Dunc

Hmmm - in truth its a bit of a hike from me down in S London Lord Sinky.... What are we dealing with? Turns over but wont fire? I assume you've already given the body of the fuel pump in the boot a tap with a hammer?

20 grand is a lot of money for what should probably be a 3-4 grand car....

I read something online that it was from a Landrover stage 1 V8 ( predecessor of defender v8). They are epensive.

makes a man of you Keith ! 😃 I have a power rack in the garage which was on the list to re-install, but after the excel - I'm leaving it as unassisted.

heres a link to my project on a similar car (8 year slumber) if you fancy a laugh/inspiration:

well done on taking that one on. I've seen it advertised quite a lot over the past few years - mostly on facebook marketplace. As mentioend above, its an early narrow body excel. Chassis is fully galvanised form new so shouldnt offer problems. Brakes are from a toyota celica so disks all round. Brakes are also shiiiiite (used to own one). As it is a light car there is a pressure differential valve that limits braking force to the rear discs to prevent lock up. Think of it as similar to the old load compensating valve on the rear axle that cuts the brakes when the axle hops, only without the braking force at the start... Diff, gearbox, brakes are all toyota sourced RA61 celica, and well proven. Engine is the normal 912 2.2 lotus unit with iron liners (sometimes referred to as LC as in not being the high compression model of the SE and SA) despite the engine not being particularly low compression. When in good order the car can be quite brisk, if not fast by modern standards. They do drive quite well, although I never got on with the power steering in mine, preferring the manual rack of my eclat. I also found the suspension to be shorter travel with harder springs compared to the long travel, firm damping of an eclat. They do drive quite differently despite their visual similarities. Both have their fanboys - which one you prefer is up to personal preference. Well done for saving it. Invest in a borescope from ebay for diagnosis - best 40 quid you will ever spend. If its just a bit stiff from standing, a combination of thin oil and redex pooled on top of the pistons, left a few days, then turned a little bit more each time with the crank nut and a bar (don't use excessive force) can free them up. I had similar symptoms once on a dolomite sprint, and it freed off without the need for cam/head removal.. good luck

A stench of petrol on elites and eclat's was included as standard equipment. Invariably, splits in the perished rubber breather pipe causes it. Tanks can and do leak, but I wouldn't necessarily associate a whiff of petrol in the boot with the requirement to replace the tank. I made mine better with new pipes and a one way valve about 10 years ago, but still get a whiff of it every now and then. Does being owned/driven by Ronnie Petersen make it special? Its an interesting bit of history, but beyond that - I dont think it adds anything - I'd value it as you see it =- a yellow elite S1 that is potentially usable.

Just to correct the info above in case someone else is reaidng this int he archives - UK law requires a child be in a rear facing carrier until 9kg or 15 months - whichever arrives sooner. In practice - most babies are 9kg around the 12 months stage, so the info in my post above should have stated that the Maxi Cosi carrier coupled with an Easybase is the solution from birth to 12 months. Then the Britax Prince thereafter (which is advertised as 9months to 4yrs, but my daughter was in it longer than that without issue.) cheers Duncan

Congrats Dave! This is my specialist subject on which I have already made the hard yards. 🙂 0-6 months you want to look on ebay for a maxi cosi easybase. One of older non-isofix ones that uses the seatbelt: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183818276642?hash=item2acc6c4f22:g:oKAAAOSwJxRcxGEo It secures into the bucket seat using the lap belt at the rear of the easybase, and the adjustable leg stabilises it into the footwell. You then buy one of the maxi cosi baby capsules, and you just clip them in. You can get pram adaptors that fit these things as well, so you don't need to remove the baby - just clip them into the car, then onto the pram - boot on the eclat is more than up to carrying the frame of a bugaboo pram, then you just clip them in and out kerbside without waking them up. There are group 1/2 (toddler/child) seats from Maxi Cosi that will fit onto this design of base, but it works in the eclat by lifting the baby carrier up above the bucket seat. I think the larger group 1/2 seat and this base might be a bit tight. When my kids got to toddler age I sold the maxi cosi stuff on ebay and used a different seat from Britax when the kids got older. 6 months - 3 years The hot ticket here is the Britax Prince - which is one of the only forward facing car seats that is narrow enough at the base to fit into the bucket of the eclat and secures with a lap belt. The seats internal 4 point harness secures the child, and the adjustable incline of the car seat and the solid base of the eclat fibreglass seat moulding prevents rotation forward on impact. I think I have one of these if you want it (for free) - not sure if they are still available new. I had 2 of them in the back of my eclat once upon a time (Britax Prince Alex). https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224813674761?hash=item3457f07109:g:1KQAAOSwx89hoiqG There are other seats that will fit but they are rare, the majority are just far too wide at the base to fit the narrowness of the eclat bucket. I bought a 3 way seat off the net that was champion, which was narrow enough to fit, but I don't have it anymore - I think the brand was OK-Baby, but cant swear to that. PM me if you want more info or a natter over what works cheers Dunc

great info.... thanks for posting. I assume from the above that the renault block is incredibly narrow by normal standards? I was pondering if a nissan QR25 from an Xtrail might fit. A torquey lightweight 4 cylinder thats available for buttons. I recall reading somewhere that the 4cylinder honda engine fitted to the 1st generation CRV was of particularly small dimensions.

LOL - they do..... Billy also has one of my diffs that he was supposed to build with an LSD and a fancy ratio... After phoning him every month for a year and a half to check on progress - I gave up, figuring if he has progressed it, he will call me. Never heard from him again.

Yes, If I elect to at least try swapping an output shaft, I will pop the rear cover off and clean it all out to see if there is any swarf. I probably will end up fitting a new diff as its a 4.1:1 so the legs are a bit short for 8 cylinders, but I know I will have to cut out the stud on the drivers side and that it will fight me every step of the way.

Thanks Pete - something is not right as I have about half an inch of in and out play. I have another diff kindly donated by Roddy M, but obviously fitting is a pain. Swapping a new shaft in is probably worth trying before I pull the entire back end of the car off to swap the diff out.

I've got this on mine Michael - sounds like you may have prior experience? What is the cause? Is it the output shaft bearing that fails causing the movement? I see Mike and Co at Lotusbits offering new output shafts with the bearing pressed on, which looks like a whole lot more fun than swapping out my diff. I was between London and Edinburgh and thought it was a failing UJ and limped in at 3am. Inspection showed the driveshaft was fine but the pass side diff stud had snapped, which I think allowed the suspension to act as a slide hammer on the side of the diff for 100 or so miles. I cut the seized stud out with a recip hacksaw. I've put it all back together, but now have waaaay to much in and out play on the passenger side output shaft, and an interesting noise when I turn right. what's the likely cause?

Jim Henson's Eclat (kermit green with eye dots on the headlights) was stolen from his London home whilst he was overseas and has never been recovered (to the best of my knowledge).

Yep - as above - it is possible, but an utter PITA of a job swapping out the wheel cylinder with the diff in place.

I can confirm from experience that the car will run fine without it removed, but if you park it nose down, you will lose the entire tank of fuel. It is there for a reason.

Hi everybody - I'm Dunc from the elite/eclat section. A friend is clearing up her fathers affairs and has discovered a 1970 S2 Europa in a barn that hasn't turned a wheel since 1986. Its the renault engined one, and appears to be complete, although covered in dust. Its in gold leaf colours and on mini/superlites. I'm told it has cracks around the door hinges, and aside from a missing rear window, appears complete. It has been stored inside. I'm good a valuing elites and eclats, but slightly out of my comfort zone on europas. What is a project like this worth in todays market (I have no knowledge of the chassis condition). £3-5K ?

Kenda used to do a 205 60 14 fairly recently if you need a V rated tyre for German compliance. You could have a look for some of them perhaps Steffen?

Michael's pictures certainly cheered me up, hope they do the same for Oliver. Give him my best.

I'm interested - ping me the details. If I'm not working late, I'd like to join.

Did this car come from Wales? I seem to remember a silver eclat on a spyder chassis with an interior described as "mouse nibbled" when advertised for sale. I also seem to remember it being on fancy alloys 5 to 10 years back (compomotives?) I have to say it looks great in the "after" pics. Well done for saving it. Liking the morini also.... We have another in our group thats a Lotus Wedge/Moto Morini enthusiast. Dunc

Its not that much of a pain, but things to buy/find before embarking on this job: Wide "feather splitter" style chisel and hammer a long lever/wide prybar or crowbar A pop rivetter and some new rivets A drill set of suitable size for drilling out the rivets, and a set of punches a tin of Isopon P40 or similar for shoring up the inside of the sill cover (It'll make all sorts of horrible cracking noises when you lever it off two or three large aerosols of primer and satin black paint. If you are doing the job on your own, some silicone sealant is helpful for holding the spreader plate in position whilst you get inside the car. (probably) a replacement set of mounts. I know you say they look okay through the gap in the sill cover, but that turning without unscrewing is suggestive of the captive nut breaking away from the spreader plate. If you can weld a nut on some plate, you can make your own. The job itself is pretty simple - just drill out all the little pop rivets, and lever the sill cover off as you go. Mine was held in place with a sort of mastic/adhesive type stuff as well as the pop rivets, so neaded some persuasion with a large flat prybar. The structural integrity of my cover was compromised during removal (cracks in the corners) so I shored it up with Isopon P40 glassfibre repair on the inside corners. I then rubbed them down, primed them and sprayed them in the original satin black. On a series 1 car, refurbing the sill covers and the front and rear bumpers with satin black is probably the best value for money job you can do. It really lifted the appearance of my yellow 521.. have fun! Dunc

Paul was a lovely chap. Saw him around this time last year when I popped out to Norfolk to buy a set of Buick 300 heads off him. We had a proper natter about cars and bikes. One of natures nice people and a proper petrolhead, definately one of us. Condolences to his family and all who knew him. Rest peacefully sir. Dunc

That audi 80 is a 100 5S.. ;-)