1987 Lotus Excel been sat for over 15 years need some advise

[Sparky]

T-piece received, so brake pipes fitted.  Still awaiting master cylinder though.  The new T-piece mounting hole is in an entirely different position, so I'll fab a plate to use the original drilling.

Extreme violence with grinder, saw and multiple drill bits finally rendered the replacement exhaust fitment-capable.  at this point I discovered the downpipe is too long and forcing the rest of the exhaust too far back.  The centre silencer section won't sit on its rubbers, and the silencer itself fouls the rear hanger.  It's impossible to shoehorn the pipes between the Y-piece and the rear silencers.  I did suspect this as the downpipe looks like a bit of a mongrel.  If we carry on down this part-matching rabbit hole I'll start heavy drinking again, so I'm going to cut a (questionable) section out of the downpipe and sleeve it.

In hindsight, a complete new system might have been a better idea.  Time for gin.

[Sparky]

First attempt at shortening the exhaust by cutting out the O2 sensor(!) section was wildly successful until I ran it and discovered the flexi is leaking like a sieve.  Finally resolved by cutting a further significant lump out of the downpipe, grinding out a bunch of welds, and fitting an off-the-shelf flexi of appropriate dimensions. It was a lot of hassle finding common 48mm dimensions to accommodate the generic flexi.  The downpipe had obviously been cobbled together out of a parts bin and wasn't fit for purpose.

Finally, a functional exhaust!  Still waiting for the master cylinder though.

Nick @DiMarco visited today to help me get the wheels off, as my knees weren't up to the job.  Nick had to kick the living crap out of the powder-coated wheels, and I think will be suffering tomorrow.  Once they were off Nick made sure to get rid of the interfering powder coat, and I checked all corners for steering/suspension security and adjusted the handbrake shoes.  Finally, back on her feet...

[exeterjeep]

45 minutes ago, Sparky said:

Finally, back on her feet...

Not a fan of the coloured feet, see the centres are the same, so they match.

[DiMarco]

its only after going to see Gary yesterday and getting the wheels off i can see how much hassle it has been and the fantastic job Gary as done. This man is amazing truly amazing i can't thank Gary enough. What annoys me the most is new parts are needed fair enough so you buy them but when you receive them they are buggered and the place you purchased them from know this but still send them to you regardless. like the downpipe and exhaust system they knew the state of the downpipe and has the extra piece welded in which isn't standard and the flexi was shit along with the system itself, leaving the bolts in and not drilling them out and selling them to someone its totally ridicules.  

It was great however to go down to see Gary for the day i could easily stayed for a lot longer chatting.

15 hours ago, exeterjeep said:

Not a fan of the coloured feet, see the centres are the same, so they match.

Everyone's different but yes the centre caps are the same colour have them at home as i didn't see the point of putting them on when they would need to come off and could get scratched getting them off. 

[DiMarco]

Well here is a great update for you all :).
 

 

[Sparky]

I said to tell everyone I was crap!

Made up for you mate.  See you at a meet one day...

[Chillidoggy]

Outstanding work by Watford Exotics, the motto of which is “Never give up”.

[Sparky]

...until you're 60.

[DiMarco]

On 31/10/2021 at 17:56, Sparky said:

I said to tell everyone I was crap!

Made up for you mate.  See you at a meet one day...

I look forward to it mate i really do

[exeterjeep]

On 31/10/2021 at 18:31, Chillidoggy said:

Outstanding work by Watford Exotics, the motto of which is “Never give up”.

What about Watford erotics though

[Sparky]

"Never get up".

[DiMarco]

The lovely Lotus is now up for sale.

[DiMarco]

Deposit now taken for the Lovely Lotus

[DiMarco]

The old girl has now left me and gone to a good home where she will be looked after 😪

[TonyL]

It's taken me a while, but here I am, updating Nick & Sparky's thread.  I'm the new owner of Nick's Excel.

I plan to put a good few miles on the car, just to make sure it's right for me, before I make a lot of changes, but I have a short list of jobs I'm keen to tackle as soon as I have time.

I have already replaced the tyres with some TR1s & had them balanced on a Hunter Road Force machine.  I bought an extra wheel on ebay & asked my wheel balance man to choose the best four wheels out of the five I gave him (the spare that came with the car is no good), so now I have three dark gold wheels & one silver, to further enhance the car's run down appearance.

Next, I will see about replacing the driver's seat, which is a bit bendy.  I'm sure it could be fixed, but even if it were good as new, it would still be no good, because these seats are too far off the floor, which means my head is near the top of the windscreen & the steering wheel is down in my lap.  I have a pair of Recaro Pole Positions that came from a track car, so I'll see about putting one, or both, of those in, & I'll probably fit a steering wheel spacer too.

I must also deal with the gear knob.  It's the original wooden gear knob, & I really like it, but it spins freely on the gearstick (annoying) & rattles like mad as I go past 6,000 RPM - it's a good stand in for a shift light.

& the last thing on my urgent jobs list will be to cover up the tan coloured dashboard top, which reflects in the windscreen & DRIVES ME MAD.  I plan to stick an offcut of black alcantara on there for now, as I don't want to think about a proper re-trim for the time being.

I'm not at all bothered about the poor paint.  I'll fix the rattly doors, but I'm not going to do anything with the bodywork until I'm happy with everything else.  I quite like the distressed look.

I'll update this thread every now & again, but I expect my posts will be few & far between over the next 12-18 months, as I have a lot on at work.  Hopefully, in 18 months' time,  I'll be retired, or at least semi-retired, & I'll be able to spend more time playing with cars & doing all the other things I enjoy.