I have bought an 89 Excel SA site unseen

[Will49]

Finally found an SA ,I will be driving it in London on occassion and wanted an auto which comes with all the kit.
Now Im trying to figure if i have the energy to get a train to Berwick -on-Tweed from East Sussex and face a 7.5 hr drive or just get it shipped down.
Shipping isnt cheap at £500 but then train, hotel, food fuel and my time comes to more .
She looks fine in the photos, has acurrent MOT and the AC doesnt work....of course.
Now to find a workshop and parts manual which appear to be hens teeth items. Any suggestions re this will be appreciated.
Cheers
Will

[rbgosling]

Go and collect it, don't count the value of your time, make a road trip and it's a holiday! Plan a nice route without too much A1 and enjoy the drive. You'll also get ample opportunity to identify any niggles and start making your snagging list

Parts list is available via this forum for a £20 one-off payment, and you'll be supporting the continued existence of the forum viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10118.

Manuals, as you say, are hard to come by and getting more expensive when they do appear on eBay. You can buy a fairly poor quality reprint. See the discussion on this thread viewtopic.php?p=104458#p104458.

Congratulations on your purchase, we look forward to hearing more about it, and send us some nice scenic pics from your drive home!

[Dwaynem884]

I drove mine home 500 miles from London to Tyrone in Northern Ireland. Absolutely loved it!! But be prepared for drama, I had my share of it.

Great for getting to know the car as Richard says.
Check with the current owner if he would be confident with the car doing the big journey.

Another option I've done in the past with a 944 that I had, was to fly over and inspect the car, do the deal and then get it transported home. That was in 2018, transporting to Northern Ireland from Bucks cost £300. I know it's 5 years later now and prices have risen but £500 to me for transport within the mainland seems steep.

But I've always enjoyed the road trip experience of bringing a car home. Bring a mate along with ya and enjoy it. Even a bad experience will give you a story to tell in the future. Mine with the Lotus involved broken lock barrels, flat-head screwdrivers, an Indian man, a Polish man & an Irish man

Welcome to the ownership!

[Pete Boole]

Looking forward to hearing more about your car (and possible road trip)! Welcome to the forum .

Pete

[Hawaiis0]

Speak to John Walsh of Lotus Rescue. He travels up and down smuggling Lotus over the borders.

He may be able to link you up with an empty southbound trailer so half the cost

[Will49]

Many thanks to all who responde. Ive downloaded the Parts list which will no dobt be very useful.
I need to figure out how I upload some photos...advice on this please.
Going by its last MOT advisory there is a leak on the exhaust flexy , a rear baring rumple and rear discs are tired.
Is the flexy repairable or is it a new exhaust?
I need to get it up on a ramp and have a good look when I get her thats for sure.
Whatever she is it will be fun I'm sure.
Will

[rbgosling]

On the exhaust flexi, as standard it's built into the downpipe between the manifold and the centre exhaust box. Personally, I use my car daily on bumpy roads and through villages with speed humps, so my flexi gets a battering; I've cut out the original flexi, and (almost annually!) buy a cheap flexi off ebay that I use to bridge the cut. Mike @ Lotusbits disapproves, but it works for me!

Rear discs are a straightforward replacement.

Rear bearing rumble bears some investigation before it gets too bad...

For photos, you cannot upload them directly to this forum, to enable it to remain free and keep costs down the forum doesn't have photo hosting. You can upload them to anywhere else, such as a photo hosting site like Google Photos, then copy the link to the photo and paste it here like this:

{img}https://www.mywebsite.co.uk/photo1.jpg{/img}

Except with square brackets instead of curly ones.

[Dwaynem884]

Now to find a workshop and parts manual which appear to be hens teeth items. Any suggestions re this will be appreciated.
Cheers
Will

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204513656056

A service manual has been listed on eBay. The last one went for around £150 from memory.

[Will49]

Rgosling and Dwaynem many thanks for your most helpful responses.
Ive put a bit on the Workshop Manual so fingers crossed.
The photo i wished to upload was as i had noted that some of you have one of your cars in your CV, or whatever is that what its called along with your cars etc.
Excuse me but ive not used a forum like this before.
Can you respond to the individual messages to me as i have done?
Is there some sort of explanation on this forum how it works re my questions?
Many thanks

[Dwaynem884]

The photo i wished to upload was as i had noted that some of you have one of your cars in your CV, or whatever is that what its called along with your cars etc.

You upload a Avatar/Profile Picture/whatever you want to call it under -profile -edit avatar. There is a max size so you may need to downsize your photo, many free online sites can do that.

Can you respond to the individual messages to me as i have done?

I presume you mean the "quoting" business I'm doing here....
In the top right of the post you want to quote or reply to, there is a quotation mark icon, ie. ". Hit that and it will bring you into a reply box with it there, ready to go.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11571 this link will show a way of uploading pictures.

Not the easiest but once you've got the hang off it you're flying!

[Hawaiis0]

Can you respond to the individual messages to me as i have done? - Yes you can but they can also be edited

Many thanks

By the way, I think this will be a fabulous car for you

Stu

[Hawaiis0]

Your avatar size needs to be below 200 pixels in size if I recall

On how the Forum works try the Website and info tab.

Also the SEARCH button above allows key word searches and by sub topics if required


You'll get the hang of it

[Hawaiis0]

And there is the FAQ button next to the search too

[supraholic]

Here in the states, considering the lack of replacement parts and being uncommon, I'd definitely have it shipped. It'd be one thing for me to drive a newly purchased Corvette long distance (BTDT) because almost all of the parts that make it go and stop would be readily available from any auto parts retailer and most any mechanic or even a friendly farmer along the way could help repair it if necessary. But given that Lotus parts would need to be shipped from overseas, if even available at all (a ps pump for example there are no replacements, rather you have to send yours in to be rebuilt and then they ship it back to you), and no mechanics would be familiar with it, I chose to have my Lotus shipped after I bought it. I imagine that its not quite as scary in the UK, but its still a rare car and most parts are only available through a couple of specialty shops. If you choose to drive it home, at least do it weekdays while those vendors are open and available by phone to pack and ship you a part overnight if needed.

[Will49]

Now to find a workshop and parts manual which appear to be hens teeth items. Any suggestions re this will be appreciated.
Cheers
Will

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204513656056

A service manual has been listed on eBay. The last one went for around £150 from memory.

Many thanks for the EBay advice and I have as you suggested bid £150. Should know by Thursday ..