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Thartje

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Posts posted by Thartje

  1. 17 hours ago, jonwat said:

    I understood heat needs to dissipate from the turbo in order to stop the residual oil in it from baking to carbon deposits when the engine stops?

    The v8 has a recirculation pump for the cooling system. If the car is shut down when hot it runs the radiator fans and pushes the coolant for a while so it should keep the heat out of the CHRA.

    I do also have the inside of the turbine housing ceramic coated so less heat is making it into the turbine housing itself to begin with. 

    • Like 2
  2. Some more photos of engine progress before it was installed. I moved over to ball bearing turbos so needed to make new oil supply lines. Journal bearings cant be over oiled (assuming the drain is adequate) but ball bearings need a lot less oil. the 3an line and oil restrictors were pretty simple to make but tracking down a decent looking banjo to 3an actually took some time. I finally found some that were made for brake calipers but worked just fine for oil also.

    Also wanted to add heat blankets to the turbine housings before the engine went in also. These things aren't impossible to install on the car but a lot easier when the engine is out with low mounted turbos. Could have snatched up some amazon brand heat blankets but decided to go through Funk, figured British car - should support a British company. I was pretty impressed with the quality of these though. I do use the cheap Amazon brand on my LS TT car and these Funk blankets are really more robust.

    The turbo blankets do a lot to improve heat soak into the engine bay and keep the turbine housing warmer, which results in faster spooling. Not sure how much of an improvement the  turbo spool up is, but the heat mitigation is worth it alone.

    PXL_20230118_011555267.jpg.d7895a45fbda78eb08381b95422828df.jpg PXL_20230117_211303709.jpg.417426dbd3aae9e09c19801a577ed709.jpg

     

    Couple other items I picked up for the build were a turbowerx exa pump and a high torque starter. I never enjoyed hearing the starter ring on the fly wheel when the car started, I'm pretty sure they were not the greatest units from the start. The fact that I had bumped compression and tightened the piston/wall clearance meant I was putting even more load on this original unit. The new started was pretty much the same dimensions as the original, minus the extra bump on the back for a shaft.

    Other item I picked up was a turbowerx exa scavenger pump. The oil drain setup on the stock Esprit is not ideal. On the track one long sweeping corner could prevent adequate draining, or sitting in traffic if the car isn't level could result in the same situation. Usually results in a smokey turbo and a wild goose chase trying to find a non existent issue. These little pumps have great suction and will continually move oil, much better for oil drain than the 90 degree into the pan. I still had not figured out where I was going to put it at this point, but it was so small and compact the options were pretty open. I'm pretty sure you can mount these 5ft above the car and they will still pull oil 😂

     

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    So the engine was pretty much ready to go at this point. Any work left to do I could access from the top or needed the engine actually in the car to address. So had some engine hoist brackets fabricated and promptly power coated them gold... wanted it to look classy as it was getting dropped in 😂

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    Just around the time the engine was going in I also received a special order ESPRIT transform decal for the car, in gold of course 😂

     

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    • Like 2
  3. How long is it taking to start?

    Its a return style fuel system so if the pump is running the fuel should be at the injectors unless there is a leak. Which could be inside the fuel tank - the rubber lines in there fail over time.

    Could test this buy letting it sit for a while - the length of time it would usually take to start poorly - then before trying to turn it over just switch the ignition to prime the fuel pump several times. If it starts with less of an issue it could be worth checking out the fuel tank hoses... the might have a pinhole.

  4. Decent methanol injection setup will drop IAT temps below ambient if combined with just an air/air intercooler. Something beyond a basic on/off is a good idea, like Mike suggested. Alky Control makes a pretty good kit, I've run it on my boosted LS car. We see summer temps 110-115F here in AZ and I will see IAT at 80-90F under boost with methanol.

    Its not going to pool up in your intercoolers unless the nozzle is leaking. Its a pretty fine mist that goes in with the intake. That being said I would spray it after the intercoolers as methanol is a little hard on aluminum and also you don't want it too far from the the throttle body. You don't want it to evaporate before it gets into the cylinders as its adding octane, not just cooling the air. 

  5. Clutch was away so had some time before the engine and transmission would be going in. This was probably around the time I decided the whole interior needed to be replaced. The previous owner had replaced the carpet and the headliner. The carpet quality wasn't bad but the installation job wand fit was pretty bad. The previous owner wasn't aware that the there were carpet kits available for the car and sort of threw something together with really tacky vinyl strips around the seatbelt openings and parking brake, not the robust leather the car originally had at these points. 

    The headliner was a worse issue. it appeared to be spandex material that had been installed with a hot glue gun. I later found out it was the same glue what had been used to install all of the carpet.... Removing this took days, but that was a problem I wouldn't find until later  😂 The headliner was also made up of little scrap pieces to cover up where the material wasn't either measured or installed correctly... it just all had to go.

     

    PXL_20230124_012818195.jpg.2d3d0768ab80d7831d7ff94a808f7a56.jpg  PXL_20230125_235032442.jpg.cd9571a2fdeb088bbf1db166d7178a09.jpg PXL_20230207_173139093.jpg.765e014744e078fe99e8e455366ab1d9.jpg

     

    Once I pulled the interior trim pieces out i also found sections that had been "repaired" at some point but not very smoothly. Another item to address..... This was all stuff to take care of in the future but had to start planning. So started looking into material options for the headliner, my heart was pretty set on Alcantara as it just has a cool look to it... more suitable for a 90s supercar than spandex. Also hopped on the carpet waiting list with Steve M 😁😁😂

    PXL_20230124_024535138.jpg.de5eac29d86fd75b75d0460a564bf40a.jpg

     

    While I was trying to decide on interior options my buddy was working away on building my intercooler reservoir tank to go up front. I wanted a front tank for maximum capacity to reduce heat soak and also to keep it away from the hot engine. As long as the water could be kept cool it should be effective on reducing the IATs. Jeffrey came through with a really well aluminum tank that had a bracket for the pump also. I decided quickly that it needed to be powder coated black as it just looked a little too shiny and out of place..... 

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    I did have to drill a couple of holes in the fiberglass for bulkhead fittings as coolant needed to come from the radiator back into the reservoir and also out again to the intercoolers themselves. One hole is rather unseen at the front however the hose to the intercoolers was a little more difficult to keep out of sight.

    PXL_20230207_021511730.jpg.a54be5c8ddb2067f737ab17e76a3999a.jpg

     

    It was around this time i notice how ugly the black frame over the ABS was looking.... so powder coated that too

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    Then I noticed the cover for the air plenum for the AC inlet was pretty ugly too, so I decided to remove that and Cerakote it flat black....

    PXL_20230216_205357814.jpg.b3b65ee0dd043e27e835beca16c873c8.jpg

     

    I then realized how ugly the two black bolts and washers were that I believe hold the wiper arm in place were looking... so those too got powder coated black

    PXL_20230309_051109715.jpg.258d21c8ac43d759c738d050cf44992d.jpg

    And then of course while I was adding wiring and relays for the water pump I realized how ugly the arm holding the relays was looking, so that also was removed and powder coated black, despite it being under a plastic cover most of the time... 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️😂

    PXL_20230205_212132170.jpg.858d4a06b7de0a59f94686433d3827ec.jpg

     

    But by the time I had gone through all that process the good news was my Alcantara sample had arrived 😁Along with my new boost gauge from Caerbont. Designed to look like the original gauge they made for the Esprit V8 but with a new max boost to meet the target I was going for. 

     

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    • Like 2
  6. 15 hours ago, andyblackman777 said:

    Really enjoying your posts. 
    recently installed this and the quaife diff. My only issue was the snap ring/circlip that goes on the end of the shaft (clutch end ). As the shaft is thicker the original won’t fit and I could not find one of the correct size anywhere. Thickness was the issue. 
    I ended up re using the old one after making it larger, not ideal. 
    Very happy with the result though. 
    Andy. 

    Thanks man! Hope they are helpful, wish I had started this at this start of the project.

     

    I don't remember replacing any of the snap rings so I probably reused mine also. Nothings come apart yet, so I think we are good 😂

  7. Had the intercoolers and heat exchange setup but didn't have anything setup for a water reservoir or a pump. Although I never tried it, I figured the spare tire was no longer of any use to me as I had larger front brake calipers. Also, the rear wheel wouldn't fit in the trunk at all if I had a flat in the back... so I decided to sacrifice the spare wheel space for the reservoir 😂😂 (This provided a further good decision as I changed the bolt pattern and the spare wont work anyways)

    Decided to use amazon boxes as a unit of measurement to avoid having to use the metric system. It seemed to give pretty much max capacity and still keeping the hood from opening/closing without the hinge contacting. Water volume was was important aspect of the intercooling setup but also needed water flow. As I was moving to a stand alone ECU I figured I could easily setup a PWM pump for maximum flow. Decided to pickup a Pierburg water pump which I immediately painted to look like a Duracell battery 🤦‍♂️😂 (The color scheme looked cooler in my mind) This thing would require some heavy duty wiring and a 40 amp relay, certainly had to flow to keep the water moving.

    PXL_20221119_212756598.jpg.6badec7ae1b21f91a4265ac5f4b1256a.jpg  PXL_20221120_012500771.jpg.b04926bd14fcc916660e9d6705fa7879.jpg

     

     

    In the same week of making this poor pain scheme choice I decided to paint my wastegate solenoid... which also came out looking like a 9v Duracell 🤦‍♂️😂 At least they are relatively well hidden from view.

    PXL_20221122_000433189.jpg.a5aa902a61fbf1f285897f984b6b6547.jpg

     

    Although I had what felt like a lot of odd jobs to do on the Esprit after the engine was together I still had one major one to tackle with the Renault UN1 transaxle.  I had rebuilt an engine before but this was going to be new territory for me. Fortunately there is a very detailed YouTube video series from someone rebuilding a UN1 for a DeLorean. The head mounted camera view and what feels like over accentuated body movement make it so you can only watch it in about 45 second spurts, but its extremely detailed on going through a UN1 rebuild.

    PXL_20221217_224948449.jpg.2e0633967f85191ccd979884d6038bea.jpg

    I went with the GTO Engineering kit for mine. They seemed to be pretty well tested and were in some of the GT40 replica cars using Ford V8s. Lesson learned, if I ever did this again I would go with the Ford spline option on the rebuild kit and open up a wider range of clutch options. Really limited to AP, Helix or Clutchmaster for a ground up clutch option with the original Renault splines.

    Other than being a single piece input shaft the GTO upgrade also has a much more robust 5th gear. Sadly, still not supported on the back but hopefully sufficient to hold more power. It is certainly a lot thicker and does not have the deep channel after the 5th gear splines. First gear is also straight cut for strength and should give an impressive whine. 😁

     

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    Rebuild process was honestly very easy, but I did take a lot of pictures coming apart so I knew how they went back together. I picked up some decent heavy duty snap ring plyers and a gear puller from Harbor Freight to make the job easier. Was really able to knock this out in an afternoon, not too bad of a job.

    PXL_20221221_034541820.jpg.2d388a0a72119f1b397433155ff95bfc.jpg

     

    I also picked up a Quaife limited slip differential, figured I might as well do it right if I was pulling it all apart. I had installed a similar worm gear/spur gear unit in another high horsepower car and it really did make a difference. I didn't get much seat time in the Esprit before it shit the bed but looking forward to seeing how this thing does  😬

     

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    • Like 1
  8. 5 hours ago, shaunw said:

    Through my computer speakers that sounds almost Ferrari-esque 😎

    Yeah at high RPM because its a flat plane crank, really gets that super car sound! Unfortunately because of the cast manifolds... not so much at low RPM lol

  9. It was good to have the engine rotating assembly, heads, cam & belts done but really had a lot left to do before the engine was ready to be installed or started. Laundry list included wiring harness, interior LED lighting, gear shift assembly, interior carpets, transmission rebuild, turbo oiling, ignition system, engine sensors, intercooler plumbing, pump and reservoir... the list could really go on. 

    One thing I wanted to address was the coil packs since I was already focused on the engine. I knew I wanted to get away from the cavalier coil packs and the wasted spark setup. Goal was to be able to have a wider plug cap for a smoother idle and still avoid spark blowout at high boost. My first though was LS coil packs since they are relatively bullet proof and reasonably sized. The work fine on my boosted LS setup but that's only 16psi... turns out their output is only about 30 mJ so not the greatest. I looked into doing the Nissan VQ / R35 plug on coil setup, hoping I could figure a way to mount them under the plug cover. Ultimately was concerned about fitment and they were much better than the LS coil packs at 45-50mJ. I decided to mock up a box based on the online dimensions of the IGN1A coil packs. These things put out over 100mJ and will allow for plenty of gap and spark duration. Should be able to get a smooth idle and still have spark if I push the boost 😬

    From the online dimensions it looked as though I could still figure a way to fit 8 of them under the intake plenum.🤷‍♂️I ordered 8 to find out when they arrived the online dimensions or my box making skills were not accurate. Not too far off but made the fitment a little more entertaining 

    PXL_20221011_050020576.jpg.04ad4d94ca61ba3418fc60756b7081b3.jpg

     

    While I waited for my coil packs to show up I got to work on replacing the interior lights with LEDs since I had most of the interior pulled apart already. I quickly found how brittle the gauges had become when removing the incandescent lights from the back! pretty much each one of them broke in some way while doing this, or had previously been cracked. The faces were all fine but the while housings really did not hold up well. I wasn't really in the mood to spend $1000 on new gauges for the car so each one came out and went through JB Weld surgery. Sort of ugly on the back but cant tell the difference on the faces.

    PXL_20221109_033604910.jpg.2b73faccc50e966dfa43136fc08645e0.jpg  PXL_20221109_043752553.jpg.e33668711d1cd49e0660ad2d09c2af2d.jpg

     

    Fixing the gauges though did get me wondering about the boost gauge. I anticipated having to replace it as I would be dialing the boost up beyond 1bar, which was the limit of the original gauge. I didn't really want a one off, aftermarket, looking boost gauge in the car as the goal of this project was keeping the car looking OEM, or maybe OEM plus. I pulled apart the boost gauge and it seemed relatively simple inside, I got to wondering... maybe doubling the resister would work? 🤷‍♂️ Who know, electronics aren't my thing... so I called Caerbont and I was able to order a new gauge in the OEM style but a 2 bar boost limit. Threw the pieces of this one in a zip lock bag, just incase 😂

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    Replacing all of the lights in the dash with LED bulbs wasn't too much of a task and seems to have evened up the illumination of the instruments and center AC controls. Not sure if I would take the time to do it if I had no other reason to pull the dash and center console apart. I wasn't able to find a way to safely pull the buttons apart, so those were left as incandescent bulbs. Was pretty please that I found a way to get the turn signal to work with an LED however, despite the polarity issues.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    • Like 1
  10. 16 minutes ago, mike_sekinger said:

    The cambelt story for the US market was weird. I think that the dealerships ended-up taking a big hit related to belt changes due to the overly long service interval that was mandated.  Clearly the belts themselves were never intended for that tour of duty.

    I was surprised when I saw the time/distance in the book 😂 I didn't realize they had it different for other markets. Would be interesting to know what drove that decision.

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