More paint.. end in sight

Now that the dust has settled the final colour can be seen..

Classic Lotus Racing Green metallic.

The modification to the front light surrounds easy to see here - I like how Merlin has continued the line from the wings.. very lamboesque. Martyn's perfectionism paid off.

Paint.... lovely..

The silver base coat and Lotus racing green first coat now on.. woo hoo!

Some great colour effects as light hits it..

Almost ready for paint

Latest pics from the shop - almost ready for paint..

New lines visible.. front end looks good..

Final prep work before painting

the end in sight - latest pic form the workshop - final rub down before primer and paint.. not much left to do to shakedown and MOT..

then off to BHP to sale - circa £28k hopefully!!

TR8 Squadron Pictures - 'LAE'

LAE: Life After Esprit - Some TR8 racing pictures from the 2008 season - new wesbite will be: www.tr8race.com

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b308/MBlur/TR8%20Squadron/?albumview=slideshow

Latest pics from the workshop

Rear tailgate looks great with cover in place.. still wing to go on and rear mesh and lower bumper + diffuser.

Oil cooler clearly visible,

What a cockpit - now that's what I call a view.. Only gauge out of line of sight is the engine hours gauge.. chip gnassi nascar instrument binnacle retained and incorporated into the carbon dash.

Note - 50th anniversary Hurst NASCAR shifter

Sparco wheel is detachable and likely to incorporate starter button and a cpl of anicullaries switches.. all very f1 without looking too modern. D-shaped wheel makes entry and sitting position easier.

Hopefully we're on the final stretch now - finishing, paint, shakedown, mot then off to Coys.

Engine bay looks like new - very tidy and exhaust look great in ceramic coating

I suspect end result is going to hit the mark - an appetising buy for any [hardcore] track day go'er, racer or extreme road user..

[Merl says] "excuse the wires in the photos most have been putaway now apart from the one on the tailgae which is for the rear view camera.. its amazing how much longer the car looks with the tailgate on."

Thunder Racing 8s - Knockhill April 2009

The TR8 Squadron were 3-strong at the first rounds of this year's SMRC Classic and Sports Cars, Willie took 3rd in race 1, Gordon took driver of the day and Bary survived and beat his PB target.. aiming for 4 on the grid for the end May meet..

I took some (limited) footage and cut using my new editing suite..

Roaring engines, retro racing and rock n roll !!!

Dials n things.. comin along

Merlin almost there with central c/f console and dash - now working on gps-hud speedo and tft rear mirror then finish up with the warning lights, e-cut and extinguiser pull, switches etc.

Left to right: Oil P, Fuel, Diff temp, Engine hours -

____________________________________________________________________

Merlin: "i think all the clocks are now fitted, i left an extra space just incase of sumin in the future. tested your camera this morning looks better than i first thought, routed the wires for it too, just need the sparkie to join them together, if he doesnt turn up tomorrow as promised im going to give him the heave ho. header tank looks the bizz now its in place, i have just finished the fuel lines, im now thinking about throwing the air filter on and tidying a few loose wires in the engine bay that havent been tucked up properly. gears........ well im going to give up for now until its running because i could be worring about nothing, it may neeed the assist of clutch and turning, moving parts before its proper smooth. mounting the gps speedo neatly is going to be a challenge,only because of the wire that sticks out of the side. cheers merlin"

New gear linkage pics.. TFT mirror arrives

Merlin: "ok will keep an eye out for the fuel doofa, rear mirror turned up, looks easy to mount.having a bit of trouble with 5th gear, but im hoping that when its running it will be much smoother.had to do a few mods to the linkage nothing mojor thou, needed a bit more leverage on the rotation and that was that. iv had a new alloy header tank made which i will have to send you a pic of as its yummy."

Jon: New gear linkage pics below - not sure about the Anniversary Hurst shifter - plain white one may be better but not spending out at this point - perhaps my pa-in-law might wood turn me a new one... overall shifter looks like it'll do the job nicely.

Dyno graph and sheet from Knights Racing

Not as much as hoped but not bad for the small 2-barrell carb (420bhp/390ish lbft) on pump 97 RON - 470ish on a 4-barrell and easy switch if I wanted it and forego some economy. If I then want over 500 -550 I'll need to rebuild the engine and find the missing revs etc.

Given the problems encountered I'm quite happy with this.

So, for now..

Gearchange.. Rod's out! New custom cable linkage in

M n M didn't like the recalcitrant GD rod linkage I sourced (£500s!! worth) and so I ordered 2x B&M shift cables from DT and Merlin promptly set about a new custom shifter after sourcing a picture of how the shift should operate off the G30 box (see pics)...

A work of art and just one exanmple of how this car has been rebuilt from chassis-up.. can't wait to give it a try.

Cool Loti pics..

Check the 1st pic showing a grafitti image of the Esprit... 8)

I like to call the 2nd pic as Ode to Loti Warhol..

Bhp.. 5.7/420/390/6000

What a day.. Martyn got the engine to Knight Services (http://www.knightracingservices.co.uk/) who prepare all of the top chevy Mosler/Vette/Sallen engines including RML's Le Mans winning car..

oh oh - I get a message to phone Martyn urgently this morning n the mobile... "bad news - low compression on cylinder #1" (70%) , other cylinders are fine but Martyn is the bearer of more bad newsa few hour slater once prognosis complete:

• The piston and liner in #1 are jammed



• #3 cylinder shows a damaged valve stem and bent valve



• Heads don't appear to be high compression



• No signs of anying boring/honing around the valves/bores



• Valve springs appear to be soft



• Carb jets to large and running rich
  

It's possible some of this may have occured from sitting around for the last 2yrs - On the plus side - no obvious wear on bores, good top end, good rockers, rods and steel crank but otherwise a "a very used, tired engined".. not exactly what I had paid for or intended to ship from Texas.. ??

Martyn suggests they replace the worn valves and put it back together and run it. I've then to phone back after another few hours.. Martyn comes back on the phone to say that the engine has put out a solid 420ish bhp and 400lbft down on the engine dyno (on pump fuel).. the shop are amazed given the engine face value but clearly it was doing something right.. all this from a 5.7l at only 6000rpm.. some 1400-1800rpm below expected peak!! Alas the soft springs and small carb thwarted any attempts to push the engine beyond 6000rpm..

Given at first we thought engine was scrap.. all respect to the old man for stripping and fixing..

Aye 420bhp is just dandy given cam was supposed to make peak power nearer 7400-7800 and given how peaky Martyn said it was then it might have ramped up quite a bit but both carb and springs were maxxed out so setting pill moduled to say 6800rpm or so to allow for downshifts should be fine. If you check normally crates then you need over 6 litres to get similiar and at 6500rpm (e.g. british american) so there's more to this engine that means the eye.

Martyn said there was 50bhp just in upgrading carb (I'm checking Ebay) - so that'd have been 477bhp and probably similiar + torque so around 440-450lbft which is a monster.

In fact Bary said he reckoned on about 380-410lbft at 5800rpm so 390lbft at 5000rpm makes me think the engine has more to give at the top end. Martyn said there's a pronounced drop-off mid-rpm (typical high left single cam engines) but then pops back in with a bang.

Then I'll find a nice phat 4-barrell carb or a small rotrex type charger (belt driven) and hook that up.. at current compression it'd probably be plug n play.. almost. I'm checking.. ;)400lbft handy also and at 5000rpm not to low down.. as is with the mini fly wtec then if it spools up quick then peak figures academic anyway.With everyting else sorted I reckon there's over 500 in there to come out which for a 5.7l is a lot.

As-is it's as good as a fresh TVR AJP4.2 or a high tune 5-6l Rover. Just means we need to make sure she comes in under the ton :) when she goes on the corner weights.

Lots I can then tweak myself long-term - play with flowed alloy heads, titanium springs, carbs etc.I reckon you'll also get a little more peak with that airbox set-up.In meantime output isn't so insane so I can get used to car before upping power.

I so want a LS7 stroker with quad down-draught throttle bodies...