wastegate adjuster rods

[lotuson74]

JUST A JOKE, My car runs great as does Stallion's! I drove his car last night and I must say: it feels better than most that I have driven (the car is in mechanically great shape) just could use a little body care. And I have now driven 6 Esprit V8's
If you think the car will not go 204, then look in your manuel whare it gives the speed breakdown for rpms in each gear for each model. Note that the sport 350 had 295 tires like mine then DO THE MATH - 8000 revs in 5th. = 204mph.! I did 7600 revs in 5th. which = 194.8. Also, if you want to see 26psi. come to Lime Rock on the 19th. and I WILL PROVE IT.

[StallionX]

the car is going into the shop monday to have the remaining body issues sorted (just the front end has some cracks due to a bad repaint on the bumper.. ) hopefully by end of next week the car will be in perfect physical condition!

[JeffYoung]

Guys, done arguing. Lotus Esprit World agrees with me. Esprit Fact File agrees with me. You guys keep doing what you are doing, and having fun with it.

[lotuson74]

Originally Posted by StallionX

the car is going into the shop monday to have the remaining body issues sorted (just the front end has some cracks due to a bad repaint on the bumper.. ) hopefully by end of next week the car will be in perfect physical condition!

Come on here, you know that it has rusting (kevlar) gas tanks too, and if you hit a speed bump too hard that the transmission will fall out (but the differential will still stay in place)
And Jeff - why is it that you will quote "other sourses" rather than come on out and SEE the truth with your own eyes? I'm inviting everyone to come out to the track (at the Lotus sponcered event) and see for yourself. There is no need to argue, I will provide the proof. Jeff, I ask you - are you afraid of a little proof or what?? Come on out, maybe you will get lucky & my car will break a transmission or just go boom! then you can come on here and say how right you were. Or maybe I will just your contentions about the car.

[StallionX]

hahah yeah I'm in denial my car is a total wreck, serves me right for buying a kit car, goddamn it.. should have purchased a brand new corvette and saved a boatload of cash!

[JeffYoung]

Uh...cause I am in North Carolina and I am not going to Lime Rock this weekend?

Guys, you have an Esprit, you will have issues with the fuel tanks after a while. All of us have. On the 4 cylinders, you will crack an exhaust manifold. They do that. And others.

It's all good. You guys mod your cars and have fun. For a while.

Take car, signing off.

[lotuson74]

A brand new Corvette goes for at least $50,000. No one in their right mind would pay that much for an Esprit. Ha!
By the way... I just installed seats from a 1974 Buick Skylark and now the car is FAR more comfortable than a new Corvette. And diden't you get that small body damage to the front of your car from hitting the back of an Enzo?

[lotuson74]

correction, Lime Rock is on Tuesday the 19th. of June. I hope you can make that date as I would like to "Cuddle with you" Jeffy.

[JeffYoung]

Kirk, you rock man. Pimpin' yo ride an stuff. You are way too much man for me, I couldn't handle it I'm sure.

And, uh, by the way, your 97 Esprit is worth maybe $35k and your 04 maybe $55k, and headed...on...the.....way......................... .DOWN....like all other Esprit values.

You guys are too much. I mean, did you inhale some Lotus flower or something?

Curious too....age? Source of income? I'm sniffing trust fund kids, but I might be wrong. Have been before, like when I thought I could talk sensibly with guys about Esprits on this thread.

[lotuson74]

Hey there jeffy, you are right "you can't handle it"! Why is that? Try to offer me $500,000+ for either one & watch me reject it! I think you are jelous. And I will destroy any junk you may have. Narrarator - through this guy off as I trully doubt he even has a Lotus.

[JeffYoung]

The trust fund kid test sniffer just went off the charts.....

[StallionX]

Jeffyoung, you are not speaking sensibly my friend, your trolling..

Just accept the fact that the esprit is a magnificiently fast supercar, and like most cars it is only suited for certain people.. while the F360 might fill a different crowd and the elise certainly will fill a different demographic.

I sold my elise before I purchased the esprit but I would kill to have 2 esprit's and 2 elise's like Kirk has.. trust me my friends and I were in awe of this guys collection, easily over a million in automobiles there.. just incredible.. and everyone of his cars has been tastefully modded.. dare I say jeff that even you would be impressed by what you saw..It's a playground of exotics there..

In any case.. I am 30 years old and I have 2 businesses.. every purchase I made has been under my own steam..

Jeff, while his 97 esprit MIGHT be worth 35k there is only one reason for something like this to be the case.. BAD word of mouth and asshats who are kiling the resale due to trying to unload these cars, and many of them are in **** condition and need 10k just to be sorted out.. because if you search online for v8's you'll find about 13 for sale nationwide.. 13... not exactly enough cars to build a relative value.. if there are 3 97's for sale it's likely the other two blokes are just trying to unload them and money is not an option.. therefore lowering the value of these cars..

A GOOD 97 is worth more than a piss poor 02 anyday of the week..

There are too few of these cars available to judge their value.. however if you see an 04 like kirk's selling for 55k PLEASE let me know so I can purchase it and flip it for 10-20k profit..

get a grip man.. I did a quick search on autotrader for 04's and I found 2, one for 69k and the other for 72k.. come on.. even that is cheap...

[JeffYoung]

You guys crack me up. You have no understanding of the used Esprit market. You GET to sell your car when you find someone who really wants one. It can be very difficult to sell; almost totally a buyer's market because so few people want these cars (and when I wanted mine, I wanted one and had fun with it).

For example:

98 Sport 350 (you know what this)? One of 8: $47k

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sport...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's an 01 at Scotsdale Lotus for $51.5. A dealer, and that price is HIGH.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-Lo...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's another 01 at a dealer in Florida for $48,000:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/STUNN...QQcmdZViewItem

Then we have Fox Valley in Chicago, perhaps the most reputable Lotus dealer in teh countery over the last 20 years, selling a 99 for $37.9, and an 01 for $46.9

http://www.foxvalleymotorcarsinvento.../inventory.php

Get a grid boys, get a grip! Esprits depreciate like Wiley E. going over the cliff! Ask me how I know!

[lotuson74]

Thanks Stallion, you were right on with that last post!!!! & jeff you did not have fun with your car, instead you never understood it - and you must have beeten it to death! But I am sorry, you really can't offer me $500,000.00 for one of my cars, You must be one of those LOOSERS without a trust fund.

[lotuson74]

Originally Posted by JeffYoung

You guys crack me up. You have no understanding of the used Esprit market. You GET to sell your car when you find someone who really wants one. It can be very difficult to sell; almost totally a buyer's market because so few people want these cars (and when I wanted mine, I wanted one and had fun with it).

For example:

98 Sport 350 (you know what this)? One of 8: $47k

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sport...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's an 01 at Scotsdale Lotus for $51.5. A dealer, and that price is HIGH.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-Lo...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's another 01 at a dealer in Florida for $48,000:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/STUNN...QQcmdZViewItem

Then we have Fox Valley in Chicago, perhaps the most reputable Lotus dealer in teh countery over the last 20 years, selling a 99 for $37.9, and an 01 for $46.9

http://www.foxvalleymotorcarsinvento.../inventory.php

Get a grid boys, get a grip! Esprits depreciate like Wiley E. going over the cliff! Ask me how I know!

You know because you turned yours into garbage!

[JeffYoung]

Kirk, you funny! Yes, I am a loser with no trust fund! Have fun boys! And I do mean boys!

[lotuson74]

I still have my diaper on & its dirty, change it now jeffy or I will cry!!!!!

[StallionX]

Originally Posted by JeffYoung

You guys crack me up. You have no understanding of the used Esprit market. You GET to sell your car when you find someone who really wants one. It can be very difficult to sell; almost totally a buyer's market because so few people want these cars (and when I wanted mine, I wanted one and had fun with it).

For example:

98 Sport 350 (you know what this)? One of 8: $47k

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sport...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's an 01 at Scotsdale Lotus for $51.5. A dealer, and that price is HIGH.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-Lo...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's another 01 at a dealer in Florida for $48,000:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/STUNN...QQcmdZViewItem

Then we have Fox Valley in Chicago, perhaps the most reputable Lotus dealer in teh countery over the last 20 years, selling a 99 for $37.9, and an 01 for $46.9

http://www.foxvalleymotorcarsinvento.../inventory.php

Get a grid boys, get a grip! Esprits depreciate like Wiley E. going over the cliff! Ask me how I know!

have you called fox valley to inquire about that 99? I did.. he admitted the car is in fairly poor condition (IE - tranny problems, engine rebuild chances are high due to liners etc.) so basically its 37k+ 20k to get it "right"..

do yourself a favor, call naples motorsports in florida and ask them about these ebay esprits.. ask them if they would ever buy them to sell from their dealership.. You have no idea how many piss poorly maintained esprits are on the market.. a well maintained esprit that is truly in good condition is still going to hold it's value.. You should know better than to quote ebay prices amigo.. at least go to cars.com or autotrader.. christ ebay has scams and BS sales left and right..

Again this is exactly my point, you have people like Jeffyoung here who trash the cars, then sell them cheap.. People think they can get a supercar for 50k and they buy them, then refuse to maintain them correctly.. and unload them when they see a big money problem looming.. that is probsably 80% of the ebay sales on these cars are..

do you research..

Listen amigo, an Esprit NEW is about 97k in 2004.. so it really hasn't depreciated that much from it's new value price.. look at a 996 twin turbo.. I can get a 2002 15k mile turbo S x50 for 70k if I look hard enough.. that is 50% depreciation.. does that make the car any less spectacular? nope.. but that is what they are going for.. (which incidently is why you see so many more 996 turbo's around now that they can be had for such a bargain) Same goes with a 90k Gen 3 viper.. you can get an 03 for 40's now with under 20k miles.. it cost consdierably MORE to get a 2002 gen 2 with the same mileage..

This is supply and demand... the esprit is subject to all the same BS these other exotics are subject to also.. the only difference is the esprit market is smaller than most exotics (I think there are 2 2002-2004 cars available on autotrader last time I checked and only 13 v8's total in the entire US) so when toolkits come on here and bash the hell out of the car it does nothing but hurt the value of these things.. also when toolkits **** the hell out of your cars then sell them it doesnt help either..

[JeffYoung]

Wow...you just won't stop. Ask anyone with any sense about the used Esprit market and you will see that those numbers are right. Early V8s are going for $35k to $40k. Later V8s go from $45 to $55k. That's the reality of the situation, name calling aside.

You can get mad or frustrated about it, but Esprit values drop like rocks. And will continue to do so. You can either pout, or just enjoy your car.

I had my Esprit for 3 years. It was in good shape when I got it, and better shape when I sold it (better S4s chip, new brakes all around, new ignition all around, undid the PO's mess of the clutch hydraulics -- he had installed a V* slave, new uprated clutch from Marcus PUK in Germany, new cam tower gaskets, new fuel pumps, rust proofed the fuel tanks,..and on and on and on). I sold the car to Fran Hall who builds high quality GT40 and Lola replicas outside of Detroit, and still talk to him regularly. He loves the car. But understands it for what it is.

I'll just ignore the uninformed comments about my maintenance of my car. Let me do this. After you have owned the car for 3 years, come back and talk to me. That's how long I owned mine. I suspect the luster will have worn off, will have enjoyed your Esprit (if you have nto blown it up), you will be looking for a new experience, and you will be wondering how the hell am I going to sell this thing?

Did you see that beautiful silver V8 (an 01 I think) for sale in the other thread? $48k now, and for sale for a year. That's what it is like trying to sell an Esprit. You have to find a motivated buyer, which is hard. That's why the prices owners put up on cars.com and autotrader are really without value in judging the used Esprit market. They are what an owner THINKS he can get, and have nothing to do with what he CAN get. Unfortunately for me when I owned one, and for you now, eBay is as good a predictor of used Esprit value as anything else. I wouldn't buy one off eBay, too much risk, and would pay the slight premium to buy from fox Valley or Park Place, etc.

Have fun, again (can't believe I am still here but just too much incorrect information that needed to be corrected).

[lotuson74]

Glad to do away with the slander here! I have owned my 97 V8 Esprit for just over 3 years. Not only has the lust NOT worn off but, I have gained massive respect and addmiration for these cars & their simple/intelligent engineering. So much so - that I also bought a 99 used in So.Cal. and a 04 new! I traded my 99 for a new Radical SR-4 (worth about $85,000) that's not a bad price for the Esprit. And I wish to this day that I still had that Esprit!
Also, I became more aware of the Lotus brand and found a 99 SPORT 190 & also bought a new 05 Elise. I love all these cars & NONE are for sale PERIOD!! This says nothing too of all the great friends I have made as a result of these fantastic cars! All this goes to the point about their value on the market. People buy them who really can't afford them and won't care for them in the way they require.
I will admit that the cars are a little "quirky" and can "feel" like its not as well made as a new Porsche but it is a hand made car. You need to tighten and adjust things from time to time. If given proper care, understanding & time - you will be rewarded with an awsome looking, ultra fast & VERY rare car! Their prices will drop until only a few good ones are left & in the hands of those (like me and Stallion) who trully understand how impressive they are. Then see whare the price goes... you will need A LOT to pry them from our hands!!