The car
So why an Esprit?
Well it’s the only car I actually fell in love with. Like a lot of young love affairs back in the sev's that were crafted in the back row of a cinema, the moment I saw “Q” drive the white S1 off that boat in Sardinia, pull over, and then hand the keys over to Bond, I was hooked. At that moment those sleek lines and that unmistakable wedge shape were etched onto my psyche and have stayed with me ever since.
From its fiberglass body, styled with the Italian auto passion of top designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, and its chassis and engineering from a team led by the genius of Colin Chapman, the Esprit always had the dna to be a true thoroughbred sports car.Conceived and constructed at a time when Lotus were enjoying success in Formula One and pioneering the sport with groundbreaking design and construction techniques many of which changed the way formula one cars were designed forever, and a design which F1 cars are still based on today.
I chose to buy a later model Esprit as it seemed a better Idea to ease myself into Esprit ownership gently as these later cars are stronger and more robust than the earlier ones.
When I first went to see this car it had been sat at the side of the road and had not turned a wheel for more than three months due to a failed clutch release bearing. There was no service history with it, but at some point had been updated by a previous owner and fitted with parts from a later model Esprit including amongst other stuff, the gearbox, suspension and brakes.
Although the car was in a fair general condition it was showing signs of age and neglect and with its original engine being without any service history was probably going to need some major work.
The thing is there was something about this car that had caught my eye.
It looked like a car that needed a plan, which was exactly what I was looking for.
What this does mean is that I still don't have a white S1………
but I’m not dead yet!
The Engine
3.0L V6 Duratec
The V6 Duratec is the engine I used for this conversion.It is a powerful, modern, compact, light weight, all alloy unit.
Originally designed by Porsche, they sold the engineering to Ford, and Cosworth who designed the heads.With these credentials the engine seemed the perfect candidate for the job.
This 60 degree V6 is also available in quite a few different configurations, sizes and vehicles, this means that there are quite a few variants of the same engine making it useful for mixing and matching parts, and lending itself to the conversion quite well as you will see later.
I have also read that the 6.0L V12 used by Aston Martin is another variant of the Duratec family, although I believe that there is a bit more to it than claims that it is merely akin to two 3.0 V6’s bolted together,and actually the truth is they share components both internally and externally.This does make sense as at the time Ford owned Jaguar and Aston Martin.
The variant I used was the 3.0L / AJ30 from a Jaguar S-Type.
After a lot of Internet research and study it seemed to be the best one for the job
