Having owned my 1984 Turbo Esprit for 13 years, I thought it best to change the timing belt (you know, the belt that is recommended be changed every 2 years?). Not having done this before, and knowing the dire consequences if I attempted to do it myself I put the word out for help from the Lotus Corps.
Doug Alexander graciously lent us his home and four post lift for the event ... after doing this, I cant imagine doing this job on jack stands (I am probably forever spoiled). Note the clearance at the top of the car, and the garage door. Doug reassured me it would be fine. Each time we put it up on the lift, I had to look away!
On the day of the event, the dedicated crew arrived. We had the power breakfast all ready (OJ and Donuts) to go. The Lotus Corps "worker bees" that were up to the challenge were Steve Stitle (who arrived in a great Triumph motorcycle, and told of his stories of his water pump woes with his Ferrari 328... you think Lotus parts can be expensive!), Joe Mazurk (who owns a 1984 Turbo Esprit like mine, albeit in Black), Leonard Antal (owns a White SE), Sanjaya (yes, the owner of the "proper" yellow Esprit). and Dan Ziolkowski (red 1994 Esprit). The weather was excellent, and most of the crew arrived with their Loti. Joe's was still in the stages of being put back together (after an 87 engine swap), so he arrived in his Jensen Healey... which has the Lotus engine, so a bit of Lotus arrived with him!
My goal for the day was to replace the timing belt (yes, that 13 year old belt... gulp). along with replacing the water pump hose (you know, the one located in the nether regions of the engine bay) with a new silicone replacements. In addition, it was suggested that I put a new timing belt tensioner on the tensioner assembly. I also utilized Ed Young's excellent hose cross reference list, and picked up a few other coolant hoses (I had replaced a majority of these already) that would be accessible (if there is such a word in our engine bay) once the timing belt was removed.
The first "challenge" that we encountered was that the pulley on my car has a different bolt configuration than the later Esprit's, so Sanjaya's puller wouldn't work. Fingers crossed, and the nut came off with the pulley, no problem! The other accessory belts likewise came off with "little" difficulty. Here's Sanjaya wondering if anyone has small enough "metric" hands to do this work! Also note to the upper left of Sanjaya... I still have the original "Red Hose". I have a stainless steel replacement... this will be another project for another day!
Once the belts were removed, including the alternator (which required loosening the bracket from above - it helps to have a team above and below the car), it was time to remove the timing belt tensioner. My car has the tensioner that has a nut on the end. This nut (when tightened) puts pressure and forces a piston, that in turn, puts pressure on the belt. Later model cars use a much simpler setup. Joe Mazurk had suggested that I swap out to a later setup, but in order to do this, I would have to also upgrade the A/C compressor bracket. Since I didn't have the time to locate this bracket, I stuck with this original configuration. I am sure that in a later point in time, I will do this swap. Here's the original tensioner removed from the car, you can see the nut at the end, that controls the tension. You will also notice a drill bit in the bearing, this is necessary to lock it, which will then allow you to remove the assembly from the nether regions of the engine bay. The bearing was still in great shape, but since I had already bought a new one, we swapped them out. Here's the assembly with a new bearing installed:
Well, everything is apart .... so the next logical step is....LUNCH! Of course, after some excellent Giordano's pizza ... who wants to work?
Remember my goal of replacing the water pump hose with a silicone replacement? Even best laid plans can fail... it seems that my car has the "earlier type" hose setup. (yes this is how it is defined in the Lotus parts manual... not a helpful bit of information, such as cars produced from Jan to Feb of such and such a year). If you are wondering, my car was built January 1984). I inadvertently ordered the later type of hose, so the old hose had to go back on! The timing belt that was removed was actually in great shape. I was rather surprised!
Of course, now came the battle of putting all the parts back together! After many hours of work, and a few head-scratching moments (especially trying to properly tension the belt), the crew were able to get the new belt back on, along with all new accessory belts! New antifreeze put in, and the Esprit was good for another 13 years!... just kidding.
I can't thank everyone from Lotus Corps enough for their help with this project. It was a great day, and it's due to the great members of the Lotus Corps!
