New Owner

[KLM]

Hello

just recently purchased a black 1990 excel se, i live in the knutsford area in cheshire.

few pics for you

[AndyC]

Hi.

The car looks great, so one piece of advice, drive it and enjoy it don't let it sit there unused.

[KLM]

ive had the car about a week or so now, bought it from just south of cambridge, drove it home 200miles no hiccups/ran sweet, then i took it to kendal a couple of days later around trip of bout 150, since then ive been in it daily, very addictive to drive in nice weather.

took it on a rolling road yesterday to just make sure everything was setup correctly ect came back with 140hp at 5k revs which for a 20yr old 117k car i thought wasnt too bad.

the one thing that is faulty is the fuel gauge which when turning on ignition the needle just flips to beyond max and stays there the garage says it must be a faulty gauge as they checked the wiring to that point.

other than that its great

[Lotus-e-Clan]

KLM

why stop @ 5K rpm?

It should produce more than 140 bhp @ 6+ Krpm.

Looks like a nice example mind you.

[Dr_G]

Looks great. Congratulations on your purchase!

[KLM]

To be honest, having only bought the car a week earlier i was a little concerned of letting them do what they wanted, especially after signing the cars life away removing any responsibility from the garage, so i asked them to limit to 5k. The main purpose was to make sure everything was running as it should. According to the chart the bhp line was actually climing more steeply at 5k , we came to the assumption that had it gone to 6k it would be still producing 160bhp, which for its age and mileage im quite pleased with.

i take it out everyday atm, very addcitive car to drive (in the dry)

[AndyC]

In the dry?

You should try it on snow!

[Ozzy_UK]

To be honest, having only bought the car a week earlier i was a little concerned of letting them do what they wanted, especially after signing the cars life away removing any responsibility from the garage, so i asked them to limit to 5k. The main purpose was to make sure everything was running as it should. According to the chart the bhp line was actually climing more steeply at 5k , we came to the assumption that had it gone to 6k it would be still producing 160bhp, which for its age and mileage im quite pleased with.

i take it out everyday atm, very addcitive car to drive (in the dry)

once warm these engines are good to about 7500rpm if in good condition...

i tend to keep mine sub 6000 on roads (as my LC makes max power at 5800 ish), and below 6500 on track when down changing...

i never go over 2500 before the oil pressure settles at 1.5ish bar (with no load, it starts at about 4.6bar initially and drops once warm), and the coolant is up to temp...

[Ozzy_UK]

In the dry?

You should try it on snow!

did you manage to try snow with R888 track day tyres on? it was quite a lot of fun!

[Lotus-e-Clan]

i never go over 2500 before the oil pressure settles at 1.5ish bar (with no load, it starts at about 4.6bar initially and drops once warm), and the coolant is up to temp...

Oz that (1.5 bar / 20 psi ) sounds a tad worn to me or you're using a modern 30 or 40 grade oil?

Mine at tickover is 2.5 bar (35 psi) stinking hot on Castrol 10/60 and usually idles at 3 bar (42 psi) normal warm. Underload above 2.5k rpm it's 4 - 4.5 bar (56 - 63 psi) stinking hot. Cold it's 5 to 6 bar (70 - 84 psi) (7 bar gauge). The mileage is only 54k though.

My Clan oil pressures are very similar to the Excel but on a cheap 20/50 Classic oil with the oil cooling via a more efficient water/oil heat exchanger, so the oil temp maintained at water temp... ie 75C - 85C which is ideal for a classic oil