Lotus Esprit - Entertaining restoration videos

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Sun 23 Dec 2018 13:16
Lotus Esprit - Entertaining restoration videos - etamsytfel

Just wanted to share a link to this guy on youtube who is restoring an old Lotus Esprit S2. He has videos for other vehicles restorations also but it was the Esprit that initially landed me on his page.

This is not just the usual run of the mill youtube fare, but a series of highly professional, visually stunning videos providing a detailed, step by step explanation of the guys restoration approach and experiences featuring extensive use of close up, stop/go time elapse photography sequences.

I did initially think about sharing this in the technical section, but the photography with audio explanations in George's soft Irish lilt is so entertaining, that I think it deserves a much wider audience.

I've just blitz watched the last five videos (he provides 3 to 4 updates a month), each around 18 minutes or so and the time just flew by.

I started on video #35 showing the Esprit engine coming out and then taking the body off and chassis examination / repair, but will hunt back through the earlier videos to find the initial arrival and work on the Esprit, instead of watching the usual TV dross over Xmas.

Bottom line is that it's like Wheeler Dealers but better - no Mike Brewer, no ads, no cheesy banter, no repetitive recaps, just an honest log of the work undertaken with engaging photography and entertaining audio.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheeKookTube/videos

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Sun 23 Dec 2018 15:26
Lotus Esprit - Entertaining restoration videos - craig-pd130

Thanks, I'll have a look at those.

In the mid-80s a friend of mine bought a '79 JPS Esprit, a lovely-looking thing and vanishingly rare now, but my goodness, it blowtorched through cash. He had it for 9 months, and it was probably driveable for less than half that time. He threw a new radiator, head gasket, new driveshaft donuts and many more sundry bits at it, but the final straw was when the gearbox lost two gears.

He got a quote for a recon gearbox but was told by the specialist that the chassis was also rotten in parts and wouldn't pass the next MOT without major work, and ideally a complete replacement, which is obviously a body-off job.

It went to the scrappers as there was simply no-one bothering to restore Esprits back then.

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Sun 23 Dec 2018 16:27
Lotus Esprit - Entertaining restoration videos - bathtub tom

>>the chassis was also rotten in parts and wouldn't pass the next MOT without major work

That surprises me, I looked around Hethel and asked why a bloke was drilling holes in completed chassis without any form of jig. To let the air out when they're hot zinc dipped I was told.

Damn better protection than the built in corrosion I saw at Newport Pagnell.

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Sun 23 Dec 2018 17:30
Lotus Esprit - Entertaining restoration videos - craig-pd130

>>the chassis was also rotten in parts and wouldn't pass the next MOT without major work

That surprises me, I looked around Hethel and asked why a bloke was drilling holes in completed chassis without any form of jig. To let the air out when they're hot zinc dipped I was told.

Damn better protection than the built in corrosion I saw at Newport Pagnell.

I don't think they were quite so fastidious in 1979 ;-)

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