dave excell

Ann and I drive down over 3 days, sometimes on the east and sometimes west If going down the west then don't miss out on driving over the Millau bridge and visiting the exhibition just off the auto route. Some nice hotels in Millau town with secure parking. If going east then Geoffers route is good but after Lyon we would keep in France and head to Orange and take in the Roman theater before heading to Nice and Monaco. A warning about Monaco traffic on Friday as well as the weekend, its horrendous as roads are closed. Train from Nice for us pensioners is 3 euros return

We hope to have tickets for the 'Panorama ' stand (too late for the Dunlop). As we ate old timers we booked the Ibis Center in Le Mans. Its walking distance to the old town center with all its restaurants and bars and the relatively new tram system runs past the hotel to the circuit if we don't want to drive in. If you want to drive in to the town center the new underground car park has been open for a couple of years now, so no problem with parking. its walking distance from there to the new and old town centers.

I shipped the last remaining Excel parts I had to Don.Hasi which included the instruments, switches window mechs., alternator + some trim. but no ignition switch. I got one new at the time from Paul Mattey and would be with the steering column. I cant remember selling it so I will have a look in the garage loft over Christmas.

In case you come back, Its a complete rolling chassis with suspension. discs. calipers, 3.9 diff and drive shafts + power steering rack. £400-00 including the 5 elite alloy wheels. My Excel SE is now fully trimmed and almost ready for the road so I must cut down my spares.

If it any good, I have a complete 1984 Excel galvanized rolling chassis for sale ready to drop an elite body on. I know it would not be original but much easier to maintain with its Toyota bits. Ii am not sure what body mods are required though. its complete with power steering rack and prop shaft plus a set of 5 Elite alloy wheels.

Many thanks for a great evening. Snow all the way to Bristol but none yet in Somerset.

Ann & I will be at the hotel in the afternoon. In fact we are staying tonight as well. We visit friends in Kent during Saturday then meet up for the dinner. Sorry to hear about Mike, hope he recovers quickly.

Ann's menu entered - Reminder though - Venison WELL DONE. We are looking forward to seeing all again. 72 next month and yes I am still working in sunny Aldermaston. Resident in the Holiday Inn Junction 10 - M4 3 nights a week

We have booked Premier Inn for Fri & Sat. so see you all there. Bibs - Please arrange for Ann's venison to be WELL DONE, otherwise she won't be eating anything. Thanks.

i will be there on the Friday. The advantage of a 4 day week.

Last time I run Hancook tyres I had a blow out on the M4 at 80 +. It was almost new. Luckily I was driving a Citroen Zantia with the self leveling suspension and didn't really notice anything but the noise of flapping rubber. That puts you off a tyre for life. I run Toyo tyres all round on the V8, Excel and M100. Never any trouble.

On no SE engines Cams are the same both inlet and exhaust (Type 107 I believe) on later SE engines the inlet is a type 104. When modifying the engine to improve performance you can use a type 104 on the exhaust as well. Looking at the service notes the difference is the duration the valve is open and the lift - 107 Lift is 0.378 '' and for the 104 the lift is 0.410.

As long as it fits the brackets it should be fine. from the photos it looks as it will be OK. I assume its just the two wires to connect, so as long as the are connected correctly it will work fine. If you need a spare I have one from my early 84 Excel you can have free. Just need the postage. On later SE Excel blocks the oil pump/distributor body is different and a different alternator is required. It caught me out when retro fitting air conditioning.

I do use it a bit, but some stuff is years out of date ie. meetings etc and its not as good as TLF. But I am aware and it served to get the hard top which stops all those leaks. Our drive to Italy to see the Mile Miglia was the wettest holiday ever. We will take the Esprit next time! Saving for a new hood at present. Thanks for the tip