igg-hiss

The bloke was sublime, saved money using plus two parts up and then saved money skimping on the parts book.

I have 75 which is a pre production Eclat, she sits on triumph pcd. Colin must have had lots and lots of plus two parts available to break production to use up parts. But surely the parts book should answer the question?

at loan classic last year 1000 cars, of which 19 were stags and 1 was a four seat hethel wedge (mine). we did get back from that and bought a stag though, as my five foot wife can reach the pedals in a stag but not an eclat. interestingly both the stag and the lotus had water pump failures in Normandy. the eclats sealed up and she limped home on a drip, but the worn away stag water pump drive teeth meant a 12 hour recovery.

Last year I took 099 to France for the Laon Classic and bobbed over the old riems circuit on the way back (via Paris and Hornfluer)

will look tomorrow but fairly sure I hadn't even noticed mine missing. No attention to detail that's my problem!

Whoops I may have been far too busy to post! Promised the car for the NEC for one of the clubs. However there is a lot more work required than I thought and time was short so sorry everyone I was to busy to make notes on the forum However here is picture of her now at the NEC Still lots to do including a Mazda headlamp motor conversion as our marques second hand specialist has once again pulled out his tricorne hat, fix oil leaks from bell-housing gasket and rear crankshaft oil seal (engine removal again!), N/S door needs sorting better, finish second battery instilation in boot and finish trim. I will take camera tomorrow to get some extra photos. sorry for the tardy reporting, no pulitzer this year. And the car in Jan once again

I have got very little done this week, my son has repaired filled, filler primed, primed and painted the front bumper. While i have spent every night peeing around with a corsa that won't run right. Not what i wanted to be doing. I have now fitted the wiper motor and new wheel box, and permanently fixed the heater motor in place and started to address and final fix in place dash wiring and column stalks. Today will be spent on the engine, but to cheer myself up i sneaked something through while washing the glasses.

Simply stunning, setting the bar by which we are measured very high indeed. Especially the door cards, however if you carry on cutting up leather jackets like that you'll get a visit from the Russian mafia

charlie I had no choice but seperate a section of the sill about 18 to 24 inches long, then using a pair of wooded wedges I opened up a 1to 1.5 inch gap at the center. Die grind off the old seat belt bolt and the two reataining bolts knock through and through the gap clean all the rust out I then measured carefully and made a fresh plate. I only welded on the main nut and left two holes forthe securing pins fitted the main pin and the using to 10 mm headed pins I tightened the new plate up, using unusall dexterity to get the nuts on and spanner up while my son tightened them from in the car. Once this was done the plate stayed in place and the main bolt can be removed, reaseal the lower edge. Swine of a job but not impossible. And definetly no need for blowing doors off.

Dunc Every single joint was bonded with resin all the way, they are on! I drilled out the rivets and started with a very fine wood chisel the sill would come to bits, the inner sill would splinter but the resin was impressively resolute in it desire to stay firmly just where it was. Much kudos to 40 year old resin. The sounds of splintering on the near side, the level of bond and the fresh paint meant they were staying on. Not risking the paint and not risking them falling off in the future. Regards Ian.

I have worked hard the last couple of days, but not seemed to have made much impact externally, the issue with the front seat belts has been resolved. New mounting brakets have been made which included the same imperial thread (relatively fine thread) they were squeezed in between the prised open sills and the rust that was all remained of the old ones was let free. The sill have been seam sealed back on and re riveted back up. The sills and the rear bumper have been rubbed down etch primed and the first couple of coats of matt black aplied to gauge finish. All the tread holes in the roll cage and chassis have been tapped clean and i have started work on the rear seatbelt mounts. To cheer my self up after removing the cylinder head on corsa and by freak accident breaking the windscreen, my son and I trial fitted the bumper and new rear lamps to see how she looked. Not to bad we thought.

Should have done the cables, as i spent a dispiriting night faffing around with the seat belt strengthener inside yhe nearside sill. Sill wont come off but just enogh space to fetvh 40 years of rust out. Then i had to die gring the securing scewws out. I made up a test replacement. Idea seems ok, but it will mean messing around in a pried open gap the bonding the lower edge of the sill back in place. Sad just thinking about it and I need to do the o/s. The last owner but one, who was also the guy who arranged for me to buy the old girl came for a mot today. He was amazed she wasn't scrapped years ago. Nice to know i can suprise people.

Tonights work Disconnect the heater pipes on my triumph herald and connect them to the eclats heater matrix and run for 1 hour. The matrix sat there warm at tick over and hot under revs for one hour without problems. While this was going on I rigged up the smaller bosch blower motor for a capri (delivered very quickly considering I only moaned about it to the supplier 2 days ago) into the eclats motor housing using the old motor outer case some 1mm plastic and 2 welds. On went the fan and sat in the right place. While the herald was cooling down i fitted the servo and reconnected the master cylinder (although i will replace the two pipes as although they ar copper nickle i am jot happy with how they look. Finished the night of by assembling the heater box, setting the cables and giving the motor a hook up to check the speed and giving it a trial fix. Tommorow i think may back down the pedal box and cables.

I know, i really am going to have to pull my finger out as i have commited the car to NEC show, it would be really nice to have the car there. She is (baring the one coupe elite/eclat green prototype) the first Eclat, being a preproduction car signed over to marketing about two months before the eclat launch and has been off the road for 24 years. I really get the impression that the next 2 months will be wake-work-lotus-shower-bed-repeat. but one more saved.

newly repainted heater box ready to go in, would be ready but for two reasons. reason one. I need to source wheel box for window wipers. reason two. Bosch are a shadow of their previous selves, ordered a replacement blower mot. Poorly made and even more poorly packaged. now I have to wait again for a replacement one. Boot lock reafixed with a newboot seal. Servo painted and the radiator painted also. Moving forward but needed in three months so really need to push on now. Whew Ian