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My 1989 Lotus Esprit Turbo (Non-SE)
I may not be impartial, but I think it is the most beautiful car in the world. Background
Well, I was getting tired of driving beaters all the time. My daily driver has 237K miles on it (Toyota Truck). My back-up daily driver has 248K miles on it (Toyota Truck). The Seven was coming along, but still had (has) a ways to go and really isn't all that practical (regardless of what Phil says) especially with no roof/top planned. So, I started to thinking about some new wheels. But what to get? My wife said "You always buy something practical. Why don't you get what you really want?" Well, Project 3SGTE Europa was calling, but I really didn't need to start another major automotive project without finishing the one I am on now. I started seriously thinking about a SC400, that V8 being about the best I have ever driven. But still, it isn't really what I wanted. I sort of figured that whatever I wound up with I would have to haul home, so I got the '86 Truck in good towing shape and bought a flat bed dove tail trailer. So, I started looking at Esprits. Amazing what you can find on eBay. Bought one with a Buy-It-Now for a fair price, loaded up the truck and headed to San Jose, CA. Three days later, the Crystal Princess was sitting on the trailer behind the little red truck and we were headed back to Arkansas. I decided to tow it because: I have owned a Lotus before. It is used, English and has lots of unknowns. I figured better safe towing it across 1800 miles than broke down in Bumfuq New Mexico looking for a water pump for a 910 engine. Now, towing a 2700 lb car on a 1500 lb trailer with a 4 cylinder 22R Toyota Truck is a bit of an adventure in itself. Uphill was "challenging" but we would just tuck in with the 18 wheelers and do the best we could. Through the desert we would also have to turn the AC off and the heater on high on the hills to keep the temp down. I think if I went with a genuine Toyota fan clutch, that would help, and I have heard that a 22RTE radiator is bigger and bolts in. We'll have to see. Gas milage was 19 MPG under load, 21 with just the trailer. Not too bad, huh? Truck had 248K miles on it when we got home. Two days leter when I took it to work, the left rear wheel bearing went out. What timing.
Guess what? Lotus did not make window motors!! Yes, it is true. They went to the parking lot and pulled someone's Jag apart and designed the windows around that. So, what that means is that when your window motor gives up, you can replace it with one from a Jag for a fraction of the cost of a new or rebuilt. I bought one extra for each side off eBay. Paid $15 for one and $1 for the other plus shipping. Rebuilt out of Florida is about $250 ea. The important thing to realize is that there are several different types of Jag window motor out there. The Esprit has the skinny flat one instead of the big round one, and the Esprit has an 8 tooth gear on the gear box part. Some Jag's have 10 teeth. Also, a Left Esprit window motor is the same as the Front Right Jag motor, and vice versa. The actual motor part is all the same, but the gear box part bolted to the motor part is a mirror image on each side. Different year Jag motors will work, but if you want a drop in replacement maybe with the regulator too, try these: 88-91 Vandem Plas, 81-87 XJ6, 87-90 XJS Coupe. There are some good tutorials out there on taking the door apart and getting to the motors, so I'll leave that alone. Check the EspritFactFile. Here is my eBay search for Jag window motors. I know these things because I had to fix both my motors. The driver's side responded well to a thorough cleaning and lube, but the passenger side was toast. The little brush holder melted. I replaced it with a motor from a Chevy truck, which I had to do a little Dremmel tool work on to get to fit with the original gear box. Seems that English Delco used a different brush holder than US Delco. More details: My Chevy truck replacement motor went to the same fate as the original one. Toasted brush holder. So, there are Delco and Bosch Jag window motors. The Delco are the ones we need as a drop in, but the Bosch can be made to work. Problem is the Bosch, as the one from the 88 XJ6 I bought off eBay, is almost the right one, but the little spacer thingies that the bolts go into are too short. So, I made some adapter spacers on my lathe out of some brass I had around to hold the motor off to just the right spacing. If anyone is interested, I'll send you a drawing of the spacers and you can make them yourself or have them made. Why did my replacement die? I suspect low voltage at the motor due to the switch arrangement. I am working on a relay to reside inside the door and utilize the +12V from the lighter. Total cost should be about $40 for the two relays from O'Reilly's auto parts and a couple of diodes from Radio Shack.
Here is a scan of a schematic I drew up to use two commonly available relays to run a window motor without putting a load on the switch. Part of the problem is the switch gets fried by the current draw of the motor. So, if you use relays as the later cars have, the switch should last a long time. In theory anyway. So I drew up and tested the schematic. I haven't installed it, so it is technicall still a WIP (Work In Progress) but electrically it works. The diodes are just any standard silicone diode such as a 1N4004 from Radio Shack or salvaged from just about any piece of junk electronics. There isn't much current through them, we just use them for the logic. The input wires on the left are the wires that originally went to the motor. They now just drive the relays. The battery symbol represents a source of 12V. I was thinking of using the lighter supply, but never got that far. The 12V can be on all the time, it won't drain the battery and the windows still won't work without the key on. The other choice for the +12v would be splicing into the line going to the window switch. The relays are Borg Warner R802 DPST 12V, 20A contacts and were $18 each at O'Reilley's. I wanted to use cheaper ones, but that was all I could find easily and they should be available everywhere. I superglued the two together. Wires to the relay coils can be small, like 20ga, or 22ga as there isn't much current there. The rest of the wires should be 12ga or 14ga. When the + voltage is applied to one wire and - to the other from the OEM switch, one relay will energize and the proper polarity will be sent to the motor. When the polarity is reversed fromt he switch to the relay pairs, the other relay will energize and the opposite polarity will go to the motor. Others have made relays for their window motors, but I didn't look at what they did. I just started from a clean sheet and this is what I came up with. If it is identical to someone else's, well, I guess we think alike. This was just how I figured to do it without modifying anything very much. My windows are working OK right now (knock on wood) so I never got around to installing it, and because of the aftermarket window controller I have, I would have to do some rewiring and go back to stock first to get this to work properly. It seems the aftermarket controller has a current sensor in it and if the current is too low, it will turn off the motor. Putting my relays in drops the current seen by the switch/aftermarket controller to next to nothing, so the controller freaks out. With a stock setup going through the switches, this wouldn't be a problem.
Cut this out and tape it with some clear package tape to the underside of your front relay cover: You may have to "save as" the image, then open it in an image editor and print from there. The size is set to 3-3/4" wide, which just fits under the cover, but I don't think IE will print it out correctly. You can add the image to a MS Word document and play with the size until it is 3-3/4" wide, then print it. Even though it looks a little fuzzy in an image editor or just in IE, when printed out at the correct size on a laser printer it is quite readable. New Medical Term: LNS: Lotus Neck Syndrome. A spasm of the right sterno-clido-mastoid muscle caused by prolonged time in the Lotus Position. Hey, why don't the English put hinges on the dashboard? I mean, is it some kind of eternal English optimism? Like this will be the vehicle that will never need someone under the dash fixing the electrics. Kinda like yeah, Hitler only wants Poland, then he will stop. Here is another one: We'll make guns illegal, then people won't shoot each other and crime will go down. Really bizarre English optimism.
So, like most of this vintage, my odometer went out at about 50K miles. So, what to do? Get it repaired for $150 and have a repaired speedo good for who knows how long, or just replace it with a better one that I might actually be able to see? Well, on my last trip to Sturgis, I stopped at the Harley dealer in Souix Falls, S.D., and was talking to the parts guy about the last year when I stopped there to buy yet another speedo cable, and he told me of Dakota Digital, who make speedos for bikes, cars, etc. They even had a display set up at Sturgis, so I looked at their stuff then. I decided to just put one of their units in and dump the VDO POS all together. A talk with their tech support guy and it looked like the ODYR-01-1 was what I needed. Not wanting to mess with the vehicle speed sensor (VSS), I opted for the speedometer cable sender adapter thingie for an extra 20 or so and also had them set the mileage to what my now dead odometer was (another 20). About $240 with shipping. The main PITA is that the hole in the dash/VDO guage is 4-1/8" and the new speedo is 4-3/8". I took the instrument pod off, which is 4 bolts, 3 plugs, one speedo cable and about 5 minutes on the 89 non-SE. Really easy, and approaching that flip-top dash concept. Then about an hour with a Dremel brand moto-tool and an air die grinder and the hole was just right. Wiring was easy: Switched +12v and ground from the dead clock plug, night instrument lights (dims the speedo display) from the no longer needed VDO speedo light bulb plug, and two wires (power and signal) to the cable sender adapter thingie. The cable sender adapter thingie didn't quit fit the end of the speedo cable, but I had anticipated this and the Dakota Digital guys said that most people just wrap tape around their sender until it fits the nut thing on the cable. Did that. Calibration is easy. You hold the button in, start the car, release the button, push it when AUTO shows up, drive exactly 1 mile, push the button again and you are calibrated. I measured off 1 mile by Camry and by map to confirm, and calibrated it that way. Problem: The speedo cable does not move at a constant rate. It binds a little, so it moves fast/slow/fast/slow, etc. At a steady rate, this is OK, but when accelerating, the digital display would jump anywhere from +/- 5MPH to +/-20MPH. This kinda makes it about useless, especially in the cold. It is worse when the weather is cold, as the grease in the cable gets thicker and exacerbates the problem. So, what to do? Well, a look through the schematic showed that the ECM has a VSS input after all. I didn't look into it too thoroughly, as I didn't want to mess with the ECM wiring and with running the extra wire. As the sender thingie was not working out, taping into the VSS started to look better and better. The PO had an early 90's cell phone in the car, which I removed, but I left the wires in place. There was a head unit in the cabin, a shielded data cable going to the boot and a transceiver back there. So, I just used one of the wires in that cable. I tapped into the VSS at the ECM. There are two wires that run to the VSS from the ECM. They are purple and yellow and are twisted together and go to the middle plug. Lotus (English) wiring has purple as in general being fused +12v, so I figured the yellow one would be the one I needed. I tapped into the wire near the ECM plug. Only the signal wire from the speedo was needed. After re-calibrating it, it is now working great. Rock steady Remember this is on a 89 Non-SE. SE's have the different colors and II think both are shielded. They are also on a different plug. Mark Wiens suggests an undocumented output pin used for later models (S4s' ) at J2-B8. A nice thing about this speedo is that you can actually see the difference between 70 and 80 MPH. And you can actually see the thing when it starts to wind up there. Actually, you can see it all the time, which is kinda nice. It also gives you 0-60 times, top speed, has a trip and service odometer and is in general, pretty nice. I am happy with it. I do now have an extra sender thingie, if anyone wants it. Here is a thread from Tim Engle: --- In turboesprit@yahoogroups.com, "Tim Engel" <tengel@m...> wrote: After removing the plenum, tube thing where you guys have a charge cooler and alternator, I could actually get to the
tensioner. I took a "Sears" brand 19mm combination wrench from my "Junk Tools" bucket (couldn't find one at my favorite pawn shop in their 25 cent bins) and ground the box end down to about 3/8" or so thick. With this, I could hold the adjuster in the correct position and get a 17mm combination wrench on the nyloc nut. Well, the Valeo alternator started to die at about 55K miles. Actually, I think it was just the voltage regulator. Started to drip black ooze onto the AC compressor, and when the Ac compressor or headlights came on, the voltage in the system would drop to the point that the Valentine One was rebooting. I replaced it with a Bosch ($80 + tax). Ed's page has just about everything you need to know, except what to ask for at the parts house: 1987 BMW 325i. About all I could add to Ed's writeup is that the bolt I used when fabbing a new hold down bolt was a 90mm long 8mm x 1.0mm (couldn't find a 1.25 TP in that length) that I got from Ace Hardware, I had to grind down the original half moon key thing because the Bosh keyway wasn't as deep as the Valeo, and I took a Dremel brand Moto-tool to the casing when I "clocked" the back. Didn't want to turn otherwise. I didn't have to take much off, just clean it up a little so the ears would clear. Oh, and I used a hand operated impact screwdriver to break loose the screws holding the thing together and I shortened the screws a little after it was all back together. Put the hold down bolt in first, then put the pivot bolt in. And the belt was a tight fit. I put it over the alternator pulley then partially over the harmonic balancer pulley and turned the motor over by hand to get it on the rest of the way. In summary: Remove 4 long screws, dremel interfering housing areas, rotate (clock) back part, replace 4 screws, cut at least the 2 left side screws down so they don't stick out as much, remove pulley/fan/spacers from old POS alternator, Place: 1 thin spacer, fan, grind down woodruff key on flat edge until pulley slips over, put woodruff key and pulley on, bore out fat spacer until it fits over bolt, place fat spacer over bolt, nut. Get longer bolt for hold-down or fab a new piece, cut off spade terminal connector end of small wire, replace end with eye, put on D+ terminal, place big wire on B+ terminal, put RF noise supression capacitor on one of the long bolts on the back and lock down with nut, other end goes to spade terminal. Funny thing, though: My V1 was still rebooting after a big load change like headlights, etc. I went through the schematics in the manual and figured it had to be either the central connection that powers everything at the starter solenoid or at the bonnet end junction box point. So I started at the starter end and what do you know? The nut holding all the wires on was loose. The cable from the solenoid to the alternator also looked a bit iffy, corroded and burnt a bit, so I replaced it with some wire I had laying around that did the exact same job from the 4AGE 20 valve. Voltage at my volt meter in the dash now reads a steady 13.8-ish and the V1 is rock steady. I am still glad I ditched the Valeo. Black goo dripping from a piece of electronics can never be a good thing. I rebuilt my headlight motors with a kit from www.top-downsolutions.com. Part number 209280. There are several out there, but this one has everything you need, including new gaskets, white lithium grease and some extra nuts and bolts in case you destroy the screws when you take it apart. Sanj has a pictorial guide here. I would add that I did not remove the bolt as shown in picture T0003689.jpg but instead removed the screw and nut on the motor side of the bracket. The bolt shown has a nut mounted in typical Lotus fashion, that is, not captive and in a place that you virtually can't get to it. Taking the phillips head screw out was much easier. Unless you have arms about 2 inches across and 4 ft long, that is. The reason I rebuilt them is that my headlight pods were bouncing a bit when on the road. This was kinda irritating and the right one especially would droop down eventually. When I pulled them apart, the little white button things were intact and not like grated parmesan cheese like others have found, and really showed little wear. But, since I had bought the kit and gone through the trouble of taking the first motor out and apart, I went ahead and did the kits to both of them. Well, it cured my bouncing headlights and I am quite pleased with it. Well, after changing my radiator fluid, I developed a leak at the radiator vent plug (located near the left front tire). The threads were stripped. I pulled and pulled trying to get the thing out until the part inside broke, falling back into the radiator, so I pulled the lower hose and flushed it out. Fun fun fun. Then I found that the inside the radiator part is threaded too, so if you want to remove it, you unscrew it until it pulls up, then pull up some more and unscrew it some more and it will come out. I replaced it with a nylon bolt from the Racer's Friend, Ace Hardware Store, of 3/8" x 16TPI. Not that this is not a metric part. Having an engine lathe, I bored a small hole about half way through, then drilled a hole across the threads and through the central hole, thus providing a easy vent method, but if you dont' want to to that far and just take the solid bolt out and put it back, that will work too. Radiator hose from intake to water pump (thermostat) I used 5.5" of Gates 24022, which is their universal radiator straight hose in 1-3/8" and two new clamps. Did not have to pull the intake manifold. When I welded my exhaust manifold, this is what I did: Update: Of the four cracks in the manifold, three held. One failed next to the weld, which usually implies needing more post welding heat treating. If I were to weld it again, I would add a step where I would heat each weld and surrounding areas with my big rose bud torch tip to a red color and then stick it in the oven overnight.
Which brings us to My: Esprit Stainless Steel Exhaust Manifold Not wanting to spend a grand on another cast manifold which some say works and some say will still crack on you, and after having successfully made one for the seven, I decided to build my own. I did that CAD work on the flanges and had them water jet cut out of 1/2" 304. I used schedule 40 304 pipe. I built a jig, cut and fit all the pipe and tacked it together then had my Chicken Processing Manufacturer plant (great source for stainless work) TIG it up. It was a lot of work. Here are some pics: WIP1 WIP2 WIP3 Tacked1 Tacked2 Tacked3 Tacked4 Done1 Done2 Done3 It has been holding up well. When I built it and before I put it on, I offered to have it duplicated, but the cost would have been one large, and I had no takers. Now that it is on, I can't get it duplicated because the shop needs one to look at. It has to be just right or you will never get it in there. You snooze, you lose. If anyone is interested, I can provide the flanges and you are on your own after that.
I took a piece of 16 ga stainless and cut/bent it into the proper
The Dr.Hess 50 minute Turbo Removal Method: Jack up back of car, place on jackstands. Remove trunk (10mm head bolts under carpet, 4mm allen screws at the top. Remove vacuum lines to airbox and throttle actuator. Mark/draw picture if this is your first time. Pivot trunk around still connected wires and place on top of engine. Remove left rear wheel. Unbolt (3ea, 17mm) downpipe. Put a block of wood between it and the shock or frame to hold it up out of the way. Remove intake $150 dryer hose from turbo, bend out of the way. Unbend the locktabs on turbo. Big screwdriver and a hammer are pretty handy. Remove hoses: Oil feed, oil drain (bunch of long extensions), water feed, water drain. Plug water lines with a 3/8" bolt and tighten the hose clamps on them. Have these plugs ready to go when you pull the lines off so you don't loose a bunch of your expensive Toyota red coolant. Cover oil line ends with aluminum foil. Remove turbo nuts. If it has been on a while, some penetrating oil may be necessary. I use a selection of combination wrenches including a Stanley stubby and Craftsman. I can get a full size Craftsman box end on the right front one if I'm lucky and the lock tab is all the way out of the way. Right rear is easy with a socket wrench. Left side takes the stubby open end once they are broke loose with the full size open end. You will likely have to raise the turbo up to undo the last part of the nuts on the left, so have the right side off by that point. You will also have to keep propping up the downpipe as it tends to get in the way. Pull turbo off manifold. Place on bench, cover exhaust manifold opening with foil, note time for the record. I think that's about it.
I bought this battery tender at HF: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42292 Which is called AUTOMATIC BATTERY FLOAT CHARGER. It goes on sale for half price occasionally. It is not a battery charger, but a keeper that just replaces what is normally lost to internal resistance, small drains, etc. As has been said, the Esprit is a battery killing machine. I have managed to get my losses down to 50 milliamps, but that is it. I have some more theories on where that is going, but haven’t pursued them. Hooking the tender up used to be a minor PITA. Popping the trunk, hooking the alligator clips up, etc. So, what I did was to buy two sets of trailer light connections and a magnetic trailer light wire holder at Wal*Mart, an inline fuse holder, 3 amp fuse and some heat shrink tube (Radio Shack). Ground wire goes straight to the negative terminal. Positive goes to the fuse holder, then the positive terminal. Other two wires not used. The wires exit through a hole located directly underneath the battery (OEM – drain hole?). The magnetic holder thingie goes over the end and allows you to stick the wires down to some metal (not easy on our cars). I put it on a little metal bar thing under the trunk at the very back, sort of under the taillight. I have a left side exhaust exit, so the right side has a U on the muffler. I then cut the alligator clips off the tender and soldered the opposite end of the trailer light connector on, noting polarity to be consistent with the car side. I took the extra connector which matches the one on the tender and cut the wires off short, covered what was left with silicone and I use that to keep the end clean when not in use. Now, when I put the car up, I wait till the exhaust has cooled, reach under, grab the connector, hook it to the tender and I have a good battery next week when I disconnect the tender, put the stub connector on and stick the magnet to the metal plate. Here are some pics: Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4
Next up, after reading the many horror stories of the boot not opening, I decided to put an emergency release mechanism in. From my reading, most of the time it is the right side release that fails to open. So, what I did is put a right side release in. If you look at the back of the right taillight, you will see that the cover is held on by a wing nut on a stud. I took a nut that fits that stud, then welded a short U of welding rod to the nut. Next, I took some 200 lb monofilament fishing line and ran it through the hole under the battery, through the U and up to the latch release, where I tied it to the part that moves. I left some slack in the line and routed this under the tail light cover and stuffed a piece of foam rubber between the cover bottom and the trunk to hold it there. Under the car, I wrapped the line around my battery tender wires and secured it to that. Now, should something bad happen, I can unwrap the fishing line and give it a good pull and release the right side latch. Instead of welding the U to the nut, you could probably get by with some 12 ga wire and a couple of nuts. It is important to have the loop there to provide a point for the line to work against, and that stud is almost perfectly in line with the latch release. The loop needs to be smooth so as not to bind the fishing line. Here is a pic.
Maybe I have watched too much Initial D, but I just had to have that PUSHHHHT like the Takahashi brothers. And, my turbo rebuilder said that all turbos should have a BOV, so I started looking for what to get. The word on the boards (GRM) was that the HKS Super Sequential BOV was the one to get. I looked on eBay, but with all the counterfeits out there, I decided to just get one from a name brand place and bought it from Nopi.com, a GRM advertiser (well, once anyway). I also bought the weld on aluminum flange (bung) for it. I took off the airbox and brought it and the flange down to my favorite chicken processing plant manufacturer that does my welding. I showed them where I wanted it and they drilled out the hole and welded in the flange. They have a woman there that is just magic with a TIG welder. She welded it from the inside and I didn't even have to repaint the outside. Here's a pic: Inside. Here are a couple of the outside: Outside1 Outside 2. For the vacuum source, I read where someone went to all the trouble of drilling and tapping a port on one of the intake runners after the throttle plate, but that seemed like too much work to me. The de-structions that came with the BOV said to use a source like at the fuel pressure regulator, and it came with a couple of T's and a filter, so that's what I did. I bought some vacuum line and replaced the part going to the regulator and put one of the T's in. Here it is all together: BOV. I need to add some nylon ties for the vacuum line just to clean up the looks, but it's done. One more thing: The de-structions that came with the thing (mostly in Japanese) weren't very complete. It completely neglected to mention that there is a flat side and a beveled side to the C clip retainer, and that the beveled side faces outward. I found this out when I bought the replacement ring for the one I lost. Works great. Vroom-Psssst-Vroom.
OK, here is my list of parts substitutions. I have collected these from various web sites and mailing lists from all over the world. Some I researched myself, mostly by spending time with the books or going through boxes at an auto parts store or through online catalogs. The parts guys are getting used to me and just kinda get out of my way. I just recently started documenting where I got the tip from, so if you are the original source for any of this info, let me know and I'll be happy to list you. "Confirmed" means that this is something I have tried and personally confirmed that it works. It is a pretty high standard, I know, but there are a lot (well, several) of parts substitution lists out there that are wrong or parts are listed for the wrong years. Unless otherwise noted, this applies to my 1989 Non-SE Esprit Turbo. Many of these things will cross over to many other Esprits, especially 88-92's. If you know of any errors or have anything to add, send me an email. And, if you post something somewhere, such as on the Yahoo list, Pistonheads, etc. and I like it, I'll add it here with your name. You have been warned. If all else fails, on ignition and EFI try 1989 Chev Cavalier and 1990 Olds Cutlass. Note: While I provide this list for the better of all Esprit owners and share my knowledge freely, if you are going to republish it, be sure to site your reference. The only official copy of this list at this time is on the EFF, who asked me if he could reproduce it.
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