The time has come!

Aurora40 said:
Guess I'm a little too late to the party,..., I've the perfect car for you. ...



...-Does handling count for "safe"?



...It was a nice silver 1986 Lotus Esprit... :D
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Oh well, He can use the extra space in the Lex for carrying detailing supplies anyway.



They must be safe. A buddy of mine crashed his Esprit S1 at around 100mph and walked away unscratched. Fixed the car too.





PC.
 
Aurora40 said:
...however if your Lexus spontaneously combusts or something... :D
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What, are you trying to jinx me?!? Haha, I'll keep it in mind. I'll drive around Va Beach Pretty Woman style (I always think about the movie when I think about the Esprit).



Accumulator, It's always been normal. They've already said, they'll never have less than three cars at the house after my sister and I have left.



PC- it's swirled to hell right now. Long, swoopy swirls which give it away- someone had been using a wash brush (ahem, broom if you ask me...) to wash it. Tomorrow I'm making a day trip to the District Scout reservation to help my troop with a service project. An English project kept me from being there right now. Saturday afternoon and Sunday, she'll be in the air so I can scrub underneath. She desperately needs clay, and an intense paint cleansing is a definite must.



Thanks for the kind words. She really is a damned sexy car in person :cool: I'm very glad to have her here.
 
Aurora40 said:
-$14,500

-Think the mileage was around 30-40k

-Does handling count for "safe"?

-It's a 4-banger with like 14-15" wheels... how bad could insurance be?





It was a nice silver 1986 Lotus Esprit... :D
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Even low mileage Esprits are far from bulletproof, especially from the 80s.



Heck, even brand-new Esprits from the 80s weren't bulletproof!



Heck, they still aren't!:p



But yes the chick-magnet factor is pretty darn high!:xyxthumbs
 
My plan of attack for tomorrow:



Up early, epecially for a Saturday morning.



-Wash

-Jacking up one side at a time, removing the wheels, and completely cleaning them. They'll be sealed a waxed a few times each. These wheels look pretty easy to take care of.

- While the wheels are off, the creeper seat is coming out, and the wheel wells/undercarriage will be scrubbed and dressed.

-clay

-#83

-SSR1 if necessary.

-AIO

- Either Natty's or S100. What do you think would look better on this color?

- Interior is spotless, I'll just clean the leather on the back seats and vacuum the floor mats. My Z10 should be here this week to condition the entire interior. (Ooh, that smell).

-The engine is spotless, but some rubber protectant on the hoses should suffice.



This will all be posted with before/after pictures in another thread. :)
 
Very Nice! That leather looks brand spankin' new.



Be sure to post lots of before and after pics, and some *in progress* pics. Sorry don't want to sound greedy
 
92MX83 said:
Even low mileage Esprits are far from bulletproof, especially from the 80s.



Heck, even brand-new Esprits from the 80s weren't bulletproof!



Heck, they still aren't!:p



But yes the chick-magnet factor is pretty darn high!:xyxthumbs
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Yeah, the car: $14,500... The tune-up: $15,000. :eek:
 
Don't get under that car on a creeper unless you have jackstands or a heavier jack! Lexus has weak little jacks, my dad's old LS400 fell off of the jack when we were trying to change a tire one time.



Looks great! Yeah start a long regimen of conditioning the leather. Get in there with a hairdrier and make sure the leather soaks it up, especially on the tops of the rear seats. The leather will harden so much there that it will rip the seams. You'll need to do it 5 or 6 times probably before the leather feels right.
 
We're using my Dad's 3 1/2 ton floor jack. I looked at the supplied Lexus jack this morning, and it doesn't look like it's ever been used. The spare tire is orginal and hasn't ever touched the ground.



I'm not using the creeper, I hate being upside down and I realized that this morning. I'm just sitting on my detailing stool and leaning over. I'm just waiting on Dad to come home because I can't get 1 lug off of the front driver's side wheel, and it's keeping me from moving on. I already polished the exhaust tips.
 
Before you try anything extreme on that one lug nut, put the rest back on fairly tight. All the force is being held by that last one--tighten the rest back up and go back and break loose the stuck one first, then take the other ones off.
 
TW- nope, I've got 5 wrenches working at once to remove them, that way the tire fals off perfectly balanced! ;) Of course, how else would I do it?



Steve- all is well. I had tried putting all of my 160 lbs and kneeling on the cross bar, but I got nothing. Dad told me how to use a 'cheater' bar, to get extra leverage. I don't know why he didn't just tell me in the first place... :(



Mike- I had the car balanced so the tire was stnading by itself, and the lugs were kind of just sitting there.



Wash/clay/paint prep is next! :)
 
MongooseGA said:
...[Re taking off lug nuts].. Of course, how else would I do it?
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With weight of car on wheels/tires (car *not* jacked up), break all five loose. Jack up car. Loosen all lugnuts a little more, one at a time. Remove lugnuts completely one at a time.



The idea (and it's a *very good* idea ;) ) is to have fairly equal pressure on the wheel hub at all times.



When replacing, cinch them all up gradually/evenly so you don't have one tight and the others loose. Get them all snug but not *too* tight. Do the final tightening (with a torque wrench) with the vehicle's weight back on the wheels/tires.
 
/\ :lol:



The car is washed and clayed. The majority of the day was spent on the wheels. Tomorrow brings the fun stuff, and I don't have to get wet. I'm on my way out to pick up some more A2Z and some QD.
 
These after pics are going to be awesome. That is one sharp car. You're a lucky fella, I have to wait until 16 to get my car in September (we're both lucky to be able to have a car by 16 anyway). You have a few months to pamper it and perfect it before you take it on the road, so by the time you can drive it, it will be quite a looker!



Congrats on the car!
 
Thanks.



The car definitely has a grgeous shape. The only problem with getting it clean today was I saw all of the little door dings and touch up jobs here and there. I'm attributing all of these to the owner being an old fart who parked in the front row everywhere he went. I think most of them are candidates for PDR.
 
Glenn,



You cannot remove just one lug at a time. It'll create unequal pressure on the other lug nuts and eventually all pressure will be on the last nut, resulting in you not being able to get it off (or worse, breaking the stem). Like Accumulator said, loosen the lugs while the weight of the car is on the wheel, jack it up, loosen all a bit more, and then remove.
 
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