Can you lighten a lightweight classic? 

FYI, there’s another guy on RU-vid rebuilding an Esprit who did a CAD demo of the chassis flex. It exposes the weakness at the gearbox opening and the fix they made on the Esprit Sport model, cheers.

this is the most underrated car build channel in youtube

Soup needs way more followers, share the channel around with all your petrolhead buddies , lets see if we can get him to 500k !!

Having followed this build from the start and being a long-time patron; seeing that refurbished gear lever assembly get lowered into the chassis put a huge smile on my face. So happy to be in assembly stage!!

RU-vid Awards for best production... The Winner Soup Classic Motoring. Easy

Colin would be proud of how you are simplifying and adding lightness 👍

That was lovely, so relaxing even with out your gentle story telling voice.

Your Lotus work is probably the most intensive restoration I've ever seen on RU-vid. I'm currently doing a frame-off on a 49 Willys pickup. My going in intention was to focus on getting it into a solid, driver state. As I do the work I'm constantly running to the wire wheel to clean up every nut and bolt. It is at these times I have to ask myself "have I gone too far?" I just hate to put dirty or rusty bits back on to a clean frame. Seeing your work, I suspect you have had the same conversation with yourself.

Love your videos. The stop frame must take years to shoot and edit. It takes me back to all the kids programs I watched in the 70's. Excellent.

Feels like you're back in the groove and doing the good stuff.

Your Video making skills are one of the best on here & so looking forward to seeing the Car finished 👍

The gear lever work is stunning, loved the drop in shot at the end , oh and familiar looking s angles on the radiator, excellent as always 😎

These are excellent videos. Not just for entertainment but also for the detail involved in restoring an S2.

Interesting. I like videos with or without talking. As long as its clean, no profanity.

This was a good one, with stop-motion and normal work in a good amount of balance.

Great job. I had to explain the speed holes to my wife. She grudgingly accepted the concept.

Love it George - although you had me going at the start before I realised you'd gone back in time lol. My continuity OCD was well and truly triggered!

Appreciate the update. BTW, the gearchange aperture in the backbone was known to weaken it substantially and allow flex, it was modded/beefed up in some later versions (after it got turboed or a V8).

Fantastic. You add lightness as a mechanic and as a photographer 👍🇦🇺

My S3 ‘lightened itself’ when the radiator and fan unit fell off one day as I was leaving to go to work! 😀 Thankfully a very nice old man in Liverpool made me an aluminium replacement! I think the S3 had the same rad as a Sherpa van. Different proportions to the one you are rebuilding.

Chapman would be proud

Lovely work George. That radiator still feels very small, the Elite/Eclat has one that must be at least twice the size for the same engine!

My favorite thing on this channel is the vice bolted to the giant block of wood

I don't understand doing all that and putting the old radiator back in, but as you said: add lightness. Mission accomplished.

Thanks, George. Continued brilliance.

lovely progress

My old Austin Allegro used to also have this self disassembling feature built in,the only thing was it would constantly turn on when you were driving it 😁

Mesmeric to watch, backing music - Grrrrreat 😎👌

Excellent work. Such fun to watch!

Quality content as ever George. Loving your work.

This was an incredible video - just what I needed today. Thank you!

Tidy job you have the place looking fantastic 👌

Damn it's satisfying to see stuff go back together after all this time. I'm guessing that goes double for you Georgie! 😁 Cheers Lad!

George as allways quality well done

I still love your work, however nuts I think taking on this project was… the first Bond film I saw at the cinema was the Spy Who (whatever) with the white one that did stuff and I will always have a warm, fuzzy space in my heart for a white Esprit with louvres over the back window… and torpedoes and machine guns and smoke… I can’t help thinking (still) that this should be a classic shade of white..? Regardless: your work is second only to someone who has refurbished their Esprit in such a fashion before… no, wait: that IS second to NONE! Great work!

Good solid progress, video quality as usual superb!

Georrrge!!! I get two weeks out of YT and you put 2 NEW VIDEOS OF THE LOTUS!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?? Well ...IM IIIIIIIINNNNNN!!!!

Love the tunes and playful effects 👍🏽

Always enjoy your videos: thank you!

Awesome 👏👍👍👍. Shouting to the choir here I know George the modern day cooling fans will also be a godsend 🤘🏻

Simply beautiful !!!

"KEEP HANDS CLEAR" 😄

Nice to see you at it again, can't wait to see it done...

Should go into MOMI along with vids when finished. Its a work of art.

Cant wait to see more.

Ohh dang first start coming soon!!!!

Every single one of those grammes counts 😉 Fair play George, the amount of work you've put into filming this project, never mind what work you've already done on the car itself, just brilliant. Looking forward to seeing it gettin fired up, at long last.

Fantastic work

I’ve always liked the Esprit, it’s a cool looking car. I had a customer that had one, and he said it was pretty unreliable, After watching your videos, and seeing how they are constructed, they look somewhat fragile compared to most cars over here in North America. I’ve worked on a few E Types, it just a different style of building a car. I do appreciate the dedication and craftsmanship going into rebuilding this car.

Thanks for the update, George. Some good progress there! Once the big stuff is done, it's all fidly bits...

Today, the driving experience offered by light cars is becoming more and more unattainable. This project is my favourite. I'm looking forward to the sequel!

This is a cool video I like to watch. Thank you for making it.

YES!! Back to making art!! Thanks!

BRAVO !!!!!! George.

Interesting George. On my '79 all that sheet steel radiator frame is made from four pieces of aluminum bar welded into a wide rectangle, with the rad held in by strips screwed in place. I've had the car so long it will be original.

Woah now! Where’s the intro? I love the intro music……damn!

All that weight removed then replaced with dust. Now that progress is being made that heavy dust will soon be blown off. So glad to see it moving on again.

The devil is in the details. But if you make the details into a challenge then you have won half of the game. Good job, and thanks for video.

So so good!

It all adds up or rather it all subtracts down....eh too much maths. Lovely work G-man!

Love the Esprit.

Pop up headlights, the single best design feature of the automobile ever..

Nice work George. I thought you were scraping dead flies off to save weight with that blade for a minute.

Beautiful, as ever.

You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. You were to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!

Love your videos, that shifter needs a few speed holes

Aaahhhhhhh. Thanks, Mr Soup.

Letting the work do the talking #getafterit

I like your ideas and car restoration videos, I suggest you use rust removal materials from Evapo-Rust, as it treats metal, gets rid of rust, and works to improve the metal and give it protection

Πολυ καλη δουλεια ΜΠΡΑΒΟ

Lovely Jubbly

Top job👌🏻🏁😎

Beautiful❤

Soup is good for you.

Careful brother, I bet those rads aren't cheap, mind you, knowing Lotus, it's probably out of an Austin Maxi! 😁

You can sand non structural parts of the fiberglass to 1/2 of their original thickness. Properly done can save up to 35 pounds

FORZA George!

Remove weight from a Chapman era Lotus? My first thought would be to add weight with bracing etc.

I bet this thing is an absolute riot to drive on a B road

Hope you took that radiator to a shop to have it cleaned and pressure tested.

I felt sad clicking thumbs up, it was tree-tirty-tree. A connus a taw tu? [ bad phonetic Irish ;-) ] Love the channel ☘

LOVE IT! But surely you had the radiator refurbished?

The old saying “oz’s make lb’s”

RU-vidrs of the World rejoice, new Esprit content has landed

Have you thought about cold blueing? That would protect the shifter a bit.

Yes, all you need is Rust.

I'm reminded of Peter Kay; "I shit a pound"

Esprit Superleggera! - you'll be offered a job at GMA if you carry on!

This is kind of the automotive Bobby Fingers.

Sorry if I missed it, but was the rad already pressure tested?

I really love your videos George. It's a wonder the original radiator is big enough for the job in hand, I guess it must be. This is probably a dumb comment owing to me being an old man maybe, but why the pre-occupation with lightening? It strikes me that you are weakening lots of the components on the car just to save maybe the difference between having half a tank of petrol and a full one. In any case, really looking forward to see what happens with the engine.

3:00 for your own safety wear eye protection but good choice of investing in a wireless drill ( 4:00 ).

That’s a tiny core to begin with 👌🏻

Did you give any thought to whether to chrome the gearshift lever or is it hidden when in the car by the surround? Thanks for sharing. So good to see some progress on this lovely car. Cheers Billy J.... Queensland, Australia.

👍

Lovely work as always. But rather than lightening that scabby old radiator mount, could you not replicate it in aluminium? Wonder if it would handle the vibes if rubber mounted. Aware that you have a Tig welder somewhere…

Is that the melody to "Tongue Tied"?

Dude, you need some safety glasses when wielding that angle grinder (with no guard). That grinding disc can easily come apart! Just saying.

As Penfold might exclaim, "Core Grimy D.M.!"

I'm only asking because it didn't show it in the video, but I take you did flush the rad out and checked for any leaks with a bit of pressure?