2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

[marktc]

Well guys, some of you already know what I do on the side, but I thought you might all be interested in the current project. I have been modifying a 2002 Esprit V8TT for a few years now and now we are finally going stand-alone. I am going to have Cam at Lightspeed tune the system in about a month and a half, once I have completed the wiring harness install. We are going with a Vi-Pec V88 ECM and 735cc primary injectors and eliminating the secondary injectors. The original plan was to use the tune that I had done at Lotus on their dyno, however, I didn't feel confident that what they had done would work on this build, as they had tuned my intercooler system with bigger turbos, bigger intercooler canisters than what I'm currently using and a mildly flowed head. So.. hence the stand-alone system.

For those of you who really feel inclined to read an enormous thread -- here's the build of the intercooler system -- http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums...ecooler-setup/

For those of you who don't have the patience.. here's a basic breakdown of the build so far:

Full coil-over suspension
6 piston front and 4 piston rear brake upgrade with cross drilled rotors all around
Fully custom intercooler kit
3 core aluminum radiator
Larini De-cat pipes and straight piped back from there
Lotus "Red-Race" chip
Quaiffe Limited Slip Diff
Holloway Performance Gearbox upgrade
HKS SSQV Blow off valves
Forge Motorsports Wastegate capsules
Secondary air injection deleted
Raid Airbag steering wheel


And a picture or two..

[PRY4SNO]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

This thread needs vids...




































Or it didn't happen.

[marktc]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Good Call.. I will try to do a video on the weekend.. I have a vid of the car on youtube before I put the exhaust on and before it was chipped.. so it's not very impressive. I will also take a shot of the driveway... as I have 5 Lotus Esprits at my house right now..

[BaggedGLI]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Gangster.

I hope you know your neighbours well, otherwise they are definitely thinking you might be selling drugs.

[marktc]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Pretty sure if they ever thought I was a drug dealer... this photo would have secured it in their mind:

[marktc]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Here's a couple of shots of the driveway/garage now... The only Lotus that's missing from the pics is mine, which is under cover and not really photo-genic yet.. lol.

[marktc]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Given that the weather was absolute crap today... no vids... however, we did do a bunch of wire labeling to make the stand-alone installation a little easier



and.. I thought, since I have so many.. lets do some parts swapping

[turbomeyers]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

this

[lulu]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

holy crap man, i wanna see more pictures

[MusicalGenius]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

I think I just blew it.

[marktc]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Well.. I got the Vi-Pec today...

[marktc]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Today was 9 hours of wires, solder, heat shrink, wires, solder, heat shrink, software settings, wire, solder, heat shrink, wire, wire, wire.. omg.. all I see are wires!!






We placed the Vi-Pec ecm on top of the factory ECM so that they both get mounted together and to make the wiring harness shorter and easier to place.


Here it is for it's test fit:





Here's the first bit of soldering done:





Here's most of the wiring completed (This would be optimistic.. likely we are only a little over half way there)





This was the Eureka moment... When I plugged the laptop into the Vi-Pec and it worked!!! (It doesn't run the car yet.. but at least it's communicating with the laptop!)





The Vi-Pec came with an inlet temp sensor that was completely different than the factory sensor and I had to get an NPT plug, drill it out (tapered fit.. so very interesting to do without the proper drill bit.. took a while.) Then, after that I threaded it with a tapered tap and then cut the top off of the plug so that it would not block the actual sensor at the end (basically the plug was too deep and the sensor wouldn't penetrate the depth of the plug). Here it is, installed:

[Stonewall]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

Today was 9 hours of wires, solder, heat shrink, wires, solder, heat shrink, software settings, wire, solder, heat shrink, wire, wire, wire.. omg.. all I see are wires!!

Welcome to my daily life If you want some hints on how to clean up all the wires when you are done let me know.

[marktc]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

I think I may want some help period... lol! I'll pm ya..

[PRY4SNO]

Re: 2002 Lotus Esprit V8 TT build

This thread pwns.

Keep up the good work... and, of course, the photos documenting your efforts.