to real people, rather than being dug down in their bunker (room). The idea of a long time effort to obtain something is just not there any more. To many young people, and children as well, there is not this awareness. So it becomes more about pretending. Look how many videos on flutube of Lotus Esprit's and Esprit GT1... Sentences such as "I built a Lotus Esprit GT1" is tehre all the time. What a load of crap. Driverless cars, trains and busses are the buzzword this day and age. But that doesn't speak to me. I want to do things myself. So, it is up to us to inspire and plant that little nagging thought in the back of their mind saying: vauw, I go to have one of those Lotus'. And there are hopes. Just yesterday, while refueling the Esprit, I was approached by a two different families, who wanted to ask about the Esprit. And it was the little boys who took the initiative. Cheers, Jacques

Thanks. Looking forward to seeing it completed! Kind regards, jacques

Looking good Mike, What discrete size are those tires? Kind regards, Jacques

I wrote a lenghty letter to Castrol and asked for explanation. Will get back with reply. Kind regards, Jacques

Simple. I'll just call them again and refer to this paper. And report back. Kind regards, jacques

Well done. It's going to be a GOOD car, once done completely, with many years to enjoy. Kind regards, jacques

Hi all, There seems to be some confusion on what Castrol is doing with the Lotus recommended gearbox oil, Castrol Syntrans Transaxle. Some reports have surfaced revealing, that it is no longer available in North America. Well, I took the liberty and called Castrol Nordic this morning and spoke to Erik Örnflo about the matter. He confirmed that it is out, and there will be a new product, called Castrol Transmax Manual Transaxle. No more than that, and he didn't know if it would be the same, or a different oil and additives. So, I also called Castrol Headquaters (in UK) this afternoon, and aske them some questions. Here is a summary of our conversation: ------- 1/ What is going to happen to the following oil: "Castrol Syntrans Transaxle" ? answer from Castrol Customer Services: That is going to be rebranded to a new name, called "Transmax Manual Transaxle". answer from Castrol technical department: That is going to be rebranded as "Castrol Transmax Manual Transaxle". 2/ Okay, so will the new named oil be exactly the same, or will there be variations in content, such as for example additives? answer from Castrol Customer Services: I don't know, you'll have to speak to the Technical Department. answer from Castrol Technical Department: No, it will be exactly the same oil, same additives, same content as the current Castrol Syntrans Transaxle, that is being phased out. So, no changes in the oil or phosphor being added? * answer from Technical Department: No, absolutely no changes. 3/ Alright, there are messages from the North American market, that it is no longer available, while I can still get the Castrol Syntrans Transaxle here in Denmark. How is that? answer from the Castrol Customer Service: Well, the Castrol Syntrans Transaxle is not available on the North American Market. But it is widely available in the EC, plus Australia, Ukraine, and a few more countries. The new named oil, will follow the same markets. Not available in North America. answer from the Castrol Technical Department: Well, the Castrol Syntrans Transaxle was never available in the North American market. That said, it was being imported in the the US by companies, and sold on. So, if those stock are being used up, there will be no more of that oil. The new name: Castrol Transmax Manual Transaxle 75W90, will be marketed the same way, not being available in the North American market, unless, as now, it is being imported by other companies, and sold on. So the situation will be the same. 4/ Ah okay, so what about the old stock, how long is that going to be able to be stored and used with no ill effects? * answer from Castrol Technical Department: Well, the oil is not supposed to be stored for many years, and I'd say between 3-5 years, and after that, I would throw it out. The lubrication is no longer the same as new oil. So usefull life is 5-6 years. The old Taf-x that some stored for years after it went out of production, is no good any more. And the present Castrol Syntrans Transaxle, now being superseded by a re-naming, same content: Castrol Transmax Manual Transaxle, is a better product. No idea in using the old Taf-x 5/ But what about the recommendation from Lotus? * answer from Castrol Technical Department: well, the old Taf-x was the only oil that Lotus approved. (not to self: we know better, as Lotus later on approved the Castrol Syntrans Transaxle oil). 6/ Speaking of oils, what happened to the old sportscar oil from many years ago? * answer from Castrol Technical Department: Ah, you mean the Rs oil. Well, that went through a few updates with new content, stronger film life etc, and became the FST Ti with titanium additive. We dropped the old version, and went on using the BMW approved version, as it was stronger. That oil was then rebranded to present day Castrol Fst Ti Supercar, as it was approved by Swedish Köenigsegg, and to make awareness of that, it was rebranded. No changes in content compared to the FST Ti version that it superseded. 7/ What about the API GL4, GL4+ and the GL5 standards? * answer from Castrol Technical Department: well, I have personally never seen any damages in a gearbox using GL5 in recent years, but we always recommend to be on the safe side, the GL4 or GL4+, and the old Taf-X was a GL4+ oil. So is the present Castrol Syntrans Transaxle, and the new Castrol Transmax, Manual Transaxle. There was in the beginning of GL5 standard, some examples of hard pitting in some bigger gearboxes and on other big machinery, but that content of phosphor and other additives was changed a bit and it should be okay now. But as I said, we recommend staying with the GL4+ as specified. The thing that it did, was that it bind itself with water in the gearbox, and creates an acid that can attack the surface of soft metals, like for example brass syncros. Hence the GL4 and the GL4+ remaining. It's not like if you add it, the GL5 oil, next day there will be dissolved syncros etc. And today the content is slightly changed, and we haven't seen problems for some years. Again, stay with GL4+ and be on the safe side. Thank you for your time and help to solve this, sir. * answer from Castrol Technical Department: well thank you sir, If you write me an email with the questions, I'd be happy to write you back and you can post it on the forums, so people can be sure about what is happening". ---- That was our conversation, and I believe it clarifies a few questions: a/ the Castrol Syntrans Transaxle 75W90 will remain the same content, but have a new name: Castrol Transmax, Manual Transaxle 75W90. b/ The oil have not been officially imported into the North American market, but those companies who did on their own initiative, will be able to do the same withe the renamed oil. I think that should clearify it all. The choice is now yours. Cheers, Jacques

Yes, I was speaking about the dowels. I am trying to find the eventual differences between the SE bellhousing and the GT3 bellhousing. Kind regards, jacques

I believe they are the same, apart from two locating dowels, which had to fit the V8 engine, I was told. Kind regards, jacques