williamtherebel

Yes, Its the original foam/rubber one. It seems in pretty decent condition. As you say, they usually get wrinkled.

A few more from the weekend. I've tried not to duplicate. The last one was taken after the last race on Sunday night. My baby looking lonely and forlorn!

I agree with @ChrisJ. I drove my 1976 Eclat as a daily driver for 30 years. (still got her and she has company now with my Esprit S1, which drove to the Silverstone Classic and back this weekend with no problems. ) Sure, the Eclat has been on the back of a breakdown lorry a couple of time. But things do wear out! Lotus need driving. I, too had some trepidation when I got her at first. But go for it. I'm sure that's why you got yours -- to drive it!

If you cannot find one in the States, I have one from my 1977 S1. I converted the car to the euro style when I imported it. Might be too expensive to send over. Photo shows when it arrived in the UK. Its been dry stored since. Can send more if your interested. (p.s. I am going to the Silverstone Classic this weekend so probably wont be able to answer any queries until Im back on Tuesday.) PPS That's not the cars number plate obvioulsy. Just the guy I purchased it off's idea of fun!

A couple of photos from Saturdays Tatton Park show. It was a draw in which car had the more interest,- My S1 or the Can-Am next to me!. Besides the batch of Lotus in the 2nd photos, there was also a Europa, a 91 Esprit (i think) and another Lotus Cortina.

I agree with @black eclat. Fit an override switch. If my Eclat gets in a traffic jam, I hit my manual override immediately. If not, and the temp increases, the fans never catch up, especially in a prolonged jam.

I remember seeing him perform in my local area TV in the 70's. (Granada Reports, I think). It was suppose to be his first TV appearance. Though he was brilliant. Bought all his early albums. Then watched his annual concert. I've recorded the sky Arts programme, am looking forward to watching it. There has been quite a few documentaries on Sky Arts recently on electronic music. i.e. Tangerine Dream etc Makes a change to watch something decent!

Yes, The rings go round the mounting bracket AND the silencer.

Attended a really nice car show at the weekend. Little place called Audlem (near Stoke) I wanted a good run out before I go to The Silverstone Classic at the end of August. (It was a 160 mile round trip) Behaved impeccably. (the car, not me!) The whole village seemed to have turned out, waving, cheering etc as we convoyed around the village before settling on the village green. Of course everyone loved my flashing headlights! When I parked up, I nearly got as many comments on my revolving model car that the real thing!

I agree with @pbharcourt. Brilliant article. I have often though of this conversion but never got round to it. (my pods actually stayed down for a couple of days using the vacuum for a long time) However recently they have been popping up which I hate. So I will be using your conversion. Many thanks.

I have 2 gearboxes stored exactly like that in my garage. Can I ask why I shouldn't? Cheers.

Hi Mike, Many thanks for replying. I can see from your photo, as I suspected, my spring is broken. As you suggest, I will try and replace the spring in-situ before I do any drilling. Thanks again.

I am having problems with my door catch. (its on my Eclat, but the same mechanism is on the Elite and Esprit. - not sure about the Excel) Sometimes the door wont shut properly because the catch is fouling on the plate. However sometimes I can 'flip' the catch up with a screwdriver then its ok for a while. Today I decided to take the latch off and see what the problem is. After cleaning it up it looks as if the small spring that moves the catch is broken. (the one in the middle of the zoomed in photo.)So will need replacing. it looks as if I will have to drill out the rivet in the centre of the mechanism to get to it. What do you think? Does the spring look broken to you? Any other ideas on how to get into the mechanism would be much appreciated.

Years ago, it was recommended to me to get my wheels balanced whilst the were on the car. My local tyre supplier had a machine that you actually sat on, offered up to the tyre then set it going. A disc that touches the tyre spins it round, and then tells the operator where to put the weights. It seemed to be a lot more accurate than the modern balancing machines and I never had any vibrations. However, I dont know of any tyre fitters in my local area that still does balancing this way. Probably too old fashioned!

Think I would have just bought a new wheel!!

Didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!!

Is this the right forum for an argument?

@USAndretti42 you may be correct in thinking about what section it should be in. However, I bet a lot of various 40+ year old Lotus have some of the same imaginative bodges! (although my 40+ year old Eclat doesn't seem to be afflicted with the same problems, but then, I've have had it over 30 years!)

Before this new age of micro breweries, pop-up bars, beer festivals and the like, years ago at my Local we had a 3 day Real Ale and Cheese festival (which was unheard of at the time) The idea was to promote English cheese. The idea was you tasted a bit, then if you liked it purchased a lot. However most people were 'only here for the beer'. Being a cheese fanatic I got fairly well known to the guy who was selling the cheese. On the last night, due to him having loads of unsold stock, he let me be a pig with all his cheese. (and no I wasn't sick!) 😋😋 Many years ago when I was at school, you had to pick a subject and make a folder about it. I choose cheese as my topic. It was all going so well, cutting out pictures from magazines, collecting cheese labels etc so you can imagine how many time I had to write the word "cheese". Unfortunately, my spelling wasn't great and my teacher pointed out that I had spelt cheese with a 'Z'. so it read cheeze. I wasn't happy!!!

Unfortunately I have! However its been interesting rectifying everything!

More additions! When I got the car a pervious owner had damaged the front valance so butchered the sides to make the radiator fit nearer the front, then "fixed" it in place with cable ties! Inside, the instrument cluster had their names re-done with dymo lettering.

Its amazing what people do to 'bodge' things up to keep their cars going or not to spend any money! (especially on older models that were just everyday cars in their day) On my 1977 Esprit S1 I have uncovered an old parts carboard box which was used as the glove box and now I've found an old pair of flip flops that were used to stop the original radiator from rubbing on the underside of the body! So with (not that much) encouragement here is a new thread - beat my bodge!!

Its amazing what people do to 'bodge' things up to keep their cars going or not to spend any money! On my S1 I have uncovered an old parts carboard box which was used as the glove box and now Ive found an old pair of flip flops that were used to stop the original radiator from rubbing on the underside of the body! Perhaps we should start a new thread - beat my bodge!!

I've put new foam on the top of the radiator so nearly ready to refit everything. There seems to be a channel for more foam to be fitted on the bottom of the radiator. Is this correct? I would have though that if so, its a prime contender for water to soak through and rust the radiator frame. Also there seems to be a small gap between the frame and the bottom of the valance, so not a lot of room for foam. Besides, the pre-drill holes in the valance to hold the frame in place doesn't lend itself to positioning it any different. Is this correct? My bodged radiator didn't have any . Cheers.

Had man flu all week. Better now except for a lingering cough. So the correct grommets arrived and I managed to get the radiator pipes through using the washing liquid technique without any major aggro. The fans (Spall) also arrived with Lotusbits fixing system. Must say its similar to @Fridge's. we'll see how it goes. Rods go through the radiator frame, then rubber washer and clip go on to hold the fans in position. Then cut the rods down to size.