Esprit, Elite: Is there a support forum for them?

[billwill]

My brother seems keen to buy a barn-find Esprit, or it might be an Elite. 1978 or 1979

Is there a support forum for them? I doubt if it will be as good a forum as this one, but I think he will need a lot of advice.

Anyone know the bad things to look for as I'm supposed to help him judge the car, tomorrow?

[JonB]

Pretty sure you will be able to make a judgement based on the look of the thing.. Just depends on how much of a "barn find" it really is. Meaning by that, how rusty / generally knackered it looks. An S1 Esprit is worth saving I think, they seem to have high asking prices (especially white with green tartan interior thanks to The Spy Who Loved Me) and there's a guy on YouTube who is restoring an S2. He films with beautiful stop go animation sequences - search for "SOUP Classic Motoring".

You could always post some pictures here?

Check out the lotus forums, too. They have big sections on Esprit and Eclat/Excel: https://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/

Cheers
JonB

[billwill]

Hi All.

I checked with my brother & the car is an Esprit S2 1979 with 2 litre engine.
Dis they all have 2 litre engines?

Thanks Jon, I've had a quick peek at that forum & will inform my brother.

Dunno how far he has got with this knowledge, but he has been hankering after a Lotus for many years, though the cars he has mostly worked/renovated have been sporty Minis.


Is there a parts list/exploded diagrams anywhere on line for an Esprit?

[gherlt]

Hi All.
Is there a parts list/exploded diagrams anywhere on line for an Esprit?

http://www.rdent.com/manuals/index.html
Left side, Esprit S1/S2

[gherlt]

As far as i remember, all buying said mostly, that the car is complicated (electrically speaking)
And the interieur hard to get by, so should at least be complete.

[Esprit2]

Bill,

Suggest to your brother that he subscribe here:
https://groups.io/g/S1S2euroS3LotusEspritOwners

People with the best 'tech' and 'how-to' advice are found there, plus there's a good library of downloadable files.

On LotusTalk.com, there's a sub-forum for Esprits, here...
https://www.lotustalk.com/forums/lotus-esprit.164/

However, it covers all Esprits and most discussion is about Turbo Esprits. If your brother doesn't mind wading through Turbo content to get to what he wants, then it's a good forum. Personally, I prefer the more focused Groups.io mailing list above.

I subscribe to both of the above, plus TheLotusForums. You'll see my posts frequently on Groups.io, rarely on LotusTalk, and never on TheLotusForums... which probably tells you how I feel about each one.

Regards,
Tim Engel

[The Veg]

I checked with my brother & the car is an Esprit S2 1979 with 2 litre engine.
Dis they all have 2 litre engines?

The S1 & S2 did; I think it was for the S3 & Turbo that the displacement went to 2.2.

But in any case, the 9xx engines are great, with really robust bottom-ends- never have to worry about breaking them.

When I had my Esprit I found that TLF was a great source of knowledge. Sounds from Tim's post like it may have gone downhill, which would be sad. But there are a good several outposts of various types of Esprit-knowledge scattered about teh interwebz if your brother has the time to apply his backside to the chair and surf them out.

Regarding electrical complexity, my experience is more with the Turbo but even then I would argue that while there's more stuff in the electrical system than there is in an Elan's system, it's not really any more difficult to understand and in many ways is a higher-quality system- especially since by the '80s (and maybe earlier Esprits?) Lotus had banished the bullets in favour of good reliable multi-pin connectors.

The suspension is easy to deal with, certain jobs on the engine can be a real pig given the longitudinal-mid-orientation, and the admonition to seek a complete interior is valid- though some of the bits are based on ABS plastic which can warp over time especially if the car has been in the sun. Same for some of the outside bits too.

But he should definitely dive in and have fun with it!

[JonB]

But he should definitely dive in and have fun with it!

..and to add to that, you [I mean, billwill] should definitely post some pictures of it...

[rgh0]

The difference in real terms between a S1 or S2 esprit and an Elan or Europa is relatively small. I look after my S1 Esprit the same as I look after my Elan and Plus 2 and most of the issues are similar at a conceptual level even if they are different at a detail level as the hardware is different.

Everything is rebuildable but some of the bits like window frames are NLA - sounds like and Elan The good news is more of them have been wrecked so some parts have good second hand availability from the Uk especially engines.

if looking at an early Esprit to purchase just look at it if it was an Elan or Europa and you will not go far wrong.

cheers
Rohan