Tony D

Long long looooong while since I worked on mine, but I think they were aluminium also. Tony

Buy a good Excel and you won't regret it. If reliable daily running with minimal garage time is the goal, it Gauls me to say avoid Elite / Éclat, the majority of which had non galvanised chassis and BL based running gear ( personally, I think the Elite is the best shape of the lot). Excels are galvanised and Toyota running gear. Generally that means post 82, so you can just go road tax free as well😄. Check out excelnet forum which focussed on the Grand Tourers. Huge amount of advise on look outs when buying on there. Tony

Good find. Sounds like that could have let you down in a catastrophic way at best needing recovery. Tony

It's not that difficult a job. Give it a go yourself. What's the worst that could happen - you loose the cost of the materials and a weekends work. Lots of advise from those that have already done it on various forums. Tony

That's way over priced. As previous post, there are only a few pounds worth of material, the rest is labour. Excels are virtually identical and I don't recall anyone paying more than a few hundred. Tony

I can help you. Took the carpet pieces out a few years back and made patterns. Due to glacial progress, I'm still to cut and fit. Drop me a PM with contact details. Tony

It's not a Celebration, but is to a virtually identical spec. 34 cars were produced after the Celebrations. This car is the 20th of those. Tony

I know that repair. Top of the door on the inside, end that meets to the B post. Very weak spot. I made an alloy plate to rivet on the inside, then blended the outside with filler. It's a neatish job, but hidden behind the door trim in any case. Tony

Nice work in the boot carpet and paint. Carpets on my to do list and lacquer peal is just something to stay on top of. If you leave it, it just goes wild. At least once rubbed down and a new top coat, it stops growing. The colour match is probably that the lacquer on the old paint has yellowed, changing the original colour. Tony

I've not not tips yet, as still on my to do list, but my comment would be too look after the two longer horizontal pieces VERY carefully. They are unobtainium. Tony

I have an Elite in the garage, an Excel on the drive and a new Lotusbits screen in the spare bedroom. It was bought for the Elite and will get fitted one day - honestly. When I get a few minutes, I'll lay it over both cars and see how they compare. Tony

Don't they look tiny these days. 👍 Tony

Good choice of car. Where in the country are you? Lagoon Blue is a great colour for these and was on most of the early publicity. Look forward to seeing some piccies. Like Pete, I have a 74 ongoing project (32 years and counting). Tony

There should be 3 or 4 of us at least. I remember your car well - was a good chat. Think we are aiming for the same car park, but we're not that organised yet to have a plan. 😀😀. Tony

"1658RS bearing" These are deep groove ball bearings. The originals are angular contact ball bearings. There's a big difference. Wheel bearings are designed to take radial and lateral loads. The deep groove ball bearings will be seriously compromised on their ability to take cornering loads. Which surely is the point of a Lotus 😀. FItting tapered roller beings would be fine, but I'd be very cautious with ball bearings and would want to strip down and inspect very early in their life. Will watch with interest how you get on. Not saying it won't work, just be cautious. Tony

I'd suggest brass nuts to hold the manifold. Plated steel looks nice today, but in a year's time, they'll be one mass with the stud. On the booster question, if its surface rust, then no problem, just cosmetic. If just one rust blister breaks through the steel though, the vacuum generated will not be maintained and you won't have effective servo brakes. If you can connect booster to another engine block and see if it holds vacuum, you'll know if you have a critical problem. Tony

The general style is not too similar to the mirror on the earliest Elites, but I wonder if the arm is a bit on the long side. The photos of the Pug make it look like the mirror stands very "tall". Tony

I understand your problem and agree the standard design just has the single nut and spline. I'm pretty sure you won't find a standard spacer. If you do, it would need to be of two parts, as you need to tighten the nut to lock the splines, but then that same nut is right where you need another male spline to take your wheel. Only thing I can think of if you want to keep the original wheel is to get another wheel, cut the centre boss out of it, then somehow modify your steering wheel to bolt it to the boss. - or find a machine shop who can make something up. Tony

Great plate. Tony

Spark eroding could be an alternative, but can the inner races be removed from the outer shell before machining? If not, I'd be surprise if you could prevent contamination jetting in, which would kill the bearing in no time, irrespective of the grease pack. Tony

Stunning looking car. What a find. Look forward to seeing it somewhere sometime. Nice detail on the floor mats. Tony

Can't wait to see the progress. My 1974 Elites been on the 'to do' list for 30 plus years, so a little inspiration will go along way. Tony

DVLA show it as untaxed since Oct 85. Looks like a log book re-issued early 87. Then nothing. Certainly went off the radar as a very young car. Maybe still tucked away somewhere waiting for its day though. Tony

I'd like to think that was fake news, but in this mad world, I fear not. This suggests the word needs removing from the Oxford English Dictionary and never used again. MADNESS. Tony

Register is gradually building. Now have sight of 280 Excels. Also done a bit of a summary of what Excels are actually registered as at DVLA. It's general knowledge that the use of Eclat continued well into Excel production. Latest details for Excel: And for completeness, Elite / Eclat: If you own a wedge, I'd love to hear from you with details. My contact details at head of this thread. Tony