I can haz done a buyage (AND a sellage)

[spike60]

It's usually worth replacing  the fuses, ok or not, cleaning every fusebox contact and earth you can find when you get some old donkey. Worth redoing every earth you can find too, though I expect you know all this. As you said, old car wiring can be bad enough but it's usually the added improvements that are the real pain.

[michael t]

I.m a bit late to the party here but what a fantastic motor, top marks for bravery

[Guest Breadvan72]

Cheerze.  If I CBA I should take some pics of the green and manky knackered fuse area in the boot, for the amusement of the populace at large.   The plan is for me bloke Roy to give all the electrics a good kicking, but this may take a while, and the spaghetti hell behind the dashboard does not bear thinking about.  I hope we can get it all working eventually, just in time for the engine to explode.    

 

Not at all a bad steer when it is working.  Possibly not quite as grippy as it should be, so the suspension may need a look.  I have one spare driveshaft and some UJs and all that (on these the driveshafts from part of the rear suspension in typical Chapman make one part do lots of jobs style).

[xtriple]

Good one your lordship and welcome back.

 

I had both an Eclat 503 (523?) and an Excel and they were both.... dreadful! Both fell to bits with frightening regularity but when they were going right they were great. Handling is where it's at (man!) as they really do take a corner in a most delightful manner. I ran both of mine on the correct tyres as speced by Lotus (Goodyear NCTs I think) and they really suited the car - grip wasn't spectacular but there was a precision and delicacy to the handling that wasn;t there with other tyres (as fitted to the Eclat when I got it - nasty!) and it flattered my driving skills to the point where I thought I was a proper 'driving God'!

 

I wasn't then or now, but the Lotus let me get away with it ....

 

Both of mine were fitted with child seats in the back. I never let my wife get too close to the mountings to have a look as I'm not sure thin fibreglass with big washers (to spread the load!) was safety approved... My son who was a blubby with the first one and about two and a bit with the second, adored them. I still have a picture somewhere of him stood on the drivers seat, steering.

 

I still recall the Eclats form of dash centre lighting, a pinhole sized lamp mounted on the roll bar that was directed at the gauges! Shit idea that didn't work very well, but was amusing.  At least with the Excel you got some Toyota bits that worked whereas the more pure Lotus bits you have, the less chance of this happy state of affairs.

 

I can see the appeal still, but back then I was reduced to buying a Lada estate as back up so I had at least one car that I could rely on (sort of) to start/function. I commend you for your bravery and to be a multiple times Lotus owner says much about you I always vowed that I would NEVER have another but I still find myself drooling over later Esprits...

[dugong]

Wise words.  This chodewagon may, however, have been partially rewired by a madman at some point in its murky past.  

Yes. When it was built. By the factory. 

[Guest Breadvan72]

The centre panel lights on Series 2 Eclats are fooking high tech fibre optics, as even Chapman eventually had to admit that that the "pay some dwarf to sit on the transmission tunnel pointing a torch at the panel" system was too rubbish.    The only problem with fooking high tech fibre optics from 1981 is that they are shite.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Anyone feeling foarking insane?

 

Check this Mofo:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotus-Elite-plus-another-Elite-and-an-Eclat/261939946830?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555012%26algo%3DPW.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140221143405%26meid%3D437bb9309a8448cc8408ad9118e0d517%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D24%26sd%3D271903722243

[Crusty Sills]

Wow three times the opportunity to be frustrated, stressed and broke.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I assume the person who buys three broken, plant filled, undocumented Lotuses from a man who admits he just found them on his land is the same person who gets into the Guinness Book of Records by licking the most electric fences. 

[TagoraSX]

Every time I see one of these for sale its either

 

A - In a hedge

B - On the back of a recovery truck

C - In bits

D - Some combination of a, b and c

 

Are they really that bad?

[Asimo]

Fatal repair cost to purchase cost ratio has done for most of them.

Plus, if you were going to be that daft, you would go the whole hog and get an Esprit.

[garethj]

Looks like an excellent* purchase.

 

"Hello, is that auto electric supplies?  What's the biggest box of spade connectors you do?  Actually, can I set up a trade account - I'd be classed as a heavy user"

 

Welcome back, Mr_BV, how's the fleet doing?

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I love the Elite; its the styling.

[Junkman]

Every time I see one of these for sale its either

 

A - In a hedge

B - On the back of a recovery truck

C - In bits

D - Some combination of a, b and c

 

Are they really that bad?

 

Yes.

There are currently two on Ebay and one on CCFS and each one fits at least one of the criteria you listed.

Since I have never seen one that doesn't, I assume those were the four versions they came in from the factory.

On the plus side, you could always engine rape a Jensen Healey to keep them going.

[richardmorris]

My dad worked with someone who had an eclat( maths teacher). They spent more than one lunch hour sellotaping the windscreen in to enable him to drive home again. Their record was half the science dept. in the car to drive for lunch to the pub ( five supposedly grown men).

[Justin Case]

Yes.

There are currently two on Ebay and one on CCFS and each one fits at least one of the criteria you listed.

Since I have never seen one that doesn't, I assume those were the four versions they came in from the factory.

On the plus side, you could always engine rape a Jensen Healey to keep them going.

 On the even plusser side you could always engine rape one of them to keep a Jensen Healey going

[Guest Breadvan72]

All words above be THE TRUE.

 

As for fleet news, stand by for an update in the next week or so.  Warning: may contain poor quality decision making.

 

 

[Guest Breadvan72]

Eclat SOALD.

 

Stand by for further Lotus related lunacy on these very pages.

 

A hint....


 

[dome]

Phwoar! I love an Excel. Saw one in Glasgow last night on my way to the AC/DC gig. Would!

[Skizzer]

Oooo!

[Guest Breadvan72]

http://autoshite.com/topic/20953-no-drama-collectorama/

[anonymous user]

That Lotus ad "Must qualify as a very desirable mistress"

 

Yep it has all the qualifications, bit of a looker, high maintenance, expensive tastes, prone to breakdowns and probably cause trouble with your wife

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

An old Lotus is an impractical and romantic choice of car. There is something noble about running an old Lotus. 

 

This nation needs more old Lotus buyers less people who think a modern Mercedes is the last word in anything other than vulgarity.