Blown Head Gasket

[driveawedge]

Came across a 1982 Turbo that has a blown head gasket. Couple of questions:

1. I'm in the SF Bay Area. Any reliable mechanics that know Lotus that anybody can recommend?

2. What should I expect to spend to replace a head gasket?

3. I'm assuming this is a job for mechanics familiar with Lotus and not the guy I use to work on my American/Japanese cars. (Great mechanics, willing to tackle my odd projects, but I'm sure they haven't torn into an Esprit before).

Thanks for any advice.

[DrieStone]

I have an '83 which I thought was a blown head gasket, but ended up being a slipped liner. The moral here is that just because it appears to be a blown head gasket doesn't mean it is and that you should be prepared to spend some serious $$ once you go down that road.

I pulled the engine myself (figure it takes about 8 hours with two average wrenchers to pull it.) It took me another 10 hours to strip the engine down to the long block. Figure another 20+ hours to get everything back together. A mechanic should be able to do it in 1/2 that time. The suggestion from others that you're better off pulling the engine to remove the head, in retrospect I am glad I did (pull the engine.)

A word of caution. I have receipts from a known west coast Lotus tuner who rebuilt the engine 7k miles ago. My impression is that this tuner did a very poor job of working on the engine (I found various missing studs and nuts, and my engine builder said that the internal work was questionable and most likely lead to the liner slipping.)

That said, a competent engine builder should be able to do whatever you need to do (although they will most likely charge a premium because they will have to make/buy specialized tools.)

As for costs... The gasket kit (which includes the head gasket and any other gaskets you will need for rebuild,) I think ran less than $200. Timing belt is less than $100 (don't quote me on the price too much since I bought mine more than 6 months ago.)

I am paying about $2000 for labor which includes complete cleanup of the block (special baking power blasting), balancing everything, removing and installing liners, honing, etc. You can easily double (or triple that) if the mechanic is pulling the engine as well.

If you're lucky you're looking at $5k to get the car running again, assuming there aren't any major pitfalls. Of course if you wanted to do it right I would spend some time and money on new pistons, powder coating and replacement of all rubber, carb rebuild, etc. Then you're into the $7k range (half that if you do the easy stuff yourself and you're not in a rush.)

[Dr.Hess]

I have found that when vehicle shopping, always assume a blown motor and a complete rebuild if told there is _anything_ wrong with it. It could be that the seller is less than truthfull, or that the seller just doesn't know and that's the best knowledge they have. Either way, the chances of what they say is wrong being wrong and the only thing wrong is very slim. Case in point: My MR2 (RIP). I bought it for $100 with a "Cracked Head." The head was fine, the hole in the piston from overheating was the problem. Toasted motor, but for a hundred bucks it was worth it to me and I just assumed the motor was junk from the start. There is an Elite that shows up on eBay regularly. The pic shows it in front of a beater trailer house. The write up says "New timing belt, doesn't run... Needs timing..." I just assume the valves are toast at a minimum, and probably the head and who knows what else. It is a $3-400 car, but he wants $2500 so on he dreams.

An average 83 Esprit in decent shape should be in the $14K range or under. As this car could easily suck up $6K faster than two women, unless you are getting it for $5k, I would pass.

Dr.Hess