My Esprit V8 project time to post a thread
Discussion
Nice new shiny header tank
The advantage of breaking two Jaguar XJR’S and a Ford Transit, lots of good quality heatsheild, multi layer and very light. Cuts easy with kitchen scissors (but don’t let the wife see you!) and it bends to any shape with ease. You could always get some from a car breakers, I have often seen it left on body shells and it’s easy to remove just a few clips.
Have you seen how much this stuff costs new! Crazy money!
In full swing again cracking on with the car.
The advantage of breaking two Jaguar XJR’S and a Ford Transit, lots of good quality heatsheild, multi layer and very light. Cuts easy with kitchen scissors (but don’t let the wife see you!) and it bends to any shape with ease. You could always get some from a car breakers, I have often seen it left on body shells and it’s easy to remove just a few clips.
Have you seen how much this stuff costs new! Crazy money!
In full swing again cracking on with the car.
The Esprit will be at classics at the castle 19th july at sherborne never been before but looks promising, its also a Lotus Feature day.
I also know pistonheads have a show stand.
http://classicsatthecastle.co.uk/
Benters are you going?
I also know pistonheads have a show stand.
http://classicsatthecastle.co.uk/
Benters are you going?
Thought I would add a spec list to what’s been done.
Engine spec:
TVR V8 4.5 built by V8 Developments.
Originally a (Rover) 4.3 BV from a TVR Griffith
Fully balanced fitted with forged Cosworth pistons 93.5mm bore (PM0209) & HRC1037 rods. Cross drilled & balanced HRC1400 iceberg crank 80mm stroke. High volume oil pump. Stage 3 big valve heads, stainless steel 42.8mm inlet & 36.8mm exhaust valves, fully ported and gas flowed. Uprated valve springs (VSSV8). Piper steel vernier timing chain set, Piper BP270 camshaft, Rhoades anti pump lifters, John Eales billet rocker posts & head stud kit. Edelbrock performance inlet manifold fully ported and gas flowed to match heads. Edelbrock performance 1404 (500cfm) 4 barrel Weber carburetor, K&N turbo plenum with large K&N cone filter. Mallory performance billet distributor with electronic ignition, Mallory pro 8mm plug leads & Mallory high output coil. TVR big bore exhaust manifolds reversed, twin 3” bore bespoke made stainless steel exhaust system, lightened race steel fly wheel ARP bolts & uprated clutch. Rover SD1 sump, Esprit developments engine conversion kit alloy bell housing adaptor and custom input shaft. Custom made mounts and turbo rubbers
setup on engine dyno
Power: 289 bhp @ 5500 rpm
Torque: 300 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm
Suspension
Front hubs modified to 5x112 PCD & 66.6 centre bore. Canley Classics forged front uprights (trunnion free). Gaz gold racing adjustable front alloy coilovers, Universal air aero sport bags. Front top and bottom suspension arms modified (also boxed welded), uprated poly bushes. Rear hubs also modified to 5x112 PCD & 66.6 centre bore. Protech rear alloy coilovers, Universal air aero sport bags. Accuair e-level system, fully remote with AU4. Air Zenith OB2 compressor, Dakota digital quad air pressure & tank gauge kit, Twin seamless alloy 3 gallon air tanks.
Brakes
Front Audi 100\200 314x30mm X-drilled vented discs, custom fitted to rear of hubs.
Porsche 996 Brembo 4 pot alloy calipers, fitted with bespoke billet mounts.
Rear Mondeo discs 280x12mm X-drilled and slotted, custom fitted to rear shafts.
Esprit rear calipers, carriers modified to take larger discs. Stainless braided hoses.
Wheels & Tyres
Super Star 3 piece splitrims (made in japan)
Front:8J x 17 +25 offset, Yokoharma parada spec 2 205/40/17 ZR Tyres.
Rear: 11.5J x 17 +20 offset (were 9J but modified with image wheels 5 inch outer lips)
BF Goodridge Comp TA 315/35/17 ZR Tyres.
Transaxle
Stock Esprit Citoren SM 5 speed
Redline MT-90 oil full 3ltrs, fairy dust and fingers crossed!
(yes I know its on borrowed time!)
Interior
Stock teddy bear cloth (refreshed with black dye), Nardi Personal 350mm steering wheel,
MX5 suede gearstick gator, leather Lotus g/knob, Stack wideband lambda gauge, Dakota digital air pressure gauge, SJ Sportscars black carpet set, Accuair Switchspeed controller.
Body
Side scoops (ears) widened & modified to be quad intakes, Rear hatch locked ajar\open with flush locking bonnet pins. Modified front air intake & revised radiator location. Rear bumper X-drilled to improve air flow output, Rear engine bay floor removed & engine bay bulkhead modified. Extra space frame chassis brace fitted with alloy heatshielding.
Cooling
Sierra Cosworth 60mm core alloy rad, Twin electric 12” fans rear mounted (pulling)
Davies Craig EWP 80 pump and controller, Extra booster pump fitted at rear.
Mocal Remote oil filter and oil cooler rad, Alloy header tank and swirlpot.
Still lots of work in progress and improvements needed.
Engine spec:
TVR V8 4.5 built by V8 Developments.
Originally a (Rover) 4.3 BV from a TVR Griffith
Fully balanced fitted with forged Cosworth pistons 93.5mm bore (PM0209) & HRC1037 rods. Cross drilled & balanced HRC1400 iceberg crank 80mm stroke. High volume oil pump. Stage 3 big valve heads, stainless steel 42.8mm inlet & 36.8mm exhaust valves, fully ported and gas flowed. Uprated valve springs (VSSV8). Piper steel vernier timing chain set, Piper BP270 camshaft, Rhoades anti pump lifters, John Eales billet rocker posts & head stud kit. Edelbrock performance inlet manifold fully ported and gas flowed to match heads. Edelbrock performance 1404 (500cfm) 4 barrel Weber carburetor, K&N turbo plenum with large K&N cone filter. Mallory performance billet distributor with electronic ignition, Mallory pro 8mm plug leads & Mallory high output coil. TVR big bore exhaust manifolds reversed, twin 3” bore bespoke made stainless steel exhaust system, lightened race steel fly wheel ARP bolts & uprated clutch. Rover SD1 sump, Esprit developments engine conversion kit alloy bell housing adaptor and custom input shaft. Custom made mounts and turbo rubbers
setup on engine dyno
Power: 289 bhp @ 5500 rpm
Torque: 300 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm
Suspension
Front hubs modified to 5x112 PCD & 66.6 centre bore. Canley Classics forged front uprights (trunnion free). Gaz gold racing adjustable front alloy coilovers, Universal air aero sport bags. Front top and bottom suspension arms modified (also boxed welded), uprated poly bushes. Rear hubs also modified to 5x112 PCD & 66.6 centre bore. Protech rear alloy coilovers, Universal air aero sport bags. Accuair e-level system, fully remote with AU4. Air Zenith OB2 compressor, Dakota digital quad air pressure & tank gauge kit, Twin seamless alloy 3 gallon air tanks.
Brakes
Front Audi 100\200 314x30mm X-drilled vented discs, custom fitted to rear of hubs.
Porsche 996 Brembo 4 pot alloy calipers, fitted with bespoke billet mounts.
Rear Mondeo discs 280x12mm X-drilled and slotted, custom fitted to rear shafts.
Esprit rear calipers, carriers modified to take larger discs. Stainless braided hoses.
Wheels & Tyres
Super Star 3 piece splitrims (made in japan)
Front:8J x 17 +25 offset, Yokoharma parada spec 2 205/40/17 ZR Tyres.
Rear: 11.5J x 17 +20 offset (were 9J but modified with image wheels 5 inch outer lips)
BF Goodridge Comp TA 315/35/17 ZR Tyres.
Transaxle
Stock Esprit Citoren SM 5 speed
Redline MT-90 oil full 3ltrs, fairy dust and fingers crossed!
(yes I know its on borrowed time!)
Interior
Stock teddy bear cloth (refreshed with black dye), Nardi Personal 350mm steering wheel,
MX5 suede gearstick gator, leather Lotus g/knob, Stack wideband lambda gauge, Dakota digital air pressure gauge, SJ Sportscars black carpet set, Accuair Switchspeed controller.
Body
Side scoops (ears) widened & modified to be quad intakes, Rear hatch locked ajar\open with flush locking bonnet pins. Modified front air intake & revised radiator location. Rear bumper X-drilled to improve air flow output, Rear engine bay floor removed & engine bay bulkhead modified. Extra space frame chassis brace fitted with alloy heatshielding.
Cooling
Sierra Cosworth 60mm core alloy rad, Twin electric 12” fans rear mounted (pulling)
Davies Craig EWP 80 pump and controller, Extra booster pump fitted at rear.
Mocal Remote oil filter and oil cooler rad, Alloy header tank and swirlpot.
Still lots of work in progress and improvements needed.
The old White s
tter got a lot of interest at the Classics at the Castle july 19th
What’s that another Rover V8! You find them everywhere and why not! They sound great!
This one is fitted in the John Player Team Lotus Muir Hill f5000, Poke in the eye for all those who bashed me for fitting one in my esprit! also have found out one is fitted in a VX220 excellent!
tter got a lot of interest at the Classics at the Castle july 19thWhat’s that another Rover V8! You find them everywhere and why not! They sound great!
This one is fitted in the John Player Team Lotus Muir Hill f5000, Poke in the eye for all those who bashed me for fitting one in my esprit! also have found out one is fitted in a VX220 excellent!
I have decided to up rate the water pump, the Davies Craig EWP80 pump that I had installed just didn’t seem up to the job of keeping the V8 cool? This is the last thing to try now and hope to put an end to the over heating issues. The black pump is the EWP80 and is rated at 80 litres a minute, the alloy turbo looking pump is the EWP150 and yes it’s rated at 150 litres a minute! I plan to just use the EWP150 at first and see how it works out? And may even install the EWP80 as well and use it as a booster pump. The EWP80 is supposed to be able to cool a 5.0 V8 and if the engine is in the front of the car and has nice air flow through the front aiding it then maybe it can? But mid engine cars with all the air and water flow compromises? Any one thinking of getting a new EWP? Demon tweeks are doing a £80 saving on these when brought with the controller on greedbay at the moment.
My next build is a Reliant Scimitar SE5, it was free and I have always fancied having one so I can now at least scratch that itch! I did plan on doing another Esprit but the days of finding a project at sensible money are long gone! Shame…….had a really wild project in mind.
Trial and error yet again………..Oh what fun!
New pump still has not cured overheating! So have had another rethink and decided to mount it as close to original location as possible, I think having the pump close to the rad was pulling the water to quickly away and not having chance for the rad to dissipate the heat? As some have already suggested. The hotter it got the faster the pump would work which was making things worse! I had to cut some more bodywork away to gain enough room to fit it. It’s also a real sod to get at, Aaaah! the joys on modifying cars….
New pump still has not cured overheating! So have had another rethink and decided to mount it as close to original location as possible, I think having the pump close to the rad was pulling the water to quickly away and not having chance for the rad to dissipate the heat? As some have already suggested. The hotter it got the faster the pump would work which was making things worse! I had to cut some more bodywork away to gain enough room to fit it. It’s also a real sod to get at, Aaaah! the joys on modifying cars….
Retro Rides Gathering was another great day until the rain came down! and Jesus did it rain! had a blat up the hill but it was way too wet! rear tyres just span when ever I tried to give it some beans....I was pretty nervous to be honest with everyone watching and taking videos so took it a bit easy as it was my first time! so sorry if anyone was expecting a mental hero run! may have looked a bit of a pussy but the last thing I wanted was video on youtube of me crashing! over heating issues seam to be near enough sorted now, but the next issue is battery going flat due to the fans and pump running when I turn the engine off, all the stop starts waiting in the queue plus the compressor filling the air tanks really rips the st out the battery. So could only do one run.
https://youtu.be/EqvWcuvKxfE
Nice to meet up with some old friends again and made many new, plenty of really nice cars and some really mental and fast drivers going up the hill.
t out the battery. So could only do one run.https://youtu.be/EqvWcuvKxfE
Nice to meet up with some old friends again and made many new, plenty of really nice cars and some really mental and fast drivers going up the hill.
Edited by s1v8esprit on Thursday 27th August 21:34
Spent a few hours today at the breakers and came across a really nice servo for the Esprit.
It’s from a Honda S2000 and looks a pretty good match for fitting it’s the same diameter but has more depth, I first thought it maybe a double servo but I don’t think it is? Anyway it’s going on when I get some spare time and I will see how it performs.
It’s from a Honda S2000 and looks a pretty good match for fitting it’s the same diameter but has more depth, I first thought it maybe a double servo but I don’t think it is? Anyway it’s going on when I get some spare time and I will see how it performs.
Updates and progress will be a little slow on the Esprit due to building the V8 Scimitar.
Fitted the genuine AeroCatch locking latches today. Really nice quantity compared to the rip off china crap I installed. As you can see from the pic the genuine ones are a little smaller and the locks are smaller also, they have a nice spring action and a backing plate that holds the nuts for the mounting screws so installing is also much easier.
The crap I fitted are called “D1 Sanko” and labeled as if made in japan! Don’t buy them!
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