1985 Lotus Excel Redblock FAST WEDGE 2.3 Turbo shatatatataaa

[crazyed]

** follow picture updates on my Insta**
Excel_940


Sooooooo.

My good friend Luke decided to let me into a secret. 

and that was a Lotus excel was for sale...... foolish I asked for more info. which somehow lead me to drive out to his friends place and leave some money with his friend.

The end result was me asking more friend for more favours and later a collection of this Lotus Excel .

[fogey]

No Picture!!! We need to see this!!!

[crazyed]

First things first.

get a complimentary photo.


now its off I can do the important first modifications..

MODIFICATIONS SO FAR.
1. Decat
2. DPF Delete
3. EGR Delete blanking plate installed

haahhahahahahahahahhaha

[crazyed]

so when we got some time spare we started by removing the donar engine and gearbox from a willing
Volvo 940 Classic.

these engines are called Volvo Redblocks and are a fantastic 8v 4 cylinder turbo charged engine.
the one I have is a B230FK somehow its a rather restricted 120-130BHP from a 2.3 turbo.

but fear not. we have a few things to remedy this.










Thanks Nige for your help

[crazyed]

being the impatient person I am... I couldn't resist by just trying to squeeze it in to see if it would fit...and how far I would have to convert this to a reliant robin before id removed to much.

[crazyed]

now first of all this picture is its first install.... it sits fairly well.
but not perfect.

[crazyed]

since then we have trimmed the front cross member down around half the size.
and removed the original engine mounts.
also the inlet for the heater box was fowling the distributer at the back of the engine.
for now we removed it. but in the future we will be running coil packs on a wasted spark system.
but for now we did this

[crazyed]

what we found next was that when the engine was in the gearbox was fowling on the tunnel.
but to remove the part of the tunnel to get the gearbox level we needed to remove the sorry interior.

[crazyed]

:DI still haven't removed the dash/ final carpets etc.
we have been a little busy with other things.

but we had a quick test trial of these bad boys.

[79cord]

You won't want to be cutting into that trans tunnel much. Backbone chassis makes it about the most structurally important part of the car!

[crazyed]

Oct 6, 2020 8:56:25 GMT 79cord said:

You won't want to be cutting into that trans tunnel much. Backbone chassis makes it about the most structurally important part of the car!

You worry to much. Nothing you cant glue back in later

[Deleted]

Interesting project there!
Bookmarked.

[steveg]

I like the look of this. I've got a 940 and that goes quite well with a minor increase in boost, should be lots of fun in a lighter car.
It's possible to fit a front mounted distributor, goes in the blanked hole behind the alternator if you don't want go for anything too complicated. The Volvo ECU is chippable but you need to use the ignition one as well. With a different chip and a boost controller or different wastegate you can run 14psi with very little trouble.

[crazyed]

Oct 6, 2020 12:06:13 GMT steveg said:

I like the look of this. I've got a 940 and that goes quite well with a minor increase in boost, should be lots of fun in a lighter car.
It's possible to fit a front mounted distributor, goes in the blanked hole behind the alternator if you don't want go for anything too complicated. The Volvo ECU is chippable but you need to use the ignition one as well. With a different chip and a boost controller or different wastegate you can run 14psi with very little trouble.

For now the minor adjustments to the bulkhead should be enough. In the future I think I will go with a wasted spark. But for now it’s build it and get it in. Then fancy shiney bits can be added later.
The ECU I have I have installed a Boosted Billy chip. Chatted with him and he suggests that his set up with a TD04 19T, an IPD turbo cam (or something more aggressive), 3" exhaust from turbo all the way back, larger intercooler with 2.5" pipes and injectors no smaller than 440cc. Is running around 280bhp.
But with that I’d need to install an LSD, better brakes... I expect a clutch that can handle that..... the list goes on.

So other than a mild increase in boost for now bring it near the 170ish figure (that’s what the lotus excel SE version is roughly ) then I shall build from that.

[crazyed]

wow look at this...it must be real....
confirmed by a guy on Facebook.....its legit.

[crazyed]

todays efforts ..its not much but almost cleared space so hopefully when I cut a whole in the tunnel the gearbox will fit



last time it was on the road.

[steveg]

[/quote]
For now the minor adjustments to the bulkhead should be enough. In the future I think I will go with a wasted spark. But for now it’s build it and get it in. Then fancy shiney bits can be added later.
The ECU I have I have installed a Boosted Billy chip. Chatted with him and he suggests that his set up with a TD04 19T, an IPD turbo cam (or something more aggressive), 3" exhaust from turbo all the way back, larger intercooler with 2.5" pipes and injectors no smaller than 440cc. Is running around 280bhp.
But with that I’d need to install an LSD, better brakes... I expect a clutch that can handle that..... the list goes on.

So other than a mild increase in boost for now bring it near the 170ish figure (that’s what the lotus excel SE version is roughly ) then I shall build from that.[/quote]

I fitted a early solid flywheel and diesel clutch about 10 years ago now and it's just started slipping so I am gathering parts including a ttv flywheel and slightly grippier clutch. A friend had a standard Excel, it went well enough but the standard engines are a bit too specialist considering their output, be interesting to read what you think of yours when it's finished.

[crazyed]

managed to trim some transmission tunnel and re sit the engine again to see how she looked now.

[crazyed]

Oct 6, 2020 8:56:25 GMT 79cord said:

You won't want to be cutting into that trans tunnel much. Backbone chassis makes it about the most structurally important part of the car!

fear not....its only fibre glass iv had to remove

[crazyed]

look how pretty she looks