My Esprit Turbo:-

This was my first Lotus Esprit got me on the Esprit ladder. I bought this in 2002 after many years of putting it off. During my ownership with this car I learned a lot about maintenance and modifications. The mechanics very very good. only requiring minor attention to a sticking wastegate but the interior was in a poor state. Bodywork was excellent as it had not long had a complete respray by the previous owner.

SPECIFICATION

ENGINE
Transverse, mid, rear-wheel drive
Head/ block al. alloy/al alloy. 4 cylinders in line.
Bore 95.3mm, stroke 76.2mm,
capacity 2174cc.
Valve gear 2ohc. 4 valves per cylinder.
Compression ratio 80 to 1.
Electronic breakerless ignition.
Twin Dellorto DHLA 45 carburettors
Garrett T3 turbocharger.
boost pressure 9.5psi (0.67bar).
Max power 215bhp (PS-DIN) (160kW ISO) at 6000rpm.
Max torque 2201b ft (298 Nm) at 4250rpm.

TRANSMISSION
5-speed manual
Gear Ratio
Top 0.82
4th 1.03
3rd 1.38
2nd 2.05
1st 3.36
Final drive ratio 3.88:1.

SUSPENSION
Front, independent, double wishbone. coil springs, telescopic dampers, and-roll bar.
Rear, independent, upper and lower transverse link with radius arms, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar.

STEERING
Rack and pinion.
Steering wheel diameter l4ins,
2.9 turns lock to lock.

BRAKES
Front l0.1ins(258mm) dia ventilated discs.
Rear l0.8ins (275.9mm) dia discs.
Vacuum servo.

WHEELS
Al alloy,7ins rims front. 8ins rear.
Goodyear Eagle NCT tyres
size 195/60VR15 F, 235/60VR15 R.

ACCELERATION FROM REST

Standing mile: 13.7secs, 103mph
standing KM: 25.0secs, 129mph

After while, I started to look into upgrades and modifications for this model, so I worked closely with another Esprit enthusiast and a well known Lotus specialist. We first looked at brake upgrades and soon devloped the Hi-Spec billet 4 kit. This vastely improved the braking which was a weak point for the pre-Brembo Esprits. The second upgrade was a dump valve to protect the turbo which had never seen fitted to a non-chargecooled Espirt before.

During my ownership, I did the following upgrades:-

• Whilst owning this Esprit, I did the following upgrades:-
• 1. SE Front Spoiler mesh
• 2. SE Rear Spoiler with alloy mesh
• 3. S4 alloys with 25mm spacers all round
• 4. K&N air filter
• 5. Aquamist 1S water injection kit
• 6. Uprated alloy wastegate actuator
• 7. Dump valve
• 8. Hi-Spec billet 4 front brake kit
• 9. GT3 bucket seats
• 10. Carbon Fibre sunroof
• 11. S4 smooth rear licence plate holder
• 12. Stainless steel sports exhaust
• 13. Clear front and side indicators