Dunc

They were not stamped on the chassis by the factory until quite late in production. Earlier cars only have a plate held onto the body with two rivets. From memory. later cars were stamped at the front rhs forward of the gearbox.

In Scotland - plod seem to be a bit Nazi about it. I got pulled over on boxing day last year (they even turned their patrol car around as they were going the other way) to issue me with a fine for spacing on a plate that nobody in England had batted an eye over during the previous 9 years.... To rub salt into the wound - it wasnt even my car - (belonged to my wife). I was just driving along at 30mph in a 30 zone in a non-descript car. Merry Xmas to you to Cuntstubble.... Mind how you go Orificer.

I'm in central London daily if you need someone to drop the info with. Happy to hold onto it until Henry shows up. I might even have Henry's details on the register to allow me to post them on. (I apologise that I cant give out address details if he is on the register without his express permission). Duncan

White one with red interior? If so its a TLF car, but havent seen the owner post for a while.

Tom, Are you sure its a 911 and not a 912? Whilst the 911 has been done before (By Lotus in the Martini Elite for Chapman), nobody outside Lotus ever saw the install as they removed it and replaced it with a 907 off the line when they sold it. The ignition items of your car screamed "early excel" at me, which would suggest a 912 2.2. I had a 911 bottom end for a bit, and its a substantially different unit with at least a couple of studs bracing it all together which dont exist on the "road" 907 and 912. I swapped it for a 912 bottom end.

So did I.. 😞

Spent far too many hours as a teenager harrowing and seeding in a super major to want to ever drive one again. I do have a lawn tractor as an emergency tow vehicle though.... 🚜 Moved to the big smoke 20 years ago so grandads farm in Aberdeenshire (and the fully equipped workshop) is now but a memory. Occasionally... if I was good... Grandad would let me drive something with power steering which didnt try to break my wrists....

Was always a Fordson man myself.....

Sounds like you have been busy! 🙂 The standard lotus excel diff is from the toyota Supra 2.8 and is much more robust than the salisbury item fitted to my eclat - which is fed by a 4.6 Rover V8. I'm not sure you needed to touch this area for longevity, but at least you've got a slightly more suitable final drive ratio for a V8 by swapping the ford unit in. (imho the standard toyota diff would take the power and torque of a 3.9 V8 without problem). Extra weight? There really isn't any.... The rover V8 is a remarkably light unit. Even with 8 cylinders, it is within a couple of kilos of a Lotus 912. However, better brakes are always a good idea and I never really rated the braking performance on my standard excel, despite going over them. I believe the standard toyota brakes could be upgraded with calipers from an ABS spec Previa providing a bit more clamp area over the standard pad, but I never finalised my research in this area, selling the car before a suitable set of calieprs appeared on ebay.

1750-2250 if it doesnt need paint.

Tuning parts for this puppy are amongst the cheapest and most plentifull out there.... skim through ebay.... 🙂

I'm really quite pleased with the tyre availability nowdays in 205/60/14 - it was looking quite bleak for a while with only Falken (which I dont really rate) as a "known" brand tyre. Whilst it is not a direct comparison with a car tyre, I use Maxxis Ultra Sports on my Kawasaki Z1000 (a 130bhp naked sports bike) - big thumbs up from me. Now on my second set. I wouldn't have any hesitation in buying more of their products. I wouldn't class Maxxis in the same bracket as some of the chinese brands that we see (powerhorse, roadstar etc). Maxxis are definately a cut above the cheaper end of the market. Also - the Toyo Proxes in that link at £55 are probably a steal. I had Toyo Proxes (albeit expensive Z rated ones) on my Alfa sportpack, and I drove that car like I'd stolen it... It turned in like no front wheel drive car I've driven before or since, so definately gave its tyres a proper work out.

Tom, forgive me if I am teaching my granny to suck eggs: A couple of things need to be determined first: Your car has obviously had an engine and ignition system grafted in from elsewhere. Check the type of coil you have fitted. A ballasted voltage coil in a non-ballast system (and vice versa) can cause problems. A missing wire to the coil from the starter suggests its not a ballasted system and may have a 12v coil. I'm not sure what ignition system you have fitted - it was usually lumenition on series 1's, but your picture suggest your car 503 has a Lucas AB14 ignition amplifier? (which was introduced with the eclat excel; these can break down with age and be a proper pain in the ass...) I can't recall off the top of my head if the AB14 ignition system was balasted - I have a feeling it was not and used a 12v coil. If this is the case - is your coil receiving 12v from the ignition switch rather than the 8-10v the wiring of your car would provide as standard? Grafting in a 2.2 and non ballast ignition would require a replacement feed from the ignition switch without ballast ressistance - easy to overlook when the engine was dropped in. If its not being done, your car will have a weak spark as the primary windings of the transformer (coil) won't be getting fed enough voltage. If it is a ballasted system with a ballast spec coil and uses a resistance feed from the ignition switch - the missing wire to the coil from the starter would only manifest itself with a car being difficult to start as the link wire from the starter solenoid to the coil only has function when cranking. When you release the key to the run position, the feed from the starter link wire becomes redundant, and the coil is fed a lower voltage through the balast resistor (or resistor wire). I'd also check your ignition switch and clean all the poles behind it - its a common problem on elites and eclats that dont see much use and can give the symptoms described. I'd approach your problem like this: Step 1: clean up all contacts- starting with the earth points. Step 2: determine what spec of coil you have and check that its being fed correctly (12v for non ballast) (6-10V for ballast) Step 3: If it is a ballasted coil, buy a balast resistor from ebay (couple of quid) and run an independent feed to the coil through the resistor. or: Step 4: If its a 12v coil - run another feed to the coil and disconnect the one from the ignition switch. If you still have an issue: Step 5: borrow another AB14 from someone and try it. Good luck Dunc

Did the scrap dealer own the interceptor, or was it part of his stock? 🙂 For me it all began as an impressionable five year old living in a little village 10 miles outside edinburgh. My neighbour was a real life racing driver (modsports then BTCC) and his road car was a Lotus Elite, which with its pop up lights seemed impossibly glamorous in a world of Hilmans, cortinas and cavaliers. A flirtation with a yellow eclat 520 followed when I was a student and could quite afford it. It was very much the "one that got away". So when a similar car became available 10 years later - I had to have it. There began the trip down the Lotus wormhole..

More pictures required Pete! I concur with the above. I also recall a shiny metal trim that crossed the rear on the factory vinyl elites. Strangely, the vinyl roof seemed less popular in later cars - most of the ones I have seen with a vinyl top were 74/75/76. best wishes Dunc

That looks a properly sorted series 1. I like it a lot. I think it would be a great buy for somebody. Chassis and trailing arms look immaculate.

excellent! First round is Rob's 😄

Thanks for posting the above Barry. A great read for Anoraks like me. having given you all the good news about what this conversion brings, I should probably share the bad. That top link rear suspension system is said to be not quite right and produces some handling irregularities. An engineer owner who fitted it, reviewed why it wasn’t quite right and published his thoughts on the net (google lotus elite top link, and you might find his article). His thoughts were that the pivot point for the top link is in the wrong place and needed to be moved higher, as the current geometry isn’t quite right as the suspension compresses causing roll oversteer, making the rear end quite lively. The standard car has quite a simple but effective arrangement in that a large bolt goes through the hub and locks the angle of the hub into a fixed arc. As the car corners, it effectively leans on its compressing outside suspension, which introduces negative camber as the suspension compresses, keeping the loaded tyre at the right attitude vs the road - this is what brings its prodigious grip and handling magic. the Donnington rear end is a lot more robust, but needs a bit more development. I think spyder realised the real money was in elan chassis’s rather than Elite’s and eclats which had entered bargain bucket territory in value, and quietly phased out offering elite and Eclat parts. i have a set of Spyder tubular trailing arms as pictured in the brochure. I haven’t fitted them but they are very heavy duty compared to the stock lotus box section arms. Might pop them on my v8 and see if it helps any. Too heavy for the race car project i think. i’d be really interested in this car when it’s up and running. Would love to try it in comparison to my Eclat S2. Dunc

No, not that many. Spyder cottoned on to the rusting chassis and marketed the Donnington chassis kit for people who wanted a "better" Lotus elite/eclat. It was a replacement chassis designed for the V8 engine with appropriate mounts, which utilised a Jag IRS centre at the back to give appropriate gearing and supposedly eliminate the overstressed driveshafts. Jag IRS with powrlok diffs and appropriate gear ratios for a V8 were littering every scrappie in the UK at this time (standard 4.1 and 3.73:1 are a bit short for a Rover V8). Some people weren't that impressed with some of Spyders offerings for the elite and eclat, saying the designs needed more development, but you cant argue with the components robustness compared to the standard spec. Not sure if the Donninton also utilised the Jag rear discs - I have a feeling it did.. As far as desirability...As always, the cars are worth what someones prepared to pay. To the right buyer (perhaps me) a V8 engined car is much more desirable than the standard one. But I'm probably not your typical Lotus classic car buyer. What I would say is having owned both standard and V8, I'd find it hard to go back to a 4 cylinder one. I think you have the makings of a very good car there....

Sounds like its a Donnington.....

Barry, Take some pics under the back. There is a strong chance its running a Salisbury 4HU Jaguar unit, which will give you proper gearing and probably and lsd. If its a Spyder Donnington, I think it'll have Jaguar shafts and UJ's as well, but I'm not certain of this last point, having never examined one closely. The salisbury 4HU is a much beefier and stronger salisbury diff than the 7HA. Much better range of available ratios for a V8 transplant. Dunc

Looks great Barry - so much nicer to drive with the V8 - I saw this one for sale and thought it looked like a sharp buy for somebody. have you looked under the rear end to see if it’s a Spyder Donnington? (Jag IRS grafted into replacement Spyder chassis) what gearbox is it running? Rover Hydraulic clutch? Looks to be a very late series 1. 🙂

Apologies - the above should have read "brake" master cylinder, not clutch master cylinder - clutch master is a toyota part, late brake master cylinder bendix, earlier one girling. Cheers Dunc

£800 for an eclat steering wheel?!?!?! that's just a ridiculous price, I bought one recently in better nick than that for £40. If he gets £800 for his steering wheel I'll walk to Ireland to shake his hand.