Lotus Excel SA Part 2

Lotusbits stripped the car ready for the paint shop in Birmingham to paint it. This involved taking off both bumpers, headlights, spats, door mirrors and also provide a "roof" from a scrapped Excel to repair the sunroof hole. Both the sunroof hole and the new panel were stepped so that there was some integral strength build into the repair.


These pictures were taken in the body shop after the respray.







It is weird to see the car without all the components fitted - headlamp pods, mirrors and bumpers. The front bumper is a mix of plastic and fibreglass - the original bumper had a damaged plastic part which is virtually impossible to repair. It was therefore decided to buy a new bumper from SJSportscars using the original as a mold.


























The wheels were also restored by being sandblasted and repainted with a final coat of lacquer.





All the bits and pieces and the car were then taken back to Lotusbits for refitting. There were some faults in the paint from the respray, but it was decided to rectify these after the car was all back together.


The interior started to come together - here is the new underlay and carpets being fitted. Interesting to see the roll over bar "naked".






You have to be careful with the spray on glue as it will give you a nasty headache.

The missing dash with all the electrics exposed makes it look a daunting task to put it all back together. I think the manual would be an absolute must when you take a car apart to this level or really know your Excels from the experience of having done this before.


As you can see the windscreen was removed for the repaint - a brand new one was fitted shortly after this photo was taken.








New carpets fitted and looking good - SJSportscars have found a new supplier.







I have also purchased a set of overmats to protect the new carpets - I will fit these when I pick the car up.






The headlining beginning to come together - it is best to recover all the roof components on a bench off the car and refit them once the adhesive has gone off.

New carpet fitted to the parcel shelf as well.






The wiring hanging down is for the rear seats interior light which someone told me was off a VW Sirocco, but not sure if that is true.


Here is a picture of the newly reconnolised interior prior to fitting.













One of the other jobs was to fit new rear seat belt mounts as the old ones had disappeared. MOT failure if you don't.

Side panels with rear speakers refitted with center console.







The dash and center console refitted.












"New" rear seats fitted - the perforated leather ones - which I think look a lot better than the originals.





Front seats fitted and all center console components.









The car was taken back to the paint shop in Birmingham for all the blemishes to be sorted out. A week later I meet Mike and Dave in Birmingham to check the car over to make sure the blemishes had all been rectified. We checked them all and Dave put the car on the trailer to go back to Lotusbits - however

and we know one brake light not working :-) minor fault

I happened to run my hand down one of the door shuts - the edge of the drivers door - and there was a nasty rough bit of paint. There was also a "new" blemish on the nose cone. The paintshop manager came out and confirmed that the door blemish/rough paint could not be "mopped" out (whatever that is?) and the car would have to be taken back into the paintshop...... Dave was very patient I would have been screaming blue murder if I had just put the car on the trailer. Another week was need but at least the paint shop would deliver it back to Lotusbits.