NZTiger's Sunbeam Lotus Discussion

[avenga]

This thread is to discuss NZTiger's Sunbeam Lotus

[avenga]

Awesome car!

I have never seen a Sunbeam Lotus in the flesh. Must be great to find such a super rare car. Good job on tracking it down.

Have you been able to take it for a hoon yet? it must go like stink with the Lotus twin cam.

It is funny how much bits they kept off the Avengers, like the dash and door cards look straight out of a Chrysler Avenger and the engine bay looks exactly like a Avenger engine bay.

I always wanted to do an engine swap and put a Lotus twin cam in an Avenger.

Good score!!

[kierbear]

dare i say it, this is cute

[JoKer]

hp output of these?

[avengertiger]

150bhp standard,easily upgraded to 220 with a set of cams and exhaust manifold and a bit of porting,mine was 170 at the wheels they are a great car will run rings around rs 2000 etc.good find miles it will bring a smile to your face for sure its sheer torque and the induction from the dellortos is music.
bodyshell is near identical to avenger until you hit the rear floors and the door skins are avenger 2 door tops of the door frames are differnt to suit sunbeam roof.suspension and brakes all avenger.
there is or was an avenger lotus in the uk some years back i believe it has been broken since,subframe from sunbeam will bolt up to avenger with a bit of modding and gearbox fits to.

best of luck with her miles to say im jealous is an understatement,hope to see her soon....

[Derbs]

Veeeeery cool car!! I also am incredibly jealous. I am aware of at least two others in the Sunbeam Car Club, one black with silver like yours, and the other blue and silver. There is a gent who lives in Auckland, attempting to own one of (almost) every rootes group car attainable, and I know he has one. If he only opened a museum.......

[1300super]

I want it! last time i saw one of these was at donington motor museum in the U.K. Awesome car.

[avengertiger]

saw your post on asoc,have you had it out for a drive yet,are you pleased with it? you need some pics of her in action in your thread.....

[NZTiger]

Went into Wellington one day last week when it was very hot....and ended up pushing it to the side of the road twice? It turned out while working in the engine bay I had unplugged the electric fan, so coming home in traffic it started to boil, I found the problem and got the fan working, but it was still very hot. About 2 k up the road at traffic lights it stopped and refused to start, we pushed it through the intersection (I was at the front of the Q!!!), I lifted the bonnet and let it cool for 5 mins and it then restarted ok.....1k later it happened again, this time after letting it cool I drove around the corner to a gas station and properly cooled it by poring water over the radiator, when all the pressure was gone I checked the water level, topped up a small amount and its been ok since then.

I think the problem is that with 98 it has a lot of methanol in it to boost the octane rating, methanol has a lower boiling point that petrol, so with the heat under the bonnet the fuel in the carbs had vaporised and it had vapour lock!!

We are taking it out for a drive today so hopefully all will be ok.

Overall impressions so far it that it is not easy to take off smoothly, but once underway the engine pulled cleanly and gearbox is smooth, but a bit nochy changing down to 1st. The ride is very choppy so I need to have a look at the suspension, I might fit my spare Avenger rally car struts and rr shocks and I intend to fit a quick rack (need to repair one with a bent steering arm)

[avengertiger]

the joys!!! the one i had would only get hot whilst sitting in traffic for any amount of time ten minuetes stop start would usually see it start to run rough,i eventually upgraded the rad to a slightly larger alluminium one and beefed up the fan,never had a problem after that.
the drop to first can be tough to get right as the dog leg was set up to never really need first whilst on the go,it should feel quite stiff to get in in the 3 i have driven all were the same.
is yours running billstien all round mine was and was lowered on the rear seemingly the nose up stance makes them handle better,was quite choppy on rough roads/surfaces but handles great and motorway wasnt to bad.
i did have plans somewere for the rear arb set up as per skip browns fast road package,i will have a look for it if your interested.
hope your trip went well today

[NZTiger]

Today's drive was all ok. Suspension is std all round. The only thing I have done so far to to replace brake reaction rod and roll bar bushes that were stuffed, I need to check out all the rear link bushes as there is something loose in the rear suspension.
It also needs new tyres....

But first I have to do some work on the Avenger as I'm doing a sealed sprint next Sunday, I have just removed head to fix a blown head gasket (new one coming from UK) and fix a worn TCA ball joint. I also want to convert it to tarmac trim and remove any excess weight.