Worst Lotus Esprit chassis bodge // SOUP Classic Motoring E.37 

I was pointed at this channel by a friend, who shares my love for all things resto. And I have to say, this has killed my productivity over the last week, I have binge watch all the previous videos and I'm fully intending watching all of them over the next week! I so hope when I get to the later episodes this is still going strong! Keep it up George! Good Luck, Stu

Really good episode George. You made me laugh when you said you didn’t have a vice. I’ve had a vice 20 years but never a work bench to mount it on. The fun I had sitting on the floor with the vice, wire brushing components of my Scimitar GTE... happy days. Good Luck.

love the stop go animation

You have just created a new standard in filming car videos.....it’s just fabulous

George, I think the chassis was opened with an air chisel that‘s why they are bent in and out due to the angle of attack! Cheers Dave

I do video production for a living, and cars for fun. Your video production is excellent, and the car stuff is great ,nice to see someone else using penetrating fluid, good job mate.

If you optimize the lengths of all bolts, and toss the off-cuts into a bowl, you won't get the full amount of weight saved. You will be missing the metal cut by saw and file in dressing the cut end.

As someone who does almost all the work on my own Lotus (Elise), I really enjoy this series. Can't believe it's not more widely watched. Great production values and very interesting content. Keep up the good work (y) Looking forward to seeing the state of the chassis once it's blasted. Surprised there's no aftermarket replacement option, like the Spyder chassis for the Elan and Elan +2.

Tripped over this quite by accident, just superb, if only everyone was this dedicated. You have gained another subscriber.

George I love your determination,confidence I wish you the best I’m like a little kid glued to my phone every time you have a new episode even if my wife get upset for not paying attention. Buenas noches body !

A car without bodges is a car without history. It reminds me of the time I found a whirlpool pipe being used as a fuel line in my 82 924 haha.

Glad you took care of the hubs, you are absolutely correct about their rareness. You will also find that over time, they wear and the camber can increase. This can happen unevenly, and give a lop-sided look...

You commentry is very articulate, and a pleasure to take in. Animated nut-and-bolting is great. A pleasure to watch, and I'm not really even into sports cars.

This is great, reminds me when I was twelve watching Take Art - well done!!!

Fantastic, glad to see you're not downhearted with the chassis damage.

Just had my 1975 Scimitar dropped off (thanks to your philosophy and you) now I have my own fibreglass project! You made a special day even better. Top lad. I need a new soup sticker now

Recent subscriber and loving the content, that Esprit is beautiful and will be amazing when done, I've done a light resto on a car I bought 12 years ago when it was already 8 and although it fought me all the way was incredibly satisfying to get back on the road (legally) albeit I was just saving it from the scrap man having been laid up for 4 years as I had to sell it due to lack of funds to run it, but I knew that and just wanted to save it. The quality of your vids is amazing, I'm only half way through them but will try and contribute when I have spare funds - all the best.

"My car, that I fixed"......Hell yes! Best feeling in the world!!! Look forward to seeing more. Thanks

Fabulous work, possible some of the best automotive repair content I’ve seen in RU-vid. 👍👍👍Subscribed and shared!

Don't worry about the differences in shims. Welded structures, even when jigged, are rarely perfect as the heat of welding causes distortions. My S3 Turbo has about 5mm of shim one side and 1mm the other. Alignment when complete is more important that the amount of shims used to achieve it.

The stop-motion animation technique used here is very reminiscent of that used by Jan Švankmajer. Were you influenced by him at all? It's wonderful, by the way.

I really appreciated the stop motion videography and the highlighted parts (Such at 1:14), it really helps see what is going on and makes the video that much more informative. Its not always easy to see what people are doing in live video and the person often blocks the shot somewhat, whereas the stop motion displays everything beautifully! I know it must be a lot of effort to produce so I wanted you to know that its appreciated!

Hey, I'm only a year behind now. Too bad about the bodges on the chassis, but like you said you will get extreme satisfaction repairing it knowing you did it right. I'm going to have to do the same thing (not fix a bodge, but fix a rotten chassis) on my GT6.

Really impressive update, thanks for showing us the more non exciting part of a restoration George.

Pure entertainment! Great subject, great work, great videos, great narration. Thank you.

you are a great storyteller and an outstanding stop play motion artist!

That is one mighty bodge right there. Lots of hard work ahead but you know it'll all be worth it.

Exciting to see the chassis bare finally.

Lovely project but i'm really impressed by the camera work too, it's excellent

A man after my own heart, except you're lucky enough to have a garage and a mrs who doesn't keep moaning at you for having a "crap car" on the driveway bringing house prices down.

Gotta love them bodgers....your right it’s never scary finding that sort of thing, your always glad you did find them so you know ‘you’ can make it right...good progress.

Wonderful video. That you were excited by all the chassis repairs inspires me as I look at all the work still to do on my MGB.

Wow you videos are just amazing, so much dedication and effort put into all of them.. top man

The suspension setup is remarkably similar to my 1980 TVR Tasmin suspension. Interesting.

The best is yet to come!! Nicely done!

Wonderful video, the work put in to the animation. The lack of endless repetitive into while nothing happens. Useful sensible commentary, and a lovely voice for the job. Whoever did that bodge should be attached with a can opener to see how they like it. I really get how the project excites you... I just refurbished a mini milling machine which was thoroughly f*%7ked . Can't wait top see more :-)

Man, I am re-watching some of your stuff as it comes up on the feed. Love the intro with Wonka

My first time with you! Amazing filming! Gobsmacked. Must take ages. Almost magical seeing the car take itself apart. Fantastic stuff. Subscribed.

As an Esprit owner, I tip my hat to you - great series!

Such is life. I remember as an innocent student buying a nice shiny Mini, and being pushed into the path of an approaching double decker bus by an idiot joining my carriageway. The resulting debris revealed a lot of resin coated Kelloggs cornflake cardboard structural panels that I'd thought were original factory parts of my car.

Maybe those holes were cut to prevent a torch or grinder from damaging the other coolant pipes, George??? Great strip so far...

Love the video work. It's great that we can see what's going on, clearly, without heads and hands in the way.. Thanks

What savage was at that chassis back in the day? And the owner probably paid well for the work too I would imagine.

Great camera work there , have you thought about galvanising the chassis ? you're doing the car proud with all this effort , keep up the good work

Absolutely brilliant and very captivating as usual!!

Great episode mate. Just remember every bolt you cut down your also losing a disc width of material. Difference in shim maybe from chassis twist from those holes cut in it. Ill add another donation to the welder fund for you.

great to see the best advice ever given followed...if in doubt give it a paddy whack ....works time after time.

This is great inspiration for my bent Lotus Europa project. My damage seems simple compared to yours, haha. Just a bent front T section and a bent right rear chassis wishbone. Wish me luck.

Can’t wait to see how much wait you save

Truly brilliant. The bagpus/ fantastic Mr Fox animation is absolutely superb and so informative for this. Cheers for all these. This is the first I’ve watched, but subscribed immediately and look forward to watching more.. “back issues” too.

For what it's wort you can make little cups or wells around then it's and bolts from modelling clay and fill them with penetrating oil. Means you fill them up and leave to soak and do it's stuff. Works well on vintage aircraft engines so will work for you.

Hi George, another wonderful video! Saw the title and I was intrigued. I have to admit, I was excited to get to this part with the chassis! Man, did that stuff looked caked on! Part of the reason I watch is the cinematography and the effort put in unto stop motion. What program are you using for producing? How did you do the highlighting of the different parts? Thanks! Ray PS: there's a lot of penetrating fluid! Any potential sponsorship requests from WD40? :o)

I revere this design and Guigarios achievement. It is hard for me to understand how anyone fortunate enough to have owned this car could have allowed it to deteriorate so far and to resort to just cutting away parts to access some real or imagined problem. What a shame and what a blessing to know that this one will be back to its amazing condition when this restoration is completed.

You should get the chassis hot dipped galvanized, to stop rust, I know the delorean guys do with their chassis . There is a place in waterford that does galvanized dipping. Or ring fox’s gates they dip their gates. Hope it helps you with your project .

Another great episode. Love the work & dedication going into the Esprit! As soon as you lifted that plate off, I was forced to exclaim out loud in horror, "They fucking chiseled it!" And then to just pop rivet a cover on a structural member!? Just WTF were they thinking? Once you are finished, this will be better than it has been since it was near new! When you add up all the grams you cut off, don't forget to add extra for all the filings you lose to the hacksaw and grinder!

9 Minutes in. Subscribed. Love it!! PS. If you’re in need of some masterly tube bending for your coolant pipes - I know a guy that could be persuaded. He did a blinding job on my project, which was faaaar more complex...

So inspiring George!

Please buy a vice they are so handy. I would be looking at acid dip rather than blasting, it will get in every where. Love your work.

When you're ready to re-run all your lines and pipes down that center tunnel, I would use the absolute most high-quality, durable stuff you can find. It'd be a nightmare to have to get back in there to service something. And to that point--would it be possible to engineer some kind of access points into it where you can peek in and see what's going on WITHOUT compromising the rigidity of it? I feel like that would be handy.

Man I love how you videoed this nice work.

Another great episode, its great to get right down to the bones!

Seems like you're on a roll with all this work - can't wait to see what condition that chassis is in after it's been blasted. As for me, it's the last few weeks of term and with too much on at work I haven't had a chance to get to the Vitesse brakes, so I'm getting a mechanic friend in. He's coming tomorrow to investigate and advise. And maybe fix them! Range Rover is still burbling well but I can hear a faint but ominous crunchy noise from the front brakes and when the steering's on full lock and the LPG needs a service so I've got to get the Vitesse brakes fixed so I can take the RR off the road and sort out those two issues. Does it ever end?

love the way these videos are animated, looking forward to the esprit chassis being blasted and repaired but am missing the rangerover or did I miss something

Great progress George. Any plans to explore if there are any deviations in the chassis geometry? Make sure it's all square etc?

G: If you are gonna shorten all your fasteners to save weight you probably want to cut before you take the nut off. From experience I know how much fun it is to reach inside of something with your non dominant hand to try to get a nut started on threads that are cut. fun fun fun. At least its not hot over there, try doing it in 105 degree heat or 15 degree cold. It makes you re evaluate your priorities. And if you want to save the same amount of weight just use the same fasteners you removed. Then just go into Carlingford and hit PJ's around 7 on Saturday evening and stay till close. Then Sunday morning have an enjoyable #1 and #2 and just get in the car, it will be about the same as cutting 3 threads off each bolt. God Bless you brother, keep at it I enjoy the channel. I really like the esprit. I have photo of a nice gyn metal gray mode in my album "cool cars that park in front of my house".

Wow I stumbled upon this channel by accident, and I'm glad I did! I have a '91 Esprit Turbo SE that I've been driving and fixing as I go, and these videos are great for a better visual of the underlying Esprit components. I have a good friend with a derelict S1 that would love to see these.

Add lightness George, add lightness... Looking forward to the next video mate.

I wonder what a Custom Chassis would cost? It could possibly be made of Aluminum to save weight. In either case, steel or Aluminum, it would be powder coated in your choice of color and have access panels integrated to allow for servicing if and when needed. The chassis would include the control arms. The existing chassis has structural defects and has experienced abnormal flexing, which may have weakened the frame including micro fracturing. It is awful what was inflicted upon it.

It's all been said in the comments so I've nothing to add except thanks for another great video.

Awesome intro..."good day, sir!"

Oh the butchery, hackery and out right bodgery of your chassis. And I thought I saw it all in episode 36. Yeah I know, I've just watched episode 37, but not fully caught up from the beginning yet. I'm up to episode 16 ;). (Yeah, hackery and bodgery are words lol.)

That was the coolest Peter Gabriel video I've seen for years ;)

wow, thats a lot of work gone into filming this! subbed!

Goodness, George, that car must have been a potato chip with those 2 holes butchered into it. I have a metal plate that I need to install that fits over the opening for the shifter in my S4, and reportedly, it notably stiffens the chassis. Now imagine what 2 equally large..if not larger...holes would do to the rigidity? I know that you're in pursuit of lightness with the build, but might you consider using a heavier gauge metal when you get to the weld repairs to give it some strength where there once was none?

Great video. Some good tips. Keep up the great work!

Massive Ergo Sum: I'm huge therefore I am. I didn't know Descartes made tractors.

Fantastic progress, mabruck!

don't forget to drill through the length of all studs (and bolts?) and weigh the swarf. I'm sure Chappers would approve ;D

this is an amazing video thanks for posting

I watch this and Salvage Rebuilds. Two great progs.

Love the stop-motion. Hope it doesn't take too long?

She is down to the bones now George thats the way lad will be a peach when done!

Hell, you're all over this weight loss thing aren't you! Will be interesting to see what the total is at the end.

dear god that chassis looks like a nightmare

For a company so well regarded for engineering thanks to their Formula 1 pedigree in the 1970's, this car is positively agricultural. Inaccessible coolant pipes inside a closed space, inscrutable. It would for wiser and easier and safer to create a new backbone than fix that one, it looks like scrap.

A huge milestone!

My mates got one will share this with him .

I worked for a Lotus dealer for 14 years when these were still being produced. Lotus cars do not advocate any repairs to the chassis, replace only. You can see why when you look at that mess.

The way he speaks and the sexiness in his voice makes it sound like an erotic novel. I almost closed my eyes and pretended he was working on my chassis.

Great video as usual. Make sure you use epoxy on the chassis!

I bought a bike half in bits and someone had fitted a head gasket made from a coke can! Best thing was it never had one from the factory anyway.

Yeah the S1/S2 chassis is very thin. Lotus seems to have developed the car to make it stronger, not reduce its weight. So any damage to your chassis will compromise the rigidity. My S1 had one full rear shim on one side only.

Man I have discovered my new favourite show ! Greeks do it better - Keep up the good work !

If it’s not red, leave it in the shed!!! 😉 Fantastic work. Well done.

Thanks! Good information!

The two oval holes in the back of the chassis make life difficult when you come to change the timing belt (unless you're a qualified gynecologist who can wallpaper the hallway through the letterbox) so the later cars had a triangular bigger hole. Instead of repairing yours back to how it left the factory you might want to consider 'upgrading' it to the later spec which will make your life easier in the future. Pay particular attention to the area under the exhaust manifold as the tubes rot there. I ended up replacing all the rear tubes on my chassis. And throw away that plastic clutch hose and replace it with a braided one if you want to be able to get it into gear in the hot weather :) My car is a 1976 S1 and I believe the hole in my chassis is original... tinypic.com/r/5p4g9w/9 Everything you see in this photo which is grey is new and has been professionally TIG welded in (I didn't trust my own welding that much!)... tinypic.com/r/qspn9h/9

What penetrating fluid are you using? It seems to work very well!

Do you think some modern coil overs would save same weight?

素晴らしい復元に秀樹感激Goodです=3

If there's a God, he will ensure that the punter that screwdrivered those holes will see this video and laughingly own up to his work!