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The 2 spoked steering wheel is superb,is it standard? I want one. Thanks for the comments Dude, I really appreciate it. I figured the wheels were worth near the price I paid so it was worth taking a punt on the rest thinking I'd struggle to lose out if it really turned out to be a lemon. The steering wheel is original - but the one in Lotus II is missing the cover. With the cover on it looks a million times more 70's, a million times more 'disco' and a million times better. Here's a pic I found on the internet. Luckily Lotus I has a wheel with the original cover.   Here are some shots of the engine (not very good - it was VERY tircky to get them without a flash in the bad light!) Looking down the plug hole we were greeted with a mega shiny brand new piston! Luckily each cylinder had something very very shiny like it just like this:  Looking down the inlet ports it became clear the engine had been a full and fresh build. New valve guides and new valves....complete with assembly paste. Many years outdoors, but the internals were as fresh as the day they were put in!  Oh...and evidence that the heads have been breathed on. Knife edging is certainly not a factory thing.  My fave shot at the moment.....  So much so I just had to take another shot of it. Not sure if I could ever get bored looking at it. It's even tempting me into breaking my golden rule...this engine bay just might end up being made to look minty minty fresh and beautiful! (if it does, it'll be 100% OEM look...)  |
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,329
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Ah fair enough on the previous owner thing. Would be interesting if some light could be shed on the mystery that is the rebuild and how it came to have a turbo...
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,961
Club RR Member Number: 174
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What about getting in touch with the motor club local to where the car came from see if anybody recognises the car. It looks like it was abandoned pre internet.
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Ah fair enough on the previous owner thing. Would be interesting if some light could be shed on the mystery that is the rebuild and how it came to have a turbo... Don't worry, I'm not giving up. The Lotus Club seem to be a bit of a dead end. Everyone on there is surprised about the appearance of a Turbo Elite. Seeing as Sumpcracker looked at a Turbo Eclat, there must have been other cars out there, so if the Lotus Club haven't heard of any of these car then I don't think I'll get far with them. To quote one of the members on there, "I spend half my life on the net looking at elites and eclats. I have never seen a turbo car."I think the previous suggestion to contact Lotus might be a good start. I have the chassis, engine and registration numbers. All match, so there might well be some information beyond what I've got at the moment. What about getting in touch with the motor club local to where the car came from see if anybody recognises the car. It looks like it was abandoned pre internet. My first port of call is going to be the widow of the previous owner (the woman I bought the car off). It's proving to be such an interesting car that I have to try and find out more. I'm also going to apply for the logbook - that will give me the current owner (the deceased man) but it should also give me the previous owner. This might be a good point of contact for any info (i.e. did he sell the car standard or did he do the coversion himself?) I'll get there, but it might take a little time and some detective work. I am, however, determined to find out more about this car. It's probably one of the most interesting cars I've ever bought....mostly because it's had so much money spent on it yet I have absolutely zero idea about its history! Anyway, some more pics: Inside the lovely cast 'Turbo' plenum.....some equally lovely trumpets.  I've now got the full PDF for the MicroDynamics EMS3. I probably won't use the unit becasue it's been outside in the elements for ? years but it's nice to know exactly how it works and what it does. Anything with a 'retard' button is super cool in my eyes. It might just live on in the engine bay in one form or another. Along with the mystery box of toggle switches underneath it  I know Piranha made alarms in the 80's and 90's but I never knew they did ignition too? I'll be looking this up very soon to see what this little box of tricks entails. I know the basics of what it does, but I want to know the full details. This too might just live on in the engine bay. I LOVE the look of the unit!  'POWER SUPPLY' - you just have to love 80's control 'modules'. I want to continue this theme/look/style with the rest of the build. A nod and homage to the era of awesomeness, but with modern underpinnings.  Look at that loom! For (what I now assume to be) a homebrew build, from a distant era it's an awesome thing to behold. Far nicer than the factory Lotus loom and in its day I reckon this was probably the equivalent of a smoothed engine bay nowadays? It's almost like looking at my own style of wiring, but using 80's methods, techniques and materials. I love it! This will almost certainly be an influence in the final wiring.  More to come.....but first I need some more wine....all this typing has dried my throat out! |
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,971
Club RR Member Number: 29
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I'm pretty sure I had a Piranha electronic ignition on a Herald, certainly remember the name.
Mark
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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The turbo had already been removed last weekend, here is a shot down the impeller/compressor shaft....not a mark on it. Brand spanking new!  A name you don't hear so much nowadays but I seem to recall hearing it bandied about quite a lot in the mid-eighties.  James (CountVauxalot) kindly offered to find out the spec of the turbo if I could get the numbers off it. It was almost impossible to make out the numbers, even shining a bright torch across the plate didn't give enough shadow to identify any meaningful code!  Covering the plate with a dose of black 'sharpie' and a very gentle rub down with some 1500 wet & dry magically revealed the numbers that couldn't be made out otherwise. I should be a bloody forensic expert!  A few more 'general' shots of the car: Spax coilovers. Despite how low the front of the car looks, I think a large part of that is down to a rather rotten chassis. I'll be removing these very soon, cleaning them up and trying them on the black car. If they don't meet my altitude criteria they'll become a glorified template for some custom ones courtesy of Pro-Tech and I'll sell these on to recoup some money.  The passenger seat in Lotus I isn't in the best condition. The stitching has come apart in a quite a few places and there is a large split right in the middle of the bolster in the seat base. Lotus II has a much better passenger seat. This alone has saved me more than the asking price of the car in coachtrimming fees. Plus it's original leather which makes me even happier. A little bit of patina and originality goes a long way! It's going to need a LOT of hide food though.....dry? It's positively cardboard!  The drivers seat in Lotus I looks to have faired a lot better than the passenger seat. Except that on closer inspection it turns out to have been recovered in cream vinyl. At first glance it's pretty convincing, but up close you start to see the slightly wavy stitching, the fractional difference in colour and, obviously, the different feel to leather. Give me a nice, honest, orignal and slightly aged seat like this one any day. I can't wait to get these cleaned up, softened up and fitted!  |
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Bruce - my Dad's Scimitar has Piranha electronic ignition. I'm fairly certain it's an optical pick-up and amplifier setup like a Lumenition kit. Should be reliable - it certainly never gave my Dad any trouble - and if not, I'm sure you know someone who could look at it?  I'm guessing that the Piranha replaces the points - and thus eliminates mucking about under the inlet manifold every 1500 miles - and that the coil signal from that is fed to the Micro Dynamics box of tricks, which retards the timing when the engine comes on boost to prevent det. The Micro Dynamics probably feeds the coil directly. I'm also guessing that the "power supply" is related to the oh-so-80s pin keypad alarm/immobiliser. |
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,543
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My first port of call is going to be the widow of the previous owner (the woman I bought the car off). It's proving to be such an interesting car that I have to try and find out more. I'm also going to apply for the logbook - that will give me the current owner (the deceased man) but it should also give me the previous owner. This might be a good point of contact for any info (i.e. did he sell the car standard or did he do the coversion himself?) I'll get there, but it might take a little time and some detective work. I am, however, determined to find out more about this car. It's probably one of the most interesting cars I've ever bought....mostly because it's had so much money spent on it yet I have absolutely zero idea about its history! You could request the ownership history from the DVLA using a V888 once the car is in your name. Might be handy. |
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable. |
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You could request the ownership history from the DVLA using a V888 once the car is in your name. Might be handy. That sounds like a cracking idea Seth, thanks I'm going to give the lady a call this afternoon and fill her in with progress on the car, then ask her a bit more about its history. Fingers crossed she'll have some useful info on it, no matter how small or trivial. Want to see some rust? I know Dave has put some pics up, but here are some shots I took the other day to really bring home what a state the chassis is in: See that big flat plate and note the two bolts poking through the holes, they are the mounting bolts for the steering rack.  Now compare it to this pic of the other side. Notice anything different?  Looking up from underneath, the main crossmember surely shouldn't look like that?  Not much of a box section left there....and nothing attaching the two havles of the chassis together!! It's simply rotted into two...with quite a gap between.  This gives you a better idea of the level of rot. You can quite literally move the chassis apart with your bare hands and little effort (only the engine/engine mounts are holding things together, but the weight of the engine and angle of the mounts is actually pushing the chassis further apart!  It's really hard to capture, but the two halves sit at very different angles. Not great for any kind of strength, but awesome fro inducing some camber!!  The main chassis is so rotten in places I can flex the whole thing very easily. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but this is by far the most rotten car I've ever owned...and it's mainly fibreglass!  Turning to the rear of the car, this part of the rear crossmember is supposed to support the diff, the lower link arm etc... Quite clearly it doesn't and when I went to jack the back of the car up, the diff just disappeared into the floor while the car sttod still. Think that's bad?  ...then compare it to the other side. Simply nothing there at all. All gone, all eroded....rear suspension and diff mount just floating in the air!   I bring the car back down nearer the ground to start some work.  |
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Before starting any work on this end of things I start brushing out the debris that has built up in every nook & cranny in and around the engine bay. This little lot on the nearside inner wing was about 2" deep. The pile of 'compost' (for want of a better word) in the bottom of the headlight area was about 5" deep!  The front of the engine. I have a plan and I want to see if it can work as well as it does in my head!  From left to right we have the AC compressor, AC tensioner (tucked in at the bottom), crank pulley (very bottom middle), cam belt tensioner (above crank pulley), distributor pulley (above belt tensioner), water pump, power steering pump (bottom right) and the two cam pulleys (top right).  The issue I have is that I don't like the turbo location hidden underneath at the lowest point of the car. One reason for that is because there is simply NO room to bring the manifold forward at all. The cam belt, power steering pump, steering rack and various bits of pipe put paid to that   Looking up inside the nearside wheel arch you can see how tight everthing is against the inner wing.  The first job I decide to do is remove the AC condenser. It's pretty corroded and flopping about in the front panel thanks to the mounts having broken/rotted on the bottom. I cut the pipework and try to move it but soon realise it won't come out the front....I've got to remove the radiator in order to get it out. No worries, I was going to do that anyway.  I keep cutting various bits of AC pipework back until I reach the compressor. I'm not keeping the AC system, so this can come out.  OOOHH!! Lots of space all of a sudden...  the AC compressor is flipping MASSIVE! And very, very heavy.  With the compressor out of the way I keep cutting pipework back until I reach the drier unit near the bulkhead. A few more pipes cut and the thing literally falls of the chassis, bringing a large chunk of chassis with it!  That's most of the AC system out from under the bonnet now, except for a few pipes heading through the bulkhead but I will deal with them another time. I've gained a lot of room in the 'bay already and saved a fair bit of weight too. |
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Getting the radiator (and AC condenser) out was a lot of fun due to lack of space and various pipes getting in the way! Having to remove oil pipes that had corroded onto their connectors....I ended up having to cut some of them off despite not wanting to do so. I guess some new pipework would have been used anyway on the final build, but I hate cutting anything I might be able to use in the meantime. Anyway, rad out....you can see how deep the compost had been this area. It's completely eaten away the bottoms of the fans  One of the reasons for removing the rad (not only to get the AC condenser out) was to check sizes for a slightly narrower radiator and also to remove the really, REALLY deep fans! Some more modern ones will gain a hell of a lot more space in the engine bay. At least four if not five inches...  With this little lot now removed....  ...I have tons of space to work with. The oil cooler will stay where it is, but hopefullu, if things work out how I'd like, I should be fitting an intercooler in this space, then a slightly narrower radiator (to give room for the intercooler pipework and to make fitting/removing a lots eaiser) and also some slimline fans.  With the deep fans no longer protruding into the engine bay....and the AC system removed, I now might have room for a turbo set-up in front of the engine. The only problem now is getting the exhaust gasses into and out of the engine bay....a problem that seems to have eluded most Lotus owners due to the complete lack of space to bring the piepwork in and out.  My solution....remove the power steering pump. Just this simple step alone has cleared enough space to bring at least the turbo exhaust inlet pipe through into the front of the engine, possibly the exit pipe too? Obviously some proper heat shielding will need to be used to protect the cam belt etc...but that shouldn't be a problem?  It was difficult to get this shot, but here you can see the sort of space gained by removing the power steering pump. You can also now see the manifold behind. Reckon there's room to carry out my plan?  From a different angle again. Obviously a new manifold would need to be made....but beyond that I think this might just work. There is even room to cut some of the inner arch away to give more clearance. With the wheels on full lock, they get nowhere near the inner arch and the area I'd want to cut into is above the chassis too so this might also yield some space for exhaust pipework. ;D  Not wanting to lose the power steering system, I figured there would be plenty of space for the pump on the other side of the engine where the AC compressor used to be. Seeing as it's about 1/4 the size, it fits really nicely in the area.  I'd have to make new pipework for it, but it would be a lot shorter than the original pipe run....and making a mounting bracket certainly won't be too difficult. This side of things looks like a winner (it's only held in with cable ties at the moment while I play around with things)  The massive pump bracket can also be ditched seeing as I can now utilise the tensioner from the AC pump.  This is now roughly the space I have to work with the get a turbo set-up fitted. I guess the first step is to investigate the practicality of how much 'actual' room I have to get the exhaust pipework through....  My work done for the night I put the Lotus back in the air and suddenly realise a fair bit of vegetation had worked its way out of the car onto the floor. Along with a hell of a lot of rust too! This pile was over 6" deep in the middle. About three buckets worth of muck and rust. Awesome!  |
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ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,129
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Now THIS is progress. Back on form dude! Excellent!
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mrluke
Part of things
Posts: 242
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Where is the turbo mounted at the moment? You really want a 2.5" downpipe from it so you will need a fair bit of space. Having a long manifold isnt really a problem but you will need to brace the turbo back to the engine otherwise it will crack your manifold.
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tigran
Club Retro Rides Member
In rust we trust. Amen.
Posts: 6,444
Club RR Member Number: 142
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Absolutely awesome update Bruce. Can't wait to have a poke around this next time i'm up at A52.
On the turbo front majority of Subaru turbos use IHI turbos so bits should still be available.
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1964 Rover P5 i6
1987 BMW 525e - The Rusty Streak
1992 Micra K10
2001 BMW E46 316i
2002 BMW E46 330Ci
2013 BMW F31 320d
2018 BMW G31 530d
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mk14dr
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 4,472
Club RR Member Number: 85
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Where is the turbo mounted at the moment? ... The turbo is currently mounted, pretty much, in the passanger footwell. Bruce, nice to see some progress on this so quickly. Removing the AC and moving the PS seems like a very logical solution (as long as you don't want AC) I look forward to getting down again soon and getting involved. Also, I'm totally not surprised by the amount of detrius and oxide that you've removed/disturbed. |
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as a kid i always overlooked these as in my eyes at the time the only real Lotus was the esprit- i was about 10 and this was all due to Roger Moore in the white submarine Lotus. but I'm actually beginning to think i prefer the shape of this.... i must be growing up! love the weathered effect on the new one. awesome find matey
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I'm not curse word, i just fell off my shoes
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Loving the updates on this and seeing your ideas develop as you go and more of the cars history reveals itself. Great stuff.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Looking good Bruce. Some of those oh so eighties boxes of electronics look like prime candidates for a Megajolt unit stealthily mounting into them.
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love the picture with the engine mount drilled out for lightness very lotus  |
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Last Edit: May 7, 2012 17:07:13 GMT by Deleted
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I simply cannot get across how awesome this is! Love it all.
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