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Matt-watts

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Everything posted by Matt-watts

  1. Opps Sorry Bibs, will do.
  2. Lotus esprit s1 a bit of a project, the car is complete and matching numbers, engine and gearbox where fine but hasn't moved for 9 years. Wheels are in very good order and have never been diamond cut. Glass all correct and is hpi clear. Chassis looks very good, comes with lots of new parts (aluminium radiator, new tanks, brakes etc) V5 in my name and lots of history £29,500.00
  3. I've had 35 lotus cars of over the years but this Evora is just so good. I can't believe I own it and its mine ! We are very lucky that they are in reach for us.
  4. I'm a new Evora owner, I only wanted an LE and found this early car, I'm very pleased with it, it's just sublime to drive, I now see what I have been missing all these years.
  5. All s2.2 have the bumper lamps the other way round to early cars. James your car is correct, please don't change it !
  6. I always wanted a yellow S1 Esprit, it was my dream car as a school boy. I ended up owning other S1 Esprit's but none of them yellow. Luckily I spoke to a lovely man called Douglas who offered to sell me his car which was originally yellow. Here it is below The car was in Campbeltown and in beautiful countryside, although in a bit of a state I could see it was going to make a fantastic car. My son Jake and I couldn't wait to get cracking. I loaded her up and drove the 8 hours home excited to put a set of wolfies back on it and have a really good look at what I had just brought I soon fitted the wheels and got it back on the correct Number plate. I took the body off the chassis and was pleased with how good it was. The chassis was remarkably good with just a small crack in the engine mount and the rear brace, my Jig fitted perfectly so with a bit of welding is was sent for Zinc and powder. The gearbox was awful as someone had rebuilt it and blocked the oil supply to 5th gear, wrecking the primary shaft, 5th gear and the bulk ring. Luckily I had the parts so I could change them on the rebuild I rebuilt the rolling chassis with new protech shocks instead of the original Armstrong's as I aim to use the car regularly. Chassis nearly done, time to move onto the body shell for now I next stripped the body shell down and then prepared it for paint. There was a lot of fibreglass repairs needed I made all my repairs matching the gel coat, so even though I am going to have it painted yellow, underneath it will all be as original I needed to do a lot of underneath repairs to the bobbins and the boot floor and to the yellow gel coat After many hours of Sarah and Jake scrapping the red and primer off Car loaded up, on way to the painters Safely arrived, looking forward to seeing it painted original yellow Jake and I building our engines, we restore S1 Esprit's in batches Engine is now in, waiting for the body shell to be painted. At the moment I am batch rebuilding the brakes, heaters, motors etc Hoping it will be on the road soon!! Matt
  7. I brought it in 2017 I added in all the missing parts it needed as I have a large stock of original parts, I rebuild the carbs and cleaned the rest up a bit and sold it in 2019 to a media company, as I had a better Orange S1 I enjoyed working on the car and the media people where lovely.
  8. I have PPW306S if anyone would like to make me an offer on it Matt
  9. I repair them if they are properly broken, but it sounds like your gauge pointer/needle is just bent up with age, you will need to bend it back with a heat gun and some insulation to protect the instrument face. Matt
  10. I'm just about to make a second batch of crash pads, they are exactly like the original I have 3 Steering wheels left. Please message me for details. Matt
  11. Pictures of my S1 XPE396S taken in 1980 in its original Viper green. Notice the late s1 (now rare) front valance. Matt
  12. I think your right George, I think the Lotus branded one also came later, I will ask Jake to look into our S2 archive and see if he come up with any more, we have never seen one in a S1. This is what my motorola looks like. It would have been old fashioned in the mid 70s not having FM, also the tape would have been hard to get in and out. Matt
  13. I haven't read this blog (as i'm not really into turbos) but knowing you and having seen how well you did on your S1 Esprit and the pictures of this finished car it looks a really lovely job, I think we both strive for some kind of perfection and its lovely to see how so very very close you have got to perfection. My hat is off to you buddy, well done. Matt
  14. Paul asked me what stereo was in an S1 Esprits, I remembered some sharp one, but I didn’t really know why I thought that, so I sent Jake on a research mission. He went off looking at the Lotus Esprit build sheets we have on microfilm and then also looking at the Lotus service letters we got when I brought out dealerships. Jake came up pretty blank and suggested we called my friend Andy at the Lotus Archives, Andy said as we had surmised almost no S1 had a factory fitted stereo maybe only in factory demonstrators. We discussed that would have been with a Philips turnolock as they had loads left over from the Elan and Europa days and Philips lie ins would have still been in place, but they would have been very old fashioned for 1976. He suggested tracing what Lotus aftersales would have advised the dealership to fit. Jake next visited my friend now in his late 70s who owned my local lotus dealership in the 1970s, He came back with two sharp[MI1] radios (RG-5800x RG-2800p) under his arm (and a head full of stories). Next I sent Jake in the roof to get down the box of car radios I have, it’s got all the radios I have taken out of the cars I have owned or restored. I’ve owned over 20 s1 and s2 Esprits so I knew I had a few. Other than my first car a Mini, I’ve only ever had Lotus cars so they could have only come out of a dealership I brought out, or a Lotus I brought. This is what I had (Picture one) Next Jake looked at all the pictures we had taken over the years of S1 and S2 esprits, I’ve amassed a large database, and so many still had the sharp. What’s sad to me is the original sharp that came in my 1st S1 that the mice had eaten the buttons off I gave it away (can’t remember who to) as its not in my stereo box. (Picture two) Last week I set about testing and repairing the radios I have and they all seem to have had the drive belt disintegrated with age I ordered and fitted some 59mmx1.5mm SS drive belts from ebay (£2.75) and they all worked very well. I brought a little box off amazon that the radio tunes into and pairs with your phone so you can play a tape, the radio or sound from your phone via bluetooth and that worked really well and I’m impressed what a great sound the little sharps have. Anyway to sum up, Jakes research has taught me that almost all radios seemed to have been fitted at dealers. Lotus after sales recommended the Sharp but any radio could have been favoured buy the dealer or the 1st owner. S1 and early S2 build sheets have no provision for even if a radio was fitted so if it wasn’t in the comments box there is no record and there was little feedback from the dealers to what they fitted and mostly even what reg the car got issued from DVLA. The Sharp radios were very popular back in the day so now they are cheap as chips, readily available the tape is the correct way round to get it in with the gear stick position and they sound very good. The models I seem to have ended up with are the RG-5800x RG-2800p (just tape) and the RG-5800e they are all dated 1975 or 1976 I have no interest or knowledge on what was in anything after Esprit S2 (1979) but it seems Toshiba Panasonic and Blaupunkt ratios became common. Speaking to as many 1st owners as I could, they all seemed to have the same opinion. Back in the day Car Radio was a very big thing and anything that went loud was cool, especially if it be heard over the sound of the engine a full chat….. 😊 Hope this helps somebody Matt and Jake
  15. The correct willams tool kit for the S1 S2 and S2.2 looks like this.
  16. No sorry a jps owner had my last jack and tool roll two weeks ago. When I get some more I will post them up here. Going to make some more steering wheels, bosses and crash pads this spring. Matt
  17. Hi Chris I have sold out of them long ago but need to get a new batch made over the next few months as I need 4 sets for me ! I'm also going to make 10 more crash pads and more steering wheels. Lets hope with Covid I can get out and get things done Matt
  18. Hi Dave PCL 74R Is a car i'm restoring for the owner it's a Ket hall car and pre 100G. You so should have brought that one ! ( me 2 ! ) Matt
  19. I have 1 original but tatty s2 owners book left and 3 tool kits left. Best wishes Matt
  20. Yes it's an old add the car is now almost restored by my friend John. I've got the drivers door frame I'm reparing it for him.
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