Dunc

Elite and Eclat steering wheels are usually worth less than £50. Are you sure it wasn't a steering wheel for the 1960's Lotus Elite?

Discs and pads are Toyota Celica Supra MA61 - cheap on ebay. Pads are shared with previa (non ABS) You will struggle on the clutch master cylinder if it is Bendix type. Contact Angus on lotusexcel.net as he had some Bendix rebuild kits. Earlier type can be swapped out to a pre-86 Saab 900 one, but I'm not sure of union size on the Bendix having never owned one - worst case scenario is changing the brake pipes from the master cylinder to splitter. Clutch slave is Toyota as is master cylinder. Part numbers CV-200 and the Master is MC1602 - dont fit second hand - all readily available and cheap from the net. Water pump is a lotus part, but there are variations - Gary Kemp (Kemp performance engineering) will rebuild it with new seals and a new bearing, or supply a kit for you to do it if you have access to a hydraulic press. Again - don't bother with pre-owned water pumps unless you need one to exchange for repair imho. Cheers Dunc

1. Bibs - Ticket Purchased 2 + 3. internets - 2 tickets purchased 4 + 5. Pascal Massun - 2 tickets purchased 6. David Boyd - Ticket Purchased - (if I'm still stuck on the M25, can you send me a burger via carrier pigeon please?) 7 + 8. nigeninja - 2 tickets purchased 9. C8RHK - 1 ticket purchased 10. Sizona - 1 ticket purchased 11. Advantage 1 ticket purchased (if I buy two can a stuff my face?) 12 + 13. scotty435 - 2 tickets purchased 14. theelanman - 1 ticket purchased 15 + 16. Can't count Clark aka Sparky - 2 tickets purchased 17 + 18. johnwalsh - 2 tickets purchased 19 + 20. Timjgor90 - 2 tickets purchased 21 + 22. Dunsfold Dave - 2 tickets purchased 23 + 24 + 25. Dan E - 3 tickets purchased 26. chrisroy - 1 ticket purchased   27 + 28. cweeden - 2 tickets purchased 29 + 30. mayesprit - 2 tickets purchased 31 + 32 + 33. RODOLPHESPRIT - 3 tickets purchased 34 + 35 + 36 + 37 + 38. dapinky - 5 tickets purchased 39 + 40 + 41. Jan Blom - 3 tickets purchased 42 + 43. march - 2 tickets purchased 44 + 45. Trevsked - 2 tickets purchased 46. kim.com - 1 ticket purchased 47. bingoking - 1 ticket purchased 48 + 49 + 50. Maydharm - 3 tickets purchased 51 + 52. John_W- 2 tickets purchased 53 + 54. blindside - 2 tickets purchased 55 + 56. Steve A & Lesley - 2 tickets purchased 57. TomE - 1 ticket purchased 58. Dunc - ticket purchased 59. Clive59 - ticket purchased 60. JohnthenutHazel - ticket purchased 61 el-torro - ticket purchased 62. JCspeedbird -ticket purchased 63 - 66. Maydharm- another 1 ticket (4 total) 67 - 72 - Esprit Club France - Rodolphe 73 - 74 - Softlysoftlycatchymonkey - 2 tickets purchased Updated to mark # 58 - 62 as having paid. (paid by by me in case any of our merry band are wondering how this has happened without them doing anything...) 😀

Got room for the Elite and Eclat chaps? (5 of us) 1. Bibs - Ticket Purchased 2 + 3. internets - 2 tickets purchased 4 + 5. Pascal Massun - 2 tickets purchased 6. David Boyd - Ticket Purchased - (if I'm still stuck on the M25, can you send me a burger via carrier pigeon please?) 7 + 8. nigeninja - 2 tickets purchased 9. C8RHK - 1 ticket purchased 10. Sizona - 1 ticket purchased 11. Advantage 1 ticket purchased (if I buy two can a stuff my face?) 12 + 13. scotty435 - 2 tickets purchased 14. theelanman - 1 ticket purchased 15 + 16. Can't count Clark aka Sparky - 2 tickets purchased 17 + 18. johnwalsh - 2 tickets purchased 19 + 20. Timjgor90 - 2 tickets purchased 21 + 22. Dunsfold Dave - 2 tickets purchased 23 + 24 + 25. Dan E - 3 tickets purchased 26. chrisroy - 1 ticket purchased   27 + 28. cweeden - 2 tickets purchased 29 + 30. mayesprit - 2 tickets purchased 31 + 32 + 33. RODOLPHESPRIT - 3 tickets purchased 34 + 35 + 36 + 37 + 38. dapinky - 5 tickets purchased 39 + 40 + 41. Jan Blom - 3 tickets purchased 42 + 43. march - 2 tickets purchased 44 + 45. Trevsked - 2 tickets purchased 46. kim.com - 1 ticket purchased 47. bingoking - 1 ticket purchased 48 + 49 + 50. Maydharm - 3 tickets purchased 51 + 52. John_W- 2 tickets purchased 53 + 54. blindside - 2 tickets purchased 55 + 56. Steve A & Lesley - 2 tickets purchased 57. TomE - 1 ticket purchased 58. Dunc - not purchased yet 59. Clive59 - not purchased yet 60. JohnthenutHazel - not purchased yet 61 el-torro - not yet purchased 62. JCspeedbird -not yet purchased

?? Lotus bits sell the wheels for something like 40 quid +vat each... My car runs the getrag 265. They are expensive to obtain secondhand as they are the weapon of choice for Jag V12 manual conversions in e types and suchlike, but they are the best box available for the car and will put up with a huge amount of abuse (and were standard fit for the S2 elite and eclat). My bellhousing is a sliced and welded rover sd1 automatic item. Whilst the type 9 can be done, I'm not sure I would bother. I've also seen the LT77 5 speed used in V8 transplants, and the supra box (W58/57?) which was the standard fit in the excel. I think the eclat chassis needs some slight modification for the toyota box, but don't quote me on that. Lotus bits will sell you a box if you decide to go the toyota route and will advise on chassis clearance.

Welcome Jay! aha! You had the car at a retro-rides trackday at Brands a while back? I had a few people texting me that night, asking where I was, as they thought the yellow eclat V8 was mine. When I responded saying I was at home, someone sent me a picture of your car. Mine is a more pale yellow S2. It is nice to have some yellow eclat V8 brethern on the form... 😀

That’s stock. The marine ply panels are part of your crash structure. As long as it’s is in good condition, just seal it with paint or varnish to keep it healthy. sounds a bit heath Robinson, but if it’s good enough for a de haviland mosquitos frame, it’s good enough for our elites and eclats. welcome to the forum :-)

1995 My mates were all getting ridiculous insurance quotes on 1.1 fiestas and citroen ax's. At that time, on the proviso you had access to another car (which included being a named driver on my mums R21 GTX), you qualified for classic car insurance from 17 and up. Enter...the dolomite sprint! Mean but hideously unreliable because I had no cash to buy new bits....

Such a shame. An Eclat would make an excellent first car. Mine was a dolomite sprint..

Depends on the car..... Eclat 520 4 x 108pcd , 14inch wheel 5.5J ET ? Eclat/Elite S1 4x 114.3, 14 inch wheel 7J ET+15 Elite/Eclat S2 (on speedlines) 4x4" (101.6mm) 14 inch wheel 7J ET+19

Another name for the airbox is the "the flametrap". Running without the airbox increases the prospect of fire. I do not think upturned bellmouths to stop petrol dripping out is a good idea. One backfire and I think you will just have coated your engine bay in petrol droplets. I could be wrong, but I dont think this is a good idea.

It may have survived Daryl, but its not on the road. It is marked as being SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification), which is what we have to do nowdays when we don't tax a car to avoid a fine. The online MOT history goes back to 2005, and there is absolutely nothing on record for this car, so if its still in one piece, its in somebodys shed somewhere and hasn't been used on the road for over 13 years. The bad news is that a lot of people scrap cars, and forget to notify the DVLA so they stay as SORN ghosts on the database. I think your best course of action now is to sell your Falcon ute and buy a Holden. Dunc

Sleeve, weld and pad. :-)

There is an alternative method... John "the nut" did a very nice job using the roof lining from a people carrier, cut into a rectangle and tucked under the roll bar trim and cant rails. Creates a kind of false ceiling. The problem with replacing it as per standard is that its glued directly to the roof and given time, the backing seems to separate allowing it to drop. Replacements often don't last that long. Johns method seems to create something that will last and last. Unless you have a sunroof, I'd use Johns method.

The later excel bendix type master cylinder is really hard to get - Angus on excel.net had some rebuild kits, but that's not going to be much use to you if you don't have a cylinder to rebuild. I'd swap it to Girling. The earlier Girling type master cylinder is nigh on identical to that of the Saab 99 and pre 1985 saab 900. I say nigh on identical, as there is one difference - the port size on either the front or rear reservoir port is of a different size. It is possible to get a "Lotus" reservoir to sit on the Saab master cylinder if you cobble together some O-rings from a motor factor (I did this on one of mine), but a simpler solution is to use the Saab reservoir in conjunction with the Saab cylinder. Try to get one for a Saab automatic, as if you get one for a manual, you will have to block off the clutch slave cylinder pipe feed with a dodd of resin. (2 stroke to turbo usually have a few available off the shelf second hand). Servo is a Girling supervac on the early excel/late eclat, which was used on a landie, but I'm not sure which type (I think Series 3/defender) - my mate Simon picked up an reconditioned landie servo at an autojumble and it is perfect on his elite, but we are not 100% sure of it original deployment. The early elite and eclat with the curved master cylinder has a smaller servo than the later cars and excel. A lot of people get massively hung up on using the original specified part for their brakes, but at then end of the day, its just pressure into 2 pipes and a glance at any racecar paddock or demon tweeks catalogue shows how many aftermarket solutions can be used from companies like willwood with remote servo's etc.

Wonderful looking white excel SE (B7 TYP) crossing Putney bridge. I followed it through the traffic on my motorbike. Looked like nothing else on the road!

If its a red S2, I see it in Purley/Coulsdon quite a lot. Owner had it since new.

they sound dry - like they have no grease at all on the races.

Shouldnt need a press for the fronts, sometimes they can be a bit tight on a stub, but usually drift of without dramas. Easy job.

Good man! Good skills also on stripping it down - encourages other. Dunc

Shouldn't need replacing at a year on a car that sees little mileage unless the bearing was faulty or badly fitted. Front ones are a complete piece of piss to change compared to the rears, and they cost about £8.50 so not the end of the world if it does need changing.

I'll see if I can persuade him to take some pics. I think you hit the nail on the head with resale values. It was probably a viable product when the cars were valuable and had chassis issues, but as their values fell into semi-bangerdom, nobody was willing to spend that amount of cash on a chassis as it didn't make economic sense. Hope your right on the last part (if they still have drawings). Dunc

Spyder are still going, and their stuff for elites and eclats was still linked on their webpage, but the last time I spoke to them (castle coombe about 8 years ago) they said they didn't really do stuff for elites and eclats anymore. They once did a complete replacement chassis for the elite and eclat (usually painted red with circles cut out of it), as well as producing the Donnington kit, which was a completely redesigned chassis designed to accommodate a rover V8, and optionally a Jag IRS rear end. The CV joint thing you are referring to was their attempt to "cure" the driveshaft UJ issue on elites and eclats by adding in a mount for a top wishbone link and inserting a cv joint. Despite adding durability, it wasn't well thought of and was said to interfere with the handling of the car as the mount at the chassis end wasn't really in the right place, and it did strange things to the camber angle as the suspension compressed. Needed a bit more development I believe. You occassionally see cars with Spyder stuff showing up (a friend has one with a replacement chassis). I also have a set of tubular rear arms which I think were made by them, but I heard they had lost the measurements and wont make more. They seem to make their living putting zetec's into elan +2's nowdays, which creates a very nice car indeed!

Great knowledge shared Michael! + Impressive fabrication on the mount for the getrag!

From memory, mine was a plastic pipe low down on the drivers side behind the radiator, running to a brass non return valve and then into an electric solenoid that either offered the bellows a vacuum (pulling them down) or simply vented to atmosphere. I recall a thread on here years back that suggested mine may not have been original, and that others had twin vacuum solenoids in parallel with the solenoids located in the headlight well. I only had one. I could open the bonnet on the 520, but will need to remove about a dozen boxes first. I can if required to take photos - let me know. Cheers Dunc