1980 Lotus Elite 504
Discussion
Just picked this up yesterday 
, sorry about the crappy pics, will take some decent ones when i get it outside.
Didn't plan on buying an Elite, have been looking for another project though and have been looking at everything from Reliant Scimitars to Cadillacs, the Elite was local always fancied one so i went for it.
Drove fine on the way home (20 miles) despite sitting parked half in a hedge for the last six months, sounds great, battery is completely dead though, wont hold a charge and the alternator is suspect, going to get a battery later today for it so i can at least fire it up without a jump start.
Interior is pretty shocking (read somewhere that the leather was pretty fragile in these), had horrible seatcovers and floormats (those imitation tread plate things), swiftly binned all that, front seats will need a lot of work (or replaced), new carpets (predictably the interior was wet), also the centre console has been butchered for a radio, aftermarket steering wheel was broke so i fitted a spare Mountney (will source a standard wheel for it, as i've got older i've grown to dislike aftermarket wheels in most cars), headcloth is sagging, rear seat will be salvageable with leather conditioner, dash is decent, all guages and windows etc work.
Was told that the engine and carbs had been recently been rebuilt but annoyingly the car came with no history, receipts or paperwork (except the log book and MOT) so have no evidence of this, motor certainly looks and sounds good, a bit concerned about low oil pressure when hot though (dont know what is normal for these engines ?
The S1 achilles heel rear chassis crossmember area looks sound (gave it a jolly good stabbing/poking session with a screwdriver), will scrape off the surface rust, Kurust then underseal)
Rest of the underside is pretty fresh, has all new brake pipes and Stainless steel exhausts.
Other short term plans are to get it starting and running good, new Falken tyes (fronts are prehistoric Eagle NCT's and the rears are crappy Nexens), polish the wheels (these will come up nice), tidy up the interior and that's about it.
Long term it will need a respray, paint is quite badly microblistered all over and shell is cracked at the top right tailgate hinge, will probably do most of the repairs and prep myself and get a pro to do the painting (probably next year).
Still not too bad a buy for £1200
Have a 96 BMW 750iL that will need to go soon to justiy spending money on the Elite though.
, sorry about the crappy pics, will take some decent ones when i get it outside. Didn't plan on buying an Elite, have been looking for another project though and have been looking at everything from Reliant Scimitars to Cadillacs, the Elite was local always fancied one so i went for it.
Drove fine on the way home (20 miles) despite sitting parked half in a hedge for the last six months, sounds great, battery is completely dead though, wont hold a charge and the alternator is suspect, going to get a battery later today for it so i can at least fire it up without a jump start.
Interior is pretty shocking (read somewhere that the leather was pretty fragile in these), had horrible seatcovers and floormats (those imitation tread plate things), swiftly binned all that, front seats will need a lot of work (or replaced), new carpets (predictably the interior was wet), also the centre console has been butchered for a radio, aftermarket steering wheel was broke so i fitted a spare Mountney (will source a standard wheel for it, as i've got older i've grown to dislike aftermarket wheels in most cars), headcloth is sagging, rear seat will be salvageable with leather conditioner, dash is decent, all guages and windows etc work.
Was told that the engine and carbs had been recently been rebuilt but annoyingly the car came with no history, receipts or paperwork (except the log book and MOT) so have no evidence of this, motor certainly looks and sounds good, a bit concerned about low oil pressure when hot though (dont know what is normal for these engines ?
The S1 achilles heel rear chassis crossmember area looks sound (gave it a jolly good stabbing/poking session with a screwdriver), will scrape off the surface rust, Kurust then underseal)
Rest of the underside is pretty fresh, has all new brake pipes and Stainless steel exhausts.
Other short term plans are to get it starting and running good, new Falken tyes (fronts are prehistoric Eagle NCT's and the rears are crappy Nexens), polish the wheels (these will come up nice), tidy up the interior and that's about it.
Long term it will need a respray, paint is quite badly microblistered all over and shell is cracked at the top right tailgate hinge, will probably do most of the repairs and prep myself and get a pro to do the painting (probably next year).
Still not too bad a buy for £1200
Have a 96 BMW 750iL that will need to go soon to justiy spending money on the Elite though.
Wow!!!
I remember like it was yesterday walking home from school in the late 70's seeing one of those parked in a side street. It looked fantastic then and still looks fantastic now...
The only other car that left such a lasting impression on me from those days was a scimitar GTE...
I hope there will be a restoration thread started for this... And if there is a chance of a trip out as a passenger when it's finished can I be first in the queue :-D
I remember like it was yesterday walking home from school in the late 70's seeing one of those parked in a side street. It looked fantastic then and still looks fantastic now...
The only other car that left such a lasting impression on me from those days was a scimitar GTE...
I hope there will be a restoration thread started for this... And if there is a chance of a trip out as a passenger when it's finished can I be first in the queue :-D
Good punt I would say. There are not a lot of Elites left now, mostly they are the later cars and the S1's are getting thin.
The engine would be my biggest worry regarding the oil pressure, I would give it a proper session of flushing oil then speak to the lads at Opie Oils. They will recommend a lubricant based on the engine type, usage and mileage.
I always hankered after an Elite as at the time I couldn't afford the Esprit. This looks like a great project so I'm looking forward to the updates
The engine would be my biggest worry regarding the oil pressure, I would give it a proper session of flushing oil then speak to the lads at Opie Oils. They will recommend a lubricant based on the engine type, usage and mileage.
I always hankered after an Elite as at the time I couldn't afford the Esprit. This looks like a great project so I'm looking forward to the updates
mrtwisty said:
Ooohhhh, that's a bit unusual. Very nice. Don't think I've ever seen one of these on the road.
Look forward to the thread unfolding (and more pics soon!)
I seen a black one driving into my local Morrisons car park last year, first one i'd ever seen, such an unusual shape these days, got some looks driving it home yesterday including a guy on a bike in lane three (i was pootling along in lane one) screwed his head round and sat there matching my speed for ages (i was doing 50), found myself saying out loud "for christ sake look where you are going man" Look forward to the thread unfolding (and more pics soon!)
Dont think the car warrants a full resto as such, will prioritise and fix the important bits first and sort the rest as i use it.
Cheers for the advice on the oil LordFlathead, the oil pressure is a concern, especially as the owner said the engine was rebuilt, blew then had to be rebuilt a second time.
I also really wanted an Esprit but find the Elite slightly less scary (couldn't afford an Esprit anyway) , if the worst comes to it and i need to pull the motor out the Elite i can manage that fine in my garage, taking the motor out of an Esprit is a different ball game.
Not properly introduced myself on here, i'm 43 and been messing with cars all my days, car history is pretty eclectic, five Capri's including two 3.0S's, a few yanks including a 70 Mach1 Mustang and a 68 Dodge Charger, Hillman Imps, Mini's, VW Polo's, this is my first fibreglass car though, refreshing buying a 34 year old car that isn't rusty
Cheers for the interest guys, promise i'll keep this thread updated, will post some engine bay pics later
72twink said:
Exactly how low is the oil pressure - these engines can run crazy low oil pressure at idle, always go by the pressure at 3k rpm.
Guage is at just over 50LB (squared) at 3K, same at idle when cold but drops to probably 10-20 on the guage at idle when hot, guessing that's ok then ?Was used to the big Essex V6 on my Capri's showing nearly 0 at idle.
As mentioned here's a pic of the fabulous 907 motor
, carbs are Delorto DHLA's, not sure if they are 40's or 45's ?, sound glorious anyway, may replace the standard airbox with K&N's eventually. 
Hoping it has been fitted with electonic ignition (suspect it has), standard these came with points, the dizzy is burried under the carbs so a swine to get to.
Bought this battery from Halfords earlier and it doesn't fit in the recess in the rear 1/4, despite being listed for a Elite, at least it let me get the motor fired up off the key, checked the charge rate and it was 13.6 volts so looks like the Alternator is ok, old battery just died with the car sitting around so much.
Love these GKN alloys, they are not laquered so should shine up a tread with Brillo pads and Peek
Also love these flip open fuel caps, one either side but a single tank (can be seen in the boot behind the rear seat) so they are purely for style
Great classic to have around - shame no paperowrk etc - but a £5 to the DVLA and a certain one of their forms will give you the previous owners contact details ... so might turn up something.
How much were these new back in the day - not cheap I'll wager.
Looking forward to this thread in the future.
How much were these new back in the day - not cheap I'll wager.
Looking forward to this thread in the future.
Good luck. My friend has a practically mint black JPS Eclat with a Vegantune 200hp engine - but it still isn't worth very much so be careful what you pour in, unless it is along term, "for the love of it", project.
His has an elusive electrical gremlin tht causes it to stop without warning.
His has an elusive electrical gremlin tht causes it to stop without warning.
It’s amazing how cheap these are, considering it was made by a manufacturer who was winning F1 at the time, the way it handles, the rarity and the performance for its day. A bit like a Porsche 924; when you consider what you’re getting it makes MGBs and Capris look very overpriced in the current market.
I’ve been eyeing up a few on ebay recently, I think you did the right thing buying one that needs a running resto, a basket case for £400 wouldn’t be useable until you’ve spent ££££s
I’ve been eyeing up a few on ebay recently, I think you did the right thing buying one that needs a running resto, a basket case for £400 wouldn’t be useable until you’ve spent ££££s
Put a K and N panel filter in the box but DONT get rid of the air box. Dizzy is obviously right under the carbs and any fuel dribbling out will end up on top of it. If its like an excel it should have a long hose on the front of the air box running forward and over the rad to pick up cold air.
Owned two of these as runners and still have two "sheds"; bikers do seem to love them for some inexplicable reason, lots of thumbs up (or I think they were thumbs).
Worth very little even when restored unfortunately, there are enough nasty in-built jobs to frighten off even the most hardened enthusiast. Nothing like them on the road however, bar perhaps the Scimitar, and even that looks more classic than "space" age.
Would be very interested to hear progress, especially carpets as mine needs them
Worth very little even when restored unfortunately, there are enough nasty in-built jobs to frighten off even the most hardened enthusiast. Nothing like them on the road however, bar perhaps the Scimitar, and even that looks more classic than "space" age.
Would be very interested to hear progress, especially carpets as mine needs them
I had one of these as a daily driver for 3 years in the early Eighties, despite being only 5 years old with 50K miles showing it needed constant, expensive attention to keep it on the road.
I ended up fitting a recon. chassis from Spyder as the original was rusted out or cracked in many (inaccessible) places. It ate rear hub bearings for breakfast and the Capri sourced inboard rear brakes were awkward to access, the handbrake linkage in particular was almost impossible to reach. The steering used to play up regularly as well because the front wheel kicked up muck onto the u/js causing partial seizure with intersting steering.
The engine was no better, I replaced pistons and liners at vast expense, the shells were down to their backing and I ended up making a batch of cam cover gaskets to stop the constant leaking which filled the cabin with fumes.
I came back from 2 weeks holiday to find the single (BL) wiper spindle seized, making for an interesting trip home from the airport.
When it was going properly though it was a swift, superb riding car, not too thirsty either, very comfy but tricky to park because of the width and visibility. It seemed pretty aerodynamic too as when driving in snow the wipers weren't needed as the flakes flowed over the bonnet and screen instead of hitting them, it would cruise at 120 mph on not much throttle and go on to an indicated 145 mph.
I fitted a full stainless exhaust which boomed like crazy but was better than the paper thin OEM steel items which lasted about 2 minutes.
In the end I became fed up with spending all my spare time keeping it on the road, I don't mind fixing something once but the same design faults would re-occur over and over which is pretty soul destroying.
If you could get around the under specced suspension and transmission an Elite with a modern turbo 4 or V6/V8 would be interesting but if I were going down that route I would probably start with an Excel as they are more robust. (Is this the first time the words robust and Lotus have appeared on the same page?)
OP if you need to know what cars all the bits on your Lotus were sourced from free to ask, I can still remember where Colin Chapman found them.
I ended up fitting a recon. chassis from Spyder as the original was rusted out or cracked in many (inaccessible) places. It ate rear hub bearings for breakfast and the Capri sourced inboard rear brakes were awkward to access, the handbrake linkage in particular was almost impossible to reach. The steering used to play up regularly as well because the front wheel kicked up muck onto the u/js causing partial seizure with intersting steering.
The engine was no better, I replaced pistons and liners at vast expense, the shells were down to their backing and I ended up making a batch of cam cover gaskets to stop the constant leaking which filled the cabin with fumes.
I came back from 2 weeks holiday to find the single (BL) wiper spindle seized, making for an interesting trip home from the airport.
When it was going properly though it was a swift, superb riding car, not too thirsty either, very comfy but tricky to park because of the width and visibility. It seemed pretty aerodynamic too as when driving in snow the wipers weren't needed as the flakes flowed over the bonnet and screen instead of hitting them, it would cruise at 120 mph on not much throttle and go on to an indicated 145 mph.
I fitted a full stainless exhaust which boomed like crazy but was better than the paper thin OEM steel items which lasted about 2 minutes.
In the end I became fed up with spending all my spare time keeping it on the road, I don't mind fixing something once but the same design faults would re-occur over and over which is pretty soul destroying.
If you could get around the under specced suspension and transmission an Elite with a modern turbo 4 or V6/V8 would be interesting but if I were going down that route I would probably start with an Excel as they are more robust. (Is this the first time the words robust and Lotus have appeared on the same page?)
OP if you need to know what cars all the bits on your Lotus were sourced from free to ask, I can still remember where Colin Chapman found them.
Hang on - 504 ? That looks like a manual 'box. Must be a story to tell if it has 504 badges on it.
P.S. - it's the 40th anniversary of the wedge Elite this year and I'm hoping to have space at the NEC Classic show for one from each year of production...(hint hint).
P.S. - it's the 40th anniversary of the wedge Elite this year and I'm hoping to have space at the NEC Classic show for one from each year of production...(hint hint).
Edited by marshalla on Monday 16th June 18:04
Brings back memories of my 1979 Eclat 521 which was my daily driver for 2 years and 20,000 miles in the mid 90's.
When working, it was a joy and great round the bends and surprisingly frugal. Mine was yellow with black marcasite and called Roger, on account of a leaky vacuum pipe somewhere behind the dash which caused one headlight to partially raise overnight, much like Roger Moore's eyebrow.
Great details included the windscreen washer bottle which lifted out to refill, and the overhead little light which illuminated the centre console.
When working, it was a joy and great round the bends and surprisingly frugal. Mine was yellow with black marcasite and called Roger, on account of a leaky vacuum pipe somewhere behind the dash which caused one headlight to partially raise overnight, much like Roger Moore's eyebrow.
Great details included the windscreen washer bottle which lifted out to refill, and the overhead little light which illuminated the centre console.
Jings, cheers for the interest guys, and the interesting (and horrific) memories stories
Not bothered though, i've always spent money on my cars, some good choices some bad choices, if i put a few grand into the Elite and have a few years fun with it that will be good value (cheaper than the depreciation and servicing costs on a new car) and i'll have hopefully prolonged the Elites life.
Read somewhere that complete carpet sets can be bought for £200, i was going to get carpet sections made up for the footwells though as the rest of mine are pretty decent.
The Elite is a 504 so as mentioned would have originally came with an autobox, power steering and air conditioning, of course it is now a manual, the air con is gone as is the power steering.
mdw said:
Put a K and N panel filter in the box but DONT get rid of the air box. Dizzy is obviously right under the carbs and any fuel dribbling out will end up on top of it. If its like an excel it should have a long hose on the front of the air box running forward and over the rad to pick up cold air.
WOW, cheers for that, never even thought of that, just love the look of the deep oval K&N's but i think i'll be leaving them, i'm pretty sure it has a K&N panel filter in the airbox already, i'm also going to fit a decent sized fire extinguisher.The Crack Fox said:
I think I saw that car on EBay, it looks (for the money) pretty good! Please keep us posted with your resto progress
Yep, it was the one half parked in a hedge listed as being in Inverness but was in Hamilton.Loose_Cannon said:
Owned two of these as runners and still have two "sheds"; bikers do seem to love them for some inexplicable reason, lots of thumbs up (or I think they were thumbs).
Worth very little even when restored unfortunately, there are enough nasty in-built jobs to frighten off even the most hardened enthusiast. Nothing like them on the road however, bar perhaps the Scimitar, and even that looks more classic than "space" age.
Would be very interested to hear progress, especially carpets as mine needs them
Aware of the values, dont know why they are so low, reputation maybe ?, but then the Esprit has pretty much the same reputation and those go for decent money.Worth very little even when restored unfortunately, there are enough nasty in-built jobs to frighten off even the most hardened enthusiast. Nothing like them on the road however, bar perhaps the Scimitar, and even that looks more classic than "space" age.
Would be very interested to hear progress, especially carpets as mine needs them
Not bothered though, i've always spent money on my cars, some good choices some bad choices, if i put a few grand into the Elite and have a few years fun with it that will be good value (cheaper than the depreciation and servicing costs on a new car) and i'll have hopefully prolonged the Elites life.
Read somewhere that complete carpet sets can be bought for £200, i was going to get carpet sections made up for the footwells though as the rest of mine are pretty decent.
The Elite is a 504 so as mentioned would have originally came with an autobox, power steering and air conditioning, of course it is now a manual, the air con is gone as is the power steering.
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