At the top of the rear seat backrest there SHOULD be three strips of metal that poke through holes into the boot space, and are then twisted 90 deg to hold the backrest in place. It looks in your vid (4:08) that these strips have been folded forward and so are not doing their job.

Soak that rear bit of carpet with petrol or nail remover (acetone) to release the glue? Save you taking the rear window out? Epic work.

Veltrim - don't forget to look at this Neil too (as an alternative). Great video by the way.

It's nice to see the common technique between the Lotus models providing the same challenges. I've almost finished my restoration and back on the road so know what you still have to go. Good luck and enjoy it.

Great work Neil, I admire your courage and persistence! Looking forward to seeing how you tackle the rest of the interior!

Great video. I like your comment of ...proven to be a bit of a challenge... nothing is truly simple. Great job.

You have done very well The Police were unkind to say the least

Your car is coming along very nicely

It has sure been neglected - painful to see Mine is immaculate and I hope yours is by now

The door handles on mine have been an eternal pain

Such neglect is painful to see I hope you give the car what attention it deserves

That engine bay is a disgrace

How the other half live lol.. Thanks Neil, great to see the Excel ❤

Congratulations getting the Lotus to pass the MOT ! I was smiling (ironically) a bit when seeing you going 4 times to get it passed. But I can guarantee you that Luxembourg is not different from Germany or Switzerland regarding MOT. I imported & registered a few english cars here and even they passed the British MOT, they failed here. For instance, if braided brake lines are considered superior, they are not accepted here unless the manufacturer has used them on this car/model. I'm also considering buying an Excel in the UK and then converting it to LHD here.

Hey Neil, wow what a trip! You did so well documenting your journey - how many miles was it in total? And the fuel pump! you know my thoughts about connectors... solder every one :) Good luck for the return trip!

Well done for fixing it and getting to the bottom of it with the fuel pump in front of an audience. I'm sure the rest of the trip will go brilliantly :)

Well done but double check that accelerator cable. I had an Excel SA several years ago and nearly had an accident when on a test run to check the kick down was working I pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor and it stuck down. I managed to get my toe under the pedal and prise it back up again but it was a very scary few seconds while at full throttle with the speed building rapidly I frantically worked my foot to find a place to lever the pedal up.

Nuts should be the shorter T-type, which is 0.5" tall, rather than the full height P-type, which is 0.59".

Top work again. One of my rear speakers has randomly stopped working, hopefully the speaker has blown rather than a wiring issue to trace. Something to look at soon. 28 MPG sounds seems good to me, this year I'm making the effort to track fuel and mileage, so far only one result which suggested around 23MPG, although that did include an MOT and cambelt service elsewhere so assume some time idling. Hopefully with warmer weather and some longer journeys I'll get it closer to your effort.

I feel your pain Neil :) Very brave going for a proper drive! well done :)

Love the numberplate! :) And I'm restoring an 1987 SE at the moment so your videos are seriously welcome. Can't wait to se your dash board vid - mine needs doing too.

These guys are amazing. Such a fantastic resource for the cars

Great to watch what you are doing! Just bought an Excel SE to restore with my enthusiastic 9 Year Old. it's a first for me starting on mechanics so well happy to see your posts. Thankyou.

You should get a pair of smaller narrow “ pumps” even for driving - it gets much easier then.

Older tyres increase road noise hugely. Get them changed asap. The rear looks a little high re suspension. Can you check it?

Top stuff, congratulations. It's been quite the journey and sounds like like that will continue one way or another! Like many, I find MOTs a worry as it's quite difficult to check for everything. Thankfully my 'new' Excel passed last month without any real concerns, but a test centre next door to a Lotus specialist probably helps.

Well done! As a TVR owner I can appreciate the MOT trials and tribulations!

I feel for you. "Upgrades" from standard spec are a potential minefield. Not sure I would have gone down a removing washers route though.

Your MOT was very good. So helpful for safety, well done for going again and again as you have taken a Lotus from death to ALIVE. Plus your leaking pipes were really very important. Congrats as i too will be following you completely with my Lotus, but here no MOT is needed so will get it checked by a engineer mate.

Congratulations. Amazing work. I'm looking forward to seeing the Excel driving to Sicily. I think it's great that you're pitting it on the road and using it.

Those OZ wheels are notoriously soft. I found that a quick trip to Italy and some of their back roads soon knocked a square one back into shape ;) Well done with the horn. On the later cars, where the compressor is in the light pod and the horns in front of the rad., you can get a modern nautilus horn into the pod. Of course, that means that the noise comes from one corner of the car, rather than the middle - but it's a cheap and easy fix and only the most anal of concours judges would notice.

very rewarding to fit your own tires, but then there is balancing- I bought 'old' used hubs for my VW bus and my wife's Honda on ebay- spacers fitted for use on my pendulum (motorcycle type) balancer- I took 300g off each Honda wheel and added around 30g ! ! ; )

Tye Age - Generally in a box, like 0208 would be 2nd week of 2008. Or 1515 would be 15th week of 2015. But tyre ages over 20 yrs may have nothing, as nothing was normal back then.

Promo-SM 🌺

I've owned my 89SE nearly 25years. It's a good long distance GT. Mine has a light steel flywheel and an electric water pump. Both mods release torque all through the rev range. Ignition issues can hold them back too. Low speed performance significantly improved. The 160 bhp low compression engine isn't better than the HC 912 engine at low revs in my experience, having owned both. Good to see an Excel on KZfaq. Keep the faith.

I had one in the 80s used it in London did many miles brilliant car.

im intrigued why anyone would buy one of these from new to the present day? what does it do thats good? compared to everything bad about it, in my opinion your better off taking up smoking as far as your health and wallet goes

Use proper penetrating oil instead of wd 40. It’s just a water displacer

Went there many years ago for parts for my Esprit Turbo and Turbo SE,got all parts that i needed at a real good price plus another Esprit.Real decent folk.

I had a red Excel followed by a dark blue Excel SE as my daily driver back in the late 80's very early 90's. Really enjoyable to drive and in hindsight surprisingly reliable. They were an affordable route to exotic performance motoring. I still think the styling is fantastic, though I appreciate it will not appeal to everyone.

IT will get more lively when revs get up to 3500 and on the cam , at 60 to 70 mph throw it in to a double bend and just as you think oh my Christ the suspension really starts to work . Mine two never rattled ? are the roads rough ? out there . Nice to see it is going ok .😁 They will potter round town ok and good mpg , then on a windy A road at over the 3500 revs in all gears watch out as Collin comes out from under the seats and the exhaust notes changes . Have fun .

Wow!, there was me thinking you was in the UK midlands, especially when you visited Lotusbits... Please how is it you did not choose a LHD Lotus. But sounds and looks good.

Looks like it's on stilts at the rear.

Look good Neil, you looked very chuffed with yourself 👍

Nice to see her on the road Neil 😀

happy holidays neil! better late then never😃

My headlight was juddering the same. Got a second hand motor off ebay and it sorted it.

Merry Christmas !!

Thanks Neill.. 👍

happy holidays to you and your family!