The Lotus Grand Tourers

Has anybody replaced the lower rubber spoiler on the later type of Excel?
Mine seems to be completely missing, I believe there are two parts to it, one metal the other being the actual rubber spioler lip.

LOTUSLOVER wrote:Has anybody replaced the lower rubber spoiler on the later type of Excel?
Mine seems to be completely missing, I believe there are two parts to it, one metal the other being the actual rubber spioler lip.

The "rubber" bit is a single piece of neoprene which runs round the inside lower lip of the spoiler. Lotus were selling some off in the parts sale a couple of years ago - there may well be some still in stock. If not, I have an old but serviceable one in my parts store.

There may have been a metal strip running round inside the spoiler as reinforcement for the points where the rivets/screws go through. Given the levels of corrosion found in this area and the lack of detail in the parts manual, I'm not sure any of us actually know what's meant to be there - but some sort of internal bracing to prevent cracking of the GRP is worthwhile.

I replaced mine a couple of years ago with parts from http://www.sjsportscars.co.uk
(You'll find both the rubber and backing plate parts under Excel, Body & trim, keyword: rubber).
The rubber is held by metal strip - that had largely rusted away. If I remember correctly, screws (also rusted) went through the metal strip, then the rubber strip, and in the grp and then into some sort of captive spire nut (also rusted!)
Anyway, with some stainless screws & nuts everything went on easily.

Usually if you speak with Steve at SJS he'll tell you exactly what you need (including how many screws & nuts) and it will be in the post that night.

Rubber bit for sale on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOTUS-EXCEL-FRONT ... 53e4c08451
Ted

I have a brand new one in the garage in it's original wrapper - £20 plus delivery

I replaced the steel bracing plate with a single piece of aluminium extrusion, bent to fit, and used stainless self tappers.

It's not going to rust.

Terry

I bought a new rubber skirt from Lotus recently (left over from their parts sale) - part no. A089B2535F‏

It was cheap

Lotus parts sale
http://www.lotus60thanniversary.com/forsale.php
It used to be you'd order the part and it would be delivered to your local Lotus dealer. I've not used this for a while - and I'm not sure it's still running, so good luck!

The early Ford Mondeo rubber lip is close to the original, it even has the square holes in the same place, but it is slightly more curved over its length and the corners are more rounded. It does fit tho, I had one on for about 3 years.

bash