1987 Lotus Excel 2.2

Looking forward to this, with the leather seats if you can get them in somewhere warm the feed will work much better.

On my range rover I managed to get a second rusty door frame and cut sections out of this to weld into the original one.

Great looking car, I really like these and used to have one.
There are quite a lot of components shared with other cars and it is often easier and cheaper to look for the original source. For example, I used a Land Rover brake master cylinder.

How difficult is it to remove the carpet completely? The reason I ask is that having dealt with "drowned" BMWs in the past, they have a very dense foam backing on the carpet which is nigh on impossible to get dry in situ. If you can remove them it is really satisfying to give them a serious clean.

Brief detail on carpets...
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/204897/e30-diversion

It's a Lotus engine (a 912 designation, the same as the naturally aspirated ones in the Esprit of the same period).  180bhp (160bhp pre-86 I think) and she weighs 1,185kg.

I'm going to take the spare wheel out (with it's original tyre!!) to save a little bit of weight.  


There's alot of Toyota in the car (from a MK2 or Mk3 supra) but nothing that makes the car particularly cheap to run. 

V odd tyre sizes too (215/50 r15) which makes buying new OE ones v expensive.  But there are work arounds - for exmple toyo proxes actually measure to 213/50/15 so not far off (if you choose 205/50/15 I think).  Need to remind myself too, before I buy. 

BUT there's a whole plethora or alternative parts that people have found that replace the existing and work but are cheaper.  It's all on Lotusexcel.net.  

I'm really excited - and the kids are too, (but they just want to get driven to football or swimming in it!)...

It's been a manic 10 days or so with work including a trip to London and just generally things are alot busier on that front at the moment. Perhaps there's more confidence out there, let's hope so.



It was only yesterday that I finally got the car on to the ramp - it was make or break time tbh - although I've shown you pictures it doesn't tell the whole story.....there's quite an investment needed in the car, in no particular order;

carb gasket kit

new carb jet as it's sticking on the carb nearest the front of the car

new passenger window frame

some special glue (?) to re-attach the weather strip that covers up the fibreglass join

webbing to fix the drivers seat that's collapsed

new passenger doorlock

a reflock of the dashboard - really bad on the passenger side don't think the existing leather will be repairable

new tyres all round

new wiper

new headlight motor I think on the passenger side - but need advice on what to look for

new headlights both or perhaps they'll dry out?

new headlight backing ring on the drivers - the steel ring that is riveted to the body that the headlight is attached to - are they even a thing? 3d print something perhaps?

new ventilation I think - need to take the dash off to investigate

new waterpump or re-seating of waterpump as it's leaking

the petrol gauge moves, but shows full, even though we know it's not full by any means when I turn the ignition on so that's something to look at

new air intake pipe - the long snake thing that attaches to the air box - do I have to have that? is it to aid torque characteristics or something - like the peugeot 205 gti's engine? or can I simply replace it with something less long?)


And that was just from a brief inspection, noting, looking around as I've been doing bits and pieces on the car.....drying it out mainly......and then there's the paint......that needs a professional (or experienced) eye to have a look at. But my plan there is get the car an mot and then bring it to some meets to get some different owner's opinions - see what you guys think.



Please do bear in mind it's been sat outside for at least 4 years, perhaps longer under a cover that didn't do a brilliant job. It was passenger-side on to the weather hence so many issues on that side. So far it's been driven about 25 yards in my possession, it changes gear no problem, it brakes no problem (there's obviously noise from lack of use) but it definitely stops and then it's been wheeled into the back of the shed.



So today we had 30 mins at the end of the day to pump the tyres up and wheel it forward onto the ramp. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. But I have to say - I was v pleased with the overall condition. I literally got it up on to the ramp and started taking pictures - didn't remove leaves or debris to make things look better - you're seeing what I saw as I walked under the car.

So, without further ado.....;





 













And the 45 DHLA's;

Thanks pptom - that's exactly what I'm going to do (I'm going to try and hook it up to the hot water tap too).

Thanks for reading it and I've had two 'non car people' (my MIL and someone that was delivering sheep feed) say to me 'is that the car from back to the future?' so far.....to which I've said 'Fraid not' but they've gone on to have a proper look around it which is good.

Trikkisixx - thanks chap and loving your g60 too; I'd looked at it to buy (it was at the level that I had the budget for) but just felt my skills didn't quite meet the necessary level that your car needed); perhaps I was wrong on that.

I wasn't particularly looking for a Lotus, but I'd always kicked myself for saying no to a lotus elise mk1 at £6k about 10 years (they were alot more than that even then) from a desperate seller/acquaintance I knew. So when this came up and then I met the owner and heard what he'd been through and the story behind the car and why the car was outside....it became far more than a car if that makes sense. I'm still in regular contact with the previous owner now, which is good.

If the car had been really bad underneath I'd have taken the harsh decision to break it - the engine and gearbox (as you correctly) say have a great deal of value and there are other parts that people want. But that was always an armageddon route - I actually really want to drive it and use it. The car's paint will get sorted in time but right now it's get it mechanically sorted and interior put back together (most of it is in the dining room at the moment....wife is absolutely over the moon with that) and the interior working and comfortable. then it's drive it as much as possible......

Doesn't look too bad underneath, I'd give it all a good wire brushing then coat with something like Dynax UB, give the brakes a good going over (good chance of rusty pipes) then with a good service and fluid change get it MOT'd and drive it bit.

Had one of these a few years ago, it was a normal one not the SE, not a bad car but did have his issues. If your keeping the engine, one of the weak point is the fact the alternator fits on the water-pump. Which is alloy and the threads can go. Also is a good idea if you can afford it to ditch the carbs and go fuel injection, these engine go so much better.

The original Lotus parts can be hard to find and expensive. Theres a list around with all the parts that came from other manufacturers. So the price was a hell of a lot lower and you could get it from a scrap yard, something like the rear lights I'm sure came from an SD1 Rover.