Lotus Excel SA Part 1

Latest Project in the Houston Petrolhead world is the creation of a new daily driver - one with character but practability and reliability - a Lotus.........no honestly :-)

I sold the Uber Merc 320SL and went on the hunt for a Lotus Excel SA - Lotus made 36 of these - they came with a 4 speed auto box as fitted to Jag XJ6's and BMW's. However, Lotus added a cruise control unit to it.

I looked at a few cars and then found one on eBay in a fetching Petrol Blue colour with white leather interior. I won the bid but the chap had lost the V5 document and had to apply for a fresh one from the DVLA. Here is what it looked like when I picked it up

Looks OK on first inspection but looks can be deceiving - it had one of those tilt glass sunroofs cut into the roof. This had been fitted badly and had leaked for years it looked like all the headlining was damp and rotten - yeuch :-(

In addition when driving the car water would leak through and run down your head - lovely....................... the car had been parked under a tree and the heater vent had filled up with leaves and tree debris so the passenger footwell was full of water and the carpets were ruined. Not a good start but I was undaunted - fool and his money.

I eventually (weeks later - thanks DVLA) picked it up and took the car up to Lotusbits in Marton near Rugby - this is Mike Taylor and his guys - and what they don't know about Excels is probably not worth knowing.

The plan was to "gently" restore it - here are a couple of shots of it outside Lotusbits

Still looks OK but as I said before looks can be deceiving........... we got it on the ramp to create the job sheet for the work to be done. This took a few hours.......Argggghhhh I should have known better.

It is quite sad to see all the "dead" Excels at Lotusbits, but it does mean they have a vast stock of every part for any model of Excel. I counted about 20 on the tops of the containers with another 6/8 whole cars parked alongside :-(

I want the car to be my daily driver so I want a number of things to be top notch and "reliable". Here is the job sheet list from the session on the ramps - hydraulic engine mount, new brake disks, pads and calipers with braided hoses. Replace rear silencers and one pipe to the Y piece, new ignition leads, take out sunroof and reglass roof and paint. Replace door beam on drivers side, fix electric windows and mirrors, sort cruise control, refit airbox and get rid of K&N's. Sort engine oil leaks, replace all shocks with adjustables poly bush the rear end. Fit new carpets, regas aircon, renew headlining, new front bumper, refurbish all alloy wheels, fix horn/wiper stalk replace wiper/wiper motor/washers etc and some more jobs I've forgotten. I will update the list over time as things come to light!

It then went into a container for a few weeks as Mike and the guys had to finish some existing Customer's cars - which was fine by me. Timescale was it would be ready in about three months - GLOL.

I then went to look for a "cheap" daily driver until the Excel SA was ready - that is another story I will post at a future date.

Once the Excel came out of its container and work started more surprises emerged - it was agreed there were too many oil leaks on the engine and problems with the starter so it was agreed it had to come out. This meant it the engine and engine bay could be steam cleaned and all the relevant oil seals could be replace much easier.

A number of other jobs then emerged...... like replacing the belts and fitting a new timing belt.

Here is a picture of it all clean and shiny - doesn't it look better. At some point in the future I will have the cam covers repainted in crinkle red, but that can wait.

First Job was to remove the drivers door and replace the door beam with a shiny new one - this means dismantling the door completely. Here is the new door beam, hinge etc fitted to the car - there are quite a number of adjustments on these doors. Mike explained to me the processes required to achieve the perfect close, but after about 15 minutes I lost the will to live :-( sorry Mike. He is the expert and if you really want to know ask him - I would suggest that it is a banging head against wall job for someone of my diy capabilities.

Fitting the carpets involved taking out the interior - OMG!!! what has happened to the car. The dash came out because I got a call from Mike with a suggestion - LOL - kerrching

A 1992 Excel with the new style perforated leather had just arrived with a badly "broken" body, but the interior was in good condition. Mike's suggestion was to buy this and fit it into my car. He sent me some pictures to think about the suggestion.

Here are the original pictures - a bit grubby but in good condition....

A deal was struck and it was also decided to clean and reconnilise (spelling?) the interior with the results shown below:-

Part 2 to follow shortly...................