The Lotus Grand Tourers

It's really been off the road since I moved to Norfolk five years ago. I did a bit of work when I moved here to get it roadworthy, but not long after that the mysterious oil pressure problem started. That took a long while to figure out and at the MoT after that, the clutch pedal arm bent during the...

Well after too long sat around, Hethel 077 is MoT'd, taxed and back on the road. Couple of small issues still to sort out, but here it is at work........

I'm pretty sure the later Lotus steel followers are the same size as the earlier cast iron ones and are a straight swap.

If the company thought they needed to machine the cam towers and then got it wrong, it's their cost, not yours.

Definitely Elite/Eclat but not sure if it's from an S1.... My 1978 501 Elite's diff doesn't have that channel welded between the mounting legs under the pinion flange. I know they added a bit of channel over the mounting pins behind the chassis and lower links - I added it to mine - but I guess they...

Inboard drum brakes mean it is an Elite/Eclat diff.

The drums are Capri 3 litre units allegedly.

The diff itself is a Salisbury unit. Type 4HU I seem to remember. You may find some parts are common to Jaguar or Scimitar differentials.

Probably binned, it's old engineering test parts, doubtless sat on a shelf for years until there was a clean-out and then skipped. Or used to death on another project. Active suspension wasn't adopted as it required very high pressure hydraulics to operate, which meant a high pressure pump on the en...

No point I'm afraid Angus. I worked with a guy at Hethel who had spent a lot of time on the different active projects and we talked about where the cars were now. The Esprit was pulled out of the dump not long back, polished up and is on display at Hethel. The Excel? Had the active gear stripped off...

The model's got an S1 style bonnet grille and no sunroof panel line, so I think they've just done a standard S2 in black with the tan interior.

Much as I prefer S1 Elites, I think that model looks better than the S1 in gold.

Sadly, all the Spark Elites on eBay still fetch strong money.

Classic car prices HAVE hit Lotus, just not the Excel! People are now asking £30,000 for a fully restored Elan and people are saying that could be £40,000 within a year. A few years ago you couldn't give an Elan +2 away, now they're all in the £7 - £10,000 range and that can be doubled for a top res...

Here's what I wrote in the "Cambelt Paramoia" thread about Krikits: "If it's any help, I got a Krikit and found it to be so inconsistant I've never used it again. It relies on the speed and force with which you press it onto the belt, then you are trying to get readings off a very small scale - it's...

If it's any help, I got a Krikit and found it to be so inconsistant I've never used it again. It relies on the speed and force with which you press it onto the belt, then you are trying to get readings off a very small scale - it's no wonder the values were all over the place.

These are the stickers in the engine bay of my '91 Hethel. This group are on the front of the driver's side inner wheel arch: [IMG]http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/16VSJay/P7140014Web.jpg[/IMG] And this compliance label is on the back left, on top of what would be the pedal box area on a LHD E...

Hi John,

It's this September's copy of Classic and Sportscar - it's probably not in the shops yet - I got mine in the post as I subscribe.

I've got the same part on my Esprit S2. It's a bit of ally strip with one end bent over, with a couple of pipe clips on the underside held on with screws that go into what look like a couple of small chromed round cupboard door knobs on the top. The pipe clips fit between the cam towers and hold it ...

I fitted Greenstuff to my Excel and they were utter rubbish - this is back in about 2005. When I ordered the replacement pads, the guy I spoke to said that Greenstuff had been good but had changed the formulation and he'd had so many complaints, he'd stopped selling them. Sounds like we both got the...