1983 Non Running Eclat

[Cliffords]

Just an official hello ,I am semi retired and along with my son an engineer in motorsport , with and without his help I have built kits and restored cars for 30 years as a hobby and when time and money allows . I now have a non running Eclat back at my house . It has sat in a garage for the last 6 years and has no history at all. We spent all day on Saturday looking over the car , the chassis is remarkably good , even at the top as far as we can see with good lights . We freed the doors that were stuck and turned the engine over by hand . Then the fun stopped as it wont turn very far before it comes to a hard stop. Looks like valves are stuck , so its engine out next for a rebuild, always the plan , but we did want to do a compression check first before we did .

Its a 1983 2.2 , and to my surprise has rear discs at the wheel, I had read about inboard brakes , so a nice surprise. Oh and it has no drivers side window but I think I have found one .

So the adventure begins and so will the questions . The first being does anyone have any knowledge of the cars history ? I did an HPI and can see on line detail but it would be good to know if there is any ownership history known. The registration is : ONP 298Y

Oh , and I don't know how to add the pics on here but its fairly ugly .

[rbgosling]

Welcome! Good to have you here, and we look forward to hearing your restoration adventure. There's a variety of experience on this board, and we are all keen to help out and answer questions, offer advice and so on.

First thing to establish is what car you actually have! 1983 could be misleading - by 1983 Lotus had replaced the Eclat with the Excel, but if yours was registered in '83 but built in '82 it could conceivably be a very late Eclat. To confuse matters, the earlier Excels were sold as "Eclat Excel", and were registered with the DVLA as Eclat - this was essentially to avoid the hassle of a new type approval for a new car model. Later on they were just badged "Excel", but many still said Eclat on the V5, including my '90 Excel. But the rear brakes do make your car much more likely to be a very early Excel, unless for some reason your car has been retrofitted with later brakes? Might be possible if the chassis rotted on your car, and was replaced with an Excel chassis?

Good luck with the engine rebuild, I did mine 5 years ago after 175k miles, it was actually a job I really enjoyed. You should be able to find most of the posts here

[Hawaiis0]

Welcome to the mad house. There will be a link along later to show how to do pictures.

Dont forget it's the NEC show this weekend so come and ask the silly questions you dont want to post

Update your location on your profile as well so we know where to come for spares . Not really it's so we can point you local help

[DavidOliver]

For Farmer Richard, I wish I had a 1993 Eclat, or even a 1993 Excel.
Might sell for as much as Ronnie Peterson´s Elite

Dave the cog.

[rbgosling]

For Farmer Richard, I wish I had a 1993 Eclat, or even a 1993 Excel.
Might sell for as much as Ronnie Peterson´s Elite

Dave the cog.

Corrected now, so no-one will ever know my mistake. If it wasn't for you pointing it out.

[Oldtimer_Basis]

One of the Pre-Owners of my Excel did file in an Info-Request at Lotus itself, and they returned an important looking official Document full of interesting Details, like a List of the Options, the car was originally equipped with, what Colour the Decals had, how rare it is (one of three equipped with this and that), where the first Owner lived and so on. Don´t know, how much they charge for that, but it could make Life easier if you want to restore it to the original specs.

[MetBlue]

Sounds like you have the Cert of vehicle provenance from Andy Graham at Lotus Archive.
Until a year or two ago, you could get it for about £50 and IMO was a good investment. As you say, provides some useful and interesting background. Then the Marketing Department got hold of the idea, bumped the price massively, but you do now get a nice box, lots of packaging and a keyring. Forgive my sarcasm, but I do think they should have left the option for our older cars to purchase the old package, especially as their records from the mid seventies are limited.

Congrats on you car purchase. You'll have slot of fun with it and seems you are bringing the right skills with you to make those continuos improvements.

Tony

[Hawaiis0]

Slot or lots of fun? Had to comment that's all

[TrevorK]

I think I saw this car on Ebay. The window had been broken because the doors were stuck shut. If it is that one, it is an Excel which has the later chassis with the top rear suspension links, rear, outboard disc brakes. galvanized chassis, Toyota gearbox, diff, brakes and door handles, better electrical system, 2.2 lire engine, and electric headlamp motors. I can't remember if the car had Speedline wheels or the Toyota Supra "iron cross" ones.

[Cliffords]

I think I saw this car on Ebay. The window had been broken because the doors were stuck shut. If it is that one, it is an Excel which has the later chassis with the top rear suspension links, rear, outboard disc brakes. galvanized chassis, Toyota gearbox, diff, brakes and door handles, better electrical system, 2.2 lire engine, and electric headlamp motors. I can't remember if the car had Speedline wheels or the Toyota Supra "iron cross" ones.

That's the one , it was on e bay local to me . It has the Speedline wheels.

David

[Cliffords]

The work has begun.

Engine and gearbox out yesterday with my son doing most of the work , me being his slave. Engine stripped down today and boom the crankshaft has really badly failed . We noticed a lot of end float when we where disassembling , we found one thrust washer in the sump and the other had literally ridden up over the back of the crank and was hanging loose . Engine must have been used like that for some time to do that much damage . We are waiting for some tools to measure but its going to take a lot of engine components to sort this one .

Options are I think . After measuring the bores and pistons etc .

1. Second hand crank , get it ground and then start finding all the bearings and gaskets we will need to reassemble
2. Find an entire second hand engine that we can see running or has known history
3. Convert to electric .

So does anyone have a second hand crank or know where we could start looking for one please , alternatively an engine ?

Thanks . David

[Pete Boole]

The early 912 blocks had a problem with thrust washers. There is a modification explained in the Service Notes regarding this. I have a 2.2 crank (and rods/pistons) that might just need polishing - certainly it will grind up OK.

Pete

[Cliffords]

Thank you I will send you a PM now .

Also can a moderator put my thread into the rebuilds/ restoration section now please .

Thanks

David

[Pete Boole]

We needs the mods to create a Projects & Restoration section first!! I think it would be a good idea - lots of resto's going on

Pete

[Cliffords]

Thought I would update this thread. Drove the car today up and down a private road . No lights or bonnet and lots of induction noise. I think it's the first time it's run under its own power for at least 10 years . First shakedown shows there is much still to do but nevertheless a milestone.

Immediate next steps seem to be it leaks power steering fluid from the hard part of the pipes ,they must have rusted through. I did not notice when we cleaned them up. Also the coolant header tank has a hole in it too, again not noticed when cleaned up .
Rather pleased with today . That's the next two jobs .

Oh and the brakes with no servo attached are terrible!!