Excel - My new daily Driver

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Oldtimer_Basis
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Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Oldtimer_Basis »

Hello to Everyone
I´m Rafael from Germany, and I´ve finished the Restauration of my first Lotus ( ´83 Excel, built Nov. ´82) 3 Weeks ago - and I´m driving it every Day since. My Interest in this car has gotten serious as soon as I heard about all the Toyota-Parts... on one Hand, this might leave some Scratches on the Image of the Excel (think of the Porsche 924: Ah, it´s not a REAL Porsche...) , but on the other Hand you can´t beat the Reliability of Access to Spare Parts in Cases like this.
I bought this particular Excel from Johan in the Netherlands (a friend from Bauke... Greetings to them if they read this :D ... I guess, the Lotus-Scene probably is very tightly connected). Before that, it was in Germany, in Holland again... and initially in Great Britain. It crossed Borders so frequently that it became a Lotus Europa LOL
I got rid of the Aircon, because the Radiator was totally clogged, but even if it would have been okay, I think I would have removed it, anyway. You Guys sure know, if my Thoughts were correct or not, but I think the Engine runs cooler without it. Watertemp is now constantly between 85 and 88°C.
As for the Way, the Excel is constructed: I work on Vintage Cars for a Living and this is not my first British Car... but man, that´s different :shock:
You always feel the Urge to cut big Holes into everything to get Access to all the Things, that you can simply bolt off on "normal" cars LOL
The Driving Experience was quite a Surprise to me: Very soft an comfortable, easy to control, not nervous and in Spite of the Weight-Distribution the Rearend doesn´t do scary Things like, for Example, late 60ies to 70ies Corvettes, whom you have to drive with at least 4 Cups of Espresso for improved Reaction Time.
Okay... the Pics of my Car are stored in my PC only - not in one of these Big Data Grabber Clouds. As far as I can see, this Forum doesn´t have an Option to upload Pics directly from my PC, right?

Greetz,
Rafael

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Hawaiis0
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Model: Excel SA (No 3); Elite 504
Colour: BRG; Dirty White
Year: 1986
Location: West Oxfordshire

Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Hawaiis0 »

Hi Rafael, welcome. Picture hosting needs to be done via a hosting site, such as one drive. Easy once you get the first one done.

Stu
Nothing is fool proof. Fools are clever!

Pete Boole
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Pete Boole »

Hi Rafael - welcome to the forum! I know exactly what you mean about accessing some parts! The throttle cable attachment to the pedal immediately comes to mind! How long did your restoration take? I've been doing my Elite for a few years now :oops:

It would be great to see some photos.

Pete

richardw
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Model: Elite S2.2 Automatic
Colour: Essex Blue
Year: 1981
Location: Worcestershire

Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by richardw »

Welcome Rafael - good to see you here! Sounds a nice car- the early Excels are great cars, and the Toyota components were part of a deep agreement between Lotus and Toyota that would have seen the release of the Elan M90 and Toyota creating their European motorsport operation in Wymondham, just up the road from Hethel. Toyota played a very supportive role in keeping Lotus in business following Colin Chapmans death, thanks to the sterling efforts of Mike Kimberley.

Regarding photos, as stu (Hawaiis0) says, you first need to upload your pictures to OneDrive or something similar. I use OneDrive and you must use the web app, not the onedrive that runs on your local machine. Once you have uploaded the picture, select it, then choose the Embed option that appears in the toolbar above. Do not select the html option. Copy the URL that is generated, select the resolution you wish to use, then paste it into your post between img in square brackets, and /img in square brackets. I can’t type it in using the actual square brackets because the system thinks it’s an image!

If you click the picture icon that appears above the post you are creating then it generates these imgs for you and you simply paste your URL between them.

Hope this helps - we are a free site and this is partly because we don’t pay for the bandwidth and space needed to store images natively!

Cheers, Richard
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Oldtimer_Basis
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Oldtimer_Basis »

Hey, thanks for the warm Welcome :D
Restoring it just took about 2 Weeks, because it was in comparatively good Condition... just had to do the Interieur, rerouting and welding the Exhaust, Part of the Wiring, some Oil Leaks, Steering Column (I built a Strut Rod for additional Support), a "Chickenfence" to protect the Underside of the Engine Compartement (I was a bit nervous because of Things that might fly into the Cambelt), some other minor Stuff and welding the rusty Fenders... just joking :lol: ...really, it is sooooo cool to have a Car that can not rust 8)
The Paperwork to get the Plates took longer... welcome to Germany :?
Okay, then I´ll figure out a Way for the Pics. Maybe, I´ll just upload them to my Homepage and get them from there to here... should work as well.
Have a nice Evening everybody
Greetz,
Raf

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DavidOliver
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Model: Excel
Colour: Calypso Red
Year: 1985
Location: Malaga Spain

Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by DavidOliver »

Hi Rafael, or Raf. Surprising to have contact with a Rafael (Spanish?) living in Germany with very good English, or American?
Just in case, check in to SJSportscars or Lotusbits to see the wonderful range of Excel (or Eclat for 1983) parts available.

Bienvenido
Dave the cog.

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DavidOliver
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Location: Malaga Spain

Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by DavidOliver »

Hi Rafael, or Raf. Surprising to have contact with a Rafael (Spanish?) living in Germany with very good English, or American?
Just in case, check in to SJSportscars or Lotusbits to see the wonderful range of Excel (or Eclat for 1983) parts available.

Bienvenido
Dave the cog.

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MetBlue
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Model: Elite 74 & Excel 92 (SEish))
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Year: 1974
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by MetBlue »

Welcome Raf.
. Restoring it just took about 2 Weeks,
Amazing. Swop the weeks for years and add a nought and you are nearer the average 😊.
As you say, an interesting car to work on, but access aside, it's all good simple old tech. Just need to gen up on the Lotus Yoga Position.
For photos, I use dropbox on my main computer. Slightly long winded getting the file size down to workable level, but otherwise simple enough.

Tony
What goes together.... Must come apart.

Oldtimer_Basis
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Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 18:14

Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Oldtimer_Basis »

@Dave: No, I´m a teutonic German, just my Name is somewhat atypical. I speak (american) English relatively well because of my Job: We are mostly working on US-Vintage-Cars, so I´ll have to talk frequently with my american Parts-Suppliers (so, I use the Elevator instead of the Lift LOL). Yeah, I´ve been reading Posts here for a little While and have already been on the LotusBits-Page. Looks solid 8)
As for my Spanish: Yo abla Espanol mal para escuchar Narcotrafficantes en el Television :lol:

@Tony: Don´t forget: I do this for a Living. You can only work on your Car in your Spare-Time when there´s nothing else, that needs to be done. I can work up to 10 h´s per Day and 6 Days a Week in a perfect Environment. You cannot compare that. In my Experience, a Resto-Time of 2-3 Years is normal, depending on the Type of Car and the overall Condition, when you´re working in your Spare-Time.

Until I manage this Upload-Thing I´ve got a Video of my car, that is 11 Years old... found it on Youtube. Yes, that´s my Car, now :D
The Seats are full Leather, meanwhile. The Fabric simply was too damaged to save it, so I switched to Leather.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_9yt-GOsvc

richardw
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by richardw »

That looks a really nice car Raf. I do like the uncluttered shape of those early cars. I think yours must have lost the grey bumpers etc that the early cars had, but the body colour looks really good. And the interior also looks the business.

Cheers, Richard
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Oldtimer_Basis
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Oldtimer_Basis »

Yeah, I´m still thinking about painting the lower Part for a stock Appearance... but I would rather use a silkmatte Black instead of the Gunpowder, so it would match the other black Parts... and I would take this "Spray-on-peel-off-Coat"... don´t know how it´s called in English, in Germany we call it "Spruehfolie". If I don´t like it afterwadrs, I can simply peel it off. I´m totally unsure if I should do it... have already photoshopped some Pics of my Excel, but that hasn´t helped making me more decisive :?

Pete Boole
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Pete Boole »

I think it's called a vinyl "wrap" over here Raf - like stick-on plastic that you can peel off again.

Pete

richardw
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by richardw »

Oldtimer_Basis wrote:
Thu Sep 09, 2021 15:41
Yeah, I´m still thinking about painting the lower Part for a stock Appearance... but I would rather use a silkmatte Black instead of the Gunpowder, so it would match the other black Parts... and I would take this "Spray-on-peel-off-Coat"... don´t know how it´s called in English, in Germany we call it "Spruehfolie". If I don´t like it afterwadrs, I can simply peel it off. I´m totally unsure if I should do it... have already photoshopped some Pics of my Excel, but that hasn´t helped making me more decisive :?
I do like the way that, in German, if there isn’t a word for something, you put a couple of nouns together and make one! Very sensible.

Cheers, Richard
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TAR
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by TAR »

I think Plasti Dip is the UK equivalent. It's spray on, peel off, paint. :)

Oldtimer_Basis
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Re: Excel - My new daily Driver

Post by Oldtimer_Basis »

It has it´s Pro´s & Con´s, Richard. We use Terms like "Wellengleichlaufkreuzgelenk". You just say "U-Joint" and everybody knows, what you are talking about :wink:
Yes! Plasti Dip! That´s it! :D

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