Dunc

It's not on the register. But that registration number seems familiar to me. I have a feeling this is the car that started it all for me. I didn't buy it, but came so close to doing so when it was in Edinburgh in the mid 90's. 520 4 speed 1976/7, yellow on a replacement non-galvanised chassis and wolfrace wheels?

Duncan - is it a 520 4 speed on woolfrace wheels? Where are you located?

Welcome! Another Duncan, presumably aged 42 with a yellow eclat? That won't cause any confusion on here at all! nice to have you onboard! As Mike says - we need more pics! Dunc

Thanks Jacques, I was driven to make a change by the upcoming Ultra low emissions zone for London. As of Feb next year, I would have been charged £15 per day to ride my old Kawasaki GPz500 into London. I fancied a big Z for a while and went to a local motorcycle dealer "just to try it, not to buy it...." as "I'm not so sure about the orange etc...". Within 5 minutes of the test ride I was hooked and had a grin as wide as the bars.. Some Scottish haggling resulted in it becoming mine. I've been riding it to work for the past month. I do find it heavy, and its not nearly as agile as the GPz in traffic, but it is deafening with that pipe on and blisteringly quick. I had fitted a baffle to reduce the noise, but either somebody stole it or I blew it out the back under power as it has disappeared. The only downside is that every other biker seems to want to race... I just let them go........ (mostly) I've still not fixed the laverda... will do it this summer...

new commuter. Go hard or go home.... :-)

Just don't tell her.... make it a black ops project.

It is a high resistance pink wire on S1's. If there is an actual ballast resistor present, someone has taken a feed from the +12V ignition and ballasted it.

= lack of fuel. check the pump is earthed and pumping hard, fuel filters, carb float height (critical on a 907) then jets for blockage.

The lumenition was fitted to the later S1' as well as S2's. The rotor arm and cap are different sizes on the electronic ignition distributor - not sure if the 'strib itself has other differences. (John "the nut" and I discovered this when trying spare rotor arms from a points car on his S2 electronic ignition car = no spark) - I think the original lucas caps were blue for electronic ignition spec? Lotus used the sprung physical rotor arm as a rev limiter, and only went to an electronic rev limiter with the excel in 1983 and the AB14 ignition amplifer. Lumenitions and AB14's are old and crap, and are easily bettered by fairly cheap stuff available new. I wouldn't bother with retro fitting a lumenition module to a points spec car - just buy a modern unit. I sound like their agent in this thread, but Powerspark sell kits that I think others on here have used. Megajolt and MSD has also been done succesfully on a 2 litre 907. With regards to servicing the points, - yes, its a pain with the airbox on and access is tight. With the car at TDC and the timing belt still on, the Aux timing pulley is held in place, so you can mark the 'strib and remove it in the usual way. Its when the belt is off that it can become a bit of a 'mare as you have to time up the Aux pulley. It's not that complicated - no real pitfalls.. Be careful on a replacement distributor if you decide to go down that route - some of the "complete replacement" electronic ignition units aren't designed to be mounted on their side and will leak oil through the cap when used on a 907/912 engine as they don't have the necessary oil seal.

Hi Robbie, Welcome to the forum! The ignition feed through the high resistance wire should be giving less than 12v across your multimeter with the ignition on. The coil should receive its full 12v from the jumper wire running from the starter solenoid to the coil when your cranking the engine. Releasing the key back to the ignition point should return the coils feed to sub 12v. If you are worried that the feed voltage is too high and your balasted spec coil is getting really hot with a measured 12v from the ignition switch, you can always buy a ballast resistor from somewhere like powerspark for a few quid and put it in the +12v feed from the ignition. best wishes Dunc

same - might be an S2 thing?

Had the same on that awful red 521. Cleaned up all the earth points and it ticked away quite happily.

She's worn the intervening years better than you min that's for sure!

ooooh! shiny carbs :-) Nice smooth idle. Was she cold or warm in the video? Good to hear its progressing and that your happy :-)

I agree - it does look like a square tooth belt on a half moon pulley. Has this engine ever been run? Or has it been laid up and then given a new belt? If so, I also think the belt might not be the right one.

I've seen some odd engine numbering in the register. Especially on early cars. The presence of the variable cam timing wheels and non standard carbs suggests its a modified engine. You wouldn't fit verniers unless you needed to adjust valve timing as they can slip. (I have the remains of a "hot" 907 engine in my shed which died due to a slipped vernier pulley... My guess - and it is just a guess, is that Lotus tried lots of different parts in their evaluations, and that when some were found to be not as good, or too expensive for inclusion on the production cars, the found their way onto employee's cars. Either that, or an enthusiast has gotten hold of a block from a JH and built up a hot engine using solex DDH from an Alfa or suchlike. Are the Solex 40 DDH's? or 45's? I'd bet those are fancy cams in that engine....

Robbie, Welcome to TLF - we need pictures! I know its tempting to make it look pretty, but I'd urge you to put it off till later. Moisture is the enemy when spraying glassfibre. It gets trapped underneath, then freezes, expands and gives you those lovely little blisters all over your paintwork. Its winter time, its miserable weather, and you shouldn't even contemplate spraying below 14 degrees C. Unless you have an oven, crack on with the spannering and leave the paint until better weather, and although it is possible to spray fibreglass yourself, its probably best left to a pro. I once leant my compressor and gun to a friend with a scimitar, and it looked great until the freeze arrived, then it all lifted off. Admittedly, we didn't really know what we were doing and didn't have an in-line dryer, but I'd urge you to use a pro with an oven for getting the body dry before its painted.

You can inspect the cylinders with the drums off. This way you can see if the wheel cylinder is moving and get at it with the persuader/grips. It is tricky to replace the cylinders, but you don't need to drop the diff. On mine, the piston on the wheel cylinder wouldn't come out even on the bench vice. The wheel cylinder itself needed replacement, which can be a faff as your dealing with ancient brake pipes/unions.

I've never had a problem with the S2 front bib, and my car sits lower than standard. It will have to be a really steep and high speed bump for it to cause a problem.

I was of the belief they were Samsonite, but I can't recall if I read that in some official lotus advertising literature or if I picked it up from someone else's musings on here.

Isn't the cable under constant tension anyway? It is on my S2 with the Getrag - cant remember what is is like on the S1as I've not had a road worthy one in about 15 years. I suspect you have a sticky rear wheel cylinder. This happens on cars that don't move often. Could also be the handbrake mechanism, but until you pop the drums off for a look you wont know which. Don't bother trying to lube sealed unit UJ's - its a waste of time - I have tried and failed in the past. Prising the seal open means it'll never sit back in place properly again and it just chucks the lubricant out as it rotates. Cheap and easy(ish) to replace with new ones. Its handy to have a spare pair of shafts on the bench to swap in and out as required if your using the car a lot or if your heavy with your right foot. I used to get a seizing clutch on my excel. Regular use is key.

I didn't know you could get kumho ecsta in 205 60 14. (edit - just googled it and you can!) Kumho Ecsta are excellent tyres and I used them for a long period of time (8+ years) on an alfa 155 sportpack. I will buy a set next time. (this is excellent news - although not the same as the ZR rated Ecsta's I used on my alfa, I'm sure they are probably better than anything else available in this size).

That there Eclat be an Elite...

First up - I am in no way an expert. Second I am a tight Scottish git and usually value things considerably south of where other people do. If I thought I could buy a 35 K mile excel SE in what looks like immaculate condition for 6.5K - I would be at the guys doorstep tomorrow. That one is a 10 grand + car all day long. Bad points: The interior colour might not be to everyone's taste The exterior colour perhaps isn't the strongest Good points: everything else, condition, mileage, spec.... That's an investment grade example of an excel. (just my tuppence worth...) Dunc

It is still on the go, but as you can imagine, I don't get many emails to that inbox, so don't log into it very often. email me at elite-eclat-register@hotmail.com and I will send you a form. Apologies to recent emailers - I was trialing a few email rules to set up an autoresponse for people requesting forms (as I don't log in often). I couldn't get the function to work and gave up. I thought I had switched it off, but it resulted in your emails being moved to a sub folder. I found them today when I logged in. I think I have responded to the 5 emails I had in the folder, but if not, please email me at the address above and I will try and get it out to you. nb please don't expect regular responses from me on this email address. Sadly - I don't get that many emails that aren't offering to enhance my virility/manhood/financial situation/hair, so I don't log in very often and have a busy life with long working hours. I log in about once a month. Dunc