At last... some progress!
Discussion
Well, I think it was July last year when the Esprit broke two pistons and died, when I took a potential buyer out in it 
For weeks (if not months!) I've been sporadically opening the hatch and pulling bits off, and I'd finally got to the stage where the block needed to come out. I contemplated the clearance between the crank pulley and the chassis. Then I decided to take the block out with the transmission, just for the hell of it!
So with a bigger crane than my own borrowed, the last few nuts and bolts were removed and the unit hoisted out...
With the unit on the floor I guesstimated the weight of the engine alone (actually just the block, crank and flywheel) and figured I could lift it onto a trestle. Julie took the last bolts out of the bellhousing... and I damn near did my back in, but I got it there
With the flywheel removed, I juggled an assortment of long bolts and washers and transferred the block to an engine stand...
and proceeded to strip it further.
In the meantime I'd discovered that it was impossible to remove the brake discs, because the caliper carriers were stuck fast on the transmission mountings. The problem turned out to be the bolts having corroded into the alloy housing! Access to the bolt heads is limited on the car so I couldn't get enough leverage with a spanner (that's a wrench to you foreigners
).
With the tranny mounts removed and clamped in a vice I used a 3 foot cracking bar to wind the carrier bolts out.
The carriers were then sandblasted and powder-coated and the transmission mounts bead-blasted...
At least when it goes back together it'll look nice!
For weeks (if not months!) I've been sporadically opening the hatch and pulling bits off, and I'd finally got to the stage where the block needed to come out. I contemplated the clearance between the crank pulley and the chassis. Then I decided to take the block out with the transmission, just for the hell of it!
So with a bigger crane than my own borrowed, the last few nuts and bolts were removed and the unit hoisted out...
With the unit on the floor I guesstimated the weight of the engine alone (actually just the block, crank and flywheel) and figured I could lift it onto a trestle. Julie took the last bolts out of the bellhousing... and I damn near did my back in, but I got it there
With the flywheel removed, I juggled an assortment of long bolts and washers and transferred the block to an engine stand...
and proceeded to strip it further.
In the meantime I'd discovered that it was impossible to remove the brake discs, because the caliper carriers were stuck fast on the transmission mountings. The problem turned out to be the bolts having corroded into the alloy housing! Access to the bolt heads is limited on the car so I couldn't get enough leverage with a spanner (that's a wrench to you foreigners
). With the tranny mounts removed and clamped in a vice I used a 3 foot cracking bar to wind the carrier bolts out.
The carriers were then sandblasted and powder-coated and the transmission mounts bead-blasted...
At least when it goes back together it'll look nice!
That's funny? I thought everyone else was foreign...hahahaha...
Great look!
It is nice to see someone else that gets "detailed". Putting in new top end seals a while back the local car guys here were razzin' me about shot blasting and high temp painting the bracket that fits to the back of AC compressor. Did it in ceramic orange so it matched the top intake and cam covers. It was not pretty anymore and it had to come off to remove the oil pump housing anyway...
I also shot blasted and coated all the bolts, belt pully, AC V belt tentioner, and some other bits in high temp gold (not my favorute color, but very rust resistant and heat tolerant). I mean, just because you cannot see it does not mean it should not look good!
Drive topless!!!
Cameron
Great look!
It is nice to see someone else that gets "detailed". Putting in new top end seals a while back the local car guys here were razzin' me about shot blasting and high temp painting the bracket that fits to the back of AC compressor. Did it in ceramic orange so it matched the top intake and cam covers. It was not pretty anymore and it had to come off to remove the oil pump housing anyway...
I also shot blasted and coated all the bolts, belt pully, AC V belt tentioner, and some other bits in high temp gold (not my favorute color, but very rust resistant and heat tolerant). I mean, just because you cannot see it does not mean it should not look good!
Drive topless!!!
Cameron
[quote=Paula&Marcus]
Kylie,
I just had a look at your car ... did you fit that S4s/S300/(early)V8 rear wing recently ?
Cheers
Marcus
[/quote]
No the previous owner got it fitted by our Lotus service guy here. It was part of a kit you could buy yrs ago from Lotus and OZ Wheels.
Oz wheels made a replica wheel of the revolution wheel seen on the X180R cars and chucked in decals, SE bumper and a S4s/S300 rear wing(sold as a up-grade kit). I bought the car with the intention of ripping everying off and taking back to original, but I have had soooo many positive comments on the overall look,I have just left it as is and just given it a real tidy up.
kylie said:
WOW! So you were going to sell it...? Surely after all this work done on the motor you would want to keep it now ? We use spanners down in kiwi land too
Kylie,
I just had a look at your car ... did you fit that S4s/S300/(early)V8 rear wing recently ?
Cheers
Marcus
[/quote]
No the previous owner got it fitted by our Lotus service guy here. It was part of a kit you could buy yrs ago from Lotus and OZ Wheels.
Oz wheels made a replica wheel of the revolution wheel seen on the X180R cars and chucked in decals, SE bumper and a S4s/S300 rear wing(sold as a up-grade kit). I bought the car with the intention of ripping everying off and taking back to original, but I have had soooo many positive comments on the overall look,I have just left it as is and just given it a real tidy up.
kylie said:
WOW! So you were going to sell it...? Surely after all this work done on the motor you would want to keep it now ? We use spanners down in kiwi land too
I was up and down for a while about selling it; it doesn't have the same sense of 'occasion' to drive as my TVR for a start (although it could run rings round the TVR on a twisty road)... then Julie doesn't like driving it... and I'd been neglecting the TVR when it really needs suspension work, retrim etc.
So I figured I'd let the Esprit go; at least I can say I've owned one when the government of this stupid island has reducd us all to bicycles and trams...
As for the amount of work, well if I tried to sell it 'as is' I'd get two chickens and a loaf of bread for it, so unless I do fix it I won't recoup anything. An engineless Esprit is pretty worthless. Needless to say I don't let anyone else work on my cars - too many monkeys in overalls and unscrupulous garages.
As it stands I still haven't reached a firm decision on whether to sell. One possibility was to keep it as a track car... but then it needs a trailer (or has to be kept road-legal, more bloody hassle)... dunno. Watch this space!
... 
Well, I seem to have ground to a halt. No info on pistons is forthcoming, my cylinder hone arrived too late to get anything done last weekend and this weekend has been mostly spent fitting alarm, immobiliser/ central locking etc. to me Julie's Punto. So now I'm cut to shreds from all the sharp plastic and ache all over from footwell gymnastics... 
The cylinder hone turned out to be a total waste of time: typical bloody Draper rubbish. I promised myself years ago that I'd never buy any more of their tat but I reckoned they couldn't go far wrong with three bits of carborundum and a spring. How wrong I was
The supplied grade of stones was far too fine for the purpose: all it did was put a beautiful mirror-finish on the bores. It scarcely even took the carbon/ oil varnish off, and that was with the tension wound right up.
In the end I experimented with various grades of wet'n'dry paper wrapped around the useless piece of sh!t... sorry, hone..., and managed to get the criss-cross finish I wanted with 120 grit.
At this rate there'll be an Esprit-shaped jigsaw puzzle going begging on Ebay...
Thanks for listening
The cylinder hone turned out to be a total waste of time: typical bloody Draper rubbish. I promised myself years ago that I'd never buy any more of their tat but I reckoned they couldn't go far wrong with three bits of carborundum and a spring. How wrong I was
The supplied grade of stones was far too fine for the purpose: all it did was put a beautiful mirror-finish on the bores. It scarcely even took the carbon/ oil varnish off, and that was with the tension wound right up.
In the end I experimented with various grades of wet'n'dry paper wrapped around the useless piece of sh!t... sorry, hone..., and managed to get the criss-cross finish I wanted with 120 grit.
At this rate there'll be an Esprit-shaped jigsaw puzzle going begging on Ebay...
Thanks for listening
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