Adding Muscle - Now or never

[Oldtimer_Basis]

Great! Thanks a lot.

[Alan_M]

In addition to standard composite gaskets Gary Kemp also does MLS gaskets - available on his eBay shop - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotus-Esprit ... 635-2958-0

[MetBlue]

SJS
PNM engineering
Gary Kemp Engines (Google it)

QED also a possibility.

Tony

[Oldtimer_Basis]

These Gary Kemp Steel-Gaskets look very trustworthy. The former Gasket was a normal Composite one in black, with red Rubber Lining. Don´t know, how old it was, but it litterally rotted away... so these few Bucks more seem to be a good Investment.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Gary's sound too. Use him 100%.

[Oldtimer_Basis]

Okay, Head is bolted on (did you know that the Middle Layer of these Gary Kemp Gaskets is made of Kevlar? Don´t know if this is really neccessary, but it sure sounds cool saying that LOL )
I stumbled upon a "Generation II" Heat-Wrap for Headers - with Copper-Fibres woven into. I have no Idea, how such a heat conductive Material like Copper should be able to block Heat, but they claim that it does. I´ll test that and keep you Guys posted. We discussed the Issues you had with Heat-Wrap, here, and wondered why we never had any Problems with Headers rusting away... maybe it´s the Climate? That´s just a wild Guess, but perhaps british Air is a bit more "salty" because of the Proximity to the Sea? If this is so, the Netherlands should have the same Problems. In general, I can confirm that dutch Cars are more prone to Rust, but I never discussed that Heat-Wrap-Issue with them. Do we have a dutch Guy, here?

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Okay, Head is bolted on (did you know that the Middle Layer of these Gary Kemp Gaskets is made of Kevlar? Don´t know if this is really neccessary, but it sure sounds cool saying that LOL )
I stumbled upon a "Generation II" Heat-Wrap for Headers - with Copper-Fibres woven into. I have no Idea, how such a heat conductive Material like Copper should be able to block Heat, but they claim that it does. I´ll test that and keep you Guys posted. We discussed the Issues you had with Heat-Wrap, here, and wondered why we never had any Problems with Headers rusting away... maybe it´s the Climate? That´s just a wild Guess, but perhaps british Air is a bit more "salty" because of the Proximity to the Sea? If this is so, the Netherlands should have the same Problems. In general, I can confirm that dutch Cars are more prone to Rust, but I never discussed that Heat-Wrap-Issue with them. Do we have a dutch Guy, here?

The problem is exacerbated by manifold location. Mine's a low slung rear-engined car and was used as a daily for a while within all seasons in the cold (and road-salty) Pennine area of the North of England.

The Excel engine is canted over to the right (from the front), so the lower sections of a tubular manifold, plus downpipe, will be in road and salt spray. Salty-road spray is the bigger issue, not proximity to the sea so much. A garage queen or a summer week-ender will survive better, of course. The devil is in the detail YMWV etc.

[bash]

Personally, for a road car, I wouldnt. Wraps just hold moisture, they dont last very long and I dont think they reduce underbonnet temperatures much either. Ive tried them on various things over the years but if you want to get the job done properly get it ceramic coated (with a marked lightening of your bank account.)
Just a personal opinion.
Bash

[Oldtimer_Basis]

So, I´m back on the Road for a Couple of Days now. Haven´t tested yet, if my Work really added some Horses (we´re just talking about ca. 20 HP in Theory, anyway), but it sounds waaaay cooler
More bassy, not really louder as long as you cruise and an uptempo, high Volume Barry White @ WOT.
To go into the Details:
I widened the outlet Tracks and reshaped the Outlet from an "8" into a D-Port. At the Header I did not connect 1-4 and 2-3, but 1-2 and 3-4. To compensate that, I used 2" Primaries (yeah, that´s ridiculously big, but hey, why not? LOL), 2 1/4" Secondaries and a 2 1/2" Collector. I substituted the long Twin-Secondary-Tube under the Car with a single 2 1/2" Tube, that goes all the Way down to the first Muffler. The Rest is Stock. Earlier I said that one of the former Owners already installed a good aftermarket Exhaust, but that Info was wrong. I thought so, because it looks decent... I wasn´t aware of Lotus using such high Quality Components as standard Equipment. Usually, Car Manufacturers use the cheapest Crap avaliable for their Exhausts
I coated the Header with welding Copper, heat-treated it, then a Layer of Zinc and then wrapped it with this "Copper-Heat-Wrap" we were talking about. Infrared-Measurements read 300°C @ the hottest Spot, so it blocks Heat more or less like any other "normal" Wrap. Just to be on the safe side, I additionally applied Aluminium-Tape to the Body-Parts in Proximity to the Header, that I fixed with a Layer of Heat-Proof Silicone.

[Pete Boole]

What is welding copper? Not come across the term before. 300 degrees is great - when I was trying to keep the idle low on my last V8 the manifolds were at ~ 800!

Pete

[Oldtimer_Basis]

Welding Copper is just a normal Welding-Primer, which you can melt on with a Torch.
Not that we are mixing Units, here: I meant 300°C - that´s 572°F.
800°F (427°C) is a little high for a bare Header, but not unheard of... and I bet you´re not talking about a 8:1 Compression Economy-Engine (we call that a "Luftpumpe" - Air-Pump ) in a huge and windy Engine-Bay...