Hi-fi install by previous owner
 
Head unit: Alpine CDE 9828RB, MP3/WMA and all 4 speakers replaced.
 
Front: Focal Acccess coaxial 10cm. I had to use slightly longer screws. The fitting matches the existing holes which saves a lot of problems. And the new grills fit.
 
Rear: Focal Access 165mm. I had to cut away the carpet folded into the hole in order to get them to fit properly. Again the grills fit on without any obstructions.
 
Overall the new system is crystal clear with great imaging. They are quite expensive speakers but well worth the money for their clarity,crispness and imaging. The tweeters in the front speakers can be adjusted for direction which is a bonus for the Esprit.
 

After much thought I decided to change the colour of the dash mask as the light elm colour didn't appeal to me and I didn't think it would go with the alloy trims that are available for the interior which I intend adding at some point.

So following the LEW guide for the dash removal I then removed the dash masks which was very tricky work. I then discovered that the dash mask is covered in some resin finish which could only be removed by sanding. So after much work I then stained it with a black spirit based stain which would still show the grain through in colours ranging from light brown to black and then finishing it off with a spray varnish. The overall effect is near to what I wanted to achieve. The pics give some idea of the finish.

  

Momo Tuner steering wheel fitted (350mm) with Lotus centre (horn) badge - this required a new boss. All purchased from SJ Sports Cars. The horn unit (unusable in the 89' SE), required some modification to fit. The steering wheel has red stitching which suits my red Esprit.
 
Centre arm rest 'storage' lid re-padded. Having had the necessary materials from work on a previous car, I decided to repad the lid to give a softer surface for gear changing.  The work required some rather tedious work in removing the leather part from the plastic lid which was held on by double-sided sticky black pads, once stripped the rest was a simple trimming job. Result - excellent!!!

Some updates by previous owner1989 Turbo SE.
 
7 previous owners. First registered 2/05/89 with dealer MANN EGERTON & CO LTD, Dover st. London WI. It was then purchased by a D. Hamilton of Montagu Sq. London. So it was one of the early SE, (according to the vin seems to have been the 33rd).
In it's time it's had the following:

93 - New Exhaust Manifold
96 - New clutch
97 - new fuel tank
98 -Clutch slave cylinder & master cylinder kit
2001 - braided clutch pipe
"" New windscreen
The tyres were last replaced in 1999 with the Goodyear Eagles - they still have plenty of tread.
 
Over all the history is good with services been carried out by main dealers or specialists.
The previous owner Mark Manning had the car from 1998-2004 and only did around 7500 miles. He  was a member of the Yahoo Group.

" New MOD: I've recently added the alloy gear surround from Alan Patterson as advertised in LEW. I had to adapt the fitting procedure as the gaitor ring already has a north and south facing welded in bolt, so I discarded the ring and drilled through the surrounding trim fixing and glueing the gear gaitor underneath the trim panel with the bolts from the alloy surround holding it in place. It does look great and goes well with the Issotar chrome knob. (pics attached). However the leather gaitor on my May '89 is much thicker than others and is presented differently, as is illustrated in Ian Adcock's book "Lotus Heritage" - see page 106.
 
So to date I've added to the interior: The momo steering wheel, re-coloured the dash, new chrome gear knob and the alloy gear surround. So the interior is looking a lot better. The next thing I have to do is to have the seats re-trimmed as they are rather tired looking."

REFURBISHED INTERIOR
by previous owner
I recently (August 05) refurbished my interior, new carpets fitted and re-painted all the leather interior.
Using the guide on LEW I removed the old carpet, it wasn't too hard to get the old stuff out, but around the drivers footwell was difficult as it's stuffed up everywhere!!! Refitting wasn't too hard but I found the drivers footwell the hardest. I picked up the carpet set, in the same sand colour, from the Lotus factory after ordering it through a dealership, as you have to. It certainly had a sense of occasion arriving at Hethel in the Esprit and I did find the staff very welcoming and friendly. Mel Broome was great to deal with, he's in charge of "After care"!

Removing the seats was a nightmare, three of the nuts had rusted on to the bolts so it was hacksawing etc. to get them off, rotten job which took 2 days on and off!!!
I used the gliptone kit £74 for sprayer, paint, cleaners and conditioners. The spray gun was quite useless so I bought a cheap air-brush kit from Halfords which was a lot better. I first of all tightened up the leather on the seats, using cable-ties and also tightened up the seat diaphrams. After that the seats were carefully cleaned, then given 2 coats of paint using a brush, so it gets into the creases etc. After that they were sprayed numerous times, building up to a nice thick skin. Unfortunately the red stitching on the seats was lost, as in most places the leather around the stitching was in poor repair and had to be re-coloured. I removed other parts of the leather trim that were easy to detatch and resprayed them, such as the glove box cover, the door cards, centre console cover and gear stick gaitor, and finally the rear pocket. All the other parts were painted by hand in-situ. Most of the red stitching was retained by brushing up to the stitching and carefully removing any paint with a damp cloth from the stitching. The whole refurbishment took 3 weeks working evenings and part of the weekends. Overall, it was hard work with the usual niggly stuff you come across when working on the Esprit, but the finish of the gliptone paint is remarkable, being indistinguishable from the original finish. The result is an interior that has retained the original patina of the leather that looks fresh and clean.

So with the repainted leather and new carpet the car looks lovely and smart inside.
Here's some pics, before and after.

  

 

Alloy sill plates purchased from Alan Paterson have been installed.

Update
February 2006
Just thought i'd send a few pics of the work me and Mr Zymol have put in when the sun doth shine the other day!

     

Stage 1 Maintenance and Modifications
April 2006

  

Upgraded Brakes front
PNM Engineering 4 Pot Kit with 323mm Vented Discs and Hi-Spec Alloy Calipers with Stainless Braided Hosing fitted with Hawk fast road/racing pads.

 

Upgraded Brakes rear
Brembo 304 mm Vented Disc Kit and Brembo Calipers with Stainless Hosing.
Fitted by Dave Snook/Coz De Martino at Sportomotive, Salisbury. (Completed April 26th 2006)

  

Bespoke hand made Stainless Slash Cut Twin Exit Exhaust system with Cat removed by Mick at Torque Techniques in Salisbury. (Completed 19th April 2006)

Full B-Service at 59, 800 miles carried out at Spotomotive by Coz De Martino including:
Complete re-badging of rear Lotus, both sides Esprit Turbo SE, Lotus Design and wheel centres. Chargecooler badge already fitted all supplied by Bell and Colville. (Completed 26th April 2006)

Rear valance fabrication for new twin-exit exhaust system (To be finished/touched up).

Having had the car back and done a few hundred miles already the brakes are now starting to bite and feel much more powerful than before including the handbrake - easily an improvement on the original equipment, and they look pretty good under the OZ alloys too!

  

The badges set the car off nicely and there is no mistaking the make and model!

As for the exhaust, well what can i say it's good really good and clearly beautifully made, the welding is quality and there is no mistaking the sound and increased performance - it is how the Esprit should sound and more! But the real bonus is the 4 foot flames that fly out the back at high speed run overs - having not seen them personally and only been told about them by my friend whom i went past, i am really happy with my bespoke twin pipes!

Stage 2 Modifications September-October 2006

Full C-Service at Steve Williams Lotus.

Ceramic Brake Pads EBC Redstuff - Supplied by PNM engineering. Fitted by Steve Williams.

 

Upgraded middle brake hosing to Stainless Steel Braided, as previously been missed when i upgraded the front and rear brake systems earlier this year. Supplied by PNM engineering. Fitted by Steve Williams.

Custom ground inlet camshaft and lightweight steel cam followers, Green dot cam pulley on the inlet cam, cam pullies have been changed to 104 cam timing (green dot) to improve off-boost response. All supplied by Garry Kemp and fitted by Steve Williams.

The mechanical chargecooler pump has been deleted and plugged using the OEM lotus plug to allow for the use of an electric chargecooler pump. Supplied by John Welch at WC Engineering. Fitted by Steve Williams.

   

Electric Chargecooler pump also from John Welch at WC Engineering custom fitted by Steve Williams.

Matching up of the inlet manifold to the ports, gas flowing the nozzle and plenum by Steve Williams.

High Torque Chip number 3 (version 2.0 improved Mk5 S4s 18% torque increase) also fitted to further improve low end driveability and off boost response.

Fuel Injection
Primary (main) Fuel Injectors - Blueprinted and matched upgraded primary fuel injectors. These have slightly more flow and a much better spray pattern than the stock spigots. Also smoother idle and better gas mileage from RC engineering supplied by John Welch. Fitted by Steve Williams.

 

Secondary Injectors - Larger blueprinted and upgraded secondary fuel injectors producing more flow and a much better spray pattern, again sourced from RC engineering supplied by John Welch. Fitted by Steve Williams.

General Comments
Overall a much snappier and instant power delivery and extremely responsive at the lower rpm - with no noticeable lag from the turbo. The ECU and me are both currently re-learning each other and the ceramic pads are still bedding in but she is begging me all the time for more right foot - this car was very quick with the original stage 1 mods i had in back in May - Exhaust and de-cat, etc but now it's outrageously fast!!

Really happy with what i have had done at this stage and looking forward to some dry days and maybe a track!! Also really happy with finding Steve Williams his manor may not be everyone's cup of tea but he is extremely thorough and honest too. Little details don't get missed and the wrongs get 'righted' it's that simple! Well done Steve.

A massive thank you to Brother Nick for his wisdom. Dermot O'hare for all his help and support with these mods, Garry Kemp for the bits and last but by no means least Sir Steve Williams the very BEST!

Stage 3 coming soon.