StevenD57

But does the G-car manifold fit the 1988 Stevens cars?

Wow! Really nice engineering in that collector.

Where does the 1988 US turboesprit fit into this? The 1988 cars have the G-car like external wastegate in a Stevens car. Does the G-car manifold include a port for an external wastegate, preferably a commonly available modern external wastegate?

Is it still possible to buy some of these closeout parts? Is there a list of what is still available?

Yes, but the original poster did this WITHOUT the special donington frame or any spyder parts so he would have better pictures to share with the rest of us.

That sounds like a cool mod. Quite original thinking there. Any chance of getting some higher resolution photos of this? The small low res photos that are available from this forum are too small to make out details. Some photos of the whole plate between the antiroll bar mounts and a close up or two of the new control arm mount on the end of that plate would be useful as well. Thanks for sharing this idea.

Steven DuChene Phoenix AZ

I would like to buy one of these exhaust header setups as well. I just heard about the group buy. I am in Phoenix AZ USA.

http://s685.photobucket.com/albums/vv215/StevenD57/Pictures_from_others/LotusEsprit_diorama/

BTW, so the photos of this cool diorama are not lost when the auction page goes away, I saved the pictures and uploaded them to an on-line photo album on PhotoBucket. -- Steven DuChene

Can someone post some photos of this Panasonic roof stereo thing? I have never seen one and I am curious.

Too bad the music is played instead of hearing the exhaust sounds of the cars while they are running. Other than that, nice vid

After picking up the bare 1991 frame from Sanj that I needed to repair my wrecked/bent 1990 Esprit SE, I took some photos of the bare frame. If anyone wants to see what a bare frame looks like: http://s685.photobucket.com/albums/vv215/StevenD57/Lotus_Esprit_1990/ There are a total of 27 photos of various bits of the frame. -- Steven DuChene

hmm, Interesting photo & conversion but that would mean I would need to find a spare UN1 laying about somewhere. I have to get the 1988 car running first and then we will see where to go from there.

When I talked to John last week he said when he did the first order of special center sections for the bolt in replacement turbos he had to commit to a run of 200. I think he said he has accounted for approximately 147 - 170 (I forget what was the exact figure). He said he would not be doing something like that again because he does not feel the market is there to support that volume. I would have to agree with him.

These engines are much more durable than you think. These are not cheap motors and are very capable of going to higher mileages than 70K reliably without a full rebuild. What I would be concerned about is if the car has had timing belt changes and other regular maintenance jobs done.

Thanks for the info guys.

John says he can still offer upgraded turbos but they are unlikely to be pure bolt-in replacements like his original product because of the change in the water cooling connections and in the housings. The unavailability of the turbine wheels to match the existing Lotus OEM turbine housings means certain changes will be forced on him. He does say this is a good thing though because of vast improvements in the efficiencies / performance of new design turbine wheels and matching housings.

I have heard differing stories from various people. Is one transmission inherently weaker than the other? I have recently had someone who is supposed to be knowledgeable tell me that I should not try to get too much power out of a MY1988 US edition Esprit because the Citroen transmission is so much weaker than the "better" Renault UN1 transmission. Anyone care to offer opinions on this question? -- Steve

Bulk extruded fuel rail is fairly cheap and it is not that difficult to find a good fabrication shop to drill the individual fuel injector holes to spec. Here is a 18inch long piece of bulk extruded fuel rail on ebay for under $20USD with free shipping: http://www.ebay.com/itm/380388128641

The unfortunate reality of the situation is that Esprits are no longer produced and are a dwindling market for specialty parts and repair places to support. As time goes by more and more bits will continue to become unavailable. My guess is that John got less and less orders for these and probably had a supplier fail or refuse to update a produce line. This is too bad because I too would have liked to upgrade to one of these for my cars at some point since they seem to be a great leap forward in turbo technology.

I have the VE and spark tables I used on my naturally aspirated 2.0L 907 motor in my Jensen-Healey. I am using a Megasquirt1 system with the MSnSE code loaded and I am using EDIS crank-fired ignition as well as the fuel injection. If anyone is interested I have a fairly complete list of parts I used to do the conversion. Since this was a naturally aspirated 2.0L engine, I used 21.3lb/hr injectors from a Dodge Neon and I am running the fuel pressure at 43psi. If anyone wants to see the maps I used just drop me a note or pm. -- Steve

Peter: What happened to the pictures of your crank trigger setup? I had passed a link to this thread onto a friend to look at the photos but now they are gone. -- Steve

The EFI system I added to my 2.0L 907 motor was not "a nightmare to assemble" What absorbed most of my time was designing the high pressure fuel system since the car had ZS carbs to start with. The Bosch CIS system already has the high pressure fuel system so that should not be an issue. I wish I had access to a Bosch equipped Lotus motor. I am sure I could come up with a nicely engineered system to put EFI onto it using Megasquirt. I almost bought a 1987 turbo car last year but it got sold out from under me.