Grizzly

Well I've played around with the wiper delay relay but I am still no wiser as to how it works. In frustration as much as anything I connected the column stalk to the delay relay and connected the wires to the motor in something along the lines of the circuit diagram and switched it on. To my surprise and delight the motor responded to low speed, high speed, park and to the washer button being pressed. What did not work is the intermittent position as it should. selecting intermittent speed in any setting and the motor runs in low speed but does not drop out at all. So I have two low speed selectors and one high speed selector. Which I will live with for now. I will look for a suitable delay relay to fit somewhere in the circuit. Trawling through the web looking for answers I found a very useful explanation of the whole wiper circuit including a Pektron delay relay on our TVR friend's forum. Link below http://www.wedgeneering.co.uk/Wash-wipe electrics.html Brian

I'mThank you both for contributing Thank you Filip for an enlightening description of the workings of a wiper circuit and for your encouragement I think Filip is right in suggesting that the timer is an electronic circuit (sorry Tony) and the coil and clicker are the final action of the timing circuit. I shall bench test the delay relay as per Filip's description and let you know Brian

Good Morning, It is many months, even years, since I last asked a question on here, though I have been lurking on line. My car is mechanically complete and all the wiring looms are in place. But before I fix the dashboard permanently in place I wanted to make sure the windscreen wipers worked as access to the motor is east with no dashboard. The problem is the intermittent selection on the wiper stalk does not work. I can follow the basic wash / wipe circuit diagram but I struggle to understand the wiper switch diagram especially the connections to the wiper delay module. The module is a Pektron Derby wiper control module (now obsolete but came from a working car which was scrapped). I opened the module box and found a printed circuit board which leaves me absolutely cold as I am not of that discipline. I do recognise the coil with a clicker switch at one end but I cannot get it to work on intermittent wiper stalk selection. The low speed selection and the high speed selection works fine. As indeed they do when the module is disconnected. I think this is because there is a live connection (Green) to the Wiper switch which activates the Low Speed (Blue / Light Green connection) and High Speed ( Red / Light Green connection) through the switch. But why there is another live connection (Green) to the motor I do not know and what the Brown / Light Green connection does I do not know but as it comes from the delay relay I wonder if this is the intermittent speed connection which I do not know if it is working. Looking at the circuit board with my totally inexpert eye I cannot see a timer that would activate the coil for a period and hence the clicker. So, how does it all work and would could be the problem? Could it be the column switch rheostat (?) and how do I test it. I've attached the Wash / Wipe circuit diagram and a picture of the printed circuit board. Thanks Brian I do not understand printed circuit boards MH_Sheet 09 Wash_Wipe Circuit Diagram.pdf

The front wiper on my Elite is from a Mercedes and is their eccentric sweep wiper that extends itself to reach the corners of the windscreen. It also travels completely from side to side. The installation took me ages and required a lot of modification both to the wiper mechanism and the front scuttle on the passenger side. The rear window wiper is a pantograph arm taken from a boat windscreen. You can just make it out through the rear glass I thought I had pictures of both wiper systems working off a battery to prove them, but apparently not.

Hello I found this excellent article from Lozza74 on how to dismantle, repair and rebuild a Power Steering Rack https://www.lotusexcel.net/viewtopic.php?t=12259&p=97040 It gave me the confidence to have a go myself and found it easy to do - well most of it. My rack was fully installed in the car in a full engine bay. Filling the system with PAS fluid only resulted in me getting wet feet. The driver's side boot was full of fluid too. I asked around for repair prices but for what I wanted doing (seal replacementonly, not a full refurb) it was too much. I found Lozza's article and set to removing the rack.Whoever said that the rack would draw out of a wheel well has never tried to do it, because it won't. I managed to get the rack out in one piece through the front of the car, between the body and the top of the anti-roll bar (note to self - repair scratch in body and repaint) Once out the dismantling was relatively simple, except I have the earlier Elite rack, not the Excel rack, which doesn't have the bolted on side cover but an screwed in cover which required a 28mm Allen Key. They don't exist but I found a 28mm hex head tool (for £16) that is part of something else whgich did the trick. The existing seals on the rack bar were all dried out. Not wanting to spend £70 plus for a kit from SJ with more than I need I went to Simply Bearing in Leigh, Lancs who had everything I neede for a fraction of the cost - under £20 for the seals. The rack went back in the same way it came out. So far, under gravity alone, all is well. Many thanks Lozza. I enjoyed the rebuild and saved myself a load of money too. Brian

I had the same problem and was told by both Lotusbits and SJSportscars that they are no longer available. I had to source another block and crank carrier. Sorry - not what you wanted to hear

Hello Just a comment I understood that these blocks were required to stop the windscreen from sliding down over time and creating a water path onto the car when the Solbit method was used. Would you not fit the windscreen with the jointing compound used today and there would be no need for these blocks?

Hello, My Parts Catalogue shows a number of vacuum hose "arrangements" in the section to do with the Airbox, the like of which I have never seen before. I am assuming (maybe wrongly) that this is all to do with emission controls required in the States. Am i right in thinking that the crankcase breather valve is to do with these emission controls and is not a UK requirement and a simple breather hose is all that is required. Thanks Brian

Hello Tony, Interesting observations. As a Project you can, of course, do whatever you want, but where do you stop? My initial project was just to restore the Elite, and much of that would have been cosmetic. However a snapped cambelt resulting in damaged valves made me look at fitting an Excel engine, and It was only because my Elite also had a rusted chassis that I started down the Excel chassis route too and it took off from there. It has grown into the car I have nearly got now as I have also used the Excel wiring looms and Excel dash. The only bits of the original Elite being used beside the body are the heater / AC matrix, interior trim and seats, and even those I have modified. The Excel dash does fit but the middle section in front of the gear lever has to be modified quite a bit, almost to the point of making a new piece. The work has been onerous because I am an amateur restorer with very limited resources working in a lock up garage without power or water and limited finances. My suggestion to remodel the Excel body is based on two points. Firstly, the car is already built and everything fits, so no struggles to get Excel parts squeezed into the Elite body. The cars look very similar but there are dimensional differences. Secondly, I think that a modified rear end ( a la Elite) on the rest of the Excel body is what, maybe, the Elite would have become in the same way the Eclat morphed into the Excel. I would still like this to be done, but sadly not by me. Any takers? Brian

I need them too

Good Morning Simon, You are a man afer my own heart, I am in final throes of completing my Excelite - an Excel SE re-bodied with an Elite body. To answer your question, which has been asked many times,I don't know of anyone who has a complete list of items that require attention to remove a body from its chassis, I virtually completely stripped my complete Elite before removing the body which was then easily done. I only had half an Excel (the engine had literally been ripped out of the front end) so I cut the body off with an angle grinder, salvaging parts as I went. My whole journey so far has taken 15 years of sweat, frustration, finding parts, problems because the two cars are not as compatible as you might think, learning how to fibreglass repairs, make new parts etc. It has been fascinating, but would I do another? Probably as I know what not to do, but honestly I would leave the Excel body on, cut off the rear section of the Excel body after the B post and put an Elite rear section of body on. This way you could get an Excelite and keep the Elite for restoration as is! Pity you live so far away, but handy for Lotusbits. If you PM me with your email address I'll send you some pictures Good Luck Brian

Hello, Having completed the mechanical rebuild I have now turned my attention to the electrics, starting with the engine bay electrics and have found a couple of unexplained items. The first unusual item is that there is a socket in the engine loom close to the starter motor wiring that I haven't the foggiest as to what it is for. The photos below will show you a round two pin socket, the like of which I have never seen below. The two wires that come from it, one slate grey / green and the other black / yellow come from the main harness somewhere, but not through the engine harness connector. Grateful as always for any pointers before I start the harness strip down to find the other end. Thanks Brian

https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/buying-guides/buying-guide-lotus-elite-eclat-and-excel-1974-1992/

Hello, After further thoughts and research I have come to a conclusion which I hope you can follow below. Let me first clear up a misunderstanding on my part. I thought that a Ballasted Coil had an internal ballast wire or resistor before the primary coil. That is not the case. The terms Ballasted and Non-ballasted refer to the circuit as a whole. A Ballasted circuit has a ballast resistor as part of the circuit. A Non-ballasted circuit does not. The difference between a ballasted coil and a non-ballasted coil is the number of turns in the internal coils. The external ballast resistor reduces the voltage to the primary coil from 12v to 6v which is considered enough for normal running and is claimed to have other benefits. However this is not enough to start the engine where 12v are always required A Ballasted circuit has a ballast resistor by-pass for starting putposes (ignition key in start position) and reverts to 6v when the ignition key is in the ignition position. A Non-ballasted circuit delivers 12 volts to the coil at all times. Having understood the above I followed the starter and ignition circuits on the circuit diagrams. 12v comes from the battery +ve terminal to the main post on the motor solenoid. From there it goes to the Start Relay, Ignition Relay and Ignition Switch amongst other circuits. When the ignition switch is in the Start position the switch contact sends 12v to the Start Relay terminal 85 which energises the relay coil causing terminals 30 and 87 to connect which sends 12v to the Starter Solenoid activation terminal which activates the starter motor and the engine turns over and fires. Releasing the Ignition Key back to the ignition position the switch contact sends 12v to the Ignition Relay terminal 85 which energises the relay coil causing terminals 30 and 87 to connect which sends 12v to Splice A which sends 12v to the ignition coil. The Circuit Diagrams do not show either a ballast resistor or by-pass wire. Therefore, my conclusion is that the coil sees 12v at all times which is a non-ballasted circuit, and the coil required is a 12v non-ballasted coil ie a 12v coil for a non-ballasted circuit. I found this article helpful https://vintagetriumphregister.org/ballast/#:~:text=A%20ballast%20coil%20is%20designed,cranked%20by%20the%20starter%20motor. Brian

Hello Jon, Thanks for keeping on trying, but..... I have fitted an Excel chassis and 912HC engine under my Elite body. Or should that be the other way round I have rebodied an Excel with an Elite body. So I need an Excel coil. On the basis of my thoughts above I am leaning towards a 12v ballasted coil, but why SJ have two separate offerings still leaves me hanging. Brian