Lotus Elite / Eclat / Excel

And that having to add on (late) a US bumper (sorry! Fender).
In Ollies book pages 32, 33 and 37 you can see the original without the US addition, although
I believe it would have needed some aerodynamic additions as the final Elite did, lower spoiler.

dave the cog.

Hi Pete. What about Excel headlamp electric motors, the pneumatic Elite system often failed, but quite lighter than electric.

Dave the cog.

Our engines retain quite a lot of oil when the sump is drained, 1.2 lts or 25%. If your existing oil is a synthetic then do not use a non-synthentic to flush as you will be left with 25% non-synthetic. The cam carriers hold back sludge, for a good change it is worth taking the cam covers off, partic...

Neil, Lotusbits offers body corners at 50-100 pounds, as you have repainting to do a body transplant is very feasible. You might even negotiate with Lotusbits to get plywood crash panels, or one to use as a pattern to make two new ones, the panels, installed as a first step will better define the bo...

Excessive rust?????


Dave the cog

I am about to delve into sorting a RH headlight pod which stays up, which will involve investigating the Retract Control Relays.
I have had the headlamp motor out which seemed OK, not sticking and limit contacts not showing distress.

Any advice from Forum members please?

Dave the cog.

Not so silly if you are selling. Here in Spain an Excel goes for about 20.000€, but they do not sell because no-one knows what an Excel is, most onlookers think it is a Ferrari. A major reason for no buyers is the normally Right hand drive, an original LHD Excel (or Elite) is never less than 22.000€...

Nice to get carried away with the rating(s) but the geometry used to classify the cars as super cars is somewhat doubtful. How the Alfetta got in there .... only knows, perhaps as a result of the geometrical calculation. From a front-on view to establish the geometrical points of reference I can see...

If you still have the old belt installed set the crank to top dead centre (TDC) using the crank pulley tdc indicator. Then check the existing pulleys for dot to dot coinciding on inlet and exhaust pulleys, these dots may not be centred on tooth or dip. Note the position of the Auxiliary pulley dot, ...

Three thoughts on drilling for lockwire. One is to drill the nut only, two holes across opposite nut edges. Not sure yet where to tie the lockwire ends to. Two is to previously drill right across the nut before installing and once tightened to drill the balljoint stud. Not easy. Third is to drill ac...

Photograph....here we go https://db5pap001files.storage.live.com/y4mK-sOB3rGKl_FJF7Yh1_D9Biy0ayZR7oj0Km75bEUicoH96R3qXgL3URme2kStKNExdFCMeisJD7vBYBmC4nCqFEiJo5W3BNmmwdKWuYIwFUQpiTvy1DZrGRObKzAgVJdGfb16DpXMU35E9mWIaOzsMUVjigN7GtBXGxRcyizHS7dwOrn4gIbuGvFTDc8wnk5?width=640&height=480&cropmode=none Dave...

While checking around the front suspension I found the nut securing the lower ball joint to be loose! Failure here would be very dramatic! In ordinary use this joint is always trying to separate itself. I have relocated including locktite but consider this insufficient for such an important nut. The...

I do not agree with Richard about putting rope (or anything) in a plug hole. As others mention first try handbrake, fourth gear (direct), breaker bar to tension up and a smart heavy hammer blow. Otherwise a long bar to the ground and a sharp engine start on.off (coil disconnected). The pulley has tw...

As Lotusbits have developed injection for our engines, including crank sensor, perhaps Mike can advise/supply.

Dave the cog.

Hi Pete. The XJ40 is the same ZF HP22 box so all questions on distance between gearbox lever positions should be solved. I mentioned locating the gear stick off-centre to get greater clearance to the top of the gearbox. The XJ40 gear lever comes out very easily, there is a rubber surround you pull o...