Choppa

I might be able to get along to this one!

Many moons ago when I was (still) a member of Club Lotus, I got them to do an agreed value insurance valuation of my car based on a set of photographs and a description of the car, in much the same level of detail as you've provided in the original post. Not sure if they still offer such a service but if they do it might help establish a figure for the companies to work with.

So did a P.O. build a bespoke exhaust system onto the engine in situ without any regard for how it might ever be removed in the future? That reciprocating saw is a thing of beauty in the right hands!

It scrubbed up nicely, well done! You'll get lots of people telling you to replace the cam belt before trying to start it so let me be the first! The tanks on these do have a tendency to rot especially after 30+ years of variable maintenance, they sit on foam pads which retain rainwater quite well. Alloy and stainless replacement tanks are available from a few specialist companies, PNM, SW Lotus Centre, and SJ Sportcars spring to mind and others have uses Axminster who specialise in Stainless tanks for lots of manufacturers not just Lotus, a search on the forum will throw up many others. A similar search will point you towards stainless exhaust suppliers especially useful if the manifold is toast, and there are dozens of threads on here about tyre sizes. I had the radiator on mine re- cored, but if you've noticed problems in that area, you might want to check over the cooling fans as well. Have fun, and keep posting photos on your progress

Ouch, that looks really messed up, I look forward to the next set of photos from @Sparky to see how the pistons fared. Hope they survived the mayhem. In answer to your question, and I'm sure you've looked already but the Lotusbits site lists a 107 cam @ £50 and a complete NA HC head inc valves @ £500

Years ago I fixed mine with some clear silicon sealant on the inside surface rather than buy a new tank from SJ's Drain and dry the reservoir, lightly sand the inner surface around the split/s in the plastic , apply thin film of sealant, job done. It's been leak free since I did the repair about 15 years ago.

That photo is actually the LH tank on my S3, the one that doesn't have the fuel sender. Sparky was able to pop the RH one out without a problem, with all the trunking and air boxes out of the way it took maybe 15 minutes, plus a few expletives. Mine is a 85/6 car and I've since noticed that the earlier S3 cars have a different shelf arrangement over the tanks which may mean that the tanks on both sides come out without an issue.

Never realised before that the design of the shelves over the tanks is different on the later S3 . If they had left it the same it would have saved @Sparky about 2 hours cutting up the LH tank with his reciprocating saw to get it out.

That's what my wife says

1. Bibs - Evora 2. DaveC72 - Evora 3. KennyN - Emira (If Lotus manage to stick to their estimated delivery date) 4. Mark (indevon)- Evora 5. Techyd (Dean) - Elise 6. Nigel - Europa SE 7. Kevin - Turbo Esprit 8. Choppa Esprit S3

The last one was a good day out, as well as watching the antics on the skid pan they had a very good stunt driving display on the main straight. There were several Alpine A110s on display and Land Rover were taking people around an obstacle course to show off the capabilities of the Disco. As above above there were lots of Mustangs and Fords in the display area. The Historic Lotus guys were kind enough to push the Type 72 into position so we could get some photos of it surrounded by my Esprit an Elan and an Elise. Sadly I don't seem to be able to include one of the photos in this post.

Surely you could sort that with a dab of silicon sealant

There are repair kits available for the lifting gears in the motor available on eBay but it's more likely that you need to adjust the actuator rod that links to motor to the pod. A couple of turns of the knurled section in the middle using a pair of pliers and the pods will park flush again.

@Sparky, Seeing the video clip reminded me of the dribble I had from the carbs on mine which you sorted a few years ago. Do you think this is a similar problem, i.e. worn float needle valves rather than anything to do with fuel lines? Also, even though I generally use "super" do you have any thoughts on E10 fuel and the lifetime of those breather pipes? Do you think they will expire even quicker? I bet mine are nice and crispy and in several pieces if I peeled back the carpet on the bulkhead and had a look.

Given you've replaced more tanks than most, is there much of a difference in materials, fabrication, and even sizing between the various ones available? Asking for a friend who thinks he's likely to have to get this job done sometime soon on an S3.