JIAHWA7

The Lotus Esprit S4 stayed in Viking Motor Sports for five weeks. I was making a habit to drive 60 miles each way every Friday to check on it in the shop for progress. Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

The car I got had some other missing/broken/old parts so I decided to spend a bit more money to fix it up so it will be a great looking Supercar again. What’s $3000 more dollars when you already spent $7000+. Put in on a credit card of course and try to find a way to pay it down later. (Yeh, we all heard this one before). Here are more works I ordered:

Yes, go ahead with these (part one):
1. Tensioner bearing $100.00 no labor
2. Needs the clutch line, $170.00 plus $115 labor.
3. Wiper blade $30.00 no labor
4. A/c recharge $150.00 no labor
5. All four dampers adjust $115.00 labor
6. Brake switch adjust. No labor

Yes, go ahead with these (part two):
7. Hub caps $200.00 a pair no labor. (That’s just 2 little pieces of aluminum!)
8. Rear Valance $175.00 plus $57.50 labor.
9. Turn signal bulbs. $30.00 plus $115.00 (or less) labor.
10. Gearbox and Clutch inspection. $369 labor.

Yes, go with these (part three):
11. Clutch and pressure plate, $631.15 (inspection and labor cost already included below)
12. Do not need new clutch line and labor (already stainless steel line installed), -$285
13. New fuel filter, $10
14. New pair of rear hatch struts, $126

I also went to DMV to pick up my new personalized license plate, which I ordered right after I bought the car. However, before I received the new plate, which took up to 3 months, the dreadful “444” plate on the car worked its devil deed one last time. I will not drive with it ever again.

On August 30, 2010, I went to Viking Motor Spots, pay the remaining balance (Which add up tax and some more labor, total just short of US$11000), and picked up my “like new” Lotus Esprit S4. I put on the new license plate “JIAHWA7” before I finally got to drive it home. Why “JIAHWA7”? I will tell you in another post.

I was so happy the car is back in my garage again. It runs great, but more works are still needed.

The rear wheel rims are badly bent and I hate the run flat tires last owner out on it. I went Arrowhead wheels to refurbish these OZ racing wheels and put on brand new Sumitomo ZTRIII tires. I also adjusted the ride height to higher (so it won’t scrape the top inside part of the wheel wall when I corner hard) and softer (easier for daily drive). This is another $1200+. This put the total cost of this Lotus Esprit S4 to around $30K. Now it is the car I am proud to own and keep, but it is sure no bargain.

Note: This picture background is not my home, just a nice house and yard that I think it is perfect to photo my car with, so I drove in to take some pictures then left before anyone noticed. I do hope to get a house this nice in the future, but that’s another story.

Next post: Glendora Mt. Road