Refitting induction system airbox and hose

This shouldn't be a big deal. Obviously I have to set up the carbs and it would be pointless to do that if I haven't got them breathing through the air filter as they will have to do in service. The air box and trunking has been sorted so now I have to refit it to the car and include the carb trumpets. This is a bit of a milestone for me because these trumpets have been loose in the car throughout my ownership.

I'm always pleased when something that moves the job forward gives me a "first"- no matter how tenuous... OK OK, pathetic I know, but after I've been stuck in this task for so long even little victories are worth celebrating! So keen am I to get this done that I'm fitting the thing in between frequent showers which threaten to become thundery!

In my car- as I think in most early Excels and despite the illustration in the parts book, the air box is held on by 4 studs  in the carb flanges and 4 through bolts. Later cars have 8 studs. At first I thought this was a mistake but the bolt holes have no sign of ever having been threaded and questioning the forum turned up others who have the same arrangement. The bolts for mine were long gone, but replacements were easily sourced. Mine might be a little too short though as it turns out they aren't long enough to reach the bottom of a socket.
My air box was already sorted as described here ...

...and I did note the flame trap in the crankcase breather hose intake

Gauze flame trap in crankcase breather hose mounting.

It was relatively easy to offer up the air box- slipping the crankcase breather hose onto its mounting as you go- a little silicone lube helps! This is attached by an original Lotus plastic clip- not sure why Lotus used this and not a simple Jubilee but it does make the job easier. I don't usually expect Lotus to think about ease of servicing though.... The other connection I assume  is intended to join with the breather spigot but this is missing in the parts illustration. The connection however seems logical and obvious, so I will make it once I have located a suitable hose.

Crankcase breather hose slipped over air box spigot, white plastic fixing clip shown

Attaching the 8 nuts was a little tricky as access is limited. A 10mm 3/8" drive socket can slip down beside the trumpets on an extension rod, and putting the nuts inside the socket allows them to be presented to the studs where fingers cannot reach- but in my case the bolts weren't long enough to push the nuts to the base of the socket.  I found that one way of getting the trumpet bolts done up was to put both the nuts for the bolt and stud into the 10mm socket at once. Using an extn you can then thread the first nut onto its bolt, relocate the socket to the stud and thread the second- quite efficient when you get the hang  of it.

All 4 trumpets installed inside air box half

I suspect I may have to take all this off later though since several forum members comment on the difficulty of doing up the air box clips once the box is in position... I have yet to see how that can be achieved!

I reconnected the long throttle return spring- this was never connected in my ownership so I hope I have located it properly. Its another casualty of the gaps between illustrations in the parts book- the air box system is on a separate diagram from the carburettor and spring; in fact neither end of the spring is actually shown mounted. The air box eye mounting is obvious enough and the throttle arm stud seems to be the most likely target for the other end, but the "pull" is more angled than I had expected*.

Throttle arm/air box spring as installed- it runs at an angle from the air box eye mounting to the stud on the throttle arm.

* Having checked as many images as I could from other cars I think it should be a straight pull onto the throttle arm cable bracket below the cable trunnion, so I have relocated it there. I had expected a locating hole for the spring's hook and eventually I found this in the cable yoke. 

However, I soon cam to appreciate the problems referred to in the forum when I tried to fit the second half of the air box and filter. The top two and bottom right clips fastened with no trouble; but the bottom left was a different story! This clip needs to fold forward to engage with the slot on the air box front and then fold backwards to retract and secure. The problem is that this to and from movement of the clip is prevented by the solenoid below the box and the heater pipe behind. The hose is less of a problem since its both movable and compressible whereas the solenoid is neither! Although I know that later boxes had a single (unobstructed) clip at the bottom centre, I currently have no solution to this problem. I am told the answer is to partially engage this clip before mounting the first section of the air box and trumpets... This may well be so but it would make that mounting even more troublesome since the upper half of the box would then block access to the nuts that secure the box and trumpets to the carbs.

Lower left clip- obstructed by solenoid

A longer term solution may be to relocate the clip to the centre, fit a later model air box or perhaps to shorten the clip so that it can fit past the solenoid body. If I fiond a solution then I will add it later to this post. However, for the time being (and as the box will need to come off again later if I change the starter) I will simply secure it with a long cable tie whilst I try to balance the carbs.