1990 Lotus Esprit

SE Coupe

2.2L 2174CC l4 GAS DOHC Turbocharged

Manual

SCCFC20B3LHF65509

Clear

GAS

First, I want to be clear. This car is still a project in process. It is not ready to be driven daily. It was originally white with blue interior. I came across this Lotus in May 2011. It is a two owner car that had not been pampered. Durring the time the original owner had it someone keyed every section of the car and he did not get it repaired. I was told it had been sitting for a while before the next owner got it. The second owner had it for 4 years, intended on getting it repainted, but never did. He had work performed on the car at Euro Automotive and also at Lotus of Austin. Due to a major foot injury, he eventually stopped driving the car and it just sat for over a year.When I looked at it in May, most of the clear coat had peeled away and the white paint was faded. The blue leather interior has some tears and was quite faded. The car would sometimes start, but ran very rough and would not stay running. The odometer showed 17,151 but the speedometer was not working and I assumed it was actually 117,151 miles. This is what a car check will come back with, but the inspector could have also assumed it was 117,151 when it could have acutally been 17,151.Before I bought it, I researched and compiled as much information as I could find on the life of the car and maintenance history.It had a spotty service history. I did not find where any major engine work had been performed, but some things that had been fixed or replaced over the years included replacing the a/c dryer, replacing the gas tanks, replaced slave cylinder and replaced ball joints. The last records were from 6/08 when it had a tune up, new plugs, wires, oil and the timing drive and compression belts changed by Lotus of Austin. It also passed emissions then.I had it towed to a local Lotus wrench since it wouldn't run long enough to drive it there to be checked out. I had him spend 3 hours going over the entire car to make sure there wasn't anything major wrong with it. It did need a lot of work, but I felt it was definitely worth the time to restore it to its previous glory.Since owning it, I have fixed several issues with the car as well repainted it.I remove the Engine Back Pressure Valve to remove the butterfly in the exhaust because it was stuck closed and not letting the exhaust escape. I pulled and inspected the catalytic converter and it was fine. I cleaned out the fuel system and changed the fuel filter, pulled out the injectors and sent them to be ultrasonically cleaned, flow tested and recalibrated. I had to replaces the ECU because it was bad and I was unable to read the check engine codes. Luckily the chip in the ECU was original and still good. I replaced one of the headlight motors and one of the rear tail light assemblies. Replaced the air filter, changed the spark plugs and oil, and adjusted the belt. Since the speedometer was not working, I had to repair that as well. The suspension was shot, and I replaced it with a set of Spax adjustable shocks and newer springs. The electric windows work, but they did need the tracks greased.Since the car needed to be painted, I decided to go with a metallic black exterior. I planned to eventually replace the seats with newer Elise seats, but in the interim I repaired and dyed the leather, dash and door panels in a two tone tan. The driver seat was the worst and can use a bit more touch up as seen in pic 14 &15. I also redyed the carpet and floor matts.The car is now drivable, but I usually don't drive it very long at a time because it is not state inspected. I do try to drive it a bit every weekend and have put on about 120 miles.To pass inspection it still needs the following: - Check engine codes need to be cleared and/or resolved - The horn is not working- May need the fuel/air mixture adjusted Other items I know that need to be resolved, but not effecting state inspection:- The boost isn't building enough to kick in the turbo- Right front steering arm has a bit of play in it at the inboard joint to the rack and should be replaced- A/C fan blows, but is not cold- The oil temperature gauge sometimes sticks and fuel gauge bounces when driving- It still has the original red plastic clutch hose which should probably be replaced- There is a very slight oil leak which appears to be coming from the cam coverSince replacing the ECU, I was able to manually read the check engine codes. The codes are:35 - Idle speed error 65 - Fuel injector current (primary)26 - Canister Relay I believe code 35 and 65 will probably go away once they are cleared since cleaning the fuel system, getting the injectors cleaned and to the proper flow and current and replacing the ECU, the car now runs and idles smoothly. Not sure if these code are keeping the turbo from building more boost or not, but someone told me they had the same problem and once they cleared the codes they got full boost. The turbo turbine turns freely and has no play in the shaft so it doesn’t appear to a mechanical problem but there was some oil in the inlet of the turbo.Code 26 is on because someone removed the charcoal canister. I'm sure there is a bypass for this code, or you could simple install a charcoal canister.My intent was to restore it to a drivable condition, repaint it, get it looking good, fix the items necessary to get it inspected and enjoy it for a while.I planned to later continue the rest of the restoration process with a possible engine rebuild later down the line.I found myself out of work for a while and had to pilferage the rest of my project money. Now with less money and my new job being farther from home, I just don't have the discretionary funds or time to devote to it anymore. I don't want to see the car end up just sitting around again after I've gotten it this far. If you are not familiar with Lotus cars, they do require a fair amount of up keep. So if you are not mechanically incline or don't have the money to support a 22 year old exotic like this, this is not the car for you. However, if you are familiar with these cars or are good with cars in general, this may a great project car for you. I also have an original OEM Lotus factory workshop/parts manual disk.Below is a link with 9 pages showing the exterior and interior work I have done on the car.Just click on the "view photo's" button on the right. There is a slide bar close to the bottom of each page to get to the next page of pics.http://www.thepixlounge.com/event/lotus-esprit-restoration-project-1990 If you are serious about this car, I'm happy to answer any questions.The car is sold as-is. If you win this car, I do require a $500 paypal deposit within 48 hours.The buyer is responsible for arranging and paying for shipping and I will only ship within the US.I also have the car listed locally and reserve the right to end this auction early.