New life for 77 Esprit S1

[JNW3]

But my exhaust sticks out further than the bumper....!

[Barrykearley]

Cut a bit off

[rajesprit]

Update :

Finally my S1 is almost 90% restored, i just couldnt wait any longer to have it fully finished so i made it take a break for the summer. I went 100 kilometres north of Barcelona to fetch it from my trusty Lotus Fan mechanic and bought it down to my house for the summer months, i have had it for July and now august and i will take it back to him in September so he can finish it off.

[rajesprit]

This past month i have been clocking as many kms as possible to the S1, inculding 100kms down south to the Costa Dorada and back. Also around the city to check for signs of overheating.

my experience has been generally good but one day, on my way home i experienced a shocking "scratching" steering column, and literally got stuck when turning to the right. I had to force it to go through. I stopped the car checked everything i could but found nothing, so i carefully drove home. At home i got myself under the car and discovered some loose screws in the steering column that were loosing out of their position and scratching the metal around them. That got solved.

Another day when making the final depression of the acceleration pedal while entering the garage, the cable snapped and the revs went up like crazy, i luckily reacted fast and disconected the key. It took 15 days mechanic to come buy take it out come back and replace it with a new one. That was on the 30th of July.

Now i have done another 200kms to it.

 Just yesterday after doing around 30kms while waiting outside my garage i saw the temp needle rising untill it touched the red(orange), imediately turned off the engine.I saw alot of smoke coming out the back, so i took the fire extinguisher used it from under the car then opened the engine bay, took off the cover and realised that it was all water vapour from the water cooling.

 Everything is fine with the engine, after letting everything cool down i started investigating and found out that the water had overheated because the fans had not satarted blowing, this was cause because the temp sensor has failed as i checked crossing the fan cables and fans work properly. Now i have to replace that sensor. For the time being i have designed a cable that closes the fan circuit but it has a switch, i dont know if its very safe but it allows me to turn on the fans manually until i get the sensor replaced.

 One question, the cable i have used is a lamp cable that has an On/Off switch, i have passed it from the sesnor area, under the engine cover, ththrough the belt space that goes into the cabin and is lying in the drivers seat? Is it safe to activate the fans this way momentarily, does all the fan power go through these cables hence possibly making them hot if they are not thick enough?

 For the moment everything has been a pleasure and easy to solve but im hoping for the surprises to finish and have a reliable car which i find it is, engine is very smooth and love the noise, it revs well and S1 is fun to drive. I always have a grin while driving it.

I will try and post some pics soon.