AIR FILTERS 

•  OIL FILTERS 
•  FUEL FILTERS 
•  FUEL INJECTION 
•  EXHAUST MANIFOLD 
•  HALF SHAFT JOINTS 
•  STARTER 
•  VALVE SHIMS 
•  BODY PAINT 
•  VACUUM PUMP 
•  MISCELLEANOUS 
•  LUBRICATION 
•  GAS STRUTS
•  EXCEL BRAKE PADS
•  FUEL REQUIREMENTS

Sorry to do this, but I've looked through all my messages, and can't  find it, but I'm sure someone out there said that the air filter on anEsprit was replaceable with a Volvo one.

Is this true? If so, does anyone know which Volvo (I've got an 81 Esprit, for those who are not familair with Custard!)

Chris,

You might find the following Cut-n-Paste helpful.   Generally, it applies
to all 900 series engines and Esprits unless specifically noted. (Revised 27.5.1998; Anm.d.Verf.)

High Perfomance filter:
K&N oval filter....56-1350 Desc.SDO 7x4-=BDoval 3-=BCH 

HALF SHAFT (AXEL) JOINTS
Hooke's Joints (S1/ S2/ S2.2  --  Grease every 5,000 miles)
        Lotus..................... A075D6004WH
        TRW....................... 20021
        Hardy Spicer.............. 94/548450
CV with In - Board  Brakes........ Citroen SM
CV with Out-Board Brakes.......... For '89 and later Esprits with outboard brakes,
the small parts that make up the inboard CV joint are the same as used on
Renault Fuego (the axle itself is not the same).

Spark plugs for 912 engine:
NGK...................... BPR 7ES
Bosch.................... FR 78 X or WR6DP (Platin) or WR56 (Super4)
Champion................. RC9MCC

Manual Gearbox........... SAE 75W/90 API GL5
Final Drive.............. SAE 90     API GL5

Their website is at:
http://www.sachs-ag.de/Gruppe/Organisation/Stabilus-en.html
in English

Stabilus GmbH
Wallersheimer Weg 100
56070 Koblenz
Phone (0261) 8-9000
Lotus gas struts from Boge/Sachs. After inquiry stateside, found they have
never been imported to this country, but may be available in Europe.

Lotus#        Sachs#      Application
082U6208F     631 612     89   Esprit hatch
082U6169F     549 800     87+  Esprit hatch
082U6158F     083 666     87+  Esprit eng.lid
075U6032F     079 723     80+  Eclat,Elite hood
n.a.          048 917     80+  Eclat hatch

03 July 1997,  Mike Causer <[email protected]> wrote:
I found the following Lotus numbers in their current price list:
Lotus          GB P
B075U0433F     32.69     ELITE  Tail Gate Gas Strut
C075U6032F     44.23     ELITE  Gas Strut
B079U6013F     58.42     ESPRIT S1/S2 - Gas Strut
A082U6074F     39.75     TURBO ESPRIT - Gas Strut-Tailgate
B082U6158F     16.86     TURBO ESPRIT - Gas Strut-Bonnet
A082U6169F     19.30     TURBO ESPRIT - Gas Strut-Tailgate
A082U6208F     28.39     TURBO ESPRIT - Gas Strut-Locking
Those Esprit ones look suspiciously cheap.

Combining the two charts (tse):
Lotus PN    GB P   Sachs#
B075U0433F  32.69                ELITE  Tail Gate Gas Strut
C075U6032F  44.23  079 723   80+ ELITE, ECLAT - Bonnet/ Engine Lid??
n.a.               048 917   80+ Eclat Hatch (Trunk Lid)
B079U6013F  58.42                ESPRIT S1/S2 -   Tailgate/Hatch/Bonnet
A082U6074F  39.75                TURBO ESPRIT - Tailgate/ Hatch/Bonnet
B082U6158F  16.86  083 666   87+ TURBO ESPRIT - Tailgate/ Hatch/Bonnet
A082U6169F  19.30  549 800   87+ TURBO ESPRIT - Tailgate/ Hatch/Bonnet
A082U6208F  28.39  631 612   89  ESPRIT Turbo - Gas Strut-Locking - Tailgate

The only other recent message I had on file relative to Esprit parts interchangeability is the following from Karl Franz.   I've take some liberties to clean up the formating... it came through the e-mail rather jumbled.

Regards,
Tim Engel

***************************************************************************
From: [email protected] (Karl Franz Marquez)
I got this mailed to my home (AOL) account and I thought other Esprit owners would be interested.
 

Karl,
I have found that the Volvo 850 oil filter ($4 each in lots of 12 from Beechmont Volvo in Cincinati) is an acceptable replacement.   It has theanti-reflux valve in it to keep the oil from draining back.   It isslightly shorter than the Lotus unit, and far easier to remove.   It ismade for a five cyl ought to handle a turbo 4, and it is easy enough tochange often.

The Bosch fuel filter from an 81 volvo will replace the main fuel filter in the pre-88  with fuel injection.

The GM vacuum pump (about $100 from NAPA) replaces the Lotus unit $1000
from Lotus.

I do have a list supplied by the Chicago club I'll be happy to post to you snail mail.

Air filter                Jaguar        Wix 46005
fuel filter               Volvo         Wix 33279
distributor cap           Borg Warner -         c 567
rotor                     Borg Warner -         d 578
fuel pumps,  Primary      gpf  208 - fits 911 Turbo
fuel pumps,  Secondary    gpf  214 - fits 911 Turbo
Lambda sensor             Bosch -   0-258-003-022
Wheel bearings, Front     Celica
Brake pads,  front 83-85  Celica
Brake pads,  rear         Lucas - gp 248
Thermostat gasket         Felpro - 35097 chevy v8

I have heard that the brain box is a chevy unit also but I have no numbers to pass along.

Luckily Lotus didn't make too many of their own components.   I've had good luck taking the old part to the  "older auto parts store"  Look for a counter man with grey hair who is not afraid to go to the stacks and match up a part.
Hope this helps you out

Russ
[email protected]

Mike replied:

 Yep,  the 81/83 Supra. 

 Steve:
 I think they do, but they are not to hot, so can another possibly 4 pot caliper be fitted with the original or hopefully larger vented discs ? (without to much trouble)

Mike:
The problem is the pad material, not the size of the discs.   The current stuff is really awful, I was looking at mine two days ago and they are crumbling away!   If enough Excel & Esprit owners could get together we could get Mintex to make a batch of pads in decent material,  >>

Here is my opinion:
You don't have to go through this process, Lotus has already done it for you. The Toyota-braked cars originally used the standard Akebono pads that they
were supplied with. While they may be fine on a Toyota, they did not suit a Lotus - poor pedal feel and inconsistent behaviour with temperature changes are two of the problems I recall. Sometime in the late 80s Lotus tested pads from a variety of manyfacturers (including Mintex), and started fitting front pads with a Ferodo material, which gave much better performance in all areas. (Note to those who sometimes suggest that Lotus puts cost before engineering integrity - these Ferodo pads were a completely additional cost - there was no refund on the unwanted Akebono pads. This was simply a case of doing the right thing for the car and the customer). I imagine the Ferodo pads would still be available - they may be expensive, but probably a lot less than a disc or caliper change. 
I've had some cynicism directed my way in the past, over whether Lotus actually puts any effort into engineering specific pads for their cars, and whether it's just as good to buy them from a good parts store. Without rewriting that entire essay again, my answers in this case are _yes, certainly_, and _perhaps, but perhaps not_. The point is that brake systems are engineered as SYSTEMS, and they're specific to the car - a component may be designed to the very best spec and made to the highest standards, but if its characteristics don't match the rest of the sytem and suit the car's needs, you won't get good braking. For example - I doubt that Toyota would fit anything but very high quality brake pads to a Supra, but that part doesn't suit a Lotus. Without doubt, there are scores of happy owners out there who've junked their original pads and are happy with the replacements - in some of these cases, the new parts may truly have improved the system, congratulations! This result, however, is not guaranteed - the people who specified your system will have juggled a range of characteristics such as balance, feel, consistency, temperature sensitivity, noise, wear - in addition to outright stopping power. After-market pads may be high quality parts, and they may match or beat the original in every respect - more likely, I think, you will have traded a gain in one area for a loss in another. If this trade matches your needs for your brake system, you will declare it a good change. In such a trade, though, the drawbacks may not always be obvious - if the new pads have a higher friction, so the pedal effort reduces - you may feel that the system has generally improved. If that higher friction also unbalances the system and causes premature front wheel lock, you may not notice or care until the day you need to stop very quickly from high speed....on the other hand, the new pads may fade before they lock in such a stop, in which case you have a different problem to deal with. Please don't think I'm preaching that only Lotus knows how to specify brake systems - they're subject to the same constraints of time and cost as the rest of us. They do, however, employ clever people who care what they specify - they don't just pick brake parts out of a catalogue.

(Note to the gentleman who couldn't see why Lotus would want to stop others selling their parts - having spent tens of thousands of pounds testing these pads, and then some thousands more for a tool to enable Ferodo to make them, wouldn't you want to retain the rights to sell them, and recover some of those costs? I accept that there are standard service parts, such as oil filters, which can be bought anywhere without the Lotus logo - but any car company which has nvested time, talent or money to develop a specific product will expect to retain the rights to sell it at a profit - whether it be a brake pad, a wheel or a chassis, neither Lotus nor any other manufacturer would condone parts being made off their tools for direct sale to the public. This is not greed, it's business sense, whether we're talking cars or washing machines).

Clive Roberts
(Lotus Engineering 1985-1997, as may be apparent from time to time, in spite
of my best efforts to remain coolly impartial)

Steve and Mike,

Having attended the Performance Racing Industry show in Indy, last week, I checked my newly acquired Hawk Brake catalog, which, although the 81/83
Supra is not indexed, the 82-87 Excel is.  It indicates a front pad #HB244, same as Early Esprits and the late Elite (as well as the E-type Jag).  HPS (good) and HP-Plus (better) run 50-60 USD, race pads twice that.  No rear pads listed.  Is there a source for Hawk pads in the UK?  Good luck.

Oh, and for anyone interested, I picked up a little info on MMC brakes, too.

Now, about that chap at QED with the 200+hp 907's...

Cheers!

C. E. Howell

Some owners are concerned about the phaseout of leaded fuel and its ultimate banning in the U.K. in year 2000.  All Lotus 900 series engines (i.e. all 4 cylinder 2 litre and 2.2 litre variants, and V8) from its introduction in 1974, are fully compatible with unleaded fuel. Lead was first introduced as a fuel additive in the 1920s as a cheap method of increasing its octane rating, for a greater resistance to detonation ('knocking' or 'pinking').  An additional benefit was also discovered to be a reduction in exhaust valve seat wear, referred to as Valve Seat Recession (VSR).  Alternative methods of raising the octane rating were developed with the introduction of catalytic converters which are incompatible with leaded fuel.  In order to combat VSR, cars designed to run on this nleaded fuel were fitted with hardened valve seats.  All Lotus 900 series engines use hardened valve seats. The harmful effects of lead absorption into the human body, especially on children, has prompted the coming ban on the sale of leaded fuel.

Octane rating:
The octane rating of a fuel is a measure of its resistance to detonation. In the U.K., 4 star leaded fuel has an octane rating of 97 RON (Research Octane number), Super Unleaded is 98 RON, and Premium Unleaded, 95 RON. Most early Lotus 900 series engines require a minimum octane rating of 97 RON, and so can use either leaded 4 star, or Super Unleaded.  There is some speculation that Super Unleaded may become difficult to source due to the limited demand for this fuel in the future.  If this were to occur, premium unleaded can be used in these early engines together with an aftermarket octane boosting additive.  Alternatively, retarding the ignition by 3° should allow satisfactory operation on premium unleaded for all normal road driving outside of prolonged wide throttle operation.

A complete list of fuel requirements for Lotus models follows: 

Lead Replacement Gasoline (LRG):  This product is available in certain territories, and has been produced for use in cars with non-hardended valve seats which would otherwise suffer from VSR without the protection of lead in the fuel.   LRG has an octane rating of 97 RON. The fuel may use one of several valve seat protection additives, each of which may produce some other characteristic.  No engine durability work has been carried out by Lotus using this fuel, and so its use cannot be recommended at this time and is in any case not necessary - see above.

Fuel Requirements 
1.      Elite/Eclat S1 (non-USA);
 Elite/Eclat S2;
 Excel (all versions);
 Esprit S1/S2/S2.2/S3 (non-USA);
 Esprit H.C. (naturally asp.); 
 Esprit Turbo (low comp. carburettor);

These non-catalyst models require fuel with a minimum octane rating of 97 RON, and can therefore use, without adjustment: either  LEADED 4-star (97 RON) or       SUPER UNLEADED (98 RON) Note that regular ('Premium') unleaded (95 RON) should not be used, but see 'Octane rating'  paragraph above.
 

Mark

[email protected]