jtmco

I wanted to circle back and close this thread. As a reminder, my brakes were soft but I had a hard pedal when I bled them. I had the master cylinder sleeved and rebuilt and the brakes are now good. Turns out that the simple, obvious answer was the right one. I probably should rebuild the calipers. That will happen in time. Thanks to everyone for their help. Jim

Thank you gentlemen. OEM it is. Jim

I was under my S1 today and I discovered that one bolt that holds the anti-roll bar to the lower wishbone is missing and the other is loose (dreaded previous owner!). I’ve only gone around the block twice so I haven’t been in danger! I think the bushings should be replaced while I’m putting in the bolts. I don’t plan to replace the other bushings unless I find more problems What is the experience of those on the forum on rubber vs polyurethane. The car will just be driven on the road and as noted, I’m only planning to change the anti-roll bar bushings is the OEM rubber sufficient or should I use polyurethane. Will the polyurethane give better steering? I would appreciate anyone’s insight Jim

See my response to your post in the brake section

Just had my Esprit S1 Master Cylinder sleeved and rebuilt by White Post Restorations in Virginia, USA. I had a rebuild kit from SJ, but it turned out to be wrong. Apparently, there is an early and late version of the master cylinder. Mine had 2 white plastic washers at the opening .White Post ordered another kit from JAE in California and it worked.

Others will know better than I but I don’t think leather was available until the S2. I believe that most of the seats were either the tartan fabric or the brownish “mouse fur” (marcssite). Both were hard to get and people wanted an “upgrade” so they had the seats re-covered in leather. That is what the previous owner did in my car. For a while, at least, there was at least on supplier in the UK trimming seats in the tartan. And I’ve seen references to a “good match” on the marcasite. If you search this forum long enough, you will find some of the various approaches that have been taken. If you are trying to return your car to truly original, you can try to match the original. If you want a comfortable driver, have a custom upholstery shop redo your seats in leather.

You may find S2 spare wheels if you want something less expensive or temporary.

I just learned that my throttle cable is installed backwards! Yet another thing that the previous owner (or his hired hand) did incorrectly. I will probably leave it since it works but should it fail, I may change it around.

Paul, I am blown away by your attention to detail. You are inspiring me. I also chuckled when I saw your lawnmower and your golf bag pull cart in amongst the Lotus parts. It could be my garage! Is the garage big enough for the other S1 and the E-type or are they kept elsewhere? Jim

Some things are a bit odd to me. The license plates are Virginia antique plates (I have the same), but he got the car in North Carolina (adjacent state so maybe the PO worked in VA and got his plates there?) but the listing says Dallas, Texas. The engine cover looks homemade. Of course, the wheels are not original. And the seller says they the buyer can get the car started in a day - maybe less - but has not checked the timing belt or tried to start it himself? Maybe it is a great deal or maybe there is something fishy going on.

I like the color combination on this car. Unfortunately, Carfax says that this car had front end accident. However, Carfax does not show a record of airbag deployment so perhaps it was minor. To me, the leading edge gap on the right side (passenger side) door looks exceptionally large. Is that “normal”?

Mine was originally blue and the previous owner painted it Torch red from a Corvette (he drove Corvettes). The paint job is excellent so I cannot justify changing it, but I wish it was original (Plus, I already had a red Bugeye) Paul do you plan to keep two Esprits when you finish? If you are planning on keeping the car for a long time, paint it the color you want. If you will restore it to sell, take it back to the original black. You COULD paint it orange on the outside and black in the hard to reach areas so it would not require as much disassembly to go back to black, but that would be sort of a halfway job i look forward to following the restoration Jim

I purchased these: Reusable Rubber Gaskets I seemed important to clean up the threads on the cam cover bolts and to torque them specifically. Has worked well but not quite perfect yet. Jim

Hang in here Josh. Give yourself a little break and then come back to it. You waited 2 years to start working on it - a few days off willl help. I've been plugging away at mine for nearly 3 years and drove it for the first time this summer. Jim

Josh- What color was the exhaust smoke? Could be as simple as condensation. I would make sure the oil and coolant are ok and let it run some to free up everything For the outside, see if there is oil leaking from the exhaust cam cover and dripping on the exhaust. I bought reusable cam cover gaskets from jhps.com Of course that is just the outside but I worry as much about fire as I do about headgaskets, valve guides, and rings. Jim