1981 Lotus Eclat 2.2
Discussion
Breadvan72 said:
I gather that Chapman and his wife and various Lotus execs used Elites as daily transport, so it wasn't all Mercs. The car represented the aspirational lifestyle thing, I suppose, Chapman being by the mid 1970s a middle aged millionaire.
These were also very expensive cars when new, in 1980 the Elite 504 was around £16.5K, a bit more than a Porsche 911SC. The Esprit was around the same price.I've also read that the Eclat/Elite handled better than an Esprit which is why Chapman drove one, he's rumoured to have said that if he wanted to arrive somewhere quick he chose an Elite, if he wanted to arrive in style he chose an Esprit.
Whatty said:
I rather like the Elite, wedgy shooting brake type looks.
How to ruin the looks with a doddgy spoiler:-http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotus-Elite-/20119496225...
Breadvan72 said:
More plastic really is less.Tits & Lips
Car Accessories
The list is endless......
Breadvan72 said:
Whatty said:
I rather like the Elite, wedgy shooting brake type looks.
How to ruin the looks with a doddgy spoiler:-http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotus-Elite-/20119496225...
Not yet, but should be refitted next week. I will then change the cambelt, give the car a shakedown, tidy it up, and it should be ready for the NEC Stand. I have replaced the boring leather gear knob with a chrome one with a Lotus badge on it. The dash panel still looks pretty meh, but I will try to spiff it up a bit. What news of the Elite?
Breadvan72 said:
What news of the Elite?
Nothing really to report since i got the reconditioned water pump on, running and driving fine, been using it most days as it's my only running car at the moment(trying to get my LR Discovery back on the road), it's proving to be pretty reliable (touch wood), entertaining to drive (slightly better than the 3.0S Capri's i've had), sounds glorious at full chat and get's quite a lot of positive attention on the road.Next jobs are probably rear wheel bearings and drivers door hinge, not looking forward to tackling the door hinge, whole door will need to come off and the steel beam withdrawn, these are known to rot too but i see Lotus bits do good S/H beams for £50, hinge pin and bush kit is £50 too.
My mechanic has now given the car a good going over so it is starting easily and running well, with new points and condenser, dizzy cap and rotor arm, rebuilt carbs, new coil, new starter, repaired fuel pump, and the timing re set. Sadly this all happened too late to take the car to the Elite/Eclat/Excel stand at the NEC Show. The car got a bit damp sitting outside while immobile, and its electrics need a good checking. The wiper motor is a bit feeble, the interior switches aren't all illuminating, and the rear demister isn't working.
I have just realised that the registration spells out "pick up artist". This is not good.
I have just realised that the registration spells out "pick up artist". This is not good.
My Elite suffered from a slow wiper, then after I left it parked for 2 weeks whilst abroad, the spindle seized up completely.
Unwilling to totally gut the interior to remove it, I made a funnel from plasticene around the spindle and filled it with penetrating oil, then warm gear oil until it turned freely again.
Typical Lotus, a cheap BL part, not quite up to the job and horrible to access.
Unwilling to totally gut the interior to remove it, I made a funnel from plasticene around the spindle and filled it with penetrating oil, then warm gear oil until it turned freely again.
Typical Lotus, a cheap BL part, not quite up to the job and horrible to access.
That's a very plausible theory, I had just about every component removed at one time or another but the wiper motor was a step too far, even for myself as a keen 25 yr old.
The wiper motor is supposed to be from a mini, definitely Lucas with the spiral cable type drive.
I wouldn't like to pay the bill for a garage to replace, one either, I was lucky to get away with freeing it off before the motor burned out.
Not sure if there is any truth in the tale but I heard tell of someone who cut through the scuttle from the outside to get to the wiper drive, then glassed it back up again.
The wiper motor is supposed to be from a mini, definitely Lucas with the spiral cable type drive.
I wouldn't like to pay the bill for a garage to replace, one either, I was lucky to get away with freeing it off before the motor burned out.
Not sure if there is any truth in the tale but I heard tell of someone who cut through the scuttle from the outside to get to the wiper drive, then glassed it back up again.
I may just have to tough it out until the motor gives up the ghost. I will give the oil trick a go. I was once driving a Jensen Interceptor through torrential rain on an Autostrada near Milan when the wiper motor burned out. I found that the solution was to drive faster - I kid you not, but the 20 kms or so to the next exit were pretty tense.
One of the handy features of my Elite was the way snow would just flow over the windscreen like the smoke over a wind tunnel model at main road speeds. Just as well as I once had to drive 150 miles home from the airport in a blizzard with no wiper, if you drove fast enough rain would miss the screen too.
citizensm1th said:
The only reason the wiring looked like this was that it was in the middle of a job, fitting a new Hi-Torque starter motor. The motor is smaller than the original so the way the loom was made meant that the wiring would not reach both the starter and alternator. I had to unwrap the loom and alter it so that I could wire it up to reach everything and then re-wrap the loom. However, unwrapping the loom was good because, as with many old cars, I find a lot of poor repairs hidden under insulation tape, that are just faults waiting to happen and let you down. So the opportunity was taken to repair it all correctly and neatly.
It transpired the distributor condenser was breaking down once it got hot, and since the distributor is such a pig to get at, the opportunity was taken to fit new points obviously but also cap and rotor arm to save later grief!
Roy
Edited by roy4matra on Friday 21st November 16:30
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