1976 Elite restoration.

[williamtherebel 380]

14 hours ago, Doris the dog said:

Just looked in parts manual and it’s called Induction tube. 

Just came across this photo on the forums. You can see the deflector panel in situ quite easily.

[Doris the dog 74]

1 hour ago, Tony D said:

High.

Looks like a good original project car and I'd kill for the chrome trim around the centre console. There can't be many of those that have survived

Like this one Tony . This is my spare dash , but I don’t know if the dash that came from my project car has a surround. If it has I will have a spare you can have.  
 

[Doris the dog 74]

29 minutes ago, williamtherebel said:

Just came across this photo on the forums. You can see the deflector panel in situ quite easily.

That certainly helps. Also noticed the oil filler cap is radiator end , mines near bulkhead.  Is there any reason where it should be?

[williamtherebel 380]

Mine is on the bulkhead side. (as is all other Elite/Eclat's that Ive seen). When you look into the engine bay at least the 'LOTUS' letters on the cam cover are the correct way round!

[Tony D 38]

IMO, the oil filler is the wrong end on this photo. It should be the bulkhead end. 

Question to Williamtherebel. Did you find this pic on the forum, or lift it off ebay? Cos its the same photo being used in the ebay ad. 

42 minutes ago, Doris the dog said:

Like this one Tony . This is my spare dash , but I don’t know if the dash that came from my project car has a surround. If it has I will have a spare you can have.  

Yes Tony. Exactly like that. Fingers crossed you have two so we can do a deal. As earlier posts, pretty sure I have a few parts you are in need of also. 

Tony 

[williamtherebel 380]

2 minutes ago, Tony D said:

IMO, the oil filler is the wrong end on this photo. It should be the bulkhead end. 

Question to Williamtherebel. Did you find this pic on the forum, or lift it off ebay? Cos its the same photo being used in the ebay ad. 

Yes Tony. Exactly like that. Fingers crossed you have two so we can do a deal. As earlier posts, pretty sure I have a few parts you are in need of also. 

Tony 

Got the pic from the forum. However it was linked to the eBay ad. 

[EXCEL V8 130]

Thanks for posting the picture of your spare dash Tony - I can see that it has screw-fixed heater/ventilation control knobs.  I'm still trying to find out which cars had this type and which had slide-on knobs.

Pete

[Doris the dog 74]

7 hours ago, EXCEL V8 said:

Thanks for posting the picture of your spare dash Tony - I can see that it has screw-fixed heater/ventilation control knobs.  I'm still trying to find out which cars had this type and which had slide-on knobs.

Pete

Pete , I’m totally confused with my Elite specification. It’s 1976 , it’s missing air conditioning pump etc , it has the large air con heater behind dash. It has Rover rear lights. It has no front spoiler. I have badges for 501 , 504. In one box there’s an electrical unit that’s for bulb failure warning. 
Think it needs to be badged Lotus Elite based kit car. 

[Tony D 38]

Tony: Do you essentially have the components in this diagram?

Notably, the second "radiator" (Condenser) mounted in front of your main Rad. Also do you have 2 Vacuum pods operating flaps inside the car? If so, you have teh basis of an A/C car. If not, maybe you have a 501, non A/C car.

Ref the badges you have, 501 denotes a standard car without Air Con. 504 denotes an Automatic gearbox ( I think you'd have noticed that and mentioned it by now, so lets assume these are from the donor car  ). The only place these badges appear though is on the B post trim, and I'm sure in an earlier post you showed B post trims that were from before they fitted badges. To my knowledge, all cars that do not have a badge on the B post are 502's, which means a manual car, with A/C, but without Power steering).

8 hours ago, EXCEL V8 said:

I'm still trying to find out which cars had this type and which had slide-on knobs.

Pete. What does the slide on type look like. I think I've only seem Screw on types.

Tony

[Doris the dog 74]

26 minutes ago, Tony D said:

Tony: Do you essentially have the components in this diagram?

Notably, the second "radiator" (Condenser) mounted in front of your main Rad. Also do you have 2 Vacuum pods operating flaps inside the car? If so, you have teh basis of an A/C car. If not, maybe you have a 501, non A/C car.

Ref the badges you have, 501 denotes a standard car without Air Con. 504 denotes an Automatic gearbox ( I think you'd have noticed that and mentioned it by now, so lets assume these are from the donor car  ). The only place these badges appear though is on the B post trim, and I'm sure in an earlier post you showed B post trims that were from before they fitted badges. To my knowledge, all cars that do not have a badge on the B post are 502's, which means a manual car, with A/C, but without Power steering).

Pete. What does the slide on type look like. I think I've only seem Screw on types.

Tony

Tony , it’s must be a 502 (maybe) as it has the air con unit behind dash, and twin vee pulley on crankshaft, but no other air con parts. I have a pair of 502 badges and also pair of 504s. Both cars have manual gearbox. No sign of any power steering parts. 
 
regards

Tony

[EXCEL V8 130]

I'll take a photo of the different control knobs tomorrow.  The reason I'm trying to find out is that the slide-on type appear to have the same steel levers on the ac/heater unit but the ends are chopped off, removing the threaded hole on the end for the screw-on type.  I want to know which steel levers to fit - I have both.  At first I thought someone had just chopped the end off my levers to remove the centre panel because they couldn't get the knobs off.

Pete

[Tony D 38]

Tony

This picture also appears in the parts list under Heater.

Note how the side ( feet) openings are controlled directly by a rod to the lever. On the A/c Units, the lever controls a small valve, which then drives the vacuum actuator. Which diagram does your system insid ethe car look like?

Tony

[Tony D 38]

47 minutes ago, EXCEL V8 said:

I want to know which steel levers to fit

Pete. i'll take a closer look at mine in the morning and photo with a ruler showing lever length ( I know mine have not been cut down). Now you describe it, I think mine are push on ( there's no screw in the button and until now, I thought I'd just lost the screws). There is a little tab pressed into the lever and no threaded hole. 

How on earth did you spot which type were fitted in the photo posted earlier ? It looks like the differences are very minor.

Tony

[Angus553 34]

Looking at the rear bumper its probably an excel and not an S2 as the reg plate is rectangular and not square and has the Rover lights. The oil filler cap from the photo is fitted incorrectly as 'LOTUS' is upside down and the filler should be at the bullhead end. Looking at the original photo with the harrier it looks as though their is an identifying number at the top of the centre pillar, impossible to tell what from the photo but 501 is the basic,502 is pas and 503 is a/c. 504 is auto with everything. However could be a special order as per the interior upholstery (and was used for advertising purposes). Your alternator is the larger type with the extra pulley presumably for a/c. Your front spoiler should be the original smaller one as per the photo(larger S2 spoiler from 1980.) Info from the photo suggests it was taken late in 1977. A cert of provenance from Andy Graham would resolve some of the issues.

[rjwooll 201]

3 hours ago, Angus553 said:

Looking at the rear bumper its probably an excel and not an S2 as the reg plate is rectangular and not square and has the Rover lights. The oil filler cap from the photo is fitted incorrectly as 'LOTUS' is upside down and the filler should be at the bullhead end. Looking at the original photo with the harrier it looks as though their is an identifying number at the top of the centre pillar, impossible to tell what from the photo but 501 is the basic,502 is pas and 503 is a/c. 504 is auto with everything. However could be a special order as per the interior upholstery (and was used for advertising purposes). Your alternator is the larger type with the extra pulley presumably for a/c. Your front spoiler should be the original smaller one as per the photo(larger S2 spoiler from 1980.) Info from the photo suggests it was taken late in 1977. A cert of provenance from Andy Graham would resolve some of the issues.

It would be interesting to see a pic of your rear bumper Angus. I saw the side view of the car earlier in the thread and it does look like an Elite bumper - the Excel bumper follows the slightly curved line across the rear of the car whereas the Elite one is more square. Also the Elite and Excel bumpers differ in profile where they fit up to the rear wing area - the Excel bumper fits into a recess moulded into the rear wing, whereas the Elite one simply butts up to it, and the Excel bumper also meets the profile of the piece attached to the bottom of the rear wing on the Excel.

Cheers, Richard

[Angus553 34]

Hi Richard my bumper is a standard S1 bumper. However MPC92P has a 'bespoke' bumper. It looks like an S2 bumper but it has a rectangular standard reg plate and not a squarer one as per the S2. It has Rover SD1 rear lights and only 1 reg plate light. The lights and reg plate give the impression of an excel rear bumper but just fits as per elite bumper. Hope this clarifies. Did any S2 elites have the rectangular reg plate as per S1 and excel? 

[Angus553 34]

Hi Tony if you posted a pic of your rear bumper it would be better than any explanation i can give.  Thanks Angus

[Doris the dog 74]

Rear bumper photos

Sorry I don’t now why it’s rotating photos

Edited May 11 by Doris the dog

[rjwooll 201]

I see - that looks like an S2 bumper with the number plate aperture modified for the rectangular number plate - cutting away side bars and incorporating a new piece below the number plate (from an S1 maybe as it sits a little higher than the sections under the lights.)

Thanks for clarifying and posting the picture, and sorry for the confusion between the cars!

Cheers, Richard

[EXCEL V8 130]

That bumper looks good I think, and SD1 lights are more readily available!

Pete

[EXCEL V8 130]

Here are the different heater/ventilation/aircon control knobs.  The first is off a Delanair aircon unit:

  

The next is from a Delanair heat-only unit:

The next is a picture of what I suspect is a later switch panel from a car with Lotus-built heater - it has screw-fixed knobs

 

This is the back of the same panel:

:

Any further info anyone?

Pete

[steve clack 40]

Mine is a 1975 Manual Elite with A/C. The control knob is held on with a small screw.

[Doris the dog 74]

On 10/05/2020 at 12:40, EXCEL V8 said:

Thanks for posting the picture of your spare dash Tony - I can see that it has screw-fixed heater/ventilation control knobs.  I'm still trying to find out which cars had this type and which had slide-on knobs.

Pete

That dash , the heater is just heater , no air con. 
regards

Tony

[steve clack 40]

The car does have a air conditioning condenser, pump and all the pipe work.....

[Doris the dog 74]

1 hour ago, steve clack said:

The car does have a air conditioning condenser, pump and all the pipe work.....

Sorry Steve , your car ?