soldave

Wondering if anyone has any preferred methods or products for cleaning, protecting and generally keeping in tip top shape the cloth interior & seats of an Eclat. Just worried they might need some special treatment and not the usual car interior cleaning products. Errr, yes. That's it really!

In my Eclat the driver's side seat is looking just a little tired in the posterior area Looks like the form has collapsed a little and needs replacing. Now I think it's removable and replaceable, but is there any specific foam that I should be looking to get and cut to shape, or will just any old dense foam from a furniture place do? Sorry for the influx of noob questions but, with these cars, I'm a noob!

Apologies for the hella thread resurrection, but do you know what size these bulbs are? Feeling like a set of LED ones might be useful for mine.

Mine seems frozen solid too. What causes these to get stuck in place? Is it corrosion somewhere?

I've been advised to use semi-synthetic 5W30, and it's what the rebuilt engine has bee run on since being built. Seems to be so many opinions out there.

Don't worry - it will be very well looked after

Yeah, I'm all for regular changes. My old Mitsubishi Evo (pretty highly tuned) had engine oil changed every 3,000km and mission & diff changed every 6,000km without fail.

So what would you recommend when not after a rebuild? Not sure if it is actually. The Gulf recommendation was based on a list from Opie oils.

Slight thread resurrection, but would the Gulf Racing 10w60 Fully Synthetic oil (http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-79218-gulf-racing-10w-60-fully-synthetic-engine-oil.aspx) work too?

Unfortunately only 2 wheels according to the description: 1 front and 1 rear

Humour me... how much would it cost for a set of S2 Speedlines? I'm going to guess at 100-150 a corner or something like that.

I might consider that, but the car alone and getting it taxed etc will eat into my money a lot so have to take things easy with it. First off (even though I know it's been well looked after) will probably be a full oil/coolant change. Where does one go about sourcing factory service manuals for these things? Had a quick scan and not come up with anything yet. Need to learn up on these cars quickly. I know a few things, but my area of expertise is mainly restoring/modifying/tuning Japanese cars.

Well, all being well Old Banana should have a new home in early October, and I hope to take as good care of it as the current owner

Good huuuummmmm or bad huuuummmmm?

John - am I OK to post up that write-up you sent me?

This thread is going to take a turn in a different direction methinks after this next post. Since this thread started I've been offered the Old Banana from Scotland for a touch over £4,000. While this isn't a cheap Eclat by any means, as you know it does come with quite a history and heritage and in excellent condition (will have a fresh MOT and be ready for the 7-hour drive back home if I purchase it). Wondered if anyone had any thoughts on that one, good or bad, and whether it'd be a good deal. Spoke to John about this and he is fine with you airing your views and we are both all for you being honest. Ready... go!

I'd love a later Esprit but out of my budget right now

So if that outrigger doesn't look bad and no warning signs go off on other bits of the car, do you think £3300 with a new MOT would be about right? Sorry for all the questions. I do know my cars but the ones I know are Japanese Thanks. I had a glance at that earlier this afternoon

Until December 20th.

Just found out it's a 4-speed

Good call on the compression test. Might be worth taking a checker with me if I can get hold of one at short notice.

Thanks for that John. Lots of info to think about there. Any more thoughts from anyone on things I should look out for? Have had a look around for a workshop manual but can't seem to find one, other than them being mentioned in previous threads.

On the hunt for a good priced Lotus (my first) and have seen this one for sale not too far away and at a reasonably good price: http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C498991 The carb balancing I can sort out when I get it home (not done it before but can read up on it and get what's needed to do it), but I was told that in the last MOT there was an advisory on some corrosion on the left front outrigger. Am wondering if this is a common thing to get corroded and how big a job it could be to sort out. Mechanics I can do, electrics I hate but can just about handle. Rust and bodywork is a dark art to me Thanks in advance for any advice and I may be joining the ranks of Lotus owners soon