SOLD! 1990 Lotus Excel SE for a grand but NB needs top end doing.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I have too many cars/projects and not enough cash. Does anyone want to take on a Lotus Excel engine project for a grand?

 

1990 Lotus Excel SE five speed manual on G plate.   Approx 103,000 miles.  Lotus 912 twin cam 4 cylinder engine with twin Dellorto 45 carbs.  

 

A working Excel should be worth about £4000.  This one is cosmetically very good save for droopy headlining (I have a spare), and was working well until, not long past 100,000 miles, it ate up one of its camshaft buckets.  With any luck, the damage is limited, and  you won't have to go too far down into the engine to get it right again, but you would have to investigate to see what bits of metal got taken into the engine when the bucket broke.

 

I quote my car guru Roy Gillard:-

 

"I have inspected the Lotus today and found the rear camshaft tappet

bucket has completely broken up and there is damage to the camshaft.

(see attached photo)  I cannot see enough bits that would make up the

whole unit, so there have obviously been bits that have gone into the

oil and sump.  These are hardened pieces so can do extensive damage

although as yet they may not have since it should not have done much

running and the pick up strainer and filter should have stopped them.

However, it does mean that the engine will need a full strip and clean

to get rid of all the particles.

In other respects the engine may be quite good if this is all that has

happened - possibly one or two valves damaged and the cam and tappet."

 

Here are photos of the car taken last year when spiffy.  it is currently looking sorry for itself because it has been sat on its bum a while.  Also, a photo of the broken bucket.

 

1000 quid and it's yours, along with three boxes of assorted spares, including part of an exhaust system, and all books and workshop manuals.  Limited paper history because of a long term owner before me who did all his own maintenance, to what seems a good standard. 

 

The car is located in north London and would need trailering away.   

 

Worst case scenario  - you could probably get another engine for £1000 ish.  I know of a possible donor car in Suffolk.   Parts are available from the very helpful SJ Sportscars in Devon.

 

Is an Excel a good car when it works?  Yes, it is arguably the best all round car that Lotus ever made.  It is a practical four seater with luggage space, a good cruiser with 185BHP, and a proper Lotus on twisty roads. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Breadvan72]

I add: robust five speed manual gearbox by Toyota, good big disc brakes, brand new Dunlop tyres in correct size (the mileage on these tyres is zero), working electric windows and all electrics including pop up headlights, good stereo, alarm and immobiliser, aircon needs a regas or possibly an updated compressor to reflect changes in the available gas. 

 

Paintwork very good, alloys ditto.  Half leather, half tweed interior very good, save for floppy headlining, good carpets.

[Tetleysmooth]

Maybe you should try to contact Mike Brewer/Ed China. This would be right up their street.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I have no idea who Mike Brewer is, and only have the cheap edition of the internet so can't look him up.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Mother flipper, I'd love this I would.

[cort16]

A no reserve engine and box on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotus-2-2-twin-cam-engine-and-gearbox-/111105119232?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3ALotus|Model%3AExcel&hash=item19de619400

[John F]

If anyone facies tackling this I have an OE Lotus Excel workshop manual that I might be persuaded to part with.

[Guest Breadvan72]

The Lotus workshop manual and parts book are with the car, along with the original owner's handbook.  SJ Sports are knowledgeable about the type, and well stocked.  The Excel forum probably has some data, but is a cliquey and unfriendly place, as single type fora tend to be, so I wouldn't bother with it. 

 

With a repaired engine, this has the potential to be one of the best late Excels in the country.  By the end of the model's life, the Excel SE was a very well developed car that can give a lot of fun and good service, perform well in modern traffic, provide occupant safety, and so on.  The fuel economy is also pretty reasonable for a peppy car with two chunky carbs.  The 912 engine in  normally aspirated form is arguably the best thing that Lotus ever did, and the galvanised chassis and suspension provide all the grip and handliness that you would expect of a proper Lotus.  

[Spiny Norman]

Waits for someone to suggest an XUD replacement......

[Sigmund Fraud]

Bargain !!!

 

It's a pity that Excels remain so under-rated. I suppose that the relative fragility of the 900 series engines and the poor reputation of the Elite hasn't helped it.

 

Hope the car goes to a good home. Argh, if only I had more time/space/money

[dome]

Bugger me, if I didn't have about 2 tons of old Jag to distract me (and a Jeep, and a £75 Peugeot) and you were a bit closer I'd be all over this like a cheap hooker. I'd bloody love one of these. 

[HMC]

Lovely looking car. Very temptingly priced

[Station]

Awesome value for £1000 in that condition, even with a problem engine.

I'd personally take the head off, change the lifter, then flush the block through with solvent/petrol and then a jetwash, then hope it ran when I put it back together again.

[MikeKnight]

That interior is fabulous in every definition of the word.

[hhhugues]

Looks brilliant! Love the rear lights.

[Partridge]

Looks brilliant! Love the rear lights.

Somewhere, there’s still an upside down SD1 with no lights.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Not for this one, there isn't.  This car is mostly in original spec.  It was maintained by a Lotus dealer for its first few years, and then owned by one guy for almost two decades.  He and his father maintained it in spiffy order.  The spares boxes for the car include a set of rear lights, and much else besides, including exhaust components, and so on.

 

The car makes a fine noise when running, and turns heads everywhere.  It is very comfortable in the front, and the rear seats are fine once you fold into them, and very good for children.

 

The power steering helps with parking, but you have to take care as the view to the rear three quarter angle is a bit obscured by the C pillars.    The car combines classic car feel (and wafty high octane smell from the Dellortos) with modern car touches such as reliable brakes, proper heating and demisting, decent control ergonomics, steering mounted radio controls, and so on.

 

The only rust issue on an Excel relates to the steel bars in the doors, which can corrode and cause the doors to droop.  The roll bar in the roof does not usually rot, and the chassis is galvanised.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Bumpage.

[panhard65]

Very keen on this just the cashflow situation. I will have to check my bank later and see if there's enough spare cash kicking about. Would it be possible to pick it up on a week day if I can get the cash togather

[Guest Breadvan72]

Yes. The car is currently in storage in London N7 - the storage place is open from 7.30 am to 6pm.    If it does not sell soon, it will be moved to a garage in Harrow.

 

The V5 is currently at DVLA as I have recently moved house, but should be back with me soon.  The car is on a SORN, and its MoT ran out in April 2013.  The spares are at my house.

[panhard65]

Things are looking up looks like I have sold the rough old laguna for 750 so I am almost there. Is the later part of next week any good. I have to go to stansted to see my accountant so can probably do a divert into north london on the way. Whereabouts are you and the other parts so I can pay you and pick the bits up

[Guest Breadvan72]

Hello, the parts are in three big boxes here in South Oxfordshire, by junction 5 of the M40, but I can drop them off at the car storage place, possibly, as I have to collect some furniture from north London soon.  The techno books are with Roy Gillard in Harrow, as he was going to do the project.  They can be posted if need be.  The car is, as mentioned before,  in London N7.  The V5 should hopefully be back from Swansea soon.  The Lotus Excel - spreading the love (but hopefully not bits of engine) across the southern counties. 

 

You could leave cash at the car storage place, as I owe some storage charges there anyway, and owe the mech some wonga for work done on my Jensen, and the dudes there like cash. 

 

NB: any buyer has to go into this on the basis that the engine fix might be easy, medium, or hard, or require a swap, and the damage could be worse than we think at present.  I just don't know, so please budget accordingly before buying, and buy, as they say, at yer own risk.  I think the buyer could be getting a bargain, but with anything like this he or she could also be getting a right pain in the nadgers.  Cheers.  

[Guest Breadvan72]

I add that the car is currently looking shabby, as it has sat unwashed and unloved for many months (indoors), but it spiffs up well when it wants to.    The headlining needs to be pinned up or replaced.  

 

The engine failure occurred after an overspeed on an Italian autostrada one hot day last August, after the car had done 3000 effortless miles of Euro cruising.  The throttle suddenly jammed open, and the car revved high.   I limped off the motorway a few kilometres further on and the car was then trailered to a garage.   Sadly, I was south of Rome, far from my rented house in Umbria, which has a fab classic car garage near it, where the dudes had admired the car and had the skills and kit to deal with it.  Therefore, the car ended up at a general repair garage who did not inspire great confidence in either me or the RAC people handling the case.  I do not know what they did with it, and was concerned when it came back to the UK on a truck some weeks later, as there was some cosmetic damage to the petrol cap, and no water in the radiator (it had been full before).  The car was also marked as a runner on the card attached to it.  I do not know, therefore, if someone had run it while it was out of my control.  One cylinder shows zero compression.    I would expect that at least one valve has contacted at least one piston, but can't be sure of this.   New valves can be bought from SJ Sportscars, but note that Excel valves are posh and expensive.

 

Some people tune 912 engines to obtain silly power ratings, but in my view Lotus knew what they were doing, and 185 BHP from this unit is fine. 

[Lankytim]

Sorry, I can't buy the Lotus but what a rock and roll lifestyle you lead Mr Breadvan! The most glamorous breakdown I've had is when I had a blowout in my Allegro at J13 of the M6.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Yep, waiting for hours in boiling heat for the RAC's somewhat rubbish Euro breakdown cover to show up is living the dream, sho'nuff!

[John F]

I managed a 500-mile Euro trip in my old Excel with completely dysfunctional hydraulic clutch... it had packed in before reaching Dover, but I wasn't going to let a little thing like that spoil my trip

[Guest Breadvan72]

In 1969, my dad set off to drive us all from Birmingham to go around Ireland in his Morris 1000 Traveller, which was then some years old and more than somewhat shagged.  He had a Provisional Licence, and had had a few driving lessons from his brother in law.  Off we went.  Years later, he told me that the clutch failed before we even reached Holyhead, so he drove the whole trip from there with no clutch, and by the time we got back he only had two gears left.    On the return trip we broke down at Betws-y-coed in north Wales, where the locals were distinctly unfriendly and would not let my dad borrow a phone, or let us camp on the verge or anything.  The brother in law, my lovely uncle Mike (now departed) arrived to tow us home the next day.  

 

The car went on from strength to strength after that - once carting at least 13 children and 3 adults to a day out up some shit creek in Essex, and then my dad gave the car to his brother Nobby, who carried on using it for several years thereafter.  I recall many visits to scrappies with my dad, hunting for parts for the car, and many Sundays with my dad's legs protruding from underneath it on the front drive.    My vocabulary was, er, extended a bit by hanging around while he worked on the car, but not in a way that my mum liked. 

[Guest Breadvan72]

SOLD!  Cheers, all.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I am sweating it out now - I have left some CDs in the changer.  What if Des finds out about my secret Justin Bieber passion?