Dunc

That car is a series 1 automatic with a strange rear bumper. If being left hand drive adds 15,000 Euro to an Elite's value, I will open a business converting them. The car looks okay. Not special, just okay. 24,000 Euro - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....

the maxi (beans) box will fit as the chassis is pretty much exactly the same on the S1 & S2 bar the exhaust hangers. A getrag 265 is the box of choice. A 4 speed for box was also fitted to the eclat, some of their 5 speed ones might fit, but I have no direct knowledge.

mirrors - big square paddles similar (but not the same as a Daimler/XJ6). chrome trims were same as series1 headlight motors - from a TR7 rear wiper -always the top of the screen S2 the sills are the most significant other visual difference. totally different. Gearbox is different (getrag 265), that and the chassis being galvanised.

lhd though - makes a huge difference to the asking price.

If you've not blanked off the pipe that runs to the vacuum Y solenoid valve, you will have an inlet manifold leak and hardly any vacuum.

Hire a van with a trailer. From moving a block in my shed yesterday I would not want to move something with all the pistons, crank and rods into a delicate glass fibre car, even if I could get it to fit dimensionally. (I don't think it will fit in the boot, and I don't think it would go into the passenger area.)

I do (on the 520). What is the issue? Is the spring contorting when compressed? Both sides should be the same. Does one side look massively different to the other with the pod pushed down?

Compomotive?

Welcome to TLF and big thumbs up on taking on what should become an "excelent" car! I think I know the car you are referring to but only from seeing it advertised for sale online. The rover v8 conversion is a well trodden path and it doesn't/shouldn't need the bodywork altered on an excel/eclat. The exhaust manifolds you want are either the P6 ones (as used on my car) or a set for an MGB V8. The MGBHive sell a set called "block huggers" which others have successfully used in elites and eclats. There are LOADS of exhaust manifold options available for the rover V8. Custom headers that sit fairly close to the block are likely to fit. Landrover/range rover ones stick out too far and they are pants. The P6 ones are surprisingly good - I wanted to change mine for something more fancy, but the chap at V8 developments advised me not to bother and told me they were perfectly adequate. If your car has never been run with the efi setup, you might want to reconsider retaining the hotwire injection system from the rover. Whilst I have seen it done successfully on an elite and excel, it makes no more power than a decent 4 barrel carb and inlet manifold. The only benefit is fuel economy, which usually isn't an issue on a weekend car and perhaps the ability to move onto mapped ignition and fueling using something like Megasquirt. Its harder to squeeze in under the bonnet - piping it in is a pain, as you need a high pressure fuel line and plenum/return if you want to run efi. Personally I'd buy a second hand inlet manifold and a holley or webber 500 quad barrel. That way you just plug the normal fuel feed into the carb and away you go. A low rise offenhauser manifold and a holley 390 with a pancake air filter will fit under the standard bonnet without needing a bulge. Taller plane inlet manifolds work better at higher rpm, but will need a bonnet bulge on a Lotus. Your engines not a screamer without a lot of mods, so don't bother. Go for a low rise manifold and enjoy the torque/light bodywork combo. NB contrary to popular opinion - the RV8 is pretty much identical to the weight of a Lotus 912. It is within a few kilos. No suspension/brake mods are required, because its the same weight. The excel is already quite stiffly sprung in comparison to an elite/eclat, so take a look at what has been done to the suspension with a critical eye. You don't want that muscular GT crashing through potholes and loosening your filings. 😦

Great stuff!

A diagonal cross cut with a grinder and a sharp chap with a chisel to fracture it can also be used to remove an inner race from a stub or a shaft. Sometimes it just provides a bit of purchase and starts the race rotating and it'll spin off. If it is properly stuck, it'll fracture and slacken off.

I don't think there is that much of a difference between t35 and t65. Other than the dipstick being in a different place and the 65 being allegedly slightly stronger, I think the basic architecture is the same. The cable your referring to between the box and the throttle linkage is known as the "kickdown cable", but it does a lot more than just dropping a band on full throttle - as you've found it also has input into when the car changes up. I had the same on a dolomite sprint auto, and fine tuning the kickdown cable made the car drive so much better. These boxes are in general tough as teak and will put up with a ridiculous amount of hoonery before offering complaint. I didn't manage to break mine which was old when I got it and I was 19 and I drove like a clown.

I think you might be onto something with a blocked or kinked return pipe in the power steering hydraulics... There are a couple of other basic factors you could consider: What tyre pressures are you running? They should be around 22psi. If you've inflated them to modern 35 psi or suchlike, they are over inflated and will only be making contact in the centre of the tyre cross section. I'd also check the track rod ends. If you have a looseness present and suddenly have toe-out it could cause wandering and lightness in the steering. A common fault on our cars is the little bushes that join the ARB to the lower front wishbone. When these are gubbed it allows for fore-aft movement and changes in the castor angle. You'd ordinarily feel this as a oull to the side or "wander" under braking. If your castor has suddenly changed it could perhaps affect steering feel? I think this is unlikely as it shouldn't be a huge change, but it is worth a look. My money is on the hydralics however....

Vacuum doesnt sound right - that should not occur. What sort of pressure is the new replacement fuel pump running at? It should be a maximum of 3-4 PSi. Any more and you will need a regulator, however that is not the root cause of the problem your describing. On the S1 eclat, have a look at the fuel filler neck on the left hand side of the boot. There should be a take off and a thin rubber pipe that circumnavigates the boot behind the rear transom. It then goes downwards and vents to atmosphere at the rear bumper. With age the rubber pipe breaks up, and you can find whatever you put in the boot will stink of petrol. I wonder if a previous owner has encountered this and decided to block the vent pipe? There should also be a little in line valve on the vent pipe - I bought a similar replacement from ebay when I re-did mine. Alec, did you perhaps "adjust" the height of the fuel floats in the carbs when investigating your lack of petrol?

I dont think it did, but the reason I was removing them was to replace a noisy wheelbearing.

I drift it out with a rubber mallet. Pull it back in using the hubnut. The bearing you are meaning is the rear wheelbearing? Its the front wheelbearing from an Austin Maxi 1750.

pop some diesel around the spark plugs and leave it for a few days to try and penetrate before attempting to remove the plugs. 32 years is a long time and spark plugs can almost weld themselves into the head with corrosion over the years when left untouched. Once they are out, I'd also squirt a fair bit of redex and medium/light oil into the spark plug holes and leave it to pool on the top of the pistons for a few days before you try and turn the engine with a spanner on the crank pulley. have fun 🙂

A dictaphone is a microphone that plugs into the back of the tape player (which has a recording head) to allow the 1970's exec to dictate memo's for his secretary to type up later ... Standard equipment on the upper end Elite

buy a new pair. I bought some new old stock spax - as soon as I adjusted them, fluid pssed everywhere.Bought a new set - surprisingly cheap from Spax direct.

Welcome to the Forum Steve - Please put those tyres in the skip. The original Philips radio and dictaphone probably covers half the purchase price.. Manuals come up on ebay every now and then, often at inflated prices, but some are available online with membership of certain lotus sites. In truth, unless your going to pull the engine of gearbox to bits, you probably wont need one. I can't remember the last time I even opened mine. These are not complicated cars. Similar story to the tyres with a 32 year old timing belt. I wouldn't even turn it over on the starter if its 32 years old. Job one has to be to swap the timing belt for a nice new one- easy job and nice and cheap. 🙂

I almost spat out my coffee whilst reading the thread title. A "stonor" is Glaswegian for an hard-on. Stonor Supercar Sunday... 😀😀

No collar or special method - just a spring loaded action to push against. On a left hand drive car, you would be pulling towards you and forward for reverse. On the getrag 265, lack of use can make the action across the shifting movement stiff. Mine suffers slightly from this to the point that the spring doesn't correctly move the selector between the 1/2 & 3/4 plane. There is some information on the internet about this. The box was used in a lot of cars (BMW, Jaguar, Opel & a variant in volvo). The only solution appears to be to remove it and lubricate it. Mine isn't that bad - I just drive it knowing I need to move it back across to 1st/2nd rather than rely on the spring returning it. Next time I take the box out I will lubricate it, but I haven't had any need to remove the box on the car as yet. Dunc Stig, Re-reading your posts, I think you are selecting the wrong side. The getrag gate is the gear knob picture to the right. Is your car left hand drive or right hand drive?

Hi Ben, Early range rover, sprite and midget boss kit and MGB from 70 onwards fits our cars, so you should get something locally? However, 70mm 6 bolt is a momo/sparco/omp fitting. Are you desperate to use that size? The Mountney boss (MB015) is readily available and cheap, but is a different pcd to the wheel your trying to fit. Moto-lita, Mountney and a few others use 4" pcd. Mountney wheels are plentiful and relatively cheap.

Having replaced a rear trailing arm without getting things re-aligned properly, I can confirm that set up makes a HUGE difference to how an eclat/elite handles. I also didn't like the "feel" of the PAS car I drove. The manual rack is heavy to park, but a nicer drive.

Thanks for your efforts Bibs, Agree with all the comments on here, happy to follow on with whatever comes to pass and if it involves an entry fee - happy to pay. More than a little short sighted from MBW. The chance to have a couple of hundred well heeled car enthusiasts turn up and browse your latest offerings is surely more meaningful marketing than people dragging their kids round the museum. most of us have more than one car - My everyday car is a Merc SL FFS! anyway - look forward to meeting up with the usual gang whenever or wherever it may be! Dunc