Dunc

As classic cars go, elite, eclat and excel are very safe. At least - safe by the standards set in the 1970's. You decide if you want to drive a classic car or not, same way as I decide if I want to ride my kawasaki. The donnigton you have seen was an aftermarket chassis swap package made by Spyder Engineering - more famous for their elan chassis replacements. It wasnt particulalry lucrative, and was felt to need more development which it never got, particularly around the rear suspension, but it adds the v8, a properly strong diff with appropriate ratios, and much more beefy UJ's (it grafts in a jag IRS rear end (salisbury 4HU, usually with a Powrlok lsd). If its the yellow spyder donnington, dont pay 10k for it. Current owner paid too much at auction, and imo is pricing his exit accordingly. He will have it forever. The red ones a better price, but looks to need an awful lot of work. Disagree with some on here that the standard 3.5 isnt worth it. comparing headline bhp and torque figures suggests it wont be much of an improvement, but bhp is merely a speed weighted measure of torque. Achieving the same BHP at much lower revs equates to much more force (acceleration). Then there is the noise..... I've owned 2.2 excel, 2L eclat, 2.2 eclat and V8 conversion, and the v8 transforms the car. If you like the purity of line of the eclat, but want a galvanised chassis, electric light pods and a better gearbox, could I suggest you look at an eclat S2? Gearbox in the S2 is better thant the box in the excel, but was costing Lotus a fortune to buy in. Supra box from the parent company Toyota, was a cheaper option than the massively over specced Getrag 265. The getrag 265 is hewn from granite and is waaaay stronger than necessary on a 4cylinder application. If you buy the track eclat, I may have interest in buying your discarded roll cage. I have a feeling that removing it will be a lot more complicated than you think, as putting an MSA legal cage into a fibreglass car requires it to be more than just bolted into the body with flat plates like on a steel monocoque......( and it might get destroyed it cutting it off its mounts where it picks up the suspension tops) Unless your looking for an engineering restomod project - buy an excel SE or Eclat/Elite S2.

& no wonder! Yours was by far the best looking car there....

Sorry - I missed this thread when it was originally posted, so will chime in with my tuppence worth for future readers, as I've been through the above before. Stepped studs was VERY late S2. Early S2's like my v8 are exactly the same stud as the S1. The studs snap when the stud corrodes onto the bits that rotate with the suspension. You might hear some funny creaking noises from the suspension in the early stages (I did). Its a recip hacksaw job to cut through the rest of the stud and remove. With some heat, the remaining stud did chap through the diff lugs for removal. Like the long bolt on the hub carrier, regular lubrication is key to avoid it happening again. Be liberal with grease/anti seize whenever you have this bit off. Refitting the bushes on the radius rods is a horrible job, of which I clearly have zero expertise. I have heard 2nd hand that lotus bits have a rather natty press and technique for replacing them, and if your within shouting distance of them, would suggest removing the rods and getting them all nicely done. I used massive penny washers on mine, but was still not happy with the final result. Take care with labelling the radius rods, as despite appearances, I believe they are handed.

I'm going to give the contra-view to Danny's one above. Elites and Eclat's ALL need work at some point, and despite not being that complicated, there are items that remain a pain in the behind, which for the ordinary owner requires a knowledgeable mechanic/access to parts. Buying an expensive one isn't a guarantee of anything with regard to upkeep and expense on one of these! Series 2 cars have always sold at a premium to Series 1 cars, because they are rarer and better. The car you are looking at would (I believe) set a record price for an elite or eclat.... and its a series 1.... I could spend a fortune at Lotus bits on restoring a series 1 elite (and many people have....) but at the end of the day, it remains a series 1, with a 2L 907 , vacuum lights and a ropey gearbox (I'm not scoring points as I own a S2 as I also own a 2L 907 engined car). Series 2 are just better cars than series 1's. So... do you REALLY want to spend what in Elite and Eclat terms is a HUGE amount of money on a series 1 elite that someone else has spent a fortune on? I wouldnt. I'd keep my powder dry until a nice elite S2 becomes available. (gearbox alone in an S2 sells for over 1500 quid, and a 912 is worth a lot more than a 907.....)

Thanks Gerard - a pleasure doing business with another gentleman of the TLF 'Shire..! Plan is to take it to South London, do some fettling, and use it when I'm in London, as the yellow V8 is coming out to my new place of work in the channel islands. I'm getting increasingly miffed at my donations to Siddique Khan everytime the Holden HSV leaves the driveway, and the eclat S2 will be MOT/Tax/ULEZ exempt. I can also transfer ECL47 S onto this car, as I cannot take a UK plate to Jersey, and would otherwise have to put it on retention. A "normal" eclat 2.2 will make a nice counterpoint to my yellow S2, which is ummmmm not very standard. However, I do have a rebuilt head and some high lift cams lying around somewhere. I guess if nobody can see it's been changed, then it remains standard! May get the wheels powder coated gold. thoughts? Dunc

There will be a few wedgites attending Silverstone. We have a caravan and 4 booked already. It'd be fun to all camp together so drop me a line if more want to attend. The need to pull the caravan means it'll be commodore power performing duties for me, but there should be at least 1 wedge in our parking spot.

The register is kind of dormant at present. Its not online - its on a laptop. As I look to get more time, I will try and update it and see if we can publish the bits that aren't personal data within the meaning of the prevailing legislation.

Judged by modern standards, brakes on an excel are tragic. Dont be fooled by thinking they are disks all round and will be decent. The splitter valve essentially turns the rear ones down to marginal to avoid rear wheel lockup, and its all about the front ones, but single pistons on sliders from an 80's celica aren't about to impress anyone. I looked at fitting twin piston ones from an ABS spec Previa, which I think bolt right up to the original carriers and would give a bit more friction surface and a decent increase in clamping area, but I sold the car before I did anything with them/investigated further. The twin cam isn't unreliable - I wouldn't swap it out for better reliability. Engine swaps get done when people want more power -v8 noise , or avoiding the high cost of rebuilding a Lotus 907/912. Componentry is comparatively expensive on a Lotus engine. Standard eclats/elites/excels arent particularly quick, despite the looks. Its the handling and road manners which makes them sporty.

driven gently on a 70 mph motorway run, I can get an 18mpg average. Its a 4.6 with big valve heads and a lumpy cam on an edelbrock 500 quad barrel and a 4.1 diff, so its not exactly set up to be economical. The v8 cars I know of have engines fitted, but are not runners and have not yet been runners. They would need fettling on the ignition side and usual project ironing of issues.

prices wont go down any time soon - general consensus is they have been very underpriced vs their peers for some time. If you want a V8 engined one, and your a capable mechanic, drop me a line as I have leads. I've owned 5-6 lotus, including an excel and eclats. Everyone has their own favourite. There are no "bad" driving Lotus, only unmaintained/tired ones. My weapon of choice is the V8 conversion, you just have to be a bit careful not to get one that's too undergeared or it becomes a very thirsty machine. Whether this bothers you or not depends on how often you are going to drive it. I can get mine to average single figure mpg when booting it away from the lights around town. On the points above - for a weekend toy, I don't really follow the excel choice. The items that made Elite's a pain in the bum in the 70's and 80's were things like driveshaft UJ's that wore out every 5-10k miles, and mild steel chassis that crumbled. 5-10k miles is probably 4 years running for most elites and eclats nowdays. I wouldnt bother with efi.... mapped ignition perhaps, but its fine on carbs.

Virtual meetings still happening? Had a life change and no longer working ridiculous hours for an employer. I might actually be able to make one for a change! Hope everybody is well and had a reasonable start to 2024! Dunc

Hi Graham, What you are describing is called micro blistering. it is caused when paint is applied to fibreglass and droplets of moisture get trapped between the gelcoat and the paint. When the temperature dips below freezing, the moisture freezes and expands, creating a small blister, which then fractures the top layer of the paint. Its quite common - I have it on one of mine - it is a result of a poor respray that didnt get the gelcoat completely dryed out, or had too much moisture in the paint. Spraying fibreglass well is not an easy thing to do, which is why bodyshops that can do it well, charge a lot of money. Also if your car is stuck in the sprayers oven, he (or maybe she) isnt painting other cars, so they charge more for fibreglass.

Can the numbers be changed? e.g. eclat 4.6 ?

its a far nicer drive without power steering. Its heavy at parking speeds, granted, but on the move its perfection. i hadnt driven a power steering wedge until I bought that excel, and I didnt really like it at all. The power steering on my v8 was deleted due to pump clearance, and I'd always had a hankering after re-instating it as I have the bits and would use a remote saxo/ax electric pump mounted remotely, but after trying it, I'm not going to bother. I also have a smaller seering wheel on mine. Yes, it gives you a bicep workout, but I'd have no qualms about switching to a lighter, simpler manual rack witht he stock wheel if its only you thats going to be driving it. Different story if your wife is going to be parking it perhaps?

any update on this post alignment check Michael?