GTK

Anything to avoid that horrible mess of overheated tape adhesive that can be all over a loom. Cleaning that is a pita. Would love something in a heat shrink that would remain a bit more flexible than heat shrink would.

Cool stuff Rolls, found much wrong?

There's a man out there who takes his bodging very seriously, he's a master. In his spare time he trims Bonsai trees off at the stem.

Still a little anxious that I don't make a mess of it, but I'll take my time and all will be well hopefully.

Oh yee [of more experience] and little faith. The only way to go here Danny boy is absolute perfection, if I thought the best I could manage was some over-plating I'd start saving for a replacement chassis. The worst that can happen is I fu&k it up. Oh wait, we're already there Thanks dude

Ah! Not the Guinness this time, just late night posting. The “lighter” thought was an over contracted sentence that would have read “also made from lighter material”. Alu or if that wouldn’t suffice; titanium. Even I read that and think OTT

In light of some new information, I may have said that a little prematurely I have many questions, some fairly fundamental, so I'm going to go do a lot of reading. But I'm curious about why the large shims are only available in three sizes? I mean if those two on the N/S of my car are 1.5mm, am I wrong in thinking it'd be better to have a single 3mm spacer. I know it's possible when I'm done with repairs I'll need a whole other shim setup, but conceptually; could I figure out the optimal setup and then reduce the number of shims by making single ones in the appropriate size? Also, lighter.

On a whim myself and one of the body shop lads tried lifting the body, just the two of us. We did it easily, one at either end. I'd be surprised if there's more than 200kg in it, and I think something like a Mk1 Golf shell would be more like 300kg. I've read Golf enthusiasts posts that support that, some suggest up to 360kg bare. Then again, the Golf obviously doesn't need a separate chassis.

the structuraliest 😄 Ferk me about sums it up yeah. I won't be surprised if it's twisted either. I fancied I could see a twist standing at the front looking aft, but there was so much visual interference from pipes and wires and flat tyres, and not least that dent in the aft section, that it was difficult to be sure. I foresee a proper chassis jig, and geo alignments in the not so distant future. Actually that plan has always been to bring a chassis builder into the picture at some point, but the guy I had in mind is a reclusive type and I doubt seriously he'd be interested. I'd love to have a chat with Matt Becker too, that'd be the ultimate.

Well I finally have a stripped Esprit. VERY excited!

I'll do an interview with a [good] galv specialist, but I've already had a lengthy conversation with one when I was daydreaming about a spec for my two door Range Rover. Basically the potential for distortion when something is galvanised is down to how conscientiously it's done. The preheat time before the dip, and the cool down time after the dip are crucial, and made more difficult in the case of the cool down because on the one hand you ideally want to let it cool very gradually, but you have to wash it in certain chemicals soon after it emerges to finish the galv process. Not good for gradual cooling. So I could imagine Lotus [Winterbottom] would have experienced some distortion because they were dealing in a production run of chassis, and so less time would have been given each one. Whereas Dave you're chassis was a once time deal for the specialist, and you obviously had a good one. So here's a video of my chassis strip and some detailed shots of the shims, and holes that have been cut in it. Unfortunately I'd already recorded the voice over before we had this chat so I couldn't include the tasty info, and I may have gotten the point about shims ideally being used like for like side to side wrong.

Yeah I've gradually started to suspect that attitude although I still don't want to believe it. I'd love to think I could get the setup symmetrical, I mean being pragmatic in the light of things that's probably far fetched, but let's see what I can uncover.

deadly conversation lads, has really helped. Steve was saying there should be a mx of three shim washers on the radius mount bolt, so if mine has four and still needed the two large 1.5mm shims to correct it then somehow the chassis is narrow, where toe in is concerned. I just remembered that the rear of the radius arm mount has been digging into the back of the engine mount plate, so perhaps the two big shims were partly to give the mount enough clearance? Regardless I'm going to have to get some careful measurements, maybe try and find someone with a frame jig to put it on for reference. It's not like I'll be finding another one, so it has to be put right by hook or by crook.

Two interesting developments. I got my hands on an original [1979] Esprit S2 Owner's Handbook.... The wiki page for Kerb weight seems to have been written with the Esprit in mind;

I'd love to rock up to a laser alignment place with a bare chassis slung on my shoulder and ask them to align the wheels, dead pan 😂 Been searching for said article, no joy yet but other interesting things thrown up. I suppose whatever the case I just need to get it as close to symmetrical as I can. No pressure then.

I'm with you both @eeyoreish and @Jacques ✌ As a guy trying to produce a decent bit of viewing in a relatively short time, the single topic episodes still demand a lot of work but by comparison to the more eclectic ones they're a relief. I've pulled them back to where they are now to play with the format and force development. The interviews will return, I actually have four or five in the can awaiting release. The episodes will stay 20min or less, hopefully more like 15 mins or less, but arrive sooner. So it'll be predominantly car work, a minimum of me blabbing to camera and concise snippets of interviews. The full [almost unedited] versions will be available to my patrons. That gives everyone the option and means I'm doing something directly for the people who are essentially my exec. producers.

Thanks lads. Knew they were for toe in, was hoping it wasn't uncommon to find the big ones on one side only. Well it looks like they are a pair of 1.5mm ones. There are four small washer shims on both sides too. So all in all not sounding good if I've an extra small on both sides, and the two large on one side. Btw, before I stripped the car the rear wheels were visibly toed in. Well that's how they looked in relation to the body anyway.

I have a bare chassis now and I'm worried it's out of whack, which wouldn't be a surprise given how abused it is. The crux of the matter is the two large shims I found between the the nearside radius arm mount [N/S on a domestic market car] and the chassis [pic]. There aren't corresponding shims on the offside. That can't be good can it? So scratching my head I wondered whether, given the engine mounting plates are integral to the radius arm ones, perhaps this part of the chassis is a-symmetrical and the two odd shims are by design. Sure enough the gap between the radius arm mounting plate and the engine mounting plate seems* different offside to nearside. I didn't do anything more than a quick and very rough measurement so I could be wrong. Both sides did have four small shims each [washers] between the radius arm and it's mount. Do you know what I'm talking about, and if you're with me, do you know what's going on?

Mine's all apart at the moment. I might go round to the mechanics next door and see if they have any of those cars in their 'will deal with that later' park. If they do; I'll do some testing and report back.

Thanks lads. If only I could forget the Range Rover, it's not pleasant outside anymore and there's still some work to be done. Comin' at you from the tent btw ⛺ The old mobile personal hotspot is a gift.

The light in the photo makes it! I did a very quick moodification but someone with more time to go over the glares and refine could make it epic.

WARNING! Viewers may find some Esprit scenes distressing.

:doh:

... +1 for eeyoreish's question, sounds like these will bolt straight to anything pre '85. Is that right @top-plumber