The Lotus Grand Tourers

I’m a lifelong Ford fan, but have always admired the Lotus philosophy of light weight and great handling.
I nearly bought an Exige in the late noughties, and have now finally taken the plunge into Lotus ownership with a 1984 Excel.
It runs, but needs quite a bit of work - wish me luck !
I’m in Milton Keynes and would love to hear from any Lotus enthusiasts nearby.

Welcome. Looking forward to piccies so read up how to post, then show and tell

Stu

Welcome Malrig! Buying an Excel is a great idea . Is it on the road or a running resto?

Pete

Welcome to the group. Just about everything you need to know is on this site. Updates are always interesting.

Bash

Hi Malrig - welcome to the joys of Excel ownership!

I've had my Excel for 13 years / 80,000 miles of everyday use and abuse, they are a great car. I'm not exactly local but not that far away, just East of Rugby. Marginally closer to you is MetBlue (Tony) who drives (sometimes) an Excel, and claims to be restoring an Elite.

Last Saturday of the month there is a Club Lotus meet in Weedon, near Northampton (see viewtopic.php?p=106003), I've only been once so far but there seems to be a great mixture of Lotus old and new.

Welcome. Good luck with your project. We're all keen to hear more about it.

Thanks for all the responses - the car is currently SORN, so I guess you'd call it a running resto ?
I've just done the cambelt & tensioner, and am looking to verify the tension. It feels and sounds alright, but I've only checked it with a twist check and a Draper gauge (although mine is a Neilson). I'll put a post on the cambelt tension chat to ask for advice (I've seen the Mike C73 blog, but want a bit more reassurance).

Also, I've now discovered the radiator looks to be leaking ! I'm sure it wasn't when I bought it, but it's only steam coming out so maybe I missed it
Oil pressure gauge doesn't work, so need to sort that and the radiator next I think.

Lots of work to do on the electrics and the headlights are stuck in the up position.

Air-con radiator looks trashed.
Heater doesn't work.

Paint is a bit faded, but I understand that is normal with early red ones.
I will post some pictures when I work out how.

Hope to see people in Weedon soon,
Malcolm.

Hi Malcolm,

Sounds like you are getting on with sorting the car - keep us updated!

I've had a real issue with coolant leaks over the last year-and-a-bit, so might be able to advise. I bought a coolant pressure test kit off eBay for under £40, which has been invaluable - if you are ever up Rugby direction you are welcome to borrow it if you'd rather not buy your own. I found draining the system before pressure testing to be most effective, it's much easier to find escaping air than escaping water, you can hear the hiss, then confirm the location by squirting a little washing-up liquid/water mix with a syringe where you think it's coming from. Radiators aren't cheap, so it's best to be sure where the leak is before spending money. My car turned out to have a good selection of leaky radiator, split hose, several hose clips not tight enough, and a leak between the water pump and the cylinder block.

On which subject, several people have had success buying aluminium radiators off eBay, made by a Chinese company called Winner Racing, they seem to come up under a multitude of seller names on eBay but they are all the same product. I did not have success with this - the first one leaked, when I complained they initially ignored me completely, then I contacted the UK importer who offered a discounted replacement which I took, and that soon leaked too. So I went to Lotusbits and got a re-cored one from them. If you think you can fix an aluminium radiator I've still got the second leaky one (and I know where the leak is), yours for free before I take it to the tip!

With the headlight motors, you can access them from underneath via a large rubber grommet in the bodywork. There's a knob on the bottom you should be able to twist to move them up and down manually. If it won't turn, the motor may well have seized with rust and will need a strip and rebuild (or replacement). There may be a cover over the knob - this cover is bad news as it fills up with rain water and holds it against the knob causing the rust that makes it seize! If it will turn easily, that's better news, it's likely just an electrical connection that needs fixing.

With any electrical faults, a good place to start (after fuses) is the selection of relays that live somewhere near your right knee. If there is any leak in the windscreen on the RH side the water can trickle down to the relays; since they are all mounted upside-down they can then fill with water, which makes them rather less effective.

Stick with it and let us know how you get on.

Handy advice thanks Richard.
I will give you a shout if I need the pressure tester.
Below should be a picture of the car, but I think my work onedrive is preventing it from showing here - I'm thinking I might have to create a personal one ?

Welcome to the gang! I've had my Excel 12 years and have covered nearly 300 metres in it.

Welcome Malrig. Good choice of car. Sounds like you'll soon be able to make it a running Restoration, which was (is) exactly my route with the Excel.

Marginally closer to you is MetBlue (Tony) who drives (sometimes) an Excel, and claims to be restoring an Elite.

Double OUCH . Nice thing around the forum is the occasional banter and no one takes offense.
"Sometimes" on the Excel refers to the cars choice not mine, although I do believe I have sorted the route cause now ( cars topped 150K, so a few things are / were past it).

And as for the Elite, well Richards probably right, but one day - Who knows.

I'll drop you a PM with contact details. Always looking for a reason for a run out.
BTW, photo post didn't work. There's a good short Youtube that Alan did that explains very well. When I find it again, I'll post a link if no one beats me to it.

Tony

Marginally closer to you is MetBlue (Tony) who drives (sometimes) an Excel, and claims to be restoring an Elite.

MetBlue wrote: Sat May 18, 2024 09:46
BTW, photo post didn't work. There's a good short Youtube that Alan did that explains very well. When I find it again, I'll post a link if no one beats me to it.

Tony

Welcome to the forum and hope your rolling resto isn’t as long as Tony’s - The Carlsburg resto (probably the longest in the world!)

Here’s the link to the video

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11571

Somewhere on this Forum is a map of most members, easy to find local enthusiasts.

Dave the cog

DavidOliver wrote: Sat May 18, 2024 10:57 Somewhere on this Forum is a map of most members, easy to find local enthusiasts.

Dave the cog

That stopped working a few years ago - Zeemaps changed it to a subscription rather than free service

dancroft1984 wrote: Tue May 14, 2024 16:56 Welcome to the gang! I've had my Excel 12 years and have covered nearly 300 metres in it.

Thanks for the inspiration Dan (I think !!) - you've given me my first target - over 300m in the first 12 weeks