1983 Eclat Excel - BRS 500Y

[Mart1n95]

Hi all

I'm going to make an effort to try and keep an updated record of my progress of my 1983 Eclat Excel, as I've found how useful the forum is for information I'd like to try and contribute a bit as well!

Bit of backstory, I'm a VW guy really, currently own a 1982 MK1 Golf GTi, 1967 and 1972 Beetle all of which are in various states of disrepair (I mean resto...) and a 1986 Passat which is for sale now to make way for my Lotus!

The previous owner passed away last year, so his sister has been selling off his belongings. He apparently owned 2 Elites and this Excel, but other than that I'm not sure of the history behind the car so will be making discoveries as I go along. All I've found so far is that it was last taxed in 1994 and had its last MOT in 2001, but made a 100 mile drive in 2012 when the previous owner bought the car. The car has been resprayed from its original red with silver bumper, to black and its starting to show its age, badly.

Picking it up was a challenge, front tyres wouldnt hold air at all, along with the garage being on a steep drive meant the splitter was fouling a lot, some blocks of wood helped but it gave my mate a workout on the hand actuated winch!
20250905_193018686 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250905_193008868 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Took a couple of hours to get it into the garage because of the flat tyres, so we had skates under the front wheels, and rathcet straps around the 4 post ramp to get it into the garage!
20250905_233317203 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250906_180407170 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250906_180422266 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Now, issue number 1. I hadn't seen this cracking until Id gotten the car home and was having a more thorough look around. Both rear chassis mounts are cracked, I think I will be repairing it with carbon fiber & epoxy (I already have some at home) and then A metal plate bonded over the top for additional strength
20250908_111400277 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250908_111410026 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Interior shots, smels old and musty, but not damp. Needs a very thorough clean!
20250908_124722425 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250908_124730572 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250908_124734092 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250908_124741204 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

First jobs to do
Timing belt and tensioner, will be sending this off so any recommendations welcome!
Waterpump, again to be sent off
Clutch master and slave cylinder. I have bought a master cylinder rebuild kit, a new slave as its very seized and only £40 for a new one, and the braided hose
Tyres, gone with Nankang NS-20 205/60R14
General service, oil filters sparkplugs etc

[Hawaiis0]

Welcome Martin. You're in the right place. Going to be a great project to follow. What a fantastic work space.

[bash]

Nice to see another early one getting the attention it deserves. The cracks are fairly common but easy to sort. Having a lift available could tempt me to lift the body (called mission creep). Looking forward to your updates.

Bash

[Pete Boole]

Yep - welcome! Great to see another resto. I, of course, know nothing of mission creep

Mission creep Pete

[rbgosling]

Serious garage envy, you've got some good space there!

Timing belt and water pump shouldn't be a particularly hard job at all, shouldn't be necessary to send it off for that.

If you are going to send it off, do you mean the whole car, or pull the engine and just send that? Where are you? - that might help with recommendations on who to send it to.

[Mart1n95]

Thanks all for the comments! The garage is great, very easy to fill up with spare parts and cars though!

I particularly want to avoid mission creep, been there before and just want to get this car on the road as cost effectively as possible! Got too many other restorations going on the have another in depth one! I'm hoping this will be more of a re-commissioning rather than restoration, just get it road worthy and driving so I can drive and enjoy as much as possible!

I've looked and researched a bit more into the tensioner, I had wrongly assumed that they were set up for a pre-determined tension when being refurbished so wanted someone else to do this, but since found out that they're more of a semi-automatic tensioner and I'll still need to set the belt tension, so I've bought a Gates Krikit and will just rebuild this myself as it looks rather straight forward. The waterpump however seems a bit more of a chew, with pressing the parts in and out, along with the fact they're are variations in the pumps and the possibility of a leak after its been rebuilt I'll send this off to get rebuilt, probably by PNM, as they pressure test after carrying out the refurb

The other thing I need to look into is a new radiator. Having been reading about the different Chinese aluminium rads, or getting a re-core done, I think I'll look to get an aluminium one but not the 'Winner Racing' radiator, there was another brand mentioned that was smaller and fitted better but cant recall at the moment!

I'm located on the North Coast of Scotland, near John O'Groats, so I wouldnt be surprised if I wasn't the furthest north member on the UK mainland! Unfortunately that means that I'll be very far away from the rest of the members on here when it comes to meetups, lending a helping hand etc

[TonyL]

Looking forward to following your progress on this one.

I think there must be more Lotus wedges per capita in Scotland than anywhere. My guess is it's because the roads are so good.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Looking forward to following your progress on this one.

I think there must be more Lotus wedges per capita in Scotland than anywhere. My guess is it's because the roads are so good.

Same for Clans. But I also think it's mitigation against rusted bodywork from salted roads for nearly 5 months of their year. Plastic appeals.

[MetBlue]

Great to see another restoration thread Martin.
Besides being a good reference for all in the future, it's useful in recording when work is done / history of your car.
Like many on here, huge workshop envy.
Tony

[Hawaiis0]

John and Kieran are up your way. Usually good for some spares.

[Mart1n95]

John and Kieran are up your way. Usually good for some spares.

Thats good to know, thanks for that, hopefully they chime in to I can get their contact details or usernames!

[Mart1n95]

Update time, just home from 2 weeks of nightshift. First day back, up at 4am, watched Career Opportunities (not because of Jennifer Connelly...), followed by Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. Days off to a good start.

Spent a couple of hours picking away at the Excel, a bunch of parts arrived since I was away. Bought a borescope so I could have a look down the cylinders. Can still see pretty much all the crosshatching, but there is one of the cylinders which has some wear, probably light scoring too. Difficult to tell how bad it is because of the resolution of the camera, as you have to use the smaller side camera to look at the bore walls but there is definitely a shiny section. I've thought about it a bit and I think I'll just be leaving it and monitor as time goes on. I have too many other projects with engines in bits to need another! Plus this car unfortunately doesn't justify the cost of a rebuild compared to the value of the car, should be fine anyway but would probably just need a hone and piston rings, but when you're in there its bearings etc anyway which adds up. Anyway, heres todays work

20250924_103042755 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Pre-rebuild
20250924_104251950 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Only ended up snapping a seal trying to get it on, balls. Re-used old one. Forgot to take a photo with the shaft cleaned up and new seal on. All rebuilt
20250924_110305470 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Old slave cylinder out, looks bad!
20250924_111806509 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

One thing to make sure of for others, the fittings came the wrong way round for the new hose, make sure to double check for the male or female cone fitting inside!
20250924_112209847 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250924_112225594 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250924_112703144 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250924_112649853 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

All fitted up (minus copper washers, supplied ones were a bit small but I have some in my house garage)
20250924_114555653 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250924_114606487 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Unfortunately the pedal box has been bent because of this sized slave cylinder, job for another day

Lifted the front and took wheels off, all suspension bolts broke free so thats a result! will need new bushes all around. Steering rack needs gaitors too
20250924_121405875 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250924_121411172 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr
20250924_121416074 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Passenger side brake caliper brake pipe nut and nipple broke free fine, but driers side nipple wasnt soo compliant. What a pain. Put a whole load of heat into it too, shocked with a hammer, the lot, still, oh well.
20250924_130017897 by Martin Gunn, on Flickr

Of course I had to test out the Alpine stereo, so todays choice was Kazoo - Only You. What a treat

Thats a wrap for today!

[AndrewWebber]

Mainly positive then, and a 'can and will fix it' attitude, will resolve all the set backs along the way....great write up

Andy

[AndrewWebber]

Mainly positive then, and a 'can and will fix it' attitude, will resolve all the set backs along the way....great write up

Andy

[Pete Boole]

Great start! Well worth the effort to restore it. Glad you've got the hang of the photos. Enjoying your write-up .

Pete