1987 Lotus Excel SE

December 30, 2024

..............et voila.........that was December .................with not as much progress made but life etc got in the way. That's not to say nothing happened - a load more parts arrived (more to come) and today I had the tyres fitted and balanced to the refurbed alloys. The refurb wasn't a smooth process apparently - by all accounts the alloys weren't in the greatest of condition ..........but they look 1000% better than they were so...........onwards.

I'm just about there now - it's knuckle down and fit parts and get the engine going (again), following a new cambelt (bought from pnm) and alot of other parts from Lotusbits.

Also - have a basket open on autodoc - with 8 or 9 cars in my 'garage' (that share parts with the excel - often they are alternative parts, rather than OE parts shared with Lotus originally). The toyota celica (or supra, memory betrays me - think it was the SA60) is almost as tough to find parts for as the Excel!

Finally some pictures taken tonight - the Lotus looking a little forlorn at the back of the shed.......but she'll have her time in the sun soon. So to speak. On the ramp of sunshine perhaps.

And after 9 years of massive use............the trampoline is going too............and we're knocking the bricked-up exit at the back of the shed out so we can use it too...........that's happening in May (when the weather is better).

Onwards to 2025 and I hope everyone is ok. Seize. The. Day. Mes amis.

1.6k · December 30, 2024

Are you happy with how the new tyres look on the wheels? Will be good to see how they look when fitted to the car. They're perhaps the size I'm going for on the rear. Hardly used mine this autumn for numerous reasons, but managed to get out for forty odd miles yesterday, which was nice.

December 31, 2024

Gompo - I made a decision to go with the width (ooo, er etc etc) than the sidewall height........I'm not sure why........but I think that, despite the comparisons showing a 195/55/15 was v v close I couldn't get my head around the more narrow tyre offering the same sort of grip.

So I went with the 215 width and in as near the sidewall size as I could to the original (45 vs the OE 50)..............but I'm not sure I've made the right decision.

I've not had the chance to offer them up yet but I think they aren't going to fill the arches as good as, say a 225/50/15. (I'm not happy I can't just afford the OE 215/50/15 but at £250 a tyre it's just too much, bearing in mind I need 4 (and actually 5 if I change the spare........but I'm not going to carry one - just take a can of something and hope).

I'll take some pictures of the car on it's new tyres over the next week so you can compare.

I'll take the pain for the moment - I just want to get on now.......trouble is the wife is so ill. so ill. I'm going to have to plan the jobs to a military detail - prep the job prior so that I can walk in and start working immediately (on a given job).......not muck about for an hour getting everything set up just to start and then have to stop. Get in, get that job done......move on.

I'm eager to drive it to work (3 days a week in the office, 2 at home) so that's the target.

I've also bought the necessary fibreglass kit to repair the lower lip (that's split). Another skill I need to learn...........youtube to the rescue........

The car isn't a low mileage, or anniversary/special model and therefore I've taken the decision to use her as much as I can...........avec a bells and whistles AA policy...............

Happy new year everyone.

14,185 · December 31, 2024

On 30/12/2024 at 22:30, Gompo said:

Are you happy with how the new tyres look on the wheels? Will be good to see how they look when fitted to the car. They're perhaps the size I'm going for on the rear. Hardly used mine this autumn for numerous reasons, but managed to get out for forty odd miles yesterday, which was nice.

nice numberplate

January 1

HappyNew Year!

I'd re-think the spare wheel situation, With the state of the roads a 'can of something' is going to be useless if you hit a pot hole and tear the tyre ...

Get a narrow space saver 'get you home' wheel tyre combo, doesn't have to be wide or the highest speed rating to get you home

1.6k · January 1

34 minutes ago, Westbay said:

HappyNew Year!

I'd re-think the spare wheel situation, With the state of the roads a 'can of something' is going to be useless if you hit a pot hole and tear the tyre ...

Get a narrow space saver 'get you home' wheel tyre combo, doesn't have to be wide or the highest speed rating to get you home

Agreed. Even one of the original, very old tyres is worth using as a spare providing it holds air and is 'legal'. The main reason I'm put off the expensive OEM 215/50s is the worry of unrepairable damage like a sidewall rip. If I knew they'd last 15k/5 years or whatever, it wouldn't be so much of an issue. I'm sticking with the staggered set up though, so just two tyres I really need to sort.

January 2

I hear you guys - I was just thinking of trying to get the weight down too!

January 23

And that was January. Now...........actual progress, of sorts, has been made. Not just putting the wheels back on but I've also started tackling little jobs that need doing, in the literally smidgens of time I've had available, when the stars have aligned.

I've literally had to tee things up over a couple of days (minutes here, minutes there, where I could rush into the shed, gather tools and stuff - put it all together) and then on the actual day where I had 40 clear mins.........run in, get started, do what I could, get out).

It's worked..........for the most part.

So tyres on;

Looks like it's on stilts but the car hadn't settled then (and I've new suspension - OE for the moment - to go on there too).

And I've tackled holes in part of the exhaust - ideally I'd like to change these pieces (SJ Sportscars do them for about £50 a side) but for the moment - just got them sorted and then I can get them back on the car. New exhaust rubbers bought too;

Seems I didn't take pictures of that but will circle back and add them in.

And finally I've tackled the lower lip (fibreglass) that had split - really wanted to sort that and get it back on the car. First time using fibreglass and the chemicals so forgive me here - it aint Chippendale-esque in the finish........but realised I didn't have any BRG (A42) Green Paint so that'll get sorted in due course. Sand it then paint it of course. Clean it first mind (I'd cleaned the immediate area where I was applying fibreglass).

For the moment I needed it back in one piece so I can store it without worrying it'll get knocked and broken. Which is the sort of thing I do.

I did both sides (inside and below) - (you can't see the repair from the front as you look at the car) at different times, to allow things to cure.

I'm really pleased - it's sorted and I can move on and then come back to it to sand it and paint it later.

I'm also going to buy some better lights (these here - https://www.pnmparts.co.uk/lotus-excel-led-headlamps-pnmm1114?search=lights ) than the cobbled-together efforts I've done (using land rover s3 headlights and bulbs).

Next is engine (cambelt, tensioner, add some exhaust studs, sort out throttle cable, put it all back together, re-do the choke cable (go to take out into the interior and re-insert it) and then re-fit the bonnet, lights, lower lip. then I can tackle the rear light and side lights (need changing - bodies I mean) and then move on to sorting out the passenger door - full day - and that'll need some planning - but it'll come off, get sorted and go back on in the same day..........and then I've got the interior (which looks like a disaster zone........but shouldn't be too bad.

I've also heard a snippet (or read) that Toyota Previa mk1 calipers are a direct swap for the Excel's -and the pictures on the internet look good, really good - so I'm going to buy some and see. They just replace OE ones of course. I'd toyed with the idea of an upgrade ...........but let's just get the ole shitter back on the road first yeah? Cheaper than lotus's ones. Worth a shot.

I'm also hearing that a subaru justy has an identical heater fan (mine isn't working) so I'm going to buy one of them too and see - much cheaper than lotus's.

Wife is still v poorly and the kids are discombobulated. Spent 8 days in and out of hospital over xmas and so far it's been a total of 7 days too in Jan. A and E gets no better..........but the staff.........the staff are and continue to be absolutely immense. Working in v difficult circumstances.

Love Autoshite - am on the forum most days. Loving people's work.

16,397 · January 23

Keep posting, I found AS kept me sane when in hosp for an op

10,705 · January 24

Keep on keeping on. Hope things get better for you and your family soon.

7,644 · January 24

Good to hear the health is improving very much like this lovely beast.

Bet you can’t wait to get back to it.

20,887 · January 24

Great work you big red sausage. I want to see that Excel growling about the public highway soon. All the best to the Saveloy family in difficult circumstances.

February 3

I've never thought of myself as a big red sausage.......................but having cogitated over it over the last week or so.........I'm loving that description!

Not masses done lately but I did buy a little cutting die (M12 x 1.25 if anyone is actually interested) in order to try and clean up the thread on the gearknob - it had been butchered by previous owners and I'd sold the gearknob that ws on it (metal thing) because it was blisteringly cold when I'd had to use it briefly, when I tried to drive the car home. that was when we found out the carbs needed a rebuild (about 20 yds from sellers house.)

We trailered it back instead - but I'd not forgotten the evil gearknob so it got sent (gratis) to another Lotus Excel owner. So I'm, ahem, currently knobless..............soon to be rectified by a bespoke item that, I hope will subtly lift the interior (and keep to the light blue theme overall, inside).

The interior is worn, there's no doubt about that. I continue to rub leather feed into all the bits I've stored in the house (wife is delighted, especially with the 3 year anniversary coming up). Loves the stuff spread around the house............... But it's also why I'm going to use her as much as I can once I've got it on the road - it doesn't matter if I put loads of miles on her - it's not an anniversary/special model/low mileage/pristine so I'm going to use her.

So - old thread (forgive the shocking tape measure - I didn't realise it was quite so bad when I got it out of the tool box but time meant I literally had to take the shot there and then and then get back into the house);

And new and improved, sort of, thread:

The eagle-eyed (avec laser-treatment or contact lenses or both, at our ages............) will have spotted the veritable spaghetti-lovers wet-dream of radio wires - that'll be sorted once I've squared away the heater fan - I don't want to putting anything back in until I know I've got everything working.

I've been looking at seats too..........and toying with the idea of buying a drivers RX8 seat from France (have family in France). passenger (rhd) rx8 seats don't tilt. But rx8 seats fit and fit well (well-known 'fact' in excel circles) but I want both to tilt..........It's just an idea at the moment. Might just say sod it and buy some retro recaro-lookalike numbers from GSM or suchlike. Or Alfa 147 seats (another 'sure- fire' fit I gather).

Anyway - onwards and upwards everyone. I love reading the updates, particularly the new news thread - that I never contribute to but perhaps I should.

I've actually changed the brakes on both golf and the hyundai santa fe recently (v good off-road for what we need it for) to and then bought 8 new tyres too - vredesteins (I bought 8 vredesteins, of different sizes of course, from camskill - an almost orgasmic experience.........for someone - they seemed non-plussed about it). Love a vredestein - under the radar but I find them pretty good.

The fact that I'm a sad, deeply sad git and like the fact that both cars have them..........I don't know..........just a slight frisson of something in the gonad area everytime I think about it. Which isn't often I admit..........but when I do....................................yeah, anyway enough about the insignificant peccadillos of mine...........................................the rest of the family literally couldn't give a sh*t of course.

And why should they?

I'm at the point where I'm thinking of selling the golf (177,000 miles with bodywork that's not amazing but she's got it where it counts - not least a vw cambelt and waterpump/service/new brakes/new tyres recently) -it's the 2009 mk6 version 110bhp 5 speed (so obviously offputting to loads of people.............but it is a brilliant car.) 60-70mpg on a run and is deceptively quick. Got all new sachs suspension to go on the front (got b4's or b6's on the back - but got a deal on the sachs so went with them for the front) which will be done next week.

The Santa-fe too - 2011, beast of an engine (197bhp - think it's a mercedes under licence? and something like 400ft lbs of torque - really good for trailering - which I do alot of - moving sheep and their shi*t mostly) ............but we sold the sheep in December - can't look after them and the wife and the wife comes first obvs. You have to do right by sheep (they aren't fire and forget - ie. chuck 'em in a field and see them in a month - you need to be constantly on it with them). Wonderful animals.............but there comes a point where we couldn't look after them/do right by them so they had to go. I took them to auction but that's another story.

20,887 · February 3

I found some pics on an external hard drive from when I went Excel shopping in about 2004. I'll upload if I get a chance.

Keep up the excellent work

March 3

And so it goes fellas, so it goes. Life is a weird combination of guilty elation and deep deep sorrow and stress and anger and a sense of injustice........but for the moment, life does go on. Wife is still v ill and a scan last Friday will give us the results on Weds this week. I'm not a particularly religious type but I look to the heavens for some sign of positivity (been amazing the night sky this week actually). Deep in my bones though ..........is foreboding.

And yet here I am posting about the Lotus. It was half term last week (the cynic in mean would suggest that Wales has to be different than England, if only to justify the Senedd's existence) and that meant a full-on week..........but I made a point of putting the car on the ramp and setting things up to actually get things done, given 30 mins here, 40 mins there.

I've got help coming soon (to do the cambelt) and work on the engine (stripping ancillaries is next) so I can get to the tensioner bearing that needs replacing (£60+ bearing, no cheaper alternatives sadly ........god knows I looked - spent way more time than I should have trying to cross reference skf charts with timkens et al.........all to no avail)...........

Up she goes;

Got the lower front lip on - and yes it looks untidy and needs making good - that'll happen in due course..........but I needed to get it on there to get it out of the way (so to speak) - storing it is v awkward and there was a chance I'd knock it off it's perch so I got the old metal clips removed and new ones on and then used some left-over quad bike body work screws (with rubber washers) to attach it. Worked out well. Quad bike has long gone........but hardly anything gets thrown out so had them handy.

Metal clips........that you've seen a thousand times. You get the jist. gist? spelling.........

I then took out the choke cable...........because I'd forgotten to put a round plastic button/washer into the dash before insertion first time around and the choke pull needs it to fix into the dash area. Really awkward to do - but got it done. Here's a pic of the masking tape it used so i could spot when it was close to the end of it's run;

Note the cunning ice-cream tubs over the carb inlets to stop ingress of dust.

Next - new exhaust hangers............But more were needed and thus an order to Lotusbits - technically I could have sorted it cheaper on ebay.......but I could get the shape right but I'm useless at ordering the right sizes.......so just paid a little bit more and got them from an Excel specialist. Nice people there too.

I was going to tackle the lower ball joints next...........but came a cropper - I don't have a press to put them back in - getting them out is fairly straightforward........but.........well - might have to take the whole arm off - here's a rusty view view of one of them;

It looks worse than it is - honest (the arm and other bits I mean) - ball joint is shagged obvs. I've got a plan (and the mixture) to sort the crappy looking suspension furniture.......but that'll be done at the end.

I moved on to the front brakes - just trying to free off stuff, see what sort of condition the calipers/piston/rubbers were in. I'm going to order Toyota Previa Calipers (mk1) as they're a direct fit (identical) - which saves money over buying from a lotus supplier.

They don't look in too bad a condition - the discs will need changing and I'll do that.......once I've got it through the MOT. They're looking very sorry for themselves but they have hardly been used - I've already got new brake pads (trw) that will do in (even though the ones you see there have plenty of life in them). MOT station is less than 4 miles from me so they'll have enough of a workout on the way (and I'll use them around the yard first)............ but more important - everything came apart, wasn't dripping, was moving in and out/freely and so, buttoned it all back up again (each side) and that's put to bed.

I've been using wd40 and a toothbrush to get the worst off hence it looking a bit wet.

Exhaust hangers arrive tomorrow and then it's get the exhausts back on (both sides) and then it's sort ancillaries off the car, get the headlights in and move the car on.............

At one point I couldn't undo one of the bolts on one side of the brakes........and no matter what I did - I just couldn't undo it. I've only limited tools (I tried heating it - with a fucking paint gun............it's all I have and...................... gave up.............) but got there in the end with the use of a rugby beast (6ft 5 unit) friend of mine.........we raised the car up to its maximum height then he hung off the scaffolding pole..................well, er, actually he just got under the car and using the spanner undid it like it was only on finger tight................ . But I'd spent over an hour on that (a precious, precious hour).........it gets you down..........I've realised just how much work is needed to be done......and I couldn't even undo a bolt for goodness sake. But Ian was happy to help..........and it's all forgotten now.

I look around the car and just shudder - there's so much to do and I want it to look right and not bodged/rushed................I'm really worried about the interior (shocking) - it's not so much the expense...........but time.........I really really just want to drive the blessed thing......but there's so much to do in between. I'm really unhappy with that front lip but got to move on...........to sort it is going to be another £60 imo (paint) and the money is tight..........especially when there's a chance I'll hit the first time I try and park it somewhere! So, for the moment I've set it aside.

I've had to tell myself - one job at a time - get it sorted........move on.........just keep going.

Engine (cambelt, then get it running - without fear - we know she runs) then radiator in with the two Ford Fiesta fans and the shroud and then on to the rear suspension (bought avo dampers from Lotusbits) because they is stuffed, the ones on the car and rear brakes next. Now the evenings are lighter (maybe not warmer but hey, it's something) I plan to try to do more 30 mins/60 mins..........go in - do one job, get out.

I had plans to change every bush on the car.............bugger that - i'd be here til 2035...........just get it on the road........worry about what it needs after..........keep our eye on the prize...........

Onwards mes amis!

Edited March 3 by Oi_Oi_Savaloy
spelling...........punctuation...........the usual.

May 17

..............And then over two months went by without an update..................and truth be told life, other cars, wife being much stronger so she's wanted to seize the day doing stuff (but is now not v well at all unfortunately so we're glad we kicked the arse out of it), a new car (disco 4............that's already broken - but warranty has kicked in and then we're selling it as the wife just finds it too big/heavy/just not her cup of tea...........but I love it..........), kids, exams, new job (december last year but it's busy and whilst everything else turns to shit it's actually going well and I'm enjoying it), lethargy, and can't-be-arsed-itis, have all played their part in a sort of lack of progress.

But I have been fiddling with it and cogitating on the lotus. So much is new to me that I'm spending alot of time working out how to tackle jobs. Take this one for example. The choke cable was broken at the interior bit end - and so it looked terrible in the dash and it couldn't be used either.

I needed to get this broken bit back on...........

......but the only way to do that was to take the wire out of it's sleeve and then simply pop the wire back in afterwards, having first glued that bit above to this........

(sorry, terrible pic out of focus) and then pop it back into the car, thread it through the dash and out the bulkhead and hey presto, another little job sorted in 5 mins..................

Well. Yes. Things went sideways literally as soon as I took the wire out of the sleeve. I tried popping it back in to see how easy it was to do so whilst looking for the little button thing to get that sorted for gluing back on..........and of course it wouldn't go back...............

I lost the will to live at this point (well, actually, it was time to go and make beds for the kids before bedtime..........which is sort of the same thing) and just left it..........i was pretty pissed off. I know I can just buy another (£29.95 plus p and p) but I just didn't want to do that for this - there are going to be plenty of other £29.95 purchases need going forward and i just felt that this shouldn't be something that should defeat me.

So this morning I rang a mechanic friend and he said..........get some of these (which I had) and pop it on the end and it'll be as easy as kiss-my-hand (he didn't use that phrase, he's Polish, but you get the gist)......and you know what.......it actually worked.

And I couldn't believe it. In my excitement I rammed the end into the other end to see how it fitted and promptly jammed the whole thing up (as I'd not realised there's a specific way for the notches to catch the outer sleeve. Cue yet another half hour of trying to remove said rammaged bit and to reinsert with a little more finesse...............things got sweary and there was a fair amount of internal-berating it has to be said..............but I got there in the end ready for it to be put back in tomorrow.

So tomorrow I will reattach my choke cable to the thin wire I left in the dash that I pulled through as i took the choke cable out;

You can just see it wound on the end of the choke cable here (excuse the mess of radio wires - they will be cleaned up with the new stereo - Alpine head unit, Kenwood 4092a graphic equaliser, two Kenwood amps and new speakers all around, plus a 10 inch sub - more on all of that in due course - have already run the thick cables through the car);

So that should be dead easy to refit eh?

I'm also putting the exhausts back on tomorrow too that I've painted in heat resistant paint and bought new exhaust hangers (wrong size holes so need yet more fettling).

Got her up on the ramp and got the tractor in too (that's had about £2,000 worth of work done on the brakes this month too so here's a gratuitous photo of them both (or two);

I'm going to have to move the tractor to lower the car (there's definite overlap.....but as usual I'm not exactly bailey-esque when it comes to photos).

I've also bought a tin of black rust-proofing paint that I'm going to liberally paint everywhere underneath...........but once you start that........it's a hell of a job...........so we'll see when that happens. If er, at all.

After the exhausts we're onto the engine.

I've also bought some slim-line blacked out LED lights that I'm going t fit, sort of set back, in the air-dam to help with the existing lower lights..........it's an experiment (paid the princely sum of £22 i think for a pair) to play with proof of concept. The existing lights just aren't amazing and my thoughts were - can I add some more, subtly? We'll see. I bought Tractor/off-road ones (as bright as I could, for the limited budget I was prepared to throw at this at this stage). Let's see eh? As it were.

7,422 · May 18

I'd like to see more of the Tractor. I'm guessing it's a Renault from the colour?

May 18

Yep -a 106-54 - here she is - I bought her from a place in Oxfordshire about 4 years ago when I was at the point of pivoting and thinking about was there a market for someone to look after small holdings around me (I had a TE20 too) but didn't pivot .....but haven't sold her either.

On a tractor run;

On Castle Martin firing range;

More levers than a signal box;

Got a monster Bomford topper too (3metres wide, absolute beast);

I've cleaned it up and found some chain links to put back on (basically priced up the chain from Bomford - £650 and then bought a length of chain myself £100 and used bolt cutters to cut to the bomford specification. Proper work out as a bonus too)

She's got the american engine (MWM) as she's a later 106 54 and Renault were getting out of tractors by that point (just before they sold the whole thing to Claas), has 7,100hrs now and I've just had the brakes sorted (the cylinders in the axle, both of - the O rings suffer, over time, in the back end oil - so after 30 years I've had them replaced). Got lots of history with her too and I know the chap that did the pre-inspection delivery back in 1995 and had him service the tractor with all OE/Claas filters etc etc when I first got hold of her.

Needs tyres, needs other stuff.........but it's expensive and I'm prioritising the lotus now - had to get the brakes sorted as there was a massive tractor run that my son wanted to drive on 2 weeks ago so it had to be done - he did it with his grandad (90), possibly the last one ever for him so it was good to do.

This isn't that run but you get the idea:

We used the shooting trailer to take a load of family to the beach in 2023 (that epic summer);

May 18

And back to the lotus - here's my idea for more light-output;

This is one of the leds I've bought;

And my idea was to put it here (in the sort of brake duct air dam - although it's just a hole - there's nothing behind it to direct air to the brakes);

And then with the led offered up loosely in position;

I think that works and is quite subtle.......so I'm going for it and am going to fit them.

June 7

Like a Supertanker captain I love an anchor...........although in this case I'm talking about seatbelt anchors on the Excel rather than those large curved things that you drop over the side in the vague hope it'll stop 2 quintillion tonnes of crude from crashing into Llandudno pier.............or yeah.......needs a bit of work that.

Because the Excel body is fibreglass Lotus used V shaped metal wedges (not sure what else to describe them as) to give extra rigidity for the two rear passengers seatbelt anchor points. They sit outside the car, underneath.

The driver's side is notorious for rusting out (I don't know why........I thought it would be the passenger side bearing in mind it tends to see more water and road grit etc etc.........but what do I know).

I've known for ages that this needs sorting. Must have bought the new metal thingy over 18 months ago..............the trouble is that the anchor point on mine inside had somehow been put in wrong (or someone else had mucked around) and the bolt head was deep behind the back of the side of the interior and the way the belt had been put on it too made it v v tight getting a spanner on it (or anything on it).

Which was moot as I just couldn't get it to budge at all from the inside. And everything was rusted solid ............and like every other bolt on the car........it's fighting me.

This is what it looks like at the moment, on the car - it bolts from the outside into that nut on the end of the wedge (I should be writing for Haynes I tell ya);

(note an exhaust hangar I'd wedged in there to try to stop it turning and also stop the metal rubbing against the glassfibre body)

The far end has totally rotted out as you'll see shortly. I ended up grinding it off from the outside (and took about 30 mins just shaping some bmw exhaust covers to stop the sparks from hitting the body).

The bolts are just in there like that to keep them from disappearing. When offered up to the car they will of course come into that end from the other side. Two man job that.

Various photos incoming;

And the other side............total nightmare this - just grind it off I hear you say - 30 sec job!................yes but there's hardura up there (Lotus put it between the chassis and body over the back of the rear tub...........which is a fantastic sponge..............and needs removing. I've got it dry now..........but it needs dealing............another job for another day, post-mot).

You can just make out the hardura at the top of the picture.........the er, blurred bit.

Quite how I get that bit is anyone guess. Much rumination to take place. It needs grinding out.........but I'm worried about the hardura catching fire. Can't get a dremel up there of course. Needs cogitation.

I was thinking of buying a massive chain snapper (can't think of the word) and use that on that nut...........no sparks............but it might be so massive I can't it up there (as it were, ooh er missus).

June 7

Next job is rear suspension but still waiting for parts. then it's book the cambelt and get the engine going. That will then give the project serious momentum. I'm going to patch the dash as a temporary fix...........but might have to take it out to replace the interior fan. A subaru justy one fits (and is much cheaper than a lotus/toyota one). Going to risk some shekels and get one and see if internet lore is the truth on that one.

Life goes on.

Am definitely buying new seats for it too. BMW F30 fit apparently. So. Or alfa 147 ones. RX8's definitely fit but I've given up on buying a LHD drivers seat (for the passenger side so both sides tip forward)...........just too much hassle.

Also you'll note the tremendous amount of wetness every where.............that'll be my natural inclination to spray absolutely everywhere - combination of cack handedness and an attitude 'it can't hurt - might even help preserve it/preventative' so that'll be my fault.

7,422 · June 8

If you can get complete arms with bushes and ball joints fitted I'd do that personally.

Burning out bushes. Pressing in ball joints. It's all a massive faff even in a proper workshop with all the gear.

June 8

For the seat belt mounts I cut the bolts from the inside, not great if you have the interior in but the access is much easier. You might be able to get a nut splitter in from the underside.

June 8

could you not cut it off with a hacksaw blade ?

June 10

Kevins - good idea - I'll try that first - it'll definitely be thin enough to get up there.

Aotb - Haven't got any nut splitters (but will look into those too - tbh there are plenty of nuts that I've needed one on the Lotus (literally everything is rusted in, when it comes to nuts and bolts on the Excel).

June 21

And just like that Mayor in Back to the Future, Progress is my middle name. Got the cambelt and new tensioner on today - some very poor photos of this (for such a big job) as I had assistance..........and he doesn't like his photo being taken (even of his hands) and well, we were pressed for time.

We had to press the offset key out of the tensioner bearing and then press the new one in using a balljoint press (it's all we had). I actually bought this off temu for £9..........it flashed up one day and i thought - for £9 the ball joint press kit was worth a shot. and actually - it's pretty damn good. I thought Temu was a total con-website tbh...........but that purchase worked out.

It's in vice there to keep it stable of course but impressed, so to speak, with this.

And then........finally, after what feels like days and days of hack-sawing I got the bolt out that was stopping play at the back of the car.

So that's good - two man job to get the seat belt strengthener in however.

Next week's job.

And the polyurethane top mounts for the new rear dampers and fronts (not bought yet but am going with Protech's from Sj Sports cars) arrived. So it's all systems go on replacing those too.

We're going to start the engine next week and get that running. There's a chance I'll need an otter switch (£30) and a pinion oil seal front for the diff (£54, unless I can find an alternative, via toyota parts websites.........long shot however) and various other gubbins and then there's the passenger door to sort out..............but it's moving forward at pace now. Light.end.tunner.at.the.of you know?

June 28

And we are now properly cooking with gas....................So.............cambelt done last week and some fettling/checking last night. Up early this morning, mechanic friend came over and we tried starting the car.............unfortunately she was running v v rough and one pair of carbs were overfueling we thought. So we decided to check each carb. A sample of pictures in no particular order;

We cleaned up everything, new o rings and gaskets and made sure everything was shipshape...................and................

http://i.imgur.com/8qR1oou.mp4

Oh yes, yes, yes.

There's only half the exhaust on there at the moment (no backboxes) and couldn't run it for long (no radiators or water or fans connected) but there wasn't any point doing any of that if the actual engine wouldn't run. Now we know it does (still needs minor fettling) we're really motoring. Phew!

Rear suspension being done tomorrow and radiators/fans/shroud/fill it with water/coolants etc etc.

Then I've got to tackle the passenger door (have the frame), put the lights back in, bonnet on, check all the brakes, make sure rear lights work, put the rear seat belts in, fettle interior, but gearknob and put stereo in.

Not necessarily in that order........!

Onwards!

June 28

I'm not sure what code to use to get the video into the actual thread rather than linking to imgur.....

20,887 · June 28

Hey mate WELL DONE. That is a landmark moment, and great to hear it running.

I forgot they were webers, best bit of the car...

Have you considered a reciprocating saw for those naughty nuts or was there no access? My battery Makita one is really handy for that sort of thing.

If you had to tell The Emperor a percentage complete, where would you put it?

June 28

11 minutes ago, grogee said:

Hey mate WELL DONE. That is a landmark moment, and great to hear it running.

I forgot they were webers, best bit of the car...

Have you considered a reciprocating saw for those naughty nuts or was there no access? My battery Makita one is really handy for that sort of thing.

If you had to tell The Emperor a percentage complete, where would you put it?

About 60% I think Darth!

I hacksawed it in the end - I did borrow a reciprocal but the blade was too thick and the nut (where I needed to saw it) too tight to the body- it was sawing through the glassfibre just by going backwards and forwards on the side of the blade - so reverted to my ancient hacksaw and elbow grease.

Rear suspension tomorrow (not a big job) and then bits on the front too (lower ball joints) and then it's really the passenger door (big job imo). I don't want the passenger door off for weeks and weeks. I want to organise it so I start early - do it in the day and get it back on the car by evening.

I'll actually mot it with a shed of an interior if I have to. just want to drive it now!

1987 Lotus Excel SE

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