My Esprit V8 project time to post a thread
Discussion
I am sure to ruffle some feathers as this may not be what the anoraks want to see, but it’s my car and my money, my blood, sweat and tears going into it, and if it would have been the dream car I always longed for it to be then would have been happy with it. But it fell short of being any thing like a supercar. They do say “don’t meet your hero’s” well I was very disappointed with the 4 pot engine, it really does not fit in with the look of the car.
My old series I that came with the rover v8 conversion parts, the engine was an old P6 lump, I was going to do some major upgrades but the s1 chassis, rear suspension. Drive shafts would never cope! So I pulled the engine out and sold the s1 and kept the conversion parts.
My old series I that came with the rover v8 conversion parts, the engine was an old P6 lump, I was going to do some major upgrades but the s1 chassis, rear suspension. Drive shafts would never cope! So I pulled the engine out and sold the s1 and kept the conversion parts.
I brought the s3 with a cracked exhaust manifold, it had a really nice body and paint work, but it was a horrible driver, no problem I had big plans ahead……
my new engine, TVR 4.5 v8 built by Rovertec (V8 developments) stage 3 heads, cosworth pistons, etc, fitted in a ex hill climb car.
my new engine, TVR 4.5 v8 built by Rovertec (V8 developments) stage 3 heads, cosworth pistons, etc, fitted in a ex hill climb car.
Made the exhaust from scratch, TVR manifolds (reversed) and the rest all big bore stainless steel, had to redo it twice as It was very, very loud! So had to fit some extra baffles, may take them out latter!
Lots more cutting………
I may be a sinner in the eyes of some Lotus Purest!
Still need to finish the rear floor, but its taking shape
It works! and the sound of a V8 is Awesome!
Some more work on the boot floor, I don`t plan on hiding the engine, but I will have a carpet boot.
Lots more cutting………
I may be a sinner in the eyes of some Lotus Purest!
Still need to finish the rear floor, but its taking shape
It works! and the sound of a V8 is Awesome!
Some more work on the boot floor, I don`t plan on hiding the engine, but I will have a carpet boot.
This was what I had to work with, she`s not seen many spanners or love….
Wheels brought on ebay, 17 inch, 9j rears and 8j fronts. 3 piece split rims made in japan from a Mercedes.
The offset for the fronts were perfect.
The hubs had to be re-drilled to correct PCD for the new wheels. The rears needed spacers.
Now have a much better choice in tyres, and no longer stuck with the sad 225 width rears.
But was not content with using the spacers, I didn`t like seeing them through the wheels.
Pulled the rears apart, and got some new outers made with image wheels.
That`s 11 ½ j wide! and now I have 315/35/17 rear tyres! again another ebay find, the chap I brought them from also has a Rover V8 esprit (twin turbo) and I got a full roll cage from him, I may need it!
Yes I am running air suspension, more on that latter………
Lets do the brakes then, as the ones fitted are hardly man enough even with the stock motor.
The rear discs were very worn, and are very expensive to buy. My solution Ford Mondeo rear discs.
They are near the same size and offset and a little thicker, plus you can get them very cheap.
I had to re-drill for the 3 lug fitting.
Carriers had to be ground wider, but as you may know now I`m not afraid to hack away what`s not needed!
The rear calipers I rebuilt, the hand brake mech was sticking, all fixed now and a lick of paint.
Fronts are much bigger 312 x 30mm from a Audi, I cross drilled them, god that took for ever! and the hubs machined to fit.
Front calipers from a Porsche 996, don’t think this setup would fit inside those little stock 15” wheels….
Wheels brought on ebay, 17 inch, 9j rears and 8j fronts. 3 piece split rims made in japan from a Mercedes.
The offset for the fronts were perfect.
The hubs had to be re-drilled to correct PCD for the new wheels. The rears needed spacers.
Now have a much better choice in tyres, and no longer stuck with the sad 225 width rears.
But was not content with using the spacers, I didn`t like seeing them through the wheels.
Pulled the rears apart, and got some new outers made with image wheels.
That`s 11 ½ j wide! and now I have 315/35/17 rear tyres! again another ebay find, the chap I brought them from also has a Rover V8 esprit (twin turbo) and I got a full roll cage from him, I may need it!
Yes I am running air suspension, more on that latter………
Lets do the brakes then, as the ones fitted are hardly man enough even with the stock motor.
The rear discs were very worn, and are very expensive to buy. My solution Ford Mondeo rear discs.
They are near the same size and offset and a little thicker, plus you can get them very cheap.
I had to re-drill for the 3 lug fitting.
Carriers had to be ground wider, but as you may know now I`m not afraid to hack away what`s not needed!
The rear calipers I rebuilt, the hand brake mech was sticking, all fixed now and a lick of paint.
Fronts are much bigger 312 x 30mm from a Audi, I cross drilled them, god that took for ever! and the hubs machined to fit.
Front calipers from a Porsche 996, don’t think this setup would fit inside those little stock 15” wheels….
Ok so lets look at the rear suspension, the shocks/dampers were rusty and old when I got the car so time for some upgrades.
I had already wasted time by cleaning and painting the old dampers, but they really needed changing. I got some Protec units from sjsports cars,
They looked nice but as you can see they are made wrong? They are longer and have less articulation, you can not lower the car by much and that was very disappointing. As I was planning to use air springs/bags and wanted to lower the car very low when parked.
The bags are easy to fit with some work to the lower spring seat.
Ok so some of you may want to look away! I have hacked the top spring mount off to allow the bag to bolt direct to the chassis.
That’s the rear bag sorted.
That’s with about 30 psi, should be able to get it drive like a dream with some final tweaking with pressures, and of course can adjust the ride height to what ever I like all from inside the car with a filick of a switch, well that’s the plan.
Air line fitted, good to go.
The front was a nightmare! More on that latter, get the pop corn ready…..
I had already wasted time by cleaning and painting the old dampers, but they really needed changing. I got some Protec units from sjsports cars,
They looked nice but as you can see they are made wrong? They are longer and have less articulation, you can not lower the car by much and that was very disappointing. As I was planning to use air springs/bags and wanted to lower the car very low when parked.
The bags are easy to fit with some work to the lower spring seat.
Ok so some of you may want to look away! I have hacked the top spring mount off to allow the bag to bolt direct to the chassis.
That’s the rear bag sorted.
That’s with about 30 psi, should be able to get it drive like a dream with some final tweaking with pressures, and of course can adjust the ride height to what ever I like all from inside the car with a filick of a switch, well that’s the plan.
Air line fitted, good to go.
The front was a nightmare! More on that latter, get the pop corn ready…..
Le TVR said:
Some quite radical engineering here, don't worry if purists don't like it. As you say, its your car and your vision. Be interested to hear more about the air suspension.
Have you kept the original gearbox? I was just wondering how it would cope with the tuned V8 torque combined with those 315 tyres
Thanks, yes gearbox stock, and yes it is a worry! I don`t plan to do burnouts or drive it hard to start with. I do have UN1 gearbox with Rover V8 bell housing if it fails, or may go with a Audi box.Have you kept the original gearbox? I was just wondering how it would cope with the tuned V8 torque combined with those 315 tyres
I know the gearbox is a weak link but time and funds are against me at the moment.
anti-roll bar all painted up, new poly bushes and hardware at ends
Mine is a 1981 model so had the horrible trunion upright, all fixed now with a Canley classic setup. Still not perfect as the lower mount has issues of rocking in the lower arm, and no rubber boots to protect the bearing. Can`t say I am 100% happy with it but it will do for now until I fit the latter arms and uprights. I have the uprights so if anyone has some lower arms going cheap?
Ok so lets get to the ball ache of the front suspension, lost lots of pics so will have to make do with what I have.
Front lower arms, I cut the lower rubber spring seat off to mount the air spring direct to the lower arm.
So far things are looking good, platform perfect size this is going to be too easy, or so I thought.
Still looking easy, all though top mount looks tricky as no access to bolt the top mount.
Here is when it all starts to go pair shaped, raising the lower arm to check suspension travel things go to s
te!
This pic you can see the angle is all wrong.
Even the dampers clashed with the lower spring seat.
Even cutting access for the adjuster don’t help as the air spring also hits the adjuster.
I also found the front Protec dampers still longer than my original front items, Steve at sjsportscars was great in taking these back, and a Special set was ordered. This took ages and when I did get them they were still wrong! hassle I didn’t need, Gaz sell them on ebay so brought some.
These turned out to be wrong again!!! They were not the type or size I ordered!! fk wits! Ok so lets get them fitted regardless, wasted way too much time. Near 2 months.
Top spring seat again had to be hacked off, and inspection hole cut in chassis to gain access to top mounting bolts, this was a total arse and still is a nightmare to do the bolts up. I am not happy with it and will look into a better solution another day. Loss of photos again so gaps again.
Lower arms, cut the spring seat off completely and now using the coilover to mount the bag, cut hole to gain access to anti-roll bar nut.
Ever fitted the anti-roll bar to a 81 Esprit? If so you know what a total sod it is! This hole makes it a piece of cake.
Canley classic lower joint tacked in place, she`s not going to move now, also helps put some strength back into the arm.
I also welded the top of the lower arm to box it up to make it stronger as seen in the arrow highlight.
Top arms just touched the air bag, this again was a lot of work to fix. They are pressed plate steel.
First I boxed the outside.
Then had to cut the inner section out, hence why I welded the outside first. I welded some tube half into the arm.
They are now double skinned and boxed so should be stronger than the originals in my opinion, no doubt some people sure to chime in if they disagree.
Not pretty but they work, new bushes fitted. Not really happy with the homemade look. Will get some custom made latter.
Some heat shielding from the exhaust, twin 3” bore is not easy to route in a small space.
The rats nest! Still lots to sort out…….
Water pump moved to the front, now electric.
That’s it for now……….
Mine is a 1981 model so had the horrible trunion upright, all fixed now with a Canley classic setup. Still not perfect as the lower mount has issues of rocking in the lower arm, and no rubber boots to protect the bearing. Can`t say I am 100% happy with it but it will do for now until I fit the latter arms and uprights. I have the uprights so if anyone has some lower arms going cheap?
Ok so lets get to the ball ache of the front suspension, lost lots of pics so will have to make do with what I have.
Front lower arms, I cut the lower rubber spring seat off to mount the air spring direct to the lower arm.
So far things are looking good, platform perfect size this is going to be too easy, or so I thought.
Still looking easy, all though top mount looks tricky as no access to bolt the top mount.
Here is when it all starts to go pair shaped, raising the lower arm to check suspension travel things go to s
te!This pic you can see the angle is all wrong.
Even the dampers clashed with the lower spring seat.
Even cutting access for the adjuster don’t help as the air spring also hits the adjuster.
I also found the front Protec dampers still longer than my original front items, Steve at sjsportscars was great in taking these back, and a Special set was ordered. This took ages and when I did get them they were still wrong! hassle I didn’t need, Gaz sell them on ebay so brought some.
These turned out to be wrong again!!! They were not the type or size I ordered!! f
k wits! Ok so lets get them fitted regardless, wasted way too much time. Near 2 months.Top spring seat again had to be hacked off, and inspection hole cut in chassis to gain access to top mounting bolts, this was a total arse and still is a nightmare to do the bolts up. I am not happy with it and will look into a better solution another day. Loss of photos again so gaps again.
Lower arms, cut the spring seat off completely and now using the coilover to mount the bag, cut hole to gain access to anti-roll bar nut.
Ever fitted the anti-roll bar to a 81 Esprit? If so you know what a total sod it is! This hole makes it a piece of cake.
Canley classic lower joint tacked in place, she`s not going to move now, also helps put some strength back into the arm.
I also welded the top of the lower arm to box it up to make it stronger as seen in the arrow highlight.
Top arms just touched the air bag, this again was a lot of work to fix. They are pressed plate steel.
First I boxed the outside.
Then had to cut the inner section out, hence why I welded the outside first. I welded some tube half into the arm.
They are now double skinned and boxed so should be stronger than the originals in my opinion, no doubt some people sure to chime in if they disagree.
Not pretty but they work, new bushes fitted. Not really happy with the homemade look. Will get some custom made latter.
Some heat shielding from the exhaust, twin 3” bore is not easy to route in a small space.
The rats nest! Still lots to sort out…….
Water pump moved to the front, now electric.
That’s it for now……….
Gassing Station | Esprit | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff