JPS Project

[Burg57]

2 hours ago, Burg57 said:

Hello DJS, I am in a similar position to you as I'm currently restoring number 82! I'm probably a little further forward than you, my body is in primer awaiting top coat, engine is in the machine shop and the chassis is almost finished. 

Also you mentioned the broken lever on the heater box, mine was broken too! Could have fabricated something from steel but being a bit of a purist I got one machined in alloy, I know that nobody will ever know apart from those that read this but I do and that's what it's all about. 

 

[Burg57]

It's now starting to get sexy

[Djs44]

On 05/03/2021 at 17:55, Burg57 said:

It's now starting to get sexy

Oh , that is looking nice . Mine has stalled waiting parts etc but hopefully it will be full steam ahead in the next 6 weeks. 

I am waiting for the seat trim samples to arrive - how are your seats ??

Just now, Djs44 said:

Oh , that is looking nice . Mine has stalled waiting parts etc but hopefully it will be full steam ahead in the next 6 weeks. 

I am waiting for the seat trim samples to arrive - how are your seats ??

I bought a plastic lever from SJ - your machined one looks great  

[Paul Coleman]

On 05/03/2021 at 17:55, Burg57 said:

It's now starting to get sexy

 

 

Wow, another Esprit owner in Bedford!

[Lotusfab]

On 02/12/2020 at 08:58, Djs44 said:

Disaster 

The " spare"  seat trim is quite different to the original ( and the row spec ) so I have a seat with a hole in it and nothing to repair it with . Any ideas ??

Take it to Steve Fulcher at Fulcher coachtrimmer. He will sort it.

[Djs44]

3 hours ago, Lotusfab said:

Take it to Steve Fulcher at Fulcher coachtrimmer. He will sort it.

Does he have the material ?

[Lotusfab]

I don’t know, but I am sure he will have a solution.

[Djs44]

I did get a quote from him a while ago to do the whole interior . He can obviously chose his customers . 

I can’t  see how the issue can be resolved without the correct material which isn’t currently available ... 

[Lotusfab]

I am no expert but I have seen Steve make invisible repairs to other damaged seats. Take a photo, send him it and ask what he can do. Maybe a similar material can be tinted to match and joined in? Whatever happens you will get some good advice on how to proceed.

Judging by the body you want the interior spot on.

[Djs44]

1 hour ago, Lotusfab said:

I am no expert but I have seen Steve make invisible repairs to other damaged seats. Take a photo, send him it and ask what he can do. Maybe a similar material can be tinted to match and joined in? Whatever happens you will get some good advice on how to proceed.

Judging by the body you want the interior spot on.

I have a 3 inch hole in one seat . 
Which is a shame as otherwise the seats are fine 

I have a local co doing my interior for around 20%  of the quote from Steve . Not like for like as I’ve removed and will refit all the bits . 
And I’m sure his work is excellent , I’m spending the money on the running gear and body 

The  body pics aren’t mine , it is waiting for the Master , next in the queue and I can’t wait 👍🏻

[Lotusfab]

Oh sorry need to read more carefully! I understand the cost issue and need to control the spend. I spent a lot of time with Steve whilst my car was trimmed. We are talking an as new factory correct trim. This takes months of work. The seats were stripped back to a bare metal frame. This was welded and repaired, as in a lot of cases the cross bar has detached. This was sprayed. The Pirelli webbing was cut from new rubber and secured with new clips. The seat foam was repaired or remade as appropriate and reshaped where it has sagged over the years. This is a lot of work before you even start to trim. There are a lot of trimmers who will just make new seat covers and thats it. The problem is the finish will be poor and the seat won’t look good after sitting on it for a few months. I understand why a quote may seem a good deal but you have to ask yourself what will they do for the money? Its not possible to match the quality without experience and cutting patterns for each Lotus model. The tell tale sign on the S1 is the dash stitching. The twin needle stitch line around the dash is always perfect on Steves trim. Others I have seen have an interesting take in it!
The same thoroughness is applied to the fibreglass panels. Before any trimming they are stripped down, all glue removed, repaired with new glass and then trimmed. Its very difficult to compare quality in pictures. Far better to look at a car Steve has done and compare it with another. He has an S1 there at the moment. You could always ask to have a look. When the covid is over.

You may be able to rescue the original trim. It may look like its not repairable but Steve has some amazing repair techniques. Worth asking before you trash the existing trim. The JPS is a stunning car. Whatever way you go I am sure it will look amazing.

Heres some seat pics. They don’t do justice to the time it takes to create a Lotus seat.

I have skipped a lot of stages as Incan’t post them all. Most trims look ok in pictures or at a distance. The real test is when you see it for yourself.

[Burg57]

That looks stunning, probably better than when it was new! As you say, difficult to put a price on the best!

[Djs44]

1 hour ago, Lotusfab said:

Oh sorry need to read more carefully! I understand the cost issue and need to control the spend. I spent a lot of time with Steve whilst my car was trimmed. We are talking an as new factory correct trim. This takes months of work. The seats were stripped back to a bare metal frame. This was welded and repaired, as in a lot of cases the cross bar has detached. This was sprayed. The Pirelli webbing was cut from new rubber and secured with new clips. The seat foam was repaired or remade as appropriate and reshaped where it has sagged over the years. This is a lot of work before you even start to trim. There are a lot of trimmers who will just make new seat covers and thats it. The problem is the finish will be poor and the seat won’t look good after sitting on it for a few months. I understand why a quote may seem a good deal but you have to ask yourself what will they do for the money? Its not possible to match the quality without experience and cutting patterns for each Lotus model. The tell tale sign on the S1 is the dash stitching. The twin needle stitch line around the dash is always perfect on Steves trim. Others I have seen have an interesting take in it!
The same thoroughness is applied to the fibreglass panels. Before any trimming they are stripped down, all glue removed, repaired with new glass and then trimmed. Its very difficult to compare quality in pictures. Far better to look at a car Steve has done and compare it with another. He has an S1 there at the moment. You could always ask to have a look. When the covid is over.

You may be able to rescue the original trim. It may look like its not repairable but Steve has some amazing repair techniques. Worth asking before you trash the existing trim. The JPS is a stunning car. Whatever way you go I am sure it will look amazing.

Heres some seat pics. They don’t do justice to the time it takes to create a Lotus seat.

I have skipped a lot of stages as Incan’t post them all. Most trims look ok in pictures or at a distance. The real test is when you see it for yourself.

That looks brilliant . I do love the tartan seats . 

As you say it is all a compromise one way or the other . My seats don’t need a full rebuild and the dash will be like new . 

Steve quoted £15k for the retrim . I couldn’t see the value in that versus what I believe I will get for substantially less , abide I will do lots of hours myself . 

The key for me in the work I’m doing is to get the seat inserts remade . It is a special part of the JPS. 

[Lotusfab]

One thing that heavily influenced my decision to use Steve was he still had the original Tartan cloth his dad had bought from Lotus. It has Nylon weaved into it. A lot of other tartan trims use cloth that has no Nylon as it is too expensive to have the cloth remade correctly. They will look fine initially but wont last without a nylon weave. I couldn’t resist having the original Tartan in my S1. I don’t know whether Steve has some original JPS cloth?

Still think it maybe worth asking if he can repair the section in the seat. This would be far cheaper than a full retrim and you might be able to keep the car original.

The JPs is the last car on  my wish list. I should have bought the one Paul Matty had for sale about eight years ago for around £16k, live and learn! 
You could removed a small section of the seat covers and try cleaning the material, see how it comes up. Not sure if dry cleaning would work. Once again Steve would know.

[Burg57]

Wow, 15k is definitely top end for a 2 seater, friend of mine having a big 4 door Mercedes fully trimmed in leather for 16k. Top quality work though, just wish I could afford that sort of money. Mine is being done on a much much tighter budget than that. I do need to retrim the whole dash though if any of you have any recommendations, unfortunately not at Steve's prices though.  I'll post pictures of my seats when I get them down from loft but they are in pretty good shape, certainly usable but need a good clean and the gold has faded a bit as usual.  Saw a JPS advertised for sale recently and the seats really let the car down, faded and saggy (bit like I feel some days). Good luck getting the seats sorted DFS, I'll let you know if I find any solutions. 

[Djs44]

2 hours ago, Lotusfab said:

One thing that heavily influenced my decision to use Steve was he still had the original Tartan cloth his dad had bought from Lotus. It has Nylon weaved into it. A lot of other tartan trims use cloth that has no Nylon as it is too expensive to have the cloth remade correctly. They will look fine initially but wont last without a nylon weave. I couldn’t resist having the original Tartan in my S1. I don’t know whether Steve has some original JPS cloth?

Still think it maybe worth asking if he can repair the section in the seat. This would be far cheaper than a full retrim and you might be able to keep the car original.

The JPs is the last car on  my wish list. I should have bought the one Paul Matty had for sale about eight years ago for around £16k, live and learn! 
You could removed a small section of the seat covers and try cleaning the material, see how it comes up. Not sure if dry cleaning would work. Once again Steve would know.

 

[JonSE]

23 hours ago, Lotusfab said:

Oh sorry need to read more carefully! I understand the cost issue and need to control the spend. I spent a lot of time with Steve whilst my car was trimmed. We are talking an as new factory correct trim. This takes months of work. The seats were stripped back to a bare metal frame. This was welded and repaired, as in a lot of cases the cross bar has detached. This was sprayed. The Pirelli webbing was cut from new rubber and secured with new clips. The seat foam was repaired or remade as appropriate and reshaped where it has sagged over the years. This is a lot of work before you even start to trim. There are a lot of trimmers who will just make new seat covers and thats it. The problem is the finish will be poor and the seat won’t look good after sitting on it for a few months. I understand why a quote may seem a good deal but you have to ask yourself what will they do for the money? Its not possible to match the quality without experience and cutting patterns for each Lotus model. The tell tale sign on the S1 is the dash stitching. The twin needle stitch line around the dash is always perfect on Steves trim. Others I have seen have an interesting take in it!
The same thoroughness is applied to the fibreglass panels. Before any trimming they are stripped down, all glue removed, repaired with new glass and then trimmed. Its very difficult to compare quality in pictures. Far better to look at a car Steve has done and compare it with another. He has an S1 there at the moment. You could always ask to have a look. When the covid is over.

You may be able to rescue the original trim. It may look like its not repairable but Steve has some amazing repair techniques. Worth asking before you trash the existing trim. The JPS is a stunning car. Whatever way you go I am sure it will look amazing.

Heres some seat pics. They don’t do justice to the time it takes to create a Lotus seat.

I have skipped a lot of stages as Incan’t post them all. Most trims look ok in pictures or at a distance. The real test is when you see it for yourself.

With Fulchers, it’s more akin to Singer doing Porsche interiors!
 

It looks like an Esprit interior but is 1000 times better than the factory original, despite looking the same outwardly.

I met Nick at one of the Donnington Lotus shows back in the day before he passed, he had a a little stall and was doing demonstrations.

He was happy to talk about the work needed and how the originals were far from perfect. I admire anyone that can trim or work in these cars to his level. 

I can see the attraction in getting the same company to do the work that did the original Bond car, I expect that’s why there’s a queue for their work.

My own budget may only just stretch to me throwing my rough old interior back in as is, but hats off to those that give their cars this kind of treatment and keep these artisans going!

[Burg57]

Well said JonSE, it is great that people are able to produce work like this and that us mere mortals are then free to appreciate it.  I could stand and admire work of that quality for hours. 

[Burg57]

Refurbished brakes ready for installation. Looking better than new.

[v8vantage]

Great job Richard, I love seeing metal components returned to as new condition. Mine are the same on Federal "JPS" #010.

[Burg57]

Looking very pretty under there. Not many cars around as good as that underneath 

[v8vantage]

20 hours ago, Burg57 said:

Looking very pretty under there. Not many cars around as good as that underneath 

Thanks Richard. All my cars are like that, I hate getting my hands dirty when I'm working on them!

[Djs44]

Are they the original rear calipers ? Mine are missing so I have the PNM kit coming 

[Burg57]

Yes, original calipers, really pleased with the refurb work, they were pretty sh**** when I took them and now look as good as new (probably better)

[Lotusfab]

On 15/03/2021 at 19:21, Burg57 said:

Refurbished brakes ready for installation. Looking better than new.

Beware of the plating. It looks fantastic when done but doesn’t last. I got mine plated and on my Turbo and then painted over it with gold paint. All plated parts need clear lacquer where possible and no heat problems.