She's ALIVE!!!!!

[GregWO]

For the first time since February my Esprit drove out of the garage under its own power! EVERYTHING WORKED!!! I drove it and heard this strange sucking sound from the right side... It was the Intake actually sucking air from the outside and not engine compartment. The turbo gets the full .6 bar easily.... never did that before! Radiator fans run and keep the engine cool... Never did that before! Stays at 80 degrees Celsius! Can't wait to put some miles on her!!!

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/gwilhelm/Lotus/IMG_1266.jpg

The NEW List:
Steering column. Paul Matty Sports Cars UK
Custom Aluminum radiator. Wizard Cooling
Exterior door handles. JAE. now I can LOCK my Esprit!!!
89 Wing Mirrors painted to match. ebay and secret paint guy
Painted Headlight bezels. secret paint magician
Custom foot pedals. ebay
Silicone engine hose kit. JAE
Lotus radiator hoses. JAE
EBPV bypass spacer. JAE
De-Catted Catalytic. Me. Sounds Awesome!!!
Exhaust heat shield. JEGS
Lotus nose badge. JAE
Lotus wheel centers. JAE
Trunk carpet. JAE
Polished exhaust. Me
Sealing foam under access floor. findtape.com
Door weather stripping. RD Enterprises. hand mitered by me
15 feet Silicone vacuum hose!! Hose Techniques
Silicone Turbo Hose. Hose Techniques
Stainless Steel Braided engine hosing. JEGS
Magna Clamps. JEGS
Stainless steel nuts, bolts and washers everywhere! Boltdepot.com

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/gwilhelm/Lotus/IMG_1269.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/gwilhelm/Lotus/IMG_1271.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/gwilhelm/Lotus/IMG_1275.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/gwilhelm/Lotus/IMG_0910.jpg

It got dark before I could get engine shots. I'll post those tomorrow.

To Do List:
Fix mirror hight and wiring. drivers is higher than passenger?
Oil Change. soon
Trans-axle fluid change. soon
Engine tune. Still not running 100% but close!
Carbon Fibre Quarter window finishers. Thanks Kylie!!
Repaint the Oz wheels Silver with clearcoat. winter
Tires. next year
Remaining Trunk Carpet. next year
Paint touch up. next year
sunroof weather strip. next year
engine cover weather strip. next year
rubber stops engine cover. next year
Suspension rebuild. next year
steering rack rebuild. next year

Secret custom design button centers....

I'm sure I'll find more things to do.... Its my pride and joy!!!

[Kylie]

Wow congratulations, I was wondering when it was getting back on the road, this IS great news and you must be wrapped to bits.

Now get posting some more pics of car out in that local scenery so we can see that it DOES go past the local park down the road from your house :steeringwheel:

Enjoy :thumbup:

[jimmybondi]

Nice looking & clean car Greg.

I like those pedals! :)

[clockwork]

Well done Greg,you must be thrilled to have it back together again and looking so good.Clockwork :thumbup:

[Mark B.]

Fine looking car you have! If you squint your eyes it's the Pretty Woman car too :).

[Autocross7]

Awsome! I know your are glad to be able to actually drive it! So, how many miles before you trust it? Hahaha...

Cameron

[4re308]

Dude that is AWESOME!! Congrats on getting her back on the road! Good for you!! :thumbup:

[talon]

Congrats! You've done a hell of a lot of work on her!!

[Tony K]

Greg -- that is awesome!!! You've done the car well! :thumbup:

[GregWO]

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone! :yes: :thumbup:

Here is a shot of the engine compartment. I'm gonna clean the engine and repaint the orange when I do the cam towers next year.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/gwilhelm/Lotus/0c721f22.jpg

[BCST]

Nice! congrats.

[Martin]

Looks great!!!!
Did you get to enjoy Independence day in your British car? :)

[GregWO]

Unfortunately, No. its been raining for 2 days. :crying:

I got my mysterious intermittent tail light working for good. The tail light harness plug had some loose connections.

[Autocross7]

Unfortunately, No. its been raining for 2 days. :crying:

I got my mysterious intermittent tail light working for good. The tail light harness plug had some loose connections.

I find this to be common place. I have to jiggle mine about 2X's a year.

Cameron

[GregWO]

mine was so bad you could do a Fonzie tap on the lens and turn it off or on...

[Brian Skeoch]

awesome. You must feel like Richard Geer in that thing driving around the streets of Hollywood.

Brian

[GregWO]

I do! I took her out today to run errands and was so much fun I had the shakes when I finaly got her home. I was done with my errands and just did laps around the country roads.... was awesome!

She still has some tuning to do. I have a hesitation/stutter when I lightly accelerate and when I hit 5K it starts popping. I suspect my pickup coil and/or vacuum advance might be the problem... Need professional tuner familiar with the Bosch system.

De-catted sounds AWESOME!!!! freaking AWESOME!!!

[Kylie]

Nice one Greg, thats awesome. My carbed 89 Turbo used to do the same thing for similar driving after I got the carbs overhauled. I know these motors are different but in my case, it was simply a matter of closing one of the gaps slightly on a spark plug. Easy. Hope your tuning is just that for your set up.

[WayneB]

Car looks great Greg (for a stevens):p, nice to hear your finally getting some driving enjoyment out of her after all the drama of importing the correct steering column.:steeringwheel::)

[Autocross7]

Well, some of you know that I have been dealing with replacing the ignition pick up and coil in my car... and Greg, I have the same issue from time to time (same motor and fuel delivery as you) and it always seems to get down to spark plugs. In fact, it seems everytime I put in NGKBP6Es as the car should have, it runs great for three weeks or so then I get some sort of issue like you describe.

I have gone back to Autolite Platinum AP63 this go round. Usually I don't give a rip about "Platinum" or whatevers... but I put them in as they were available a while back and they were great. The standard #63 wants to cut out a bit above 5 grand...
Anyway,play with your plugs and gaps as Kylie suggested before you go into $$$ with the k-jet system. Try AP63 plugs, start your gap at 34, get a plug read after a little driving, and widen the gap as needed until good. Then of course make a note of the gap and plug for future reference.

Cameron

[GregWO]

Duh... I usually overlook the obvious. I'll start with replacing the plugs. I know my NGKs were new but fouled before I started working on her last February. Thanks Kylie and Cameron