SE or not SE? That is the question!

[Dougie]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOTUS-EXCEL-SE-31 ... 0096075922


Looks great, apart from the spoiler. And those cam covers look very shiney!

[Skeggy]

Had a chat about the differences between the cars on Saturday at Donny. No conclusion arrived at
Time for a new thread I feel.

[GARY1958]

I spoke with and it's not one owner either. He has had it for a few years and not changed the cam belt in that time.

[driver]

Hi,
This car does not seem to be an SE. It has no SE spoiler, no SE badge
no SE wood dash and no SE spats. The cam covers *are* red but these
could have been replaced, even an SE engine fitted?

Rob T.

[Mike Taylor]

This car is a NON SE. I have 2 cars of the same spec and have broken a 3rd fire damaged one. If you look closely at the carbs you can see that they are spec 9 rather than spec 10 tri-jets as well as the more obvious trim differentiators. I undertand lotus made a batch of these lower spec 160bhp variants using LC pistons with HC head castings and spec 9 carbs from 87 to 89.

Mike

[Dougie]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOTUS-EXCEL-SE-31 ... 0096075922


Lost or broken

[Markexel]

Its an SE with non SE boot spoiler and no spats ,apparntly they go qicker with that setup

Someone could of changed them or it could of been a special order

As for cam cover the SE covers are totally differnet and u cant swap them for non Se and vice vesa

They were redesigned to overcome problems with leaking gaskets {its easy to see the difference from photos}

Mark

Haveing said that Mike knows what hes going on about ! and is probably the one thats right out of all of us!

[driver]

Mike,
Just to understand what you're saying - this is a standard Excel
which was fitted from new with a HC cylinder head ?

If this is the case would this give it a performance somewhere between
LC and HC engines?

Rob T.

[Mike Taylor]

Rob

The head makes little or no difference on its own to the power from this engine. What gives the SE more performance is the different pistons / compression ratio and inlet cam, as well as a slightly better exhaust manifold. The SE 104 cam and the 10.9:1 compression ratio allows the engine to take advantage of the slightly better head flow.

Regards

Mike

[Dougie]

Mike
Do you think Lotus built an Excel with this spec for any other reason than to use up parts?

[halliarse]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOTUS-EXCEL-SE-31 ... 0096075922


Lost or broken

Dougie

Neither lost or broken, I made him an offer and purchased my weekend toy!!

[Steve C]

Congratulations .. looks nice!

[Dougie]

Neither lost or broken, I made him an offer and purchased my weekend toy

Fantastic! The car looks great, especially with so few miles.............But is it a 180bhp SE or not? Can you tell us what the first two letters of the engine number are?

[halliarse]

Neither lost or broken, I made him an offer and purchased my weekend toy

Fantastic! The car looks great, especially with so few miles.............But is it a 180bhp SE or not? Can you tell us what the first two letters of the engine number are?

Dougie

The engine number is DZ912870824209, can you determine it's type then?
Being new to the marque, can you answer a quick question for me, at what temperature would you expect the fans to engage?

Steve

[Skeggy]

Steve,

My fans cut in when the temperature gauge is showing just above 90.

Look above at Mike Taylor's first post re se or not!

Steve