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John C. Anderson's 1991

John C. Anderson from Georgia, USA owns a 1991 SE in British Racing Green, with a Yellow Interior.

Model:

SE
Year:
1991
Colour:
British Racing Green
Interior:
Yellow
Driving Style:
Normal
Miles per year:
2,000 - 4,000
Owned Since:
October 2000
Purchase from:
Private
Serviced at:
Myself
Other Cars:
1968 SIIA Landrover, 1991 Daimler
Previous Lotus':
None
Why an Esprit:
I grew up in racing and one of the fellows who was a team owner also owned an Esprit. We would see him at most every track and every time I saw him I pleaded with him to bring it to the next race and let me take it for a spin. Finally he let me drive it and the desire to owne one has been there ever since.
Upgrades: ABOV, Stainless Braided fuel lines, High flow fuel filter, Fuel Pressure gauge, Manual Boost Gauge, Seats bolted to floor w/floor sandwitched by steel reinforcement, Rebuilt clutch master cyl, new clutch slave cyl, new braided clutch line, stainless braided brake lines, Wilwood front calipars and discs, rebuilt rear calipars, All suspension components refinished, all suspension hardware replaced w/grade 8.8 or higher, rebuilt and refinished steering rack, Momo steering wheel, Sparco pedals, repositioned shift linkage for shorter shifting, replaced all wheel bearings, 90% of all hoses replaced w/ Aeroquip Socketless Hose, K&N air filter, Upgraded computer, new header tank, Spax dampers, Proper heat shielding for electrical lines, poly sway bar bushings, Gates belts, Dynomax exhaust, rebuilt chargecooler pump.
Problems:
Needs New Clutch
Needs more Horse Power
Info:
See below

 

I've had the car up to 170 MPH but was fearful the engine would let go.

 

Braking is very good with the new calipars and discs. At speeds around 130 MPH under hard braking there is no fade, no grabbing, or pulling. Very consistant braking.

 

After a lot of suspension tweeking and setup, there is now a good balance between over and understeer. Ride height is lowered 1/2 inch.

 

Computer remapping now helps turbo deliver (on ocasion) 22PSI of boost, on average 20PSI of boost. I have plans to go to an inch larger wheels, replace the rear brakes w/Wilwood calipars, replace the turbo with a Turbonetics Hybird, and fabricate a functional rear difuser. Absolutely love the car, especially the handling.

 

 

These are the latest upgrades to the car. Rebuilt the alternator. Replaced the exhaust.

 

The exhaust was originally designed by Neil Micklewright of Players/ForsythRacing. I purchased two sections of stainless 2 1/2 inch pipe mandrel bent at 90degrees, and another bent at 45 degrees. All longer than needed for costom fitting. Very carefully I measured and cut, remeasured and cut again until all sections lined up as they should on the car. I then marked each joint exactly where it needed to be welded and had a friend of mine do the welding. The mounts are made from 1 inch square tube cut in half with 1 inch 5/16th galvanized steel bolts. I bolted it to the car, fired the engine and wow! Music to my
ears. Its a bit loud but has a beautiful tone.

  

To burn in the new pipes I drove up to Road Atlanta to watch the BMW Club races. Driving into the paddock I felt like I was walking into a pub naked, Porsche and BMW everywhere.

These are the pics from my latest upgrades

  

Replaced fuel pump. Installed stainless braided fuel return line with appropriate adaptor at pump. Upgraded clutch and flywheel. I installed a clutch for an S4S and purchased a flywheel that is both lighter and of a harder compound than the stock Lotus flywheel to handle the increased bhp and cover future increases in bhp.Along with this I upgraded to the higher capacity clutch master cylinder.

  

While I had everything apart I decided to just redo everything. All hardware was replaced with grade 8.8 or higher including bolts for the rear main oil seal housing. Installed new rubber gearbox mounts. Bead blasted all related parts and powder coated clear. The natural color of the metal after bead blasting is absolutely beautiful. Painted the bell housing and gearbox mounts to match the original Lotus red, then clear coated to protect the color.

  

Replaced all gearbox seals. Seals replaced; Rear main oil seal and seal for the housing. Input shaft tube to bell housing seal. Bell housing to gearbox seal. Rear seal for end cap. Selector cross shaft seal and boot. Output shaft seals for the axles. Speedometer cable input shaft seal. Resealed switch for reverse lights

  

After looking at the ends of the four shift rails, it was quite obvious that the relieved edges on the inside of the chanel that the selector arm passes through on each rail was cut leaving sharp edges. To aid the cross shaft selector arm in transitioning between the rails (shifting from second to third and fourth to fifth and back again) I rounded the sharp edges and polished them to a mirror finish. Once everything was back together I adjusted the cross shaft idle arm so that the selector arm is centered on each rail. Now shifting is far smoother than I ever expected from this gear box. The only thing I feel when moving between gears is the positive engagement of the ball detent for each gear. Absolutely fantastic. Shifting is much faster and seems effortless.

johncanderson@earthlink.net

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