Filbee

I don't know if mine is factory fitted, but the vinyl roof is finished with an ally strip along the rear edge. It's lifted at one end but I've not investigated how it's attached. Next time I can face going out to the shed and looking under the dust sheet I'll try and get a piccy.

Haha, I like your thinking Tom 😊

Errrrm, funnily enough I do have one of those too... 😄 The Lotus is much more interesting though 😎😊

Darn it! Looks pretty tidy as well apart from those engine mounts. Oh well, I've got my Excel chassis and running gear so I'll persevere with that...

Does anyone know how much the chassis sold for, out of curiosity?

Well, in the absence of any further guidance I blundered on and finally.managed to remove both handbrake cables from the chassis at the weekend. On one side I managed to pull the cabe out by repeatedly yanking sharply on the cable until the cable outer pulled out of the ferrule! Luckily the ferrule had come out far enough by that point for me to lever it the rest of the way out with a screwdriver, along with the split collets (thankfully!) The other site was a different story... The yanking only succeeded in pulling the cable outer from the ferrule without it budging a millimetre. In the end I had to resort reaching in though the bottom of the chassis (which I turned upside down to make life a bit easier), and pushing a long punch in through the back end of the cable retaining tube so it made contact with the inner end of the ferrule and the bashing the punch with a hammer. It was a bit tricky to say the least! With one hand reaching in through one of the big holes in the bottom of the chassis holding the punch in place and the other hand reaching in through one of the other holes with the hammer, I managed to eventually knock the ferrule out along with the collets and the rest of the cable, mullering the end if the ferrule in the process. So job done, I can now properly clean and repaint the stripped chassis 😊

Should there be captive nuts welded to the chassis for the belts to bolt to? Just wondering why someone would have drilled them out (badly!)

The exhaust hanger is still in place. You can see the remains of the rubber part lower down on the right hand side of the chassis as you look at the pic. Keep the suggestions coming!

I have an Excel chassis that I'm planning to put under my Elite. During the strip down I've noticed a couple of holes that look like they have been elongated or enlarged by a previous owner, or maybe they once held captive nuts that have been removed? From the picture, can anyone tell me what the holes are/were for please? The picture is taken looking at the undersise of the chassis centre section, with the rear to the bottom of the picture. The holes are to the rear of the centre section. You can just make out the handbrake cables coming out of the chassis at the very bottom of the pic. Thanks in advance

Ok, so I've got both cables out of the back plates now. How do you get the cables out of the chassis? I tried giving them a good pull but nothing budged...

I'm afraid there's a waiting list for even non-galvanised Elite/Eclat chassis. I've struggled to get a replacement chassis for my Elite and have ended up going down the Excel chassis swap route for this reason...

Thanks for the advice all! I found some old fuel pipe clamps which are quite similar in operation to a jubilee clip. I fitted one of them round the collet, tightened it up and the cable popped out as easy as anything 😊👍

Excellent, thanks for the pointers Richard! I'll have another go tomorrow 😊

Ah, thanks Tony. I'll sign up to that forum as well! I tried cable ties at the backplate end, but that didn't do the trick. I'll have a go with some jubilee clips... What about the other end? Do they just pull out of the tubes in the side of the chassis?

Hi folks, Apologies if this has been covered before. I did have a look but I couldn't find anything.... I've been busy stripping my Excel chassis in preparation for a clean and refresh before I attempt to swap it for the rusty pile currently sitting under my Elite. Really I've just got the handbrake cables left now, but I can't get them detached from the brake backplates and pulled out of the backbone chassis section. Anyone got any tips or advice pleaae??