Lotus Excel project
Discussion
Lotusgone said:
Showing plenty of promise, hope it turns out well.
Excel prices seem to have gone up quite a bit in the last 18 months or so, not sure why.
Thanks. I've already started shopping for it, and the "to do" list is currently 40-odd items long. But I'm feeling good about it. if it's not pissing down this weekend I'm hoping to get the exhaust mounted securely. I fitted one very kindly sold to me at a good price by Marshalla of this parish, but it just needs securing better to stop it blowing at the cup n cone joins.Excel prices seem to have gone up quite a bit in the last 18 months or so, not sure why.
I've got the bits for a cambelt (and tensioner) change on the way, so that will be one less thing to worry about.
So, I reattached the joints of the exhaust, used a little silicone, don't know if that will help or not. But they're properly screwed together now. I didn't take any photos, being laid on the ground under the car, but if you've ever seen underneath a car, it looked like that, but with swearing.
I also did the cambelt, which was 7 hours under the sun last weekend. 7 hours!
Bonnet off and workshop prepped.
Warning sign made ant put on dash.
[deleted this pic as I did it on an envelope with my name and address on it!]
Tried 2 method of keeping everything in check.
1 - the normal mark up all the dots on the gears (including distributor drive) against points on the engine & each other
2 - mark up the belt against the cams and then transfer all marks to the new belt and line up.
In the end, because of the issues I had getting the tensioner in and the dizzy drive, the whole belt ended up installed 1 tooth out of whack against the on-belt markings. However all the relevant gears and pulleys were properly set relative to each other.
Alternator pushed loose and out of the way.
Crankshaft pulley. Did NOT want to come off. About half an hour with a little hammer tap-tap-tapping forwards and back finally freed it.
Belt off. No going back now!
Tensioner being rebuilt. New bearing, nylon washers, earth strap and springs. There's a new piston with the kit, but that was pretty tight and kept getting nipped up, so I re-used the old one. Re-lubed everything, especially the pivot. I hear some have bushes around the pivot axle pin, but mine didn't so it got caked in PTFE and Silicone lube spray. To get it back in the car was an absolute b
d. In the end I had to squeeze it up in the vice and strap it together with cable ties, which I snipped off after fitting to the car.
I also did the cambelt, which was 7 hours under the sun last weekend. 7 hours!
Bonnet off and workshop prepped.
Warning sign made ant put on dash.
[deleted this pic as I did it on an envelope with my name and address on it!]
Tried 2 method of keeping everything in check.
1 - the normal mark up all the dots on the gears (including distributor drive) against points on the engine & each other
2 - mark up the belt against the cams and then transfer all marks to the new belt and line up.
In the end, because of the issues I had getting the tensioner in and the dizzy drive, the whole belt ended up installed 1 tooth out of whack against the on-belt markings. However all the relevant gears and pulleys were properly set relative to each other.
Alternator pushed loose and out of the way.
Crankshaft pulley. Did NOT want to come off. About half an hour with a little hammer tap-tap-tapping forwards and back finally freed it.
Belt off. No going back now!
Tensioner being rebuilt. New bearing, nylon washers, earth strap and springs. There's a new piston with the kit, but that was pretty tight and kept getting nipped up, so I re-used the old one. Re-lubed everything, especially the pivot. I hear some have bushes around the pivot axle pin, but mine didn't so it got caked in PTFE and Silicone lube spray. To get it back in the car was an absolute b
d. In the end I had to squeeze it up in the vice and strap it together with cable ties, which I snipped off after fitting to the car.Edited by crofty1984 on Wednesday 22 May 11:42
Edited by crofty1984 on Wednesday 22 May 11:44
Great to see another Excel being put back on the road.
I used to have a 1970 Elan S4, and a pal had an 89 Excel, which I had the pleasure of driving down from Newcastle to Sheffield.
Never having driven a 'modern' Lotus before at that time, I was surprised how good the car was. The 2.2L (?) engine was very punchy, and with it being a 'plastic' ie fibreglass bodyshell, it went very well.
IIRC on the motorway it seemed to settle down over 80 as the aero took effect.
Yours is in a great colour, and will look amazing when polished up I'm sure.
Some of the parts are tricky to source ...as in typical Lotus fashion at that time, they originate from all sorts of car manufacturers.
And that engine sounds amazing at WOT....!
I used to have a 1970 Elan S4, and a pal had an 89 Excel, which I had the pleasure of driving down from Newcastle to Sheffield.
Never having driven a 'modern' Lotus before at that time, I was surprised how good the car was. The 2.2L (?) engine was very punchy, and with it being a 'plastic' ie fibreglass bodyshell, it went very well.
IIRC on the motorway it seemed to settle down over 80 as the aero took effect.
Yours is in a great colour, and will look amazing when polished up I'm sure.
Some of the parts are tricky to source ...as in typical Lotus fashion at that time, they originate from all sorts of car manufacturers.
And that engine sounds amazing at WOT....!
Good luck with this. I look forward to your progress
I 'recognise' your name from PH in general but have noticed your recent posts on the the Excel Facebook groups and perhaps Excel.net too.
I've had my later Excel for almost a year, it's a weekend car and doesn't do many miles but I really enjoy getting out in it and attending numerous meets etc. I'd been wanting some sort of classic for a couple of years and didn't set out on an Excel but I'm really pleased with my choice. My first Lotus and first 'classic' for about 20 years, nice to be in that scene for sort of this first time.
I 'recognise' your name from PH in general but have noticed your recent posts on the the Excel Facebook groups and perhaps Excel.net too.
I've had my later Excel for almost a year, it's a weekend car and doesn't do many miles but I really enjoy getting out in it and attending numerous meets etc. I'd been wanting some sort of classic for a couple of years and didn't set out on an Excel but I'm really pleased with my choice. My first Lotus and first 'classic' for about 20 years, nice to be in that scene for sort of this first time.
Gompo said:
Good luck with this. I look forward to your progress
I 'recognise' your name from PH in general but have noticed your recent posts on the the Excel Facebook groups and perhaps Excel.net too.
I've had my later Excel for almost a year, it's a weekend car and doesn't do many miles but I really enjoy getting out in it and attending numerous meets etc. I'd been wanting some sort of classic for a couple of years and didn't set out on an Excel but I'm really pleased with my choice. My first Lotus and first 'classic' for about 20 years, nice to be in that scene for sort of this first time.
Hi Gompo, yes I imagine that's probably me I 'recognise' your name from PH in general but have noticed your recent posts on the the Excel Facebook groups and perhaps Excel.net too.
I've had my later Excel for almost a year, it's a weekend car and doesn't do many miles but I really enjoy getting out in it and attending numerous meets etc. I'd been wanting some sort of classic for a couple of years and didn't set out on an Excel but I'm really pleased with my choice. My first Lotus and first 'classic' for about 20 years, nice to be in that scene for sort of this first time.
Great to hear you're enjoying your car and the cameraderie (carmeraderie?). Mine's been a long time coming, but having it here at my house, coupled with an injection of money means I'm just going for it, or it'll always just sit there rotting. He's now resting in the executive suite. By which I mean there's now a gazebo over it to keep the leaves off from the neighbour's tree.
crofty1984 said:
Hi Gompo, yes I imagine that's probably me Great to hear you're enjoying your car and the cameraderie (carmeraderie?). Mine's been a long time coming, but having it here at my house, coupled with an injection of money means I'm just going for it, or it'll always just sit there rotting. He's now resting in the executive suite. By which I mean there's now a gazebo over it to keep the leaves off from the neighbour's tree.
Yes, there's definitely cameraderie; particularly with the 'GT' Lotus cars and but older Lotus' in general. It helps that compared to many other brands, most of the owners are car 'enthusiasts'. Given how few are around I was surprised to learn there's quite a few (4-5 maybe) Excels within 20 miles of me. Great to hear you're enjoying your car and the cameraderie (carmeraderie?). Mine's been a long time coming, but having it here at my house, coupled with an injection of money means I'm just going for it, or it'll always just sit there rotting. He's now resting in the executive suite. By which I mean there's now a gazebo over it to keep the leaves off from the neighbour's tree.More work (told you I've been busy).
Picked up a set of tyres to replace the absolutely banjaxed 20-odd year old ones on there. A very kind gentleman on the excel forum was replacing some nearly-new ones and offered the set free to anyone that collects, so that was a Saturday trip.
I've un-bent the pedal box whilst keeping it assembled, but I think for the sake of an afternoon's work I'll disassemble it and lube everything. Don't want to do the job twice.
Talking of not wanting to do the job twice, the last thing I want to do is re-fit the box and immediately bend it again. So to make sure everything is free I rigged up a dummy pedal by removing the rod (which is free to move) and gaffer-taping a bolt to a G-Clamp and screwing it together whilst trying and very occasionally succeeding to keep it all in a straight line, then diving under the car with a set of verniers to see how much movement I had. Nothing seems seized now, but I will probably rebuild the master cylinder whilst I have decent access. I renewed all the clutch hydraulics about 10 years ago, so even though the car's not moved, it probably makes sense to at least do the M/C while I can easily get to it.
Picked up a set of tyres to replace the absolutely banjaxed 20-odd year old ones on there. A very kind gentleman on the excel forum was replacing some nearly-new ones and offered the set free to anyone that collects, so that was a Saturday trip.
I've un-bent the pedal box whilst keeping it assembled, but I think for the sake of an afternoon's work I'll disassemble it and lube everything. Don't want to do the job twice.
Talking of not wanting to do the job twice, the last thing I want to do is re-fit the box and immediately bend it again. So to make sure everything is free I rigged up a dummy pedal by removing the rod (which is free to move) and gaffer-taping a bolt to a G-Clamp and screwing it together whilst trying and very occasionally succeeding to keep it all in a straight line, then diving under the car with a set of verniers to see how much movement I had. Nothing seems seized now, but I will probably rebuild the master cylinder whilst I have decent access. I renewed all the clutch hydraulics about 10 years ago, so even though the car's not moved, it probably makes sense to at least do the M/C while I can easily get to it.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff