Lotus Excel pedal box 2: Refitting

The new pedal box extends the clutch push rod operating bracket sideways (i.e. to the right) by about 3 cm, it also returns to a fully raised position app 3 cm higher than the old (i.e. 3 cm closer to the earthing stud which I used as my measuring point). I am hopeful that this will cure the problems with clutch alignment and operation, but before I refit it I do need to swap the electrical connections from the old box and install the new throttle cable. As I am still awaiting the cable I started with the brake switch.

Brake Switch

The pic below shows the switch in position on the old box in the car. Electrical contacts towards the rear of the car. Apologies for the detail here but the switch wasn't as I'd expected and so I thought I'd explain.

Brake switch in position viewed looking forwards from driver's foot well.

Removing the old switch was a little mysterious; it looks at first as if its held on by a plastic nut at the rear which should unscrew...  it isn't and it doesn't! The switch actually fits into a plastic bush which is itself a clip fit in the transverse plate of the pedal box.  To remove the brake switch turn the whole switch 1/4 anticlockwise and pull it forward (ie away from the pedals). The brake switch will then slide out.

Switch removed from bush, note run of serrated ridges and smooth run adjacent. The white button at the end is the plunger which operates the actual switch; extended = on, depressed =off.

The switch stem has two runs of serrated ridges and two smooth runs. It looks like it might be a screw thread but its not.  The switch itself is the spring-operated white plunger in the stem and which protrudes from the end.

The bush is clipped into the pedal box, Depress the two clip-fit lugs and push it backwards through the box in the direction of the pedals.

Pushing the bush backwards towards the pedals after spring lugs depressed, it will push right through and come out the other side.

The bush has two side wings that engage in slots in the box

Switch and bush removed. Wings on bush prevent it turning.

The bush also has 2 ridges inside with a series of serrations and 2 or 4 smooth runs.

serrated ridges and smooth tracks inside the bush

The side of the bush has two lugs that clip onto the metal of the pedal box. 

Spring lugs on the side of the bush

Push the bush into the box from the pedal side

Insert bush from the rear- ie from the pedal side and push it forward...

Until it comes through and clips into place.

... until it clips into place in the metal, check both clip-fit lugs are engaged.

 To fit the switch insert the stem from the front towards the pedals, aligning the ridges on the stem with the smooth runs in the bush. Push it back, it should slide easily...

Line up the ridges on the stem with the smooth tracks in the push and push switch back to desired depth.

... and turn it 1/4 clockwise to lock the two ridged sections together.

 ... and twist to lock the two ridged sections together. This creates an interference fit that should hold the switch against the pedal pressure. When the car is recommissioned I will need to adjust this so that the switch is just depressed when the pedal is in the raised (brakes off) position. The plunger in the stem will extend as the pedal is depressed turning on the brake lights!

Bonnet release handle
Whilst the pedal box was out it was apparent that the rubber handle on the bonnet release handle had disintegrated. This is another old car part not illustrated in the parts list, later cars had a knob instead of a grip. Although you can still get the knob the grip is no longer listed. I got a replacement made by Essentra components (search "flat finger grasp grip"). These cost only 60p... but sadly they have a minimum order of 500 and so I was lucky to get this from a friend. Fits perfectly and I glued it into place.

Bonnet release handle- new cover!

Replacing the throttle cable

I did think about simply renewing the cable inner since the outer wasn't too bad at all. I've done this before- you just un-solder the end nipples and re-solder them to a new length of Bowden cable inner. I always think a good quality cable should have reusable brass nipples and the modern trend for moulded solder parts isn't really a good sign... sadly the nipples  on my old cable turned out to consist of nothing but solder and so couldn't be reused. I decided not to chase supplies and just ordered a new cable- not cheap though!
In case you do want to take the repair your own route though I will tell you that you can get pretty much all you need from car builder solutions although you will need to look at motorcycle spares to find the nipples. The inner cable is 170 cm long between nipples (ie not including the nipples) and the outer is 142cm including the crimp-on-ferrule section (but not the screw threaded sections of the adjusters). The nipples are 5mm ball at the clevis end and 6.3mm bullet/barrel at the carb end (this was filed down to fit). The cable is 1.5mm Bowden. If you need to order the screw adjuster sections then you will need 2 of 37mm threaded screw adjusters (52mm total length including crimp/ferrule). Sadly, and despite the illustration in the catalogue listing, the new cable from SJSportscars wasn't cheap and didn't come with a clevis shackle for the pedal end and my message requesting one was never answered. All in all its just as well I kept and straightened the old one. I also found that one was attached to the new pedal box so although it should have been included I decided to leave it.

The old cable screws into the bulkhead strengthening plate just  and unscrews easily by rotating the cable.

Unscrew the old cable....

and screw in the new- easy!

and fitted the carb end to the throttle trunnion and cam cover steady.

The carb end was already removed. I fitted the new cable the same way including some copper grease on the adjuster threads at both ends. Adjustment will have to wait until I have the pedal back in and the motor ready to run again. During this process the cable clip on the top of the cam belt guard simply pulled out- it doesn't seem to fit very well so I will try and fit it more firmly later.

The new box cable shackle was held to the accelerator pedal with a split pin as before. I now know that you probably will never have to remove this pin unless you misunderstand the connections, however I can think of no reason to have the thing impossible to remove so while I have the access I located and removed the split pin.

Split pin holding clevis in new pedal box cable shackle- note that the keyslot in this case faces in towards the box and away from the side of the car.

... and replaced it with an "R" clip.

I treated any surface rust on the new box with rust converter and swapped the pedal rubbers around to get the least worn combination.

Refitting the pedal box
I was mystified by the solid metal spacers which fell out when I removed the pedal box. There were two square steel spacers (only one shown in this pic) which fit between the steering column and pedal box forward mounts. The bar however was a mystery. It doesn't appear on any parts lists, and I didn't see where it dropped from.

Mystery spacers- square ones are steel and accounted for, the bar is aluminium.

Unlike the square spacers, the bar is made of aluminium and drilled but not threaded, the holes line up with those in the pedal box and the box itself does show an imprint of something bar-shaped having rested there for a while. I suspect therefore that this is a spacer that was fitted at the rear and on top of the box, between box and bulkhead on the inside of the car. However, it's not shown on any parts diagrams for the Excel- or even for the Elite and Eclat. It does remain possible that its a part used only on early Excels and just not shown in the parts diagrams; many early car parts aren't illustrated, although they are usually listed in the inventory.

Position of spacer bar on top of pedal box

Alternatively, this could be an LBPO bodge implemented to lower the box and help compensate for the bent pedal. This means I don't know whether it should be refitted or not.

I didn't get a clear answer from the forum so I phoned Lotusbits who were kind enough to look at an '83 car they happened to have in. They confirmed that the pedal box in that case fits flush up against the bulkhead. Their interpretation is that this spacer appears to be a modification probably made to improve the fit between the pedals and limbs for a shorter legged PO! This means I wont need to fit it.

Whilst I was working on the pedal box I had noticed a leak from one of the heater hoses. Removal of the pedal box also opened up access to the foot-well carpets and presented a golden opportunity to replace some of the most worn. I was therefore held up in the pedal box work in order to address these two issues which are the subject of additional blog posts. Once these were sorted I could return to the issue of the pedal box.

R clip installed in Throttle trunnion yoke clevis

The thread on the earthing post was partially stripped. I chased it to restore and then rubbed down around to ensure good earth contact. I treated the post and surrounding area with a smear of dielectric grease.

Before fitting the box, I refitted the clutch MC while access was relatively simple. After that, refitting the pedal box was quite a struggle- it involves trying to push and pull in positions where its not possible to exert much force. Its also virtually impossible to see bolts and screw holes and much of the work is conducted inside my LDDV so I couldn't focus on them anyway! It probably would be better if I didn't need glasses! The other problem is that space is limited. You can bend and strain as much as you like, but you can't shorten the distance between shoulder and elbow or elbow and wrist!This job would be much easier if I were shorter but at 6.1" with long levers its hard to fit  myself into the foot well. Undoubtedly this job really needs two (preferably younger and smaller) people- one to work in the engine bay and the other inside the car. This would probably eliminate much of the wriggling in and out that I was obliged to do, and bolting up would be easier with someone to hold bolt heads on the outside! Its all made harder by the fact that the steering column spacers aren't captive and keep falling out. I taped them in with masking tape so that I could orient the box without losing them.

Spacers nuts taped into position.

When I had removed the box, I hadn't been able to remove the relay terminal block until I had tilted the box to the side. This meant that the wires were strained, and to avoid that in refitting decided to fit them after the box. I slipped the box side lugs over the steering column and pushed the box forwards against the bulkhead. This was not easy!  I had to hold up cables and branches of the loom to make sure that nothing was trapped as the box was offered up. The speedometer cable was also withdrawn and kept out of the way. I will try to route this around the box towards the speedometer after the box is fitted. It involves quite a lot of force and I hope hasn't strained the wiring too much. Once the pedal box was approximately right I could hold the front in place by loosely fitting the two large bolts into the captive spacers to hold it at the front at least. 

I could then fit the relay terminal block through the instrument panel hole using a flexible screwdriver- not easy but at least possible! 

Flexible screwdriver to fasten relay block mounting screws.

I did find that the holes in the new pedal box weren't quite the same size as the old- consequently the self tappers were too small and I had to replace them with wider screws. If I were doing this again I would definitely check the screws for size and ease of  threading before inserting the box! I also used this access to check that the earth wire from the relay mounting was  routed towards the earthing post with sufficient slack.

Relay mounting screws accessed through instrument panel and screwed in.

I could then push the pedal box forward towards the bulkhead and up against the car body. This was very difficult because of wire, cable, heater ducts. Take car that the clutch MC push rod is well positioned in relation to the clutch operating lever extension from the pedal box. 

To my surprise I found that there was a large gap between the top of the box and the car body under the the two top fixing bolts- this meant that I had to fit the aluminium spacer after all;  even though it would seem that this isn't a real Lotus part. Without it the two top bolts would distort the box as they are tightened. Fitting it was a real pig as the box was already in place. If I had known that it would be needed I would have taped it in place as I did the two steering column mountings. As it was, I had to loosen the front bolts and insert the spacer from the side. I was able to position it and hold it in place with two screwdrivers penetrating from above.

Spacer bar held in place from above with two penetrating screwdrivers.

I raised the rear of the box through the servo push rod hole until the servo mounting holes coincided and then held it there temporarily by inserting two loose bolts.

Box is sitting lower at the bulkhead- the servo access cutout in the box doesn't quite coincide with that in the bulkhead (too low, crescent of box visible inside top of hole, and the screw holes aren't lined up.

Raise the pedal bow by pushing the box up through the servo push rod hole until the bolt holes coincide and then fix it in position using two loose bolts.

 As the box was now lined up I could remove the screwdrivers one at a time and replace them with the two mounting bolts.

Two mounting bolts penetrate from above through car body, spacer bar and pedal box beneath.

More gymnastics saw the two mounting nuts added from inside the car (see removal for the arrangement of extension rods) and the box was then tightened up against the top of the firewall bulkhead. The two loose bolts could then be removed- the box dropped a little but I could adjust its height by tightening or loosening the L and R bolts from the inside until the servo mounting holes lined up. This they never did perfectly, but well enough for the servo to be finagled into position (you will need to remove the brake master cylinder to make sufficient room). Make sure that you pay attention to the position of the push rod clevis fork as you push the servo body backwards- the clevis yoke has to slip over the shaft of the brake pedal- again it helps if there are two of you! Once the servo was in place I could fasten its retaining nuts from inside the car and refit the brake master cylinder.

The job's not yet finished, but at this stage it is already apparent that the new box has completely solved the alignment problem between clutch m/c push-rod and clutch pedal extension operating lever.

Clutch MC push rod now in line with the operating lever (pedal extension) which is visible at the top of the picture. This is not yet connected but will now fit easily and push in a straight line!

At this stage I was interrupted  by nightfall- I had needed app 8 hours to refit the box- largely because I kept finding things I should have done earlier and so had to keep backtracking. At this stage I have still to connect the two m/c push-rods and throttle cable, adjust everything,  tighten the earth post connection and reconnect the speedometer cable before refitting the dashpod. However, this post is already quite long enough, and so in the hope that those tasks will be straightforward, I thought it a good idea to publish the position so far. I will add more notes if anything significant should arise.

Heater hose repair

Whilst I was struggling with replacing the pedal box I came across this obvious leakage around one of the heater hoses. I can't leave this because I don't want any new carpets ruined so I will need to investigate.

Heater hoses seen from under the dashboard and behind the LHS drivers knee pad. The heater ducting is visible to the right and the two water hoses are centre; one above the other. The lower hose in the picture is the heater bottom elbow hose and connects to the the bottom of the heater matrix. Two jubilee clips are visible; one on the bottom of the short matrix elbow and the other on the top of the long elbow hose that penetrates to the engine compartment. 

The upper hose in the picture  connects to the water control valve, although this wasn't leaking there are clear signs of  rusty leakage from the lower hose into the hardura soundproofing.

The hose concerned is the lower heater matrix hose. This is a three part hose that joins the heater matrix to the water pump. The first of these three parts is a short elbow that connects to the lower heater matrix spigot. This hose in turn joins to a longer elbow hose that penetrates the body through a grommet to emerge in the underside of the transmission tunnel. From here it runs forward to join with the final (straight) hose in the engine compartment and which connects to the water pump. These three hoses thus have two junctions and both are reinforced with metal (16mm OD) joiners.  For some reason these joiners are made of mild steel tube- not even seamless! This seems an odd choice for a high-end car since they will inevitably corrode.  I have already replaced the joiner in the engine compartment with a new aluminium equivalent and it now looks like I need to replace this second joiner under the dash although access is much more limited. This joiner is 76mm long, (16mm OD); it is inserted into both hoses and actually passes through the grommet in order to strengthen this joint and prevent vibration damage.

The Hardura insulation was stuck to the transmission tunnel so I eased it away using a wallpaper scraper so I could get at the hose, then, before trying to separate them, I drained the heater (and probably some of the head too) by detaching the heater to pump hose in the engine compartment at the joiner I had replaced earlier.

Heater hose joiner in engine compartment. These hoses have always seemed a little short and you can see that this one is tight up against the dipstick and block.  I will try to lengthen and re-route them when refitting. In the meantime I just detached the hose here...

...and let it drain. Detaching here meant that I could catch much of the coolant in a tray for reuse.

Access to the hose under the dash is (of course) limited. It  was worse in this case as the jubilee clip was corroded and it was a close run thing between the clip unscrewing or the screw head cracking off. Luckily the screw turned and I was able to release the clip. Although I could access both the jubilee clips on the joining piece, there was no room to swivel the hose off the joiner and to make room I had to remove the top of the elbow hose from the heater matrix. Access to this was impossible from below but since I had already removed the instrument pod I found I could reach it through this.

View of heater hose connections from underneath the raised dash pod. The orange component is the water control valve and associated cables- this gets in the way of accessing the other lower heater matrix elbow hose. The jubilee clip at the top of this lower elbow is just visible in the extreme bottom left of the frame formed by removing the instrument pod where the lower hose enters the bottom of the heater matrix. It could be unscrewed through the binnacle- I will see if this can be better positioned on refitting.

I was able to unscrew the jubilee clip at the end of the elbow hose where it attaches to the lower inlet of the heater matrix. The hose could then be levered back off the matrix spigot. Once this end of the hose was free it was possible to rotate the hose and so work it gradually off the joiner until the elbow hose was free.

Elbow hose released.

This left the top of the longer elbow hose (eventually to water pump) exposed with the joiner sticking out of it..

Corroded joiner still in position in lower elbow hose.

The joiner could be gradually worked loose using a screwdriver to break the adhesion between hose and joiner. Eventually this joiner also came free.

Joiner section removed- heavily corroded.

For some reason these joiners (of which there were two in this hose) are made of mild steel; which seems an odd choice for a high end car. I have already replaced one and will replace this one too with aluminium.

Long elbow hose still in position penetrating through the grommet. Rusty deposits are visible inside.

 Both hoses were clearly still dirty; they were quite crunchy when squeezed and seemed to have rusty deposits inside. The smaller hose was removed and rinsed through after squeezing to break off the deposits.

I didn't think it was likely that I could replace the long elbow hose easily (or even at all) since access up the transmission tunnel from underneath is very awkward and the fit through the grommet is tight. I did my best to clean out the pipe in position by squeezing it to break off deposits and brushing it through with a bottle brush to dislodge what I could. I want these hoses to seal onto the new joiner and rusty scale on the inside would prevent this.

While I was under the dashboard I did notice these two free wire connections: One is a double female bullet receiver connecting to two yellow and green wires, the second is a single male bullet connected through what looks like a suppression condensor. I don't know what these are supposed to serve but I suspect its something to do with long vanished audio equipment and presumably the screw holes in the centre console that I have had to repair. I will have to check, but in my earlier investigations I didn't find anything that wasn't receiving power so I'm hoping these are functionless.

Longer condensor wire- suppressor?

Condensor wire again but second female bullet on 2 yellow/green wires also visible.

Investigation shows that YG wires are used for Heater fans, ACU, Radio and otter switch. I know that the radio works and I don't have an ACU. Otter switch function is unknown but as I recall shorting the switch does now allow the fan to operate so I think that connection must be OK. I can't remember if I have ever tested the heater fans. The fact that this appears to be a junction of 2 YG wires does suggest that it could be from the two heater fans which both feed into a single fuse (no 17). However, this is not how the wiring is drawn in the diagrams. I will test and hope that the heater fans work- in which case I can assume that this contact is for the ACU and so not required.

I ordered a new aluminium hose joiner 80 mm long from Merlin Motorsport. It arrived promptly.

New vs old. Aluminium hose joiner 80mm seamless tube

Fitting was relatively straightforward once you have wriggled into position. I used corrosion block grease on the joiner to help it slip into the hoses and then fixed it in place with new jubilee clips. Since these clips are always going to be awkward I can't really risk them rusting again so I worked copper anti-seize grease into their threads before fitting. They were positioned for screw-head access from the foot-well with care that the clip bodies can't contact and chafe the other heater hose.

Heater hose re-fitted- all screws angled for access from foot-well; gaps ensured between clips and the second heater hose.

Finally I used some spray lube on the cable connections at the water control valve as this hasn't been used for a long time and may well be stiff.
I will also fit a little extra heater hose in the engine compartment as I'm not happy with the hose routing it was very tight on the dipstick and block and doesn't really fit into the hose retainer on the timing belt guard.

Lower heater hose routing- hose runs tight over the solenoid of the starter and immediately below the breather hose which will connect to the air box when its fitted.

I re-routed the hose sightly higher- I think this is better but it now has opportunity to rub on the solenoid and will probably be squashed against the air box breather when that's fitted- so I'm still not totally happy with it.

Boot carpet/trim panels

Currently I'm waiting on a pipe joiner for the heater pipe- this means I cant make progress on the heater- thus the pedal box and thus the clutch adjustment, carburettor adjustment/flood cure or engine timing!

I can however get on with a few little jobs and as I'm tired of kicking the boot mats about in the garage, I decided to fit these and sort out the jack handle stowage. Not earth shattering stuff but this is what I did.

One of the 3 clips that hold the jack handle was broken- I removed the jack cover and fitted a new clip. At the same time the hardboard was warped and had pulled away from the wooden strengthener so I ...

... peeled back the carpet and screwed the board back onto the wood at each end.


Using countersunk screws so the heads would vanish.


Final effect was a straight board. I cleaned the carpet and also the area in the boot where it should fit...


and sprayed carpet adhesive over the boot floor and the carpet section  as well as any areas on to of the board where the carpet had started to pull away...



before sticking the section back in place.

The spare wheel cover presented a slight problem as I had two: one came with the car and the other was acquired with my spare motor. They were different; one was made of hardboard with a strengthening rib down the fuel tank side. This one also had two studs at the rear of the car and a toolkit strap underneath. The parts manual identifies this as a post 85 boot floor, the presence of the strap but lack of a ridge to retain a toolbox suggests this was made for a tool roll. However my car is an '84 and the second boot floor matches that in the parts book. The studs are absent replaced with the vecro or stickle-brick type of fastening spot I have found all over the car... as an aside when I first found them I thought they were so cheap, nasty and ineffective that they must have been put in by the LBPO- I am amazed to find that they are in fact original Lotus fittings! If I had paid full price for this car at the time, I might perhaps have questioned that part choice. Anyway this board is stiffer plywood painted black but lacking the studs, side reinforcement and centre strap. It does give me a bit of a puzzle because the underside of these panels isn't shown in the parts book, so I don't know if my boot floor is a replacement board and so should have had the tool roll strap.

Later boot floor- mounting studs, metal rib along the edge and tool roll strap

close up of stud- my car has no sockets for these.

This I think is the right floor for my car- sticky plastic spots, no rib and no strap- but is this original?

I  was lucky that the correct floor does appear to be the black one as the hardboard floor had been water damaged and would need replacing. I do not yet know whether I should transfer the toolkit strap to the black floor as I don't know* if it ever had one here so until I find out I'm simply going to leave it.

* Answer from another owner of an older Excel... The tool roll is stowed beside the jack, no strap fitted to boot floor panel! - Great news .. saves me a job!

The boot floor is made to be removable to give access to the spare wheel. For this purpose it has two handles formed of webbing loops, one either side. One of these was fine- the other had frayed and pulled out. I peeled back the carpet over the webbing mounting and found it was simply stapled on.

 I could remove the staples and made a new handle with a fresh loop of webbing. I stapled this on and hammered the staples in. I made the fold-over region slightly thicker in an attempt to make it better wearing.

Finally, I could spray adhesive over the carpet and exposed board before letting it flash off and then sticking the carpet back down over the new handle...

 ...and installing the floor in the boot to cover the spare wheel well.

The rear panel of the boot presented a slight problem; again I have two and they are of slightly different design- differing at the extreme right hand side where they go beside the battery. The parts manual doesn't identify these changes. However one board was very damaged and the other was in better condition so, since the differences are apparent only on the battery side (where they will eventually be covered by the battery case), I decided to fit the  panel that was in better condition. Before I started I tied up the tank vent hose and loose wiring so that it runs tidily across the tank and drops its connectors in the right positions for the flow lock, fuel pump and boot courtesy light switch. The two battery leads were carefully routed out so that they could reach the terminals without stretching either the wires or bending the rear panel.

The rear panel is held by two screwed tabs on the base and three screws at the top. Each base tab has two screw holes

board mounting lug: two screwhole for fixings.

... and these should fit into holes in the boot floor hidden under the side carpets.

 However in my case both of these were stripped out and enlarged. They seem to penetrate into  a foam-filled part of the body so there is nothing for the screws to grip inside. Overall, self tappers would no longer hold unless I upgraded to improbably large screws. I therefore decided to drill out these holes to 5.5 mm and fit aluminium M6 rivnuts.

Rivnuts installed

 These could easily take an M6 headed machine screw to give a firm mounting both sides.

Lower tabs screwed down.

The top mounts are simply self-tapping screws that fix into these top brackets.

Angle bracket for self tapping screw

I could push the panel back and screw it into these brackets using black flanged trim screws..

The LPBO had bodged several areas of the boot side trim (basically vertical carpet) with double-sided tape which never works. I went round the boot respraying those dog-eared sections of side trim that were detaching and sticking them back up.  Overall the boot could do with another clean but its in, its firm and its relatively tidy!

Boot panels in position

Battery will eventually need a cover- I do have the original cover but as I have upgraded to a higher capacity battery neither the mountings nor the case will actually fit- but that's a job for another day.

I renovated the trim panels (lefgt and right light rear panel) boot lock cover and battery cover. The boot lock cover was cracked; superglue was ineffective but a hot glue gun did the trick.

Boot catch and light surround repaired and installed with new screws

rear light back cover-Right hand

Rear light cover- Left hand