1993 Lotus Esprit Sport "600"

[Reeves Racing]

Monogram Lotus Sport 300 with a Revell 600bhp Audi R8 V10 swapped for the 300bph Lotus 2.2 turbo four cylinder.

Solder exhaust headers with heat shrink collectors and candle heated and reshaped final exhaust from the Audi kit and aluminum tips.

Box stock other than the drive train and adjusted ride height both front and rear.

Next to some other super cars build in the past. (the kit decals registration is terrible. even worse on close up)

[ChrisR]

Nice!

[PatW]

Very nice, good to see a popular British sportscar on here. Thanks for sharing.

[Bainford]

Yes, need more Lotus. Audi V-10, eh? That must have been a shoehorn job. The Audi lump may upset the chassis balance, but in that light weight Lotus, it sure would be a rocket. Cool project! I like.

[afx]

Nice work Mitch, are those the kit wheels/tires?

[DiscoRover007]

Nice job! What color did you use? It’s pretty.

[francesco]

beautiful

[Reeves Racing]

6 hours ago, afx said:

Nice work Mitch, are those the kit wheels/tires?

Yes they are JC, surprisingly enough. They are some of the best I've seen especially in a Revelogram offering.

4 hours ago, DiscoRover007 said:

Nice job! What color did you use? It’s pretty.

I almost always use Dupli-Color James.

[Top.Secret]

Nicely done man, nice paint and you've got the ride height done nicely.  May I ask how you went about lowering this?  I just completed this version of the Monogram Kit

 

I built this to familiarize myself with the kit as I also bought the Sport 300 version.  The chassis is essentially the same but it was a serious nightmare for me to lower this thing, and after the lowering was completed, the rear wheels would not sit center.  The method I tried was to make the chassis 'spine' sit deeper into the interior bucket but that created all sorts of problems.  So many parts had to be trimmed or adjusted when I tried doing it this way.  I don't know how I will go about it when I build the 300.  

  Edit: As you can see on the stock build on the box art, the stock stance (atleast on this version of the kit) has the stance of a monster truck lol.  

Edited March 10, 2018 by Top.Secret

[Reeves Racing]

On 3/10/2018 at 7:25 AM, Top.Secret said:

Nicely done man, nice paint and you've got the ride height done nicely.  May I ask how you went about lowering this?  I just completed this version of the Monogram Kit

 

I built this to familiarize myself with the kit as I also bought the Sport 300 version.  The chassis is essentially the same but it was a serious nightmare for me to lower this thing, and after the lowering was completed, the rear wheels would not sit center.  The method I tried was to make the chassis 'spine' sit deeper into the interior bucket but that created all sorts of problems.  So many parts had to be trimmed or adjusted when I tried doing it this way.  I don't know how I will go about it when I build the 300.  

  Edit: As you can see on the stock build on the box art, the stock stance (atleast on this version of the kit) has the stance of a monster truck lol.  

It was easy for the front. The rear took a couple adjustments. I will post up the pictures and description about what I did tomorrow evening.

[Reeves Racing]

On 3/10/2018 at 7:25 AM, Top.Secret said:

Nicely done man, nice paint and you've got the ride height done nicely.  May I ask how you went about lowering this?  I just completed this version of the Monogram Kit

 

I built this to familiarize myself with the kit as I also bought the Sport 300 version.  The chassis is essentially the same but it was a serious nightmare for me to lower this thing, and after the lowering was completed, the rear wheels would not sit center.  The method I tried was to make the chassis 'spine' sit deeper into the interior bucket but that created all sorts of problems.  So many parts had to be trimmed or adjusted when I tried doing it this way.  I don't know how I will go about it when I build the 300.  

  Edit: As you can see on the stock build on the box art, the stock stance (atleast on this version of the kit) has the stance of a monster truck lol.  

Here are the pictures and description of what I did to lower this one Smokey.

Like most model kits the ride height on this one is way too high. An easy enough fix for the front end. I cut the spindle portion off of the steering knuckle assembly and glued it back on around 4mm higher or toward the top of the knuckle. The rear end is another story. The Esprit has inboard rear disc brakes. The rear swing arms/bearing carriers are located mainly by the coil over spring assemblies. I guess a person could just cut  off the molded on coilovers, shorten them and glue them back on.... but if you have to rework them anyway, why not improve the whole sub-assembly? 

You can also see that if you put it together out of the box, the coil overs are too long from the get go.
In the mock up you can see that the rear wheels are way too far out of the wheel opening with almost a 5 mm gap between the arch and the tire... not good, and this causes some negative camber and some wicked toe out. The rear tires would be bald in 5 miles of driving and not just because this little car is so light and has a turbo... Not to mention the car would look drunk...

I do like how they engineered the mounting of the rear wheels. The outer CV joint and boot are a separate part and act as a retainer to hold the wheel center shaft into the swing arm bearing carrier. It separates the half shaft into two parts  but I think it's a smart and sturdy way to mount the wheel to the swing arm and still let the tire spin. 

I found that the red plug wire stock I have looks the right diameter or gauge for the rear springs of the coil overs and I wouldn't have to paint it. I tried a couple of different sizes of dowel until I found a diameter that looked good. I used a 3 or 4 mm stick. Next I cut the coil overs off just below the top spring perch. I drilled everything so it could be reinforced inside with wire and to allow me to adjust some angles on final assembly. If I use a slow CA I have time to tweak the angles a little before it sets up. You have to cut off more than 4mm from the length of the shock. More like 6 to 7mm, so the end result is they are just fuzz over half as long as before.

Instead of using new stock for the shocks I just whittled and sanded off the molded on springs. It all fits correctly now and I have some fudge room when I put it all together. Just in case they are a fuzz too short. 

 

 

[Funkychiken]

Great build, like the colour, and it's a fantastic looking car...

[Dann Tier]

I have a "love-hate" relationship with this kit, but really love the car. too bad its our only option. I will be working on mine after the Pagani. I think you did an Extremely nice job here, considering the infamous fit issues. Like the real car, you have to really love it to own it...lol

[Top.Secret]

Really appreciate the photos man, I wanna kick my own head for not seeing the solution for the rear as you've done here heh.

[Jim N]

Great looking model!

[ATHU]

Looks great. Excellent work!

[iamsuperdan]

Nicely done! I too have this in the stash. I want to start it, as I love the Esprit, but I hear so many horror stories about the quality of the kit, that I keep putting it off.