Mike6

Fairly awful looking car. Didnt Porsche make something that looks just as bad.

Seem to remember that it wasnt too bad a job on my 88 Carb Turbo. The join is at the bottom of the wooden engine board behind drivers seat. So after unscrewing one piece cable from the speedo I simply tied the new piece with the speedo connection to the old cable and pulled it through. You then connect the other part of the cable and that easily connects back into the gearbox.

Just make sure you put them back in the correct order they came out of the bore and you should be fine

What do the plugs look like on 2&3 and can you see any oil if you shine a light down the plug thread at tdc.

All I can say is when measuring for the required shims dont go by what the shims have stamped on them. I spent a whole day fiddling about and discovered that the shims themselves even though new were not what they claimed. So measure the shim thickness yourself . And, presumably you are not refitting the old shims they obviously will be out.

Do you carry any Jewish passengers by chance??

It could simply be an air block. Get the car up to operating temperature with the heater switched on. Then carefully open the bleed valve on the rad assuming there is one on the S2 and let some coolant out.

I notice earlier that there was a suggestion of this belt being sold on ebay. Frankly ebay is fine for non critical parts but you just dont know what you might be getting or how old the belts are. Always buy from someone like SJ Sportscars.

Periodically I like to look at Esprits up for sale on ebay and Pistonheads. Simply cannot believe the low mileages being claimed for just about every car up for sale. We all know that the speedos are prone to failure and clocking so something must be going on other than that no Esprit ever got driven.

Cake and bacon sarnie, lovely. Hope to make it

Thats an interesting view Barrie, hadnt thought of that before. However as a 1988 carb turbo owner myself I also believe that a lot of classic car owners dont think a car is a classic without carbs. And it is worth remembering that Lotus sold carb turbo Stevens cars even though they overlapped the SE due to enthusiasts not wanting/trusting fuel injection. Times change of course and we dont know how is being asked for the car in question.

The one after the S3 is the X180 Stevens design commonly called the carb turbo and it is most likely this car. I think you can see a few dated from late 1987 but 1988 is the main year of production. A lot of people state car history and maintenance bills as the thing to look for but frankly most garages are crap so I would prefer to see an enthusiast maintained car. Ask when cambelt was last changed, has engine been overhauled etc. What you can expect of course depends on what price seller is looking for. If its cheap then you should plan for some expenditure. I would have some doubts straight away if car is being sold as an S4

That tensioner would date it pre Stevens so I would imagine its from an S3

You need to check your coolant to see whether it has turned to Mayo. If it has then you know where your oil is going.

That looks like normal condensation mixed with wet crud being blown out. I think we would need to see what happens with car up to normal operating temperature. It looks fairly normal in that clip.

I am sure Bibs is correct but you do have to ask if its a win/win situation, why Lotus didnt start using heat wrap on their cars.

It is possibly homing in on the turbo, which would be a good explanation, although only one, for oil loss. Did you keep the original turbo and why did you replace it. Might it be refitted to the car??

Michael, garage workshops are generally rip off merchants on this side of the pond as well and as these cars require a certain know how those reasonably proficient with a spanner do despair when shoddy work has been carried out at great expense by mechanics. I feel very sorry for you in this situation but unless you are very lucky with your garage you cannot really own an Esprit without some knowledge of mechanics. Your oil must be going somewhere so if you dont have any dripping out under the engine or oil cooler or pipework and it is not going into the coolant then it must be escaping out via the exhaust . It will be interesting to see how much smoke is coming out when you are followed on a drive.

As your oil level keeps dropping it is fairly conclusive that something must be wrong. What is the coolant like and are there any drops of oil under the engine or from the oil coolers. As others have said your exhaust doesnt prove anything - a significant release of oil will result in massive plumes of smoke.

I am no expert but surely heat wrap on the manifold will just transfer extra heat into the exhaust system which has probably not been designed to handle those temperatures.

Brian I had similar problems on my X180 last year and replaced everything I could think off including the fuel pump. Having purchased everything from SJs I bucked up the courage to speak with Steve. Straight away he said the distributor pick up and their LT leads were the most likely cause, including the longer lead which goes back to the AB14 booster unit. I replaced these and the problem was gone.

Happy Christmas to everyone - just starting on my first beer of the afternoon/evening ! Going out for a meal on Xmas day to a local pub, first time ever, just cannot make up my mind whether or not to get the Esprit out of the garage. Will you be using yours tomorrow and does anyone know whether the breakdown services will be operating - that could be a clincher.

Sounds good but New Years Day from 9.00. That will be in significant hangover territory.

Have these on my car as well. Always wondered what they were for.

Thanks to Bibs and Laura for organising a great evening. Lovely to catch up with everyone and spend hours talking about cars. Hope everyone got home ok in the freezing temperatures