Esprit photo shoot in Classic and Sports Car mag

[PhilW 329]

My copy was delivered the other day and have spent some time reading the article on the Esprit. Can anyone help me. This car is in my opinion pre 84 just by looking at the pictures. what I dont get is why has it got a black Chargecooler. First is ive only ever seen red. red indicating an HC engine but also how has a car of this age got a chargecooler. Unless it is a new engine or mod. Can anyone enlighten me. Worth knowing for the future just in case i am ever in need of a new engine.

Phil

[910Esprit 392 1 Vehicles]

Its a retrofit. No G cars were fitted with a CC Also oil cap position, reg and graphics suggest an LC motor, however also seems to have later cooling mods. Only an indication as most parts interchangeable. What do you mean red? The motor and CC is painted black in my edition!

[Trevsked 716]

PhilW,

It is Ajay's car and no doubt he will be along shortly to explain but these are mods that he has carried out mainly with reliability in mind I believe (lower charge temps). He also has a mapped Megajolt ignition system using Edis coil packs. If you search on here you will come accross his thread. Nice guy.

Trevor.

[PhilW 329]

Hi Steve/Trevor

Thanks for this. This is what I thought. retro fit. The red and black....... I was always under the impression that all LC engines had black plenum chambers etc. I always thought when the G cars went to HC everything went red and stayed red. Seeems like I am wrong. Will search his threads

Thanks Phil

[hopo 154 2 Vehicles]

Yep... as above. What riles me is that it has one body coloured bumper the other is black!

[Buddsy 1,456 1 Vehicles]

The red and black....... I was always under the impression that all LC engines had black plenum chambers etc. I always thought when the G cars went to HC everything went red and stayed red.

Thats right. If there is a Charge Cooler its a later mod and if its not red its been painted.

Buddsy

[PhilW 329]

Scott

see your only in Norwich. Maybe in the summer if Im having a trip out maybe come and see your car?

Phil

[AJay 1 1 Vehicles]

Yep... as above. What riles me is that it has one body coloured bumper the other is black!

Sorry the colour of my bumper causes you so much irritation.....

I have owned my car for 15 years and have carried out a number of modifications to it... The engine is the origional, however it has been extensively modified for reliability and performance. For the magazine it was turned down to the factory settings to give accurate comparison to the other vehiles in the test.

You are right the chargecooler has had a colour change to black althought not all were red..sport 300 were black.

You might be interested to know that 5 of the cars on the shoot had mechanical problems.. the lotus was not one of them...

[hopo 154 2 Vehicles]

merely pointing out that your car is wearing odd socks mate.....

[PhilW 329]

Ajay

Is there anwhere i can read up on your engine mods? For my information and possibly the future of my car?

[AJay 1 1 Vehicles]

merely pointing out that your car is wearing odd socks mate.....

Thank you....

Hi Phil, there used to be a lot of info in the garage section, but a lot of this appears to have been lost over time. So as i don't bore those that already know i will give a brief run down of engine mods.

Block re-bored and nikoseal liners fitted,

S4 chrome top pistons.

modified cooling system

Re-cored tripple core radiator (same as V8 i believe)

colder spark plugs

rejeted carburetors

Knock sensor

lamba senor and gauge

Modified advance curve distributor (now replaced with multi map, fully mapable, distributor less ignition system)

Chargecooler fitted, with SE front mounted chargecooler Rad and electric pump.

larger oil cooler

Ports matched, cleaned and lightly polished on inlet and exhaust

coil pack

S4 plug leads

adjustable boost controller

SE exhaust manifold and reconditioned Turbo

I generally run at 10-11psi of boost but it will take 14 without any problems (however i am still running with the Citroen gearbox and i don't want to push my luck too much, its only a matter of time....)

That's about it for the engine mods

If i can help with any specifics please feel free to ask.

[PhilW 329]

thats great. I will keep this info for the future. Cant believe though the gearbox is still going. Do you know of any possibilities of replacing the gearbox with something else but keep the same engine. Is it possible to replace with the renault box. Do you know if anyone has done it?

[910Esprit 392 1 Vehicles]

Loads of threads on that subject....

[PhilW 329]

Could you guide me to them? Thanks

[scottmgibb 1]

try this...

http://bit.ly/yHGwig

Cheeky, I know!

Of course, it helps even more if you spell renault correctly

Tried to change the link but it does not want to work...

Edited March 7, 2012 by scottmgibb

[jonwat 250]

Sorry the colour of my bumper causes you so much irritation.....

Can't see the rear bumper but the rest of the car looks pretty sweet.

[AJay 1 1 Vehicles]

Cant believe though the gearbox is still going.

It is my belief that the main cause of failure of the Citroen box is the crown wheel. Most of the ones that I have seen are 1or2 broken teeth, this suggests to me to be point loading. It's my opinion that this damage is caused by dropping the clutch from stand still and max torque being applied on 1 or 2 teeth... Once the car is moving then it is almost impossible to the same loading through that point of failure. ( I am sure someone will correct me, but it is an opinion.) So I do not ou drag race starts and mainly only use full boost in the uppergears....most of the time.. I have seen, heard of as many Renault boxes fail as Citroen boxes. And even lotus restricts the V8 in the lower gears and that's a modified box..... Also a lot of Porsche boxes fail. IMO its all about driving stile and maintenance. Can you remember the 80's f1 cars. Some drivers would lunch g boxes while others never had a failure and they were not any slower...

Don't worry too much about your gbox. Keep on top of the maintenance. And enjoy driving it. If it fails worry about it then. There will always be a solution to the problem. But it may not happen.... Of course what do I know.....