1987 Lotus Excel SE

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

I've copied and pasted these initial updates from another forum.   

 

This goes back to 2021/early 2022. First two posts will cover the back story and then I'll add what I've been doing to it this last month.  There's been quite a delay on this because my wife became very ill in mid-2022 and all life turned to making sure she came through her illness (which she has, all-clear been given etc etc).  Life is sort of back to normal (although i'd argue that something like that changes life and perspectives across the entire family.  Not sure what normal is now tbh).  

So back to 2021..............I've wanted to have a build thread of my own for years but I've never had a car that I felt had sufficient interest (or age) to warrant a thread.  But Covid changed my attitude - felt that life can be so precarious that I really had to step up my search for something.  I live in West Wales and alot of my local friends are electricians or carpenters or plumbers.  They go to a lot of houses and farms.  I told them all to look out for anything under a cover or tarpaulin or looked a bit forgotten that to give me a ring.  In 2022  I got a call about this car from one of the lads.  He didn't know what he was looking at, just that he knew it needed saving and 'it looks quick'!  

I met the owner (whom used to use it quite often but then his life took a turn for the worse and it had to be set aside to prioritise other things going on - totally understandable) before xmas 2021 and agreed a deal and paid a 10% deposit....then  xmas and life got in the way and it was only today that I was able to go and pick it up.  The plan is to ignore the exterior for the moment.....and just get the interior dry and all fitted out (I've got all the parts but he did the headlining and then life got in the way and some of the interior needs putting back). 

 

I've got a couple of dehumidifiers coming to help with the drying out too.  I then am going to get the car mechanically fettled and then MOT'd.  Once it's MOT'd then I'm going to use it for business meetings, day trips with the kids, charity runs, going up to North Wales to see my Dad and Devon to see my mum etc etc..  

Some initial pictures - bear in mind it was under a tarp(for 3 years, with the passenger window open..........) right up until the point you see these pictures. 

 

We got it into my shed and onto the ramp to see what we had.  The interior needs a lot of fettling.  On to the next instalment.  

Edited March 24 by Oi_Oi_Savaloy
missing words/punctuation

[Matty]

Love these. Watching with interest.

[Bazfr69]

Such an attractive motor. 😎

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

The car was sopping.  A kind friend lent me his dehumidifier and I had it running for around 3 months..............and just couldn't dry it out - the hardura had soaked up so much water it was rotting underneath and making the car smell.  There was corrosion everywhere and each time I looked at something on the car......it needed sorting.  

Plan was to get really go hard at it and get it mot'd inside 6 months...........but that went out of the window.  

The drivers seat had also collapsed and that needed sorting.  More on that in pictures below/going forwards.  

Initially I was just going to get the waterpump on the engine sorted (it was totalled) and then sort the carbs (leaking underneath) and put a new radiator in (broken/leaking/rusted extremely badly) and then just get it going...........do as little to it as possible...........but the list just grew and grew.

These are simple cars.  Galvanised chassis with a fibreglass body...............but my god............they fight you.  Every bolt was corroded/absolute shocker to get off.  And you need 12 foot arms sometimes (if you're doing the work on your own) because half the bolts of the important things are screwed out from the outside but you need to hold the nut on the interior).  

 

Just getting the seats out was a monumental hassle (you have try to pinch the bolt inside the car, within the seat rails, whilst trying not to round off the corroded nut underneath the car.............honestly - if lotus could think of an easy way to do things.....they'd avoid it for the hassle way...............

 

I ended up taking the carpets out (rotten in places) and all the hardura too.  Right back to the fibreglass.

 

 

[grogee]

Had one. A 1990 SE. They are ungrateful and needy but have carbs and pop up lights, so... swings and roundabouts. 

Talking of roundabouts, there is nothing made pre-2000 that is quicker round a roundabout. Apart from another Lotus. 

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

I've decided not to just copy and paste but to just give an overview. 

When looking at how to fix things I try to use what I've got in the shed/house - and sometimes, due to time constraints have had to fudge things on my own than wait and do it perfectly with someone helping me.  

Take the seats for example - putting the pirelli clips on and keeping the tension needs two people hence you'll see some of the belts slightly 'off'/not in line.  

I'll apologise now but some of output will drive people's ocd into the stratosphere.  My attitude, in certain cases, is, if it works and it's not perfect and no one is going to see it (ie, if a belt isn't exactly straight but it's under the seat and once in the car you'll never see it but it's still doing it's job) then I go with it.....so I can move on.  

Lots of times I'd have an hour here, 40 mins there.  You've really got to motor to get things done in that time.  I also like to try and think a bit laterally and use stuff from other facets of my life (horses for example - kids love horses, frankly I just see them as money pits and we don't even own any - we just offer livery at our house but it's funny how much people leave behind when they move out).  

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Parts for these are getting harder to find (and others are piss easy)............and some things are really expensive.  Others not so much.  

Rather than fire the parts cannon at the car I've tried to keep it OE and fix what's on it.  Much cheaper of course.  

I fixed the pop-up headlight motors (Toyota parts and tres cher) and although there are alternative fixes (MX5 motors) I thought I'd try and sort the ones that were on the car.  And as luck would have it.......they work!  

 

Here's a selection of stuff I've battled with/sorted.

The car has marine ply front impact boards that Lotus, in their wisdom, simply put in without attempting to weather-proof them.  To get at them means dismantling much of the front of the car (my god..........each nut and bolt)........which lead to me working out that the radiator was totalled, that the fans (from a ford fiesta mk1!) were in need of some tlc and it all had to come out, then templates made for each side to renew those before being able to buy a new radiator (more on that later) and being able to tackle the engine itself.

 

Bit embarrassed about the seats but they're done now .............and I'm not going back.  There's moves afoot to buy Alfa Romeo 147 seats actually (straight fit) or RX8 ones (but passenger side doesn't tilt, so a distant 2nd choice) to try and make the interior more of an event to sit in.  

 

 

 

 

 

[JMotor]

Cool project. 

Do like these and you're right it doesn't need to be mint, just good enough to enjoy and not worry about it.

Am I right in thinking these use a lot of Toyota parts in it?

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Pictures of the front crash boards that I've replaced.........proper hassle that.  Each side was just slightly different.  Gives some idea of the corrosion and neglect the car had suffered.  Previous owner had really been through the mill - no blame attached to him.  He was a lovely bloke to deal with.

[stuboy]

i do like these and had red one as poster on my bedroom wall back in the 80s

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Cool project. 

Do like these and you're right it doesn't need to be mint, just good enough to enjoy and not worry about it.

Am I right in thinking these use a lot of Toyota parts in it?

They're cooler than a polar bears nuts. When me and the missus were early days I put her through all sorts of shit (manta gte, fiat coupe, 205 xs). I really wanted one of these as at the time they were peanuts, but on reflection recognised it would be the straw that broke the camels back 🤣

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

2 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Cool project. 

Do like these and you're right it doesn't need to be mint, just good enough to enjoy and not worry about it.

Am I right in thinking these use a lot of Toyota parts in it?

Yep.........in part.  They used some A87 Celica (the early one) parts............but sometimes Lotus, just to give you another inch of the parts dildo, would use them upside down or back to front.  The gearbox is a toyota (and worth some money just on it's own).  

 

There's a couple of Excel files floating around with alternative parts (dolomite passenger door locks for example instead of the expensive toyota ones) 

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

I've replaced the headlights (both sides) with new ones...........from a land rover S2 (or S3, memory fades) instead of direct replacements from Lotus (basically £40 a side rather than £100.  Didn't take pictures of those however.  

I've bought a new window frame for the passenger door (not looking forward to that bit) - needs replacing.  Drivers side is fine.  

3 minutes ago, Matty said:

They're cooler than a polar bears nuts. When me and the missus were early days I put her through all sorts of shit (manta gte, fiat coupe, 205 xs). I really wanted one of these as at the time they were peanuts, but on reflection recognised it would be the straw that broke the camels back 🤣

Ha ha ha!!    

The radiator from a lotus parts provider (or ebay) is around £250 (give or take) but I'd read somewhere that an MGTF radiator fitted.  I picked up one (new one, not OE) in aluminium (literally half the weight) for £60 (tres lucky) - even they're usually £100+.  

It's the same wide and depth and the exit/entrance are exactly the same too.  Thought it was worth the risk so went for it. 

Putting the fans back on needed a little bit of fettling to the radiator (but judging by the v small screws used on the original I think my solution is robust enough.  I cut some right angle bits of metal (from our illustrious local Aldi) and used them as extender tabs.  I was v reluctant to drill through the old fan shroud but didn't have a choice sadly.  some of the screw holes were missing anyway. pictures below.

My father in law had given me (actually my tractor mad son) all his boxes of tractor bits that he'd kept 'just in case' - some of the stuff must be 70 years old.........but you never know........and I aint one for throwing anything out either..........so..........with one way or another have managed to fettle it all together and it fits too.........not fitted yet because of the (terrible) fitting methodolgy Lotus use to secure the radiator to the car.  I need to still do some work to the front.  

You can see that the total volume held by the new radiator is less (on the sides) than the old.  If it proves a problem/insufficient I'll simply accept defeat and buy a proper one.

 

 

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Headlight motors and corrosion in the motor/headlight recess.  

[N Dentressangle]

Completely with you on a pragmatic approach - you can always tidy things up later if you feel the need.

Are they the ubiquitous Marina door handles, or just very similar? 🤣

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

4 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

Completely with you on a pragmatic approach - you can always tidy things up later if you feel the need.

Are they the ubiquitous Marina door handles, or just very similar? 🤣

I think they're actually toyota ones (thus really expensive!) - would have been happier with marina ones tbh!    The passenger side is v poor nick and the locking internals are expensive to replace.  I've sort of buried my head on that one for the moment.  Just concentrating on getting it shipshape.

[Marina door handles]

4 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

Completely with you on a pragmatic approach - you can always tidy things up later if you feel the need.

Are they the ubiquitous Marina door handles, or just very similar? 🤣

I am disappointed that they are not Marina Door handles 😪 . I did test drive one of these along time ago, went really nicely, made a great noise for a four cylinder - possibly because of the intake noise courtesy of the big Dellortos. 

Yep I liked it a lot and then I went and bought a Reliant Scimitar, sorry........

[N Dentressangle]

Got two cars with Marina door handles - RRC and Disco - and they're a good design. Robust, simple and easy to adjust for wear.

Maybe they could be retro-fitted? 🤔

[Gompo]

Top work, I bought an Excel in June last year.

I'll be following the progress. Interesting on the radiator front.

[Mr Pastry]

Lotus/Marina door handle story, which I may have told before, but worth repeating.

I rebuilt a JPS Esprit with the said handles.  The passenger door would not lock.  Pulled it to bits, nothing wrong with the lock assembly or the handles, and it looked as though nobody had been inside the door before.   Experts will know that the inner handle is connected to the lock by a piece of stiff wire, bent to form hooks at the ends.   I came to the conclusion that the wire was about 1/2" too long.  I shortened and reshaped it, and all was well.  It must have been like that from the factory, the lock had not worked properly since day one, and that was a 30 year old car.  

[EyesWeldedShut]

5 minutes ago, Gompo said:

Interesting on the radiator front.

I was wondering (I know nothing about fluid thermodynamics) but would it be possible to either increase the pump flow (bigger pulley?) or system pressure to leverage a little bit more cooling out of the smaller radiator? [rather than have the hassle of replacing the replacement].

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

Completely with you on a pragmatic approach - you can always tidy things up later if you feel the need.

Are they the ubiquitous Marina door handles, or just very similar? 🤣

I think the early ones (the eclat) used marina door handles...........but then Lotus chose the Toyota equivalent (far less robust I gather) for the later iterations............Oh joy.  

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

51 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

I was wondering (I know nothing about fluid thermodynamics) but would it be possible to either increase the pump flow (bigger pulley?) or system pressure to leverage a little bit more cooling out of the smaller radiator? [rather than have the hassle of replacing the replacement].

Perhaps.............but the entire front grill low down (that's open but has a sort of rusty chicken mesh across it) channels all it's incoming air right at the radiator.   The undertray seals the radiator from below, the crash panels each side and then there's this (see below) that sits above it and to the sides too that basically completes the enclosure.  The air has literally nowhere else to go but to hit the radiator.  

 

It's open (on the other side to the bit I took the picture of) and this is fitted to the car with the air horns facing the front (underneath the central bit on the excel at the front, with the headlights either side) and seals it from above.  The fibreglass inside is moulded so that you can easily tell when you've got the radiator in the right position as there are ridges from top to bottom, at the desired angle for the radiator to sit against.

Hell of a phaff though ..............and it makes a horrible grating - you know you're scratching it! - noise as you manhandle it, as delicately-but-it-takes-some-force, into position.  

The final bolt that is used to secure it to the car is also used to hold the air-horn pump to the car too.

 

And I don't know if those are after-market or replacement horns but bloody hell they're loud.

 

 

[grogee]

11 hours ago, Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:

I've replaced the headlights (both sides) with new ones...........from a land rover S2 (or S3, memory fades) instead of direct replacements from Lotus (basically £40 a side rather than £100.  Didn't take pictures of those however.  

I've bought a new window frame for the passenger door (not looking forward to that bit) - needs replacing.  Drivers side is fine.  

Ha ha ha!!    

The radiator from a lotus parts provider (or ebay) is around £250 (give or take) but I'd read somewhere that an MGTF radiator fitted.  I picked up one (new one, not OE) in aluminium (literally half the weight) for £60 (tres lucky) - even they're usually £100+.  

It's the same wide and depth and the exit/entrance are exactly the same too.  Thought it was worth the risk so went for it. 

Putting the fans back on needed a little bit of fettling to the radiator (but judging by the v small screws used on the original I think my solution is robust enough.  I cut some right angle bits of metal (from our illustrious local Aldi) and used them as extender tabs.  I was v reluctant to drill through the old fan shroud but didn't have a choice sadly.  some of the screw holes were missing anyway. pictures below.

My father in law had given me (actually my tractor mad son) all his boxes of tractor bits that he'd kept 'just in case' - some of the stuff must be 70 years old.........but you never know........and I aint one for throwing anything out either..........so..........with one way or another have managed to fettle it all together and it fits too.........not fitted yet because of the (terrible) fitting methodolgy Lotus use to secure the radiator to the car.  I need to still do some work to the front.  

You can see that the total volume held by the new radiator is less (on the sides) than the old.  If it proves a problem/insufficient I'll simply accept defeat and buy a proper one.

 

 

Interesting, I've been doing battle with an MFG radiator too, bodged modified to fit my Maestro. 

In my inexpert opinion, the smaller side tank bits won't make any noticeable difference. It's the bit in the middle that does the 'work' and I expect your new one is an upgrade on the used one. 

I paid £80 for my MGF radiator, it was new but bought for a project that never happened. I did get a couple of snazzy yellow cooling fans too. 

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

MGTF radiators to the rescue   

On a separate note I'm finding I'm unable to progress certain jobs without help so am flitting from one thing to another trying to push the car along to get it into a position where, once I've got that 2nd helper, we can really make a lot of progress over a load of different areas in one hit.

Lots of little jobs require major surgery to get to (the fuel guage sender - which is stuck, for example, needs the tank literally coming out, as the sender is at the top and you can't get a screwdriver in or any way to remove it as the body of the car is in the way........)

 

 

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

And so Easter.................easter, easter, easter.  It's quite a big deal, the 4 day weekend, when you're employed...........but it has rather a different feel when you are currently struggling to find your next client or find PAYE work.  It's just another 4 days for me this year.  I realise one should revel in Jesus and his resurrection but frankly, until I revitalise my own career, any celebration of his will just have to wait.  

Swiftly moving on.................We've had some good weather here tbf and that's meant a couple of out door jobs (mowing, cleaning cars) has taken precedence.  Not bothered taking pictures of that - I'm quite sure you've absolutely no interest in my lawn, or my 58-plated  tdi golf (160,000 miles............and actually still goes really well).  A good turd, if you will.

To the Lotus then.  I've felt............underwhelmed with motivation (as you can probably tell, from the above lethargic whining oh-woe-is-me paragraph above) but I've managed to do a couple of things today.  Well, start them at least.  Finishing a job is a different matter altogether.  So many moving parts (not a deliberate attempt at a pun) as you all well know.

I painted (badly) some hammerite on to the air-pump for the horns just to give them a bit of protection.  My excuse for using a brush about 6 times too big for the job (and thus, not accurately) is that you can't see it - it's hidden under a cover - which is great stopping rain from above..........but is completely exposed from below.........and frankly isn't amazing at it's job as there aren't any full body undertrays - so the car sees alot of spray.  Hey ho - it got a lick of paint.  

I then turned my attention to the radiator reservoir that was looking very sorry for itself.  Took it (one, of three, snapped bolts in the process......) off and and I've carefully removed the sticker (actually, scrap that, it simply kind of just peeled off as I literally touched it) and set it aside.  I'll try and carefully (I mean it this time) clean it and then, once I've prepped the reservoir I'll stick it back on in the correct position.  

I've then been trying to find some clean hose clamps (actually going to buy some) to replace the horrid ones still on lots of the hoses that have come off the car.  I've also replaced the nuts and washers too.  the reservoir clamps to the body work with the nuts inside the wheel well.  So the nuts see epic amounts of crud/water etc etc).  The wheel is also curved so I'm going to try and find a suitable washer to replace the ones that are on there.  

I use alot of wood fencing screws (when I'm fencing or doing woodwork not on the car) and they have a washer that is curved with a  metal outer and a soft inside (if that makes sense).  Might use some of them.

Pictures below.  

Any tips for how I'm going t clean the rust of the reservoir?  I was then going to put a rust converter on there, then a hammerite product and then paint in metal black paint too.  But would love to hear your tips/ideas please.  

 

 

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Also - the cam covers have lost 99% of their red paint so that's another job that I'll add to the list (but not a massive priority right now).  I realise red paint add 15bhp ...........but got to keep my eye on the mot prize. It's not a priority.  You can see the hint of it in the picture. 

I've tried to polish the caps............slowly getting there with them.  

And the tank itself has the marks on the end that indicate it's original to the car ...........but obviously forgot to take a picture of that..........

 

I've put the air horn on the car now and (which bolts up at the top of the front area by the radiator and actually screws in to the top of 3 main screw holes that keep the top (rather than bottom) radiator shroud in place.  I'm getting close now to getting that on the car and then it'll be on to the water pump and then the OE fuel pump (in the boot).  But I've got to remove the tank first (two man job because the nuts are in the wheel arch and in the boot.........can't reach) to get the fuel sender sorted (it's broken but fixable apparently). (PO said so. We'll see.)

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

I've just shut the shed so took the opportunity to show you my Jackson Pollock-esque painting (grey metal hammerite over a couple of hydrate 80 coats) - I've only got grey hammerite at the moment, which I use in areas where it's not going to be seen.  

That's a picture looking up at it from where the radiator will sit with the car up on the ramp.  

And the other is the end of the reservoir where you can just see the 87 year.  

I've tried to carefully clean up the contacts too but there's some work to be done on that reservoir, as you can see.

 

[Minimad5]

1 hour ago, Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:

Any tips for how I'm going t clean the rust of the reservoir?  I was then going to put a rust converter on there, then a hammerite product and then paint in metal black paint too.  But would love to hear your tips/ideas please.  

 

 

Is it rusty inside too ?

I'd be tempted to try Vactan the exterior, then cover it with some Buzzweld product (they do loads of good quality paint / protection)

[stuboy]

keep up the great work