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Exhaust Upgrades
One of the first modifications done by Esprit owners, but which one?

Upgrading the Esprits exhaust system is something worth doing. Firstly Lotus were restricted by legalisation when they designed the system, which means noise and performance have been restricted. Secondly, standard exhaust system will rust and eventually start blowing, requiring a new system to be fitted. And lastly, the look of your tailpipes might not be as 'supercar' as you'd want them.

So by upgrading, you can increase performance (up 5-10bhp), increase the quality of the exhaust note, to make your Esprit sound like a supercar. If that isn't enough, you also get the system made from stainless steel, which should last the life of the car and will reduce weight compared to the old system. And with some system, you'll get to change the look of your exhaust, going from single exit, to twin and maybe even to quad.

You can also take this opportunity to remove your catalytic converter from your system, which will free up around another 10bhp and again reduce the weight of the car. Cat by-pass pipes are available for 4 cylinder Esprits (You'll find a cat on all Esprits after 1992 and all SE's). Remember you may need your Cat to pass emission tests, so keep hold of it as it may need to go back on. Removing V8 Cats is slightly more difficult due to it having sensor both before and after the Cats that attach to the ECU. It is possible to get blanking sensor to fool the ECU, but LEW doesn't have too much information on that. See here for more details on that. High-Flow Cats are available to increase exhaust flow.

 

The cost of a new system depends on what you're after. A basic stainless steel sports exhaust will start from around £200 and can go up to £1,000. Here's what we know to be available for the 4 cylinder and V8 Esprits.

V8 Exhaust Systems

Lotus Sports Exhaust
If you have a stock v8 exhaust then an upgrade to the lotus sports exhaust is a good move. You won't invalidate any warranty you might have on the car (which will is becoming less valid as production has stopped), looks "factory" and sounds good. They where prone to cracking but LEW worked with Lotus and got the faulty exhausts sent back to the supplier and new welds modified. So there should be no problems with the system now. The can be purchased from your local Lotus Dealer or Specialist for around the £400 mark.

New Revised Lotus Sports Exhaust
March 2006
Lotus have improved the quality and finish of the V8 exhaust muffler, the cost is the same as the original at £562.12 + VAT. You can order this at your local Lotus Dealer. Make sure you get the new improved version when ordering.

Straight pipes
Companies like www.quicksilverexhausts.com do away with the rear silencer all together, running a pipe staight from each cat. Not expensive – at around £200. Christopher Neils also do a similar system and some owners have made their own up for only around £40, but there are issues with these systems. Firstly some owners found the mountings for the pipes weren't strong enough with the vibrations and came loose. This problem may have been sorted now, as these reports were a few years ago. You need to be aware that a large reduction in weight at the rear of the car may affect ride height/handling. Also you'll find that without any type of silencer, that they will be very noisy and you'll certainly not be able to do any track days!


Lotus Esprit V8
QuickSilver Sports Exhaust

QuickSilver has developed a stainless steel sports exhausts to cater for all USA spec Lotus Esprit V8 Turbos

‘Sports’ System – For the driver who uses his Esprit regularly, for commuting – in-town – or long journeys and wants to enhance both the performance and sound of the Esprit QuickSilver’s ‘Sports’ system is ideal.

 

The system allows both the volume and the flow of exhaust gases to rise in line with engine speed, by removing internal restrictions that were present in the original system. The result is a system that allows turbo pressure to build up more quickly reducing the amount of turbo lag, combined with a wonderful bark and turbo whistle on acceleration.

Being considerably lighter than the original transverse box all areas of performance are enhanced with the reduction in weight.

QuickSilver Exhaust Systems
7 Towergate Business Centre
Coopers Place
Wormley
Surrey GU8 5SZ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1428 687722
Fax: +44 (0)1428 687790
Email: info@quicksilverexhausts.com
www.quicksilverexhausts.com

South West Lotus Centre use Quicksilver Exhausts – London Stainless Steel Exhausts for all their needs. They will be able to give Club LEW members a 5% discount on their Retail prices if they order through SWLC and give their number at time of order. V8 pipes are £196+vat, carriage will be according to weight. SWLC's website is being updated to include buying on line.

  

Aftermarket Exhausts
Stebro can supply a V8 system www.stebro.net, as do TUBI, who make some top exhaust for Ferrari, UK supplier is www.scuderiasystems.com. Ernest M has one on his car (usa): www.espritv8.com/multimedia/Tubi.htm its about £1,100 BUT you get a lifetime warranty so if it breaks they give you a new one. These are both expensive systems but both come with lifetime guarantees.

When LEW spoke to the Tubi UK supplier some time last year they were up for giving someone a considerable discount to be the first UK tubi'd V8 esprit.

Contact LEW was talking to at scuderia systems:

Ajay Mehta
Scuderia Systems (UK) Limited
Claymore House
8 High Street
Egham
Surrey TW20 9EA
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 1784 43 43 94/95

  

There's also a new one LEW only became aware of recently – not seen or heard a system but the price is good and the quality of their work looks excellent: www.larinisystems.com The company quoted £396 for Esprit V8. Last but not least, there's D&T in Australia. This company also do hi-flow cats too.. www.dtperformance.com.

Moto-Concept, PUK Esprit Racing and Ramspott & Brandt also have aftermarket Exhaust for the V8. PUK also offer high-flow Cats for the V8, giving you extra performance, with having to run without Cats.

   

Custom-Made Exhaust
There are plenty of Exhaust specialist that will custom-make an Exhaust for your Esprit. This way you can get the look you are after as well as specifiying the materials, number of pipes, back-box, exits and pipe trim. Custom Exhaust are price between £300-900 depending on who you use and what you want. You can normally find a company local to your area that will take on this type of work. One company LEW users recommend (mainly for 4-cylinder Esprits) is Blue Flame.

US Spec V8 Exhaust
This can be retro fitted to older V8 from your Lotus Dealer or the Factory Service Centre. Expensive, but after hearing it on a UK 03 V8, it sounds great and looks good. It's possible to get one made up using an Exhaust specialist, but the sound won't be guaranteed,.

LEW would like to thank Rob Ellis and his 99 V8-GT for the information on the V8 Exhausts


4-cyl Exhaust Systems

There are plenty of options for 4-cylinder Esprit owners. Especially SE, S4, S4s and GT3 owners, as they all have the same exhaust system with Cats.

CATS
All SE have Cats fitted as standard, as do S4, S4s and GT3's. A Cat is required by UK law for all cars registered from 1992 onwards. So if you have an 89-91 SE, then you can remove your can without any problems getting your Esprit tested (other than emissions). Those with Esprits from 92 onwards can remove their Cats but will need to replace them for testing. Replacing your Cat isn't a hard job! But if you don't fancy messing around once a year for your test, but still want the extra performance and the sound de-Cating brings, high-flow Cats are available from Company's like PUK Esprit Racing and Ramspott & Brandt.

  
High-flow Cat and EBPV spacer

  

First thing to do if you have a Cat'd Esprit is to remove the EBPV, this can either be done without replacing anything else, or as part of a new system you fit. More information on EBPV can be found here.

Cat -Replacement Pipes
These pipes are the same length the fitting as your Cat pipe, but with no Cat in the middle. These will reduce the weight of your system and improve the performance and sound of your Exhaust. Costing around £150 these can be bought from Lotus performance. The pictures below show the old Cat and then the replacement pipe fitted. You can see the connections on the pipe for the O2 sensor and with the exhaust, which is made slightly longer to replace the EBPV.

   

This is the system LEW runs on it's 1992 SE, the exhaust was supplied by SJ Sportscars who supply a super sport silencer with a small back-box . This Exhaust costs around £250 and will fit all 4 cylinder Cat'd Esprits.

 

South West Lotus Centre use Quicksilver Exhausts – London Stainless Steel Exhausts for all their needs. They will be able to give Club LEW members a 5% discount on their Retail prices if they order through SWLC and give their number at time of order. Prices for the exhausts for the different stevens models are below, carriage will be according to weight. They cover most models, so you should be able to get something for your Esprit. Give them a call to find out more details.

Esprit HC Carb (Non-Turbo) 1987-92 £996.00 plus VAT
Esprit [X180] Carb.Turbo 1988-92 £651.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo SE 'Cat' 1989-93 £446.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Cat' 1993-96 £438.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - No box 2xtp 'Cat' 1989-2000 £296.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - With box 2xtp 'Cat' 1989-2000 £396.00 plus VAT
Esprit V8 Turbo - 'Sports' pipes 'Cat' 1996-2003 £280.00 plus VAT
Esprit V8 Turbo USA spec - 'Sports' pipes 'Cat' 2002-03 £380.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Cat' Replacement Pipe 1989-2000 £260.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - no box 1 x LH tp 'Cat' 1989-2000 £246.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - no box 1 x RH tp 'Cat' 1989-2000 £246.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - with box 1 x LH tp 'Cat' 1989-2000 £296.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - with box 1 x LH tp 'Non-Cat' 1989-92 £296.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - with box 1 x RH tp 'Cat' 1989-2000 £296.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - with box 1 x RH tp 'Non-Cat' 1989-92 £296.00 plus VAT
Esprit Turbo 'Sports' - With box 2xtp 'Non-Cat' 1989-92 £396.00 plus VAT
Esprit S4 Front pipe as-OE 'Non-Cat' 1989-92 £213.00 plus VAT
Esprit S4 Rear section as-OE 'Non-Cat' 1989-92 £438.00 plus VAT
Please check prices with supplier as prices are subject to change.

Custom-Made Exhaust
There are plenty of Exhaust specialist that will custom-make an Exhaust for your Esprit. This way you can get the look you are after as well as specifiying the materials, number of pipes, back-box, exits and pipe trim. Custom Exhaust are price between £300-900 depending on who you use and what you want. You can normally find a company local to your area that will take on this type of work. One company LEW users recommend is Blue Flame. They have produced exhausts for quite a few Esprit owners including a Quad system on Karl Sherratt's GT3. You can see more of their work here.

  

Andy Betts Esprit NA had a new exhaust made by Mick at Torque Techniques in Salisbury (01722-744747) for around £800. The quality of the welding is excellent, the power increase is very substantial, the sound is much sportier. It's stuffed with fibreglass matting and with a wire-wool type core which allows for a much free-er flow hence the power increase and sound.

  

Aftermarket Exhausts
There are a few companies who supply aftermarket sports exhausts for Esprit owners. As mentioned above SJ Sportscars do a very good version for the Cat'd Esprits and also can supply one for the non-turbo'd Esprits. PUK also have an Exhaust available (see pic below left).

Stainless Steel Sports Exhausts
From Esprit Performance
Esprit Performance now offers high quality stainless steel sports exhausts for your Esprit and other Marques of cars. The systems we have on offer which are currently in production are Esprit S4 sports exhaust, SE/S4 Cat by-pass pipes and 200 cell sports Cats, V8 centre exit, V8 200 & 100 cell Sports Cats and V8 Cat by-pipes. We also offer Lotus Elan M100 full systems from manifold back. This month we are developing a twin exit S4 stainless steel sports exhaust for those owners wanting a more aggressive look. We are now taking deposits for this exhaust for manufacture hopefully by end of month. Next month we will be developing a stainless steel V8 twin exit sports exhaust with exit either side. The above systems are in stock or on very short lead-in times. We also offer stainless steel exhaust systems for most other popular makes and models, should one of your other cars from your fleet need one! We can also obtain exhaust systems for any Lotus subject to manufacturer’s lead-in times from other manufacturers. We also offer a complete fitting service using North West Lotus 0151 608 2233.

For more information or to place an order please see below for contact details:-
Tel/Fax: +44 151 691 0325
Mobile: +44 771 775 0453
Email: mail@espritperformance.com



Lotus Esprit Turbo (1989-2000)
QuickSilver Sports Exhaust

QuickSilver have developed a Range of stainless steel sports exhausts to cater for All Lotus Esprit Turbos from 1989 to 2000.
Cat & Non-Cat – Tail-Pipe Left & Tail-Pipe Right – Twin Tail-Pipes – With Silencer & Without Silencer

‘Sports’ System – With Silencer. For the driver who uses his Esprit regularly, for commuting -in-town - or long journeys and wants to enhance both the performance and sound of the Esprit QuickSilver’s ‘Sports’ system is ideal. The system allows both the volume and the flow of exhaust gases to rise in line with engine speed, by removing internal restrictions that were present in the original system. The result is a system that allows turbo pressure to build up more quickly reducing the amount of turbo lag. Being considerably lighter than the original transverse box all areas of performance are enhanced with the reduction in weight. The QuickSilver system can be used regularly around town, allowing conversation and listening to the radio.


'SuperSports' System – Without Silencer. For those who want to maximise the pleasure every journey, QuickSilver’s ‘SuperSports’ system is the choice. With all the benefits of the sports system this system is even louder throughout the rev range with a wonderful bark and turbo whistle on acceleration.

Cat Replacement Pipe – For drivers who want maximum volume and performance fitting the Cat replacement pipe allows the exhaust gases to flow with no restrictions at all for maximum turbo response..

QuickSilver Exhaust Systems
7 Towergate Business Centre
Coopers Place
Wormley
Surrey GU8 5SZ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1428 687722
Fax: +44 (0)1428 687790
Email: info@quicksilverexhausts.com
www.quicksilverexhausts.com


2nd Floor LPL
145-157 St John Street
London
EC1V 4PY
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 870 777 9060
Fax: +44 (0) 870 777 9070
E-mail: info@larinisystems.com
Web: www.larinisystems.com

Manufacturer of high performance, aircraft quality, Stainless Steel exhaust systems for all the Lotus Esprit model variants.

All Larini exhaust Systems are manufactured using aircraft-grade Stainless Steel, and are supported by a Lifetime Warranty. Every Larini System is designed to fit accurately, look correct and sound authentic. Larini Systems values it’s reputation and your driving pleasure.


Not actual Esprit Systems shown

Re-assurance:
We supply our Systems to car collectors all over the world, such as the Danielli Collection (Italy) and Pebble beach entrants (USA). Poor fit and finish is not an option with our products. I attach some examples of our work.

We only develop our Systems to the vehicle, as opposed to just replicating the components off the vehicle.

Recent Larini ‘Standard’ System specialist commissions include a Ferrari 275 GTB Longnose (only 205 built) and a Ferrari 400 Super America (only 47 built).

Recent Larini ‘Sports’ System specialist commissions include a Ferrari 500 Superfast (only 36 built) and the Warner Bros. 2004/5 Batmobile (only 13 built).

Larini Systems (UK) Stainless Steel Sports Exhaust is £347.80 (see middle and right pic below).

  

You could also try this company who can make up custom exhausts.

POWERSPEED LTD
UNIT 3, PADDOCKS FARM,
BETHERSDEN ROAD,
HOTHFIELD,
NR. ASHFORD,
KENT
TN26 1EP
Tel: 01233-662225
Fax: 01233-620889
e-mail: info@powerspeed.co.uk
www.powerspeed.co.uk

Longlife Exhausts

  

Just thought you’d like to see the new stainless steel exhaust I’ve just had fitted. I love the US style centre pipes so when my old back box split then snapped at the cat it was an ideal opportunity to do something. I spoke to Longlife, on the A38 just north of Thornbury near Bristol, they recommended two boxes with the pipes coming out of each. They made & fitted it within a day & even supplied a courtesy car.
 
The result is better than I could have hoped for, there’s more grunt at low revs & it sounds deeper, not noisy in any way but with the drivers window open there’s a lovely humm…
 
Ahhh the cost…. £650, pricier than V8 style one pipe on each side but this is totally custom made, guaranteed for life and it really improves the look of her fat arse. Job well done.
 
See you at the first Oxford meet.
 
Garry Hodges, Esprit S4


Giugiaro Exhaust Systems

Systems for Giugiaro Esprits are much less available than for later Esprits. You have the options as above for getting a system custom made for your Giugiaro Esprit but currently the only Stainless Steel exhausts LEW is aware of for the S1 to Turbo Esprit are PNM's and SWLC's

PNM can supply rear silencers, downpipes and complete systems for S1, S2, S2.2 and S3's. Prices start from £175 for downpipes up to £457 for a full system. A rear silencer for example for an S3 is only £205. Contact Pete or Edd at PNM Engineering from more information on Exhausts for your Giugiaro Esprit.

South West Lotus Centre use Quicksilver Exhausts – London Stainless Steel Exhausts for all their needs. They will be able to give Club LEW members a 5% discount on their Retail prices if they order through SWLC and give their number at time of order. Prices for the exhausts for the different Giugiaro models are below, carriage will be according to weight. They cover most models, so you should be able to get something for your Esprit. Give them a call to find out more details.

LOTUS Esprit S1 1976-78 £636.00 plus VAT
LOTUS Esprit S2 1978-81 £696.00 plus VAT
LOTUS Esprit S3 1981-87 £696.00 plus VAT
LOTUS Esprit Turbo 1981-87 £696.00 plus VAT
Please check prices with supplier as prices are subject to change.

Final Say
As you can imagine, we have probably missed some products available for Esprits. Our best efforts have been made to included most, but if you know of a quality system for any Esprit model that isn't mentioned above. Please email us with all the information and we can add it to this guide.

As far as sports exhaust go, it's a non-brainer really. For a few hundred quid you can replace your old rear silencer with a new stainless steel version, which will last longer, look better, weigh less, sound better and make your Esprit quicker! And that's only the bottom end of the market. Spend more and get more!

Just remember to give all the info when ordering your exhaust. Different models have their pipes exiting from different sides (4cyl). So make sure you get the one for your model.

 

Remember not to go too far!
This Esprit is for sale on Ebay at present. It's an 89 Turbo with a S300 spoiler and S350 wheels. But the most striking feature is the slightly larger than normal exhaust pipes. Two 5" pipes and a modified rear valence give it a look all of it's own. LEW isn't here to judge, just to show you what's out in the Esprit world. I'm sure you can all make your own minds up on what you think!

Feel free to e-mail me with your opinion on this guide and I can add it to this page. kato@lotusespritworld.com

Lotus Esprit World cannot be held responsible for anything you attempt on your Esprit. This is just information which you must decide how to use.

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