Project 'Sh4rk'

[Nige]

Costas,<br><br>That would be too much for me and probably for most of us here, for the panel alone.  I understand fully the need to cover the costs of a mould to produce panels cheaply.  I've been trying to find out the list price of an Esprit rear panel but haven't found it yet.  Mikes project may be the better option for us over here, but photos of SH4RK will have been the inspiration.<br><br>Nige

[Avonvilla]

If any one remembers i enquired about this a while back on the v8 esprit lights post, heres the copy of the bit that's relavant<br><br><br>--------------<br>Got a reply today from SJ Sportscars ( yeah i was surprised too ! ) Copy of messages :- <br> <br>Hi <br>  <br>There has been interest shown in Esprit style rear lights for the 80's Elan and much debating, a dealer in Europe has stated that with minimal modification the entire rear panel including lights for a esprit v8 will fit the Elan. I noticed you do a conversion kit for early Esprits and wondered if you have knowledge of wether all this is feasable ? <br>----------- <br>Hello Steve, <br>  <br>I have also considered this. I do not think it would be in any way easy! To give you an example, the Esprit panel took two days to make fit to an Esprit! Then you have to make a mould and then the part. <br>  <br>Steve <br>---------- <br>Hi Steve <br>  <br>So what would make you do a kit ? upfront orders ? <br>  <br>Thanks <br>  <br>Steve <br>---------- <br>Yes, but it's also got to do with time and a car to work on.  <br>  <br>I need an Elan for two weeks and it could be done in the last two weeks of January <br>  <br>I estimate the price of a DIY kit at £480 + vat <br>I could also fit the fist kit on to the 'Donor' car. I estimate the cost of this at 700 + vat. <br>  <br>Steve <br>------- <br><br><br>

[Costas]

Steve, if you havent read at previous posts in this thread, I initially tried to fit the original Esprit pannel (it does fit in dimmensions) but if you examine it in detail you will notice that it is quite "vertical" instead of the "Sloaped" Elan pannel. It looked terrible and I abandoned this idea switching to handmade on car custon one but exactly as if it was built by Lotus on a hypothetical Elan S3.<br><br>Does this shop ask for 700+ Vat including the lights?

[Avonvilla]

Yeah been reading the whole thing with interest but the price you got from them today was a bit of a dissapointment to me and a lot of others i suspect. The price quoted was for them to do all the work and supply all the bits including lights at £700 and once they have the details then a kit would be made for about £480 although this email is about a year old now. Not sure on how they would fit it and whether they could make it slope or not, it's just such a shame your one has come out so expensive, if it was around £500-600 inc lights and just needing paint there would be a lot of interest i'm sure including me.  :(

[ESM]

I started a poll, if we get enough people it might still fly...

[Costas]

[quote author=Avonvilla link=board=project;num=1102128446;start=300#310 date=03/23/05 at 15:33:16]... then a kit would be made for about £480[/quote]<br>Considering that just the lights cost about 350GBP I find it extremely hard for them to go for a kit without a mould and with a handmade pannel costing 480-350=130GBP including their profit!<br><br>I believe that it is much better for you guys to wait for Mike Y's pannel, it may be of the same craftmanship quality or even better and at a much lower price tag. Lets just wait and see and dont rush in spending money that you may regret in the near future. <br><br>I dont think that DSP can go lower than 500GBP (without the lights) for the hand made pannel as seen on following picture. <br><br><br><br>If there was a big demand and we builted a mould with 12000GBP then the cost for each pannel would be laughable at less than 50 GBP.<br><br>Costas<br><br><br>PS. To be honest with you, after witnessing the whole process and dedication of the DSP ppl on doing this and the fact that the DSP hand made rear pannel has turned Sh4rk from a "head turner" to a "neck braker", I would pay anything they would ask me to, but thats just me. Sometimes you get what you pay for. <br><br>I just cant get enough of staring at it...<br><br>

[Avonvilla]

Costas it certainly is outstanding, best rear i've seen since that picture of the Sinclairs girls ! just so disappointed by the price  :'(

[Matt RI]

Costas,<br><br>     Thanks for the update on my plate light question, glad that it was helpful in some way!  <br><br>I think that I am in a similar boat as others here- that panel is a work of art, but it is really hard to justify spending $2,000 easily once the panel, lights, and paint are added.  Haven't been totally dissuaded, but it has taken a lot of the wind out of my sails.<br><br>I really appreciate you taking the time to check in on this and let us know the results-

[nitroman]

Costas, being a man of simple-mind and pragmatic outlook, what caught my eye was the shark emblem/symbol on the boot-lid.  I suppose it is the scuba diver in me!  Wherefore did thee obtain this instrument of the occult, worshipped by the Tahitian islanders?

[Costas]

Paul & Shark is an Italian Trade Mark for Italian Quality Sailing Clothes. Every piece of cloth you buy comes with a small sticker badge of their symbol, my worshiped Sh4rk. Highly reccomended clothes.... <br><br>http://www.paulshark.it/home_800.html<br><br>

[chrisP]

Costas just a quick question<br>   On your light panel are the lights angled to point upwards as I can't tell from the pictures, if they are what are you doing about the water that collects when it rains??<br><br>Cheers<br>Chris

[Costas]

Chris, if you can see on this picture, the lights are almost vertical, therefore I dont believe they are gonna collect rain water (cross fingers, prays to Lord), have to check again when I leave work.... <br><br>

[chrisP]

Thanks Costas<br> just couldn't  work out why your light don't seem to stick out at the top  and appear to be quite flush at the bottom, while mine do stick out at the top and are set back quite a lot at the bottom.<br><br>Chris <br><br>I'll try and get a picture to show you what I mean.

[M6TT F]

It looks like the lights are set in slightly at the bottom of costas's panel. BUT his panel curves, rather than being a flat panel, so the difference top to bottom isnt as noticable.

[Costas]

Shark has allready made 100km of driving at under 4000rpm, no turbo, no nitrous of course and will do so for a total of 1000km (estimated finish time 1 week). Then comes Dyno run adjustments and Power Dyno run.<br><br>Today some more details were added.<br><br>First of all we installed a warming blanket to the Nos bottle so as the NOS opperates at the desired pressure especially during cold weather time.  ;D<br><br>Also Greg thought that since I dont want to damage the hood If I add any air intake to the filter, he instead installed a second scoop (front mounted) that sends an additional wave of fresh air to the Cold Air Intake from below. Quite simple isnt it?  ;)<br><br><br>The warming blanket strapped on the Nos Bottle is pointed by the yellow arrow and the switch that turns it on-off is pointed by green arrow<br><br><br><br><br>Notice any difference?<br><br><br><br><br>How about now?  :)<br>The second Pipe that flows fresh air to the Cold Air Intake from below.<br><br>

[Doug]

Costas, I am amazed by your time and dedication to #1 your project, and #2 to keeping us informed about it.  We all enjoy it as you can tell by the number of thread "views"  [smiley=thumb.gif]<br><br>Keep up the good work  ;)

[F1 LOTUS]

[quote author=Doug link=board=project;num=1102128446;start=315#322 date=03/24/05 at 12:51:41]Costas, I am amazed by your time and dedication to #1 your project, and #2 to keeping us informed about it.  We all enjoy it as you can tell by the number of thread "views"  [smiley=thumb.gif]<br><br>Keep up the good work  ;)[/quote]<br><br>...seems like Costas' crew is enjoying the project too, there's so much effort going into it!

[Costas]

[quote author=Doug link=board=project;num=1102128446;start=315#322 date=03/24/05 at 12:51:41].....to keeping us informed about it. [/quote]<br>I was benefitted by reading as many past posts in LEC forum as possible, in fact the past 2 months I have done tremendous reading of past years posts in order to catch up! Well now Sh4rk project thread is my return obligation. <br><br>Besides by sharing our little secrets we can only improve and protect our cars. I dont side with the idea of not letting the rest to know what I have done to my cark so that they dont "copy" and apply it to. <br><br>Keep also in mind that by the continous feedback that I recieved from all of you in this thread I managed to avoid mistakes or correct some that I have done. <br><br>The encouragement that both me and DSP recieved out of all of you is priceless.<br><br>Costas<br>

[Costas]

[quote author=Brian_MDB link=board=project;num=1102128446;start=315#323 date=03/24/05 at 13:02:49]<br>...seems like Costas' crew is enjoying the project too, there's so much effort going into it! [/quote]<br><br>Picture speaks for itself...  ;)<br><br><br>

[Sy V]

Just my bit towards Greko-Turkish relations...<br><br>