83 Excel from from Finland

[Osku]

Well yes that might be the casewhen the engine was intalled in the correct car without tempering with either the engine nor the car. But now we yave a frankenstein that says that some one ha done atleast the following:

1 Takaken the 83 car and installed a New midel engine in. this wr know as the cam covers are new model and yes they are black but the paint is not irginal most likely.

2 The whole engine is not taken from same car during the swap as the auxciliary pump shaft and auxciliary pump sprocket where mish mash parts so some one has atleast messed around with the engine.

3 The hoses for water circulation had one too many hoses in it the previous owner had mounted an radiator with a breather pipe so he had connected that to the expancion tank thus leaving him pluging the engine breather. I corrected this by splitting the line to both radiator and engine after expancion tank thus making sure it gets all the air aout always. This also telks me that theexpansion tank is most likely the 83 cars and thus indicates nothing of the engine.

So basically I can not know e.g. if some one has change the whole engin to an frankenstein. So basicalky I have to identify the parts that make it tick differently like Pistons cams and valves, can I do that.

I do suspect that it is an newer model 160hp base engin monted with some of the parts like auxciliary housing and carbs from the old 160hp engine ( wich I had to correct). But if they did that they might have oppened the engine and changed the pistons too ir the cams. I do admit that I find it unlikely that the person who changed the engineauxciliaris was the same as the one who put the cylinder head on as if it would have been I would expect to have some problem with water and oil mixing or leaking as the skil set of the later was realy questionable. But who says how many mechanics the engine it self had before the last two ( 3 incloiding me).

[Osku]

Now it has been to the bench and is tuned as good as it gets with this hardware. The tune was made for drivability and result was OK and 132 HP at rear wheels wich says it has something like 155 at crank so it is either an good condition 160 or a poor 180..

[Tanz]

is the black covers like on the pictures orginaly painted as they looked a bit sloppy so I suspected some one had messed around with them but if they are orginal and from this engine they are black at the moment so that would suggest 160hp then. But parts on the engine are mixed as we can se on the auxciliary shaft and sprocket.

Those cam covers would have been red when new so 180bhp unless they built some 160bhp engines with the later covers?

[Osku]

According to lotus bits they did and the parts cant be identified without dismantling except the color wich is just paint on a lose part. So the cover color it self do not say anything but obviously some might like to give the impression of mote power by painting red but in my case it might be they wanted to have the orginal look in the engine bay despite the wrong engine. Worked on me As I did think most was orginal in the enginebay as I was not that familiar with it (the black Contributed definitivly in me parting withmy money). I actually start to hope it is the newre 160 as then it is in order now.

[Alan_M]

The piston crown shape is different between the LC and HC versions. You may be able to see this with a boroscope. I would guess you have a copy of the workshop manual due to the amount of work you’re doing. If so you will find diagrams to identify the pistons in section TD A.

[Osku]

Yes I have the manul as paper folder, so I will look into that when I have my boroscope at hand.

[Osku]

One thing I found out also fro. my dyno wizard was that the ignition system on the excel is prone for over heating when run on low rpm for longertimes. Is there any orginal lotus fix for that?
I didencounter this once at a car event when I was quing for a long time and finaly got in and stupidly kept talking to a frend of mine from the window with the engine still runing. sudenly it just died. Fast we figured out that we lost spark and changed the coil as we happened to havve one and that helped nothing we went throgh the wires and found nothing. after a while of testing I gave up. Then a while later i just turned the key and every thing run perfectly. That had made me wonder what was wrong, I did relize that both the coil and ignition box where hot so I ordered a second set from lotus bits at the same time as the auxiliary shaft parts. Now I finaly got the explanation why thay over heated. According to the wizard the coil is charged by the system all the time the spark is not sent and thus the lower the RPM thelonger the charging time thus the more heat generated. Newer electronic ignition systems are smarter and thus keep the charge time the same regardles of RPM.

Now the question is is ther an smarter unit for the lotus Excel that would look and fit nice and how much of these over heating ignition problems have you encountered?

[Osku]

Does some one know where I could find some of this cloth for the seats. My driver seat is falling appart, I would like to buy any old seat with some of the cloth on this seat. I would then use the good bits to make a good seat.
Obviously if you have a complet seat even better.
The pictures are here as usual.

https://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/t ... ent-849221

[rs blu]

My Capri RS has a similar fabric, I found it from a bmw M unfortunately only in black,but Ford has used similar fabrics for years.
You can try from a Capri or Taunus -Cortina Ghia, they had various colors


Otherwise you could use the fabric of the back part of the seat, replacing it with vinyl,for ritrim the front of it. Or you can replace the outer part of the seats with leather and the interior remains in fabric.

[Osku]

I can not use the back side as it is blue lether as are the sides.

I could make the side cushins from lether too. Might be a bit much and then might be bether to go with complet lether interior and that is an option I'm considering. That would be easy but not orginal to this individual car, but totaly in line of the product line.

I will look into that with Ford, that could work.

But the perfect solution would be to buy the fabric from someone whos interior is beyond hope and contribute in the costs for new interior materials and get my interior fixed in the prosess.

[Osku]

My lock cylinder on the pasanger side desided today to drop into the handle, is this typical issue on these locks and how do I remedy it?
First of all how do I dismantle the doorcards to se what has happened?

[TrevorK]

For an SE, the procedure is as follows:-
There is a screw in the interior release handle, one at the rear of the door above the latch and two on the bottom of the door facing the ground. Remove those screws and the handle surround, pull the bottom of the doorcard out and lift to disengage from the window opening and remove carefully as the wires to the window switches and speaker will still be attached.

I imagine it's similar for an earlier car.

[amarshall]

And once the door card is off, you'll find that either the single bolt that holds the lock to the handle has come undone, or (more likely) the plastic that holds the nutsert that it screws into has broken and you need to find a new handle or a way to repair it.

The handle itself is held by two more bolts through a couple of mounting plates. Release the plastic clips that hold the actuating rods to the lock and handle before undoing the bolts.

Some of these photos may help : viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10072 but your mechanism is probably simpler than this one with central locking.

[Esprit2]

Sorry about the following being out of sequence. I replied to Osku's question on page 1 of this thread, before I realized the thread is now 5-pages long. My answer is late, but it's there so I'll leave it. Well... really because I tried to delete it and the system wouldn't let me.

Does some one have the manufacturer and number for the airfilter and oil filter and gasoline filter?

Air Filter Cross-Reference:

Coopers was Lotus' OEM supplier
AG 487 = A907E6182Z & A907E6182ZH = all the 'same' filter (5 3/8” x 16 3/4", steel panel frame).

Rubber Gasket – Lotus P/N B907E0588ZL: Be sure to keep the re-useable rubber seal from the old filter and re-install it on the new filter (OEM or K&N 33-2784). It’s Lotus-only, re-useable, purchased separately and doesn't come with the new filter. The correct metal-framed filter will not fit properly in the Lotus airbox without the rubber seal.

Principle Application: ... Jaguar (1976-96)
5.3L V12, as used in the XJ12, XJS & XJSC
6.0L V12, as used in the XJS

Other Vehicle Cross-refs
Ford . . . . . Escort RS1600
Jaguar. . . . 70-71 XK-E
Jaguar. . . . 70-78 XJ-6
Triumph . . 77-78 TR-7
Triumph . . 70-73 Stag

The following X-refs are old, and some of the numbers may not be available any longer. If you have to special order one, then you’re better off ordering from a Lotus parts specialist.

AC Delco . . . . A1337C
Beck-Arnley . . 042-0976
Beck-Arnley . . 042-0513
Champion. . . . U510
Coopers . . . . . AG 487 (Lotus OEM supplier – mentioned above)
Crossland. . . . 9035
Fram. . . . . . . CA 3166
Geon. . . . . . . 48-0358-9
Hastings . . . . AF44
K&N. . . . . . . . 33-2784 - Lotus CLONE – exact-fit, 5 3/8” x 16 3/4", steel panel frame +o-ring
Lucas. . . . . . . F 9164
Mann. . . . . . . C-4368
SICP . . . . . . . 1088
Unipart . . . . . GFE 1095 (TR-7)(Moss Motors 071-106)
World Parts . . W27-606

K&N P/N 33-2784 (5 3/8” x 16 3/4"): Fits all Lotus 9XX 4 cylinder cars, naturally aspirated and turbo. It has the metal frame around it like the original Lotus/ Coopers filter and looks so identical that it appears to have come from the same tooling as Coopers... but with K&N's cloth filter media instead of paper.

Unfortunately, I understand 33-2784 has been discontinued by K&N, and replaced by a plastic/ elastomer framed filter that is not as good of a fit in Lotus applications. If you find a shop with inventory of the old 33-2784, buy a few while you can still get them.

Carburetors are a delicate balance, and don't tolerate change well. One of K&N's primary claims is that they are freer flowing, and allow the engine to breathe better and make more power. The engine sucking against an obstruction creates an overall slight vacuum condition in the inlet trac, and the carbs are jetted & tuned for that. Change the overall vacuum condition by altering the obstruction... ie, by installing a K&N filter... and the Air Fuel Ratio will go leaner. If you install a K&N filter, expect to have to re-tune the carbs.

Regards,
Tim Engel

[Osku]

Thanks mates I will try that one, I had a bit of bad luck with an other car that was stolen and recoverd so the time I had planed for this repair went to speaking with the insurace comppany and filling forms. To morrow the car will be driven to a car museum for excibition for the wintter so I will get back to this problem in spring when I get it back from the museum.