Farewell Excel

Well guys, this is my last post in this blog. I have now sold the Excel. I hope it will give the new owner years of service, he certainly hot a bargain with me losing some £1500-2000 on the deal, but then it was never really about money. Its been a journey, I've learnt a lot and I hope what I shared will help you. This has been by far the most popular of my blogs so thank you for coming with me.

I expect I will not be able to remain Lotus-less for ever but currently having a daughter at Uni is taking most of the dosh and Im backed up with bikes to fix anyway! Having said that I do expect to be back in something Lotus-shaped eventually although I may go to the dark side.... If anyone knows of a Europa or Esprit thats in need of a good home and some tlc please get in touch!
Cheers all
Mike

Alternator regulator swap Motorola 9AR2637P

 I was also under the impression that the internal regulators fitted in the alternator  couldn't be changed without changing the complete unit. However, the regulator can be replaced; its a small finned box on the rear of the alternator. 

At first it was hard to track down the necessary parts. The parts manual confirms that Lotus used two alternators in the Excel- mine being the earlier type. However, beyond stating that they are Motorola 70amp units there are no details on either. I couldn't see an alternator spec label on mine but found it hidden beneath; and this states that I have a type 9AR2637P of specification 14V, 70A, SEM45, AN8J (?). I don't know what many of these later designations mean' Motorola itself seems to be known as Valeo now.

Label- a little faded

A second shot of label

The regulator is the finned box located at the rear of the alternator.

Rear view of alternator- regulator unit

The regulator has been used in many models of alternator and car. Equivalents are manufactured by many firms- or rather "were" as they seem to be very scarce nowadays. Some selected regulator part numbers for my alternator are given below:
Lucas UCB500, 21229047, 21229114, 21229141; Motorcraft EGR305; Bosch F 042 320 290; Hella 5DR 004 241-041; Ford 5018316, 6048270, 77BB10316 (and ditto postfixed A and AA). Of these I could only find branded units by Hella and these were very expensive. Cheaper replacements  are available from a variety of suppliers at around £10 but these are smooth cased lacking fins. Further, their actual manufacturer isn't clear. However, this is what I can get so I ordered one of the these from VECO.

This arrived in due course and turns out to be branded "Cargo" and made in China.

Swap was straightforward.

Windscreen trim leather

Not much to say about this process, but the problem was that this year's ridiculous summer temperatures (and my own inefficient leather care program) meant the the leather windscreen surrounds had shrunk. The dash-top trim shortened and the  leather lining the side A pillars also shrank and shrivelled. 

LHS, leather trim peeled back from A pillar- this side wasnt as bad as the right.

I have previously made a leather coated plug to cover the side gaps between dash-top trim (see post) and A pillar- these are now too small and will need to be replaced.  The A pillar trim was more problematic- the leather was now stiff and hard so I treated it with conditioner every day for 2 weeks in an attempt to revive it and restore suppleness. The effect wasn't great but there was an improvement. I'd been told that repair of these pillars would be very hard because they were installed and bonded from the outside before the windscreen was fitted. I don't have that luxury but I managed to use Evostick impact adhesive using a small wooden spatula to spread a coat over the inside of the leather, the foam backing and the A pillar itself (wooden trim revealed here). You need to wait 5-10 min for it to go tacky before pressing the leather back into place. Finally I held the trim back in position using a strip of wood and a carpenters clamp. You may need to reach between windscreen and the face of the trim to push that short return into place. I clamped for 3 hours after which time the leather was stuck back in place. Its still more wrinkled than it was but its no longer the extreme eyesore I had previously.

Using a clamp to hold the trim back on the A pillar- note wooden strip to exert an even pressure.

RHS viewed from outside after repair- leather trim back in place.

I also bought some faux leather vinyl in blue to make any small patches required.