Striping a car out... how far to go...

[Ozzy_UK]

So the Excel is becoming a fun track oriented car, with a lovely V8...

how far should i go with striping it?

my gut feeling is keep the heater, but just at the windscreen, bin the rest...
keep the dash, but lose the center trim, and console, lose the dash, and rebuild a custom one made of MDF and alcantara, with new gauges that color match the black and white theme...
lose the back seats completely, and push the 2 front seats further back (about 15-25cm) and make the seats as low as possible...
lose the glass from everywhere except the windscreen and plexi-glass it...
lose the electric windows, and have them fixed, but with small sliding openings for ventilation... (unless i can make plexi-glass work with the electric motors, but they probably need rebuilding anyway and i never use them...)
lose the carpets, door cards, and all interior trim above shoulder height... (wont have to worry about droopy headliner again! lol
Extend the steering columb back a little 15-20cm so it is not too far away from the seats that are pushed back...
lose the pedals, and replace with a universal floor mounted pedal box on adjustable runners with hydraulic clutch and twin brake cylinders built in (for front to rear adjustment)...
new Jag V8 is throttle by wire, so no worrys about moving the throttle cable.

anything else i can bin?

Oz.

[amarshall]

[terry]

Ozzy.

At this point, has it occurred to you, that you could have bought a basket case instead?????

Anyway, if you need a complete steering column to play with/ adapt, I've got one in, my list for £10.

Terry

[Ozzy_UK]

the reason for this is that my excel was slowly failing all over the shop, i rebuilt it from a mouldy wreck, and now it needs completely stripping out...
fuel lines are going, brake lines are in poor condition, its getting stripped right back...
so i figured save have the job and only put back what i need...

my car is not an SE, so never had any of the fancy bits, if i was going to bastardise a car i think this was a good place to do it from...
its not some immaculate SE with 50,000 on the clock, its done 130,000, and i have sold the engine, the gearbox is being rebuild, and custom bell housing made to join the ford/jag V8...

it keeps the car running another 15-20 years, and keeps me having fun and not getting frustraited at not being able to keep up on track due to old worn bushes, lack of power, and excess of weight...

Lotus is about Stripped out, light weight... i think the excel was too fatty to start with... theres over 100kgs of sound deadening in it for goodness sake, thats not a lotus thats a sofa...

Oz.

[mkelite]

ive put this before i know so please excuse me saying and each to there own but; why bastardise a unique and collectable piece of car art to put another engine in, mods etc?
for the effort, time and money spent in my experience - you could have just restored to original spec and have something to be proud of and maybe sell at a later date to an enthusiast with profit.
sorry, yes i know, im off again. got shot down in flames on the other 'Lotus' website b4 they blocked me!
as an Elite S2.2 owner which im about to restore, its worried me that so many S1 Elites for example have 'died' this way and its happening to the Excel folks.............

regards all. DC.

[KevW]

I would leave the heater in the car mainly as a safety feature. You are bound to need de-misting/icing during cold weather - especially if you are going to use the car on the road as well as the track. It could even help with extra cooling when on the track in hot weather too.

Would a custom MDF dash be any lighter than the standard one ? MDF is pretty heavy stuff

[KevW]

ive put this before i know so please excuse me saying and each to there own but; why bastardise a unique and collectable piece of car art to put another engine in, mods etc?
for the effort, time and money spent in my experience - you could have just restored to original spec and have something to be proud of and maybe sell at a later date to an enthusiast with profit.
sorry, yes i know, im off again. got shot down in flames on the other 'Lotus' website b4 they blocked me!
as an Elite S2.2 owner which im about to restore, its worried me that so many S1 Elites for example have 'died' this way and its happening to the Excel folks.............

regards all. DC.

I agree with your ethos DC. I rarely modify my own car from standard and if I do it's always done so that it could be returned to original spec.easliy. I often think I'm perhaps a little OTT. in this respect bearing in mind it's really a glorified kit-car and not a D-Type Jaguar.

Having said that Oz's car by his own admission is a near basket case and is not a rare spec.so it's not as though he is destroying a nice car. I personally can't see any harm in him keeping his car on the move by turning it into a racer. I have to admit if my car's engine ever blew up (God forbid) I would seriously think about going down the Rover V8 route.

[ttedj]

As you said, sound deadening has to go. Along with electric windows and arms. Plexi glass them but keep the frames otherwise they will bow out under speed. A bag race tank in the boot will be lighter when fuelled for track days and better in a crash.
The dash is fairly light but could be better adapted for ease of removal and repairs ect.

Ted

[Ozzy_UK]

ive put this before i know so please excuse me saying and each to there own but; why bastardise a unique and collectable piece of car art to put another engine in, mods etc?
for the effort, time and money spent in my experience - you could have just restored to original spec and have something to be proud of and maybe sell at a later date to an enthusiast with profit.
sorry, yes i know, im off again. got shot down in flames on the other 'Lotus' website b4 they blocked me!
as an Elite S2.2 owner which im about to restore, its worried me that so many S1 Elites for example have 'died' this way and its happening to the Excel folks.............

regards all. DC.

I agree with your ethos DC. I rarely modify my own car from standard and if I do it's always done so that it could be returned to original spec.easliy. I often think I'm perhaps a little OTT. in this respect bearing in mind it's really a glorified kit-car and not a D-Type Jaguar.

Having said that Oz's car by his own admission is a near basket case and is not a rare spec.so it's not as though he is destroying a nice car. I personally can't see any harm in him keeping his car on the move by turning it into a racer. I have to admit if my car's engine ever blew up (God forbid) I would seriously think about going down the Rover V8 route.

having serious thoughts about buying a nice 1990+ SA to keep as the original Excel, and this non-se as the track car...
oh and the engine conversion so far has cost me -£1050...

yep im £1050 up!!!

bought the donor car for £1100 and so far made £2150 back from breaking it and have all the engine and other parts still to go! total conversion cost should be in the hundreds of £'s

[Ozzy_UK]

oh and MDF dash, was just so its easy to make custom holes for new dials/gages as the excel dash is going to have to go, and im going to make something in its place.
I know theres a lot of pureists on here but to them i say, it was keep it running this way, or leave it on the drive to rott even more... and i believe in driving cars, not leaving them to rott... Mrs Oz will never let me sell it as it was our wedding car, so its a keeper for life... it didnt cost me anything as i rescued it from someones drive where it had sat rotting for 9years never moving...

i still think this is a better life for it than before and the point of the project is to keep it LOOKING like an original Excel on the exterior, even keeping the excel back boxes on the exhaust...

to restore it would cost me probably 12-15k, or i can turn it into something I will really love and enjoy for about £1000. For me it was a no brainer. Sorry for ruining a car, but it keeps it running.

[mkelite]

yes i wish u well with whatever u do. its your car after all. i would far from agree their glorified kit cars tho. n not all restorations recoup money spent on them. just look at the many Aston Martins that had £80k + spent on them 15 years or so ago. just breaking even now (apart from the obvious models of course!). when i spend on my Elite S2.2, i know in my lifetime it prob will not recoup its spend. but i realise its very rare, unique and an important piece of Lotus history - although thats very rarely acknowledged cos its got more than two seats................
best regards all. DC.

[tr0078]

lose the back seats completely, and push the 2 front seats further back (about 15-25cm) and make the seats as low as possible...

You might have answered this in the previous thread, but I'm assuming that the transmission is going to sit further back into the tunnel? Otherwise, assuming you're not 7' tall, I'm thinking you'd need to adapt the shift mechanism so you can reach the gear lever????

I'm not short by any means, but I wouldn't want to be reaching any further than I have to with the standard setup

Brad

[Ozzy_UK]

lose the back seats completely, and push the 2 front seats further back (about 15-25cm) and make the seats as low as possible...

You might have answered this in the previous thread, but I'm assuming that the transmission is going to sit further back into the tunnel? Otherwise, assuming you're not 7' tall, I'm thinking you'd need to adapt the shift mechanism so you can reach the gear lever????

I'm not short by any means, but I wouldn't want to be reaching any further than I have to with the standard setup

Brad

good point well made... sticking with the Toyota W58, which is being rebuilt... probably just need to make a small linkage adapter...