S2!

[JonSE]

Thanks for all the feedback,

I’ve just been rereading above responses and also the threads regarding your S1 builds, with respect to the doors……thank you for the inputs as I jumped into the side bar private reg conversation and got distracted.

The build up process seems daunting @Fridge and also in view of your thread @Lotusfab, also Paul with the historical issues back in the day from your thread….

Going back to Dave’s comments about dry hanging the doors, mine came mostly complete but one was off the car, the other assembled and on the car.

Both had various bits taken off, locks / window motors etc but are still complete assemblies.

The NS door was complete and hung (seemed ok) so I removed this as a single unit, at the time with a view to take as a complete assembly to the painters. But it’s too heavy so I will need to strip both to get the skins off or risk them getting damaged anyway.

Dave, you mentioned scoring the beams which I will do to get the approximate positions of everything anyway. Window frames have the quarters in and these are staying as appear to be in OK condition.

I’ll record all the shims but to your point above Dave, the doors will need rebuilding from beam upwards anyway, so I may not faff around dry fitting them before paint and delay the rebuild as a result.

Major components will be back to me soon so need to juggle the body and mechanical space around, milestone for me to get the bare painted body back on the mechanicals, but could still be a while away!

Photo added of aerial hole filled in, deleting this to maintain the lines….

 

[Fridge]

The main takeaway about the doors whilst they are disassembled is to fit improved bushes and pins to avoid wasting time in the long run.

Phosphor-bronze are the best, and far better than the nylon ones fitted originally. I also replaced the door pin with a stainless steel items.

[JonSE]

Are these both SJ items off the shelf or engineering solutions I need to investigate, based on the several builds where you guys blazed the trail?

[Fridge]

34 minutes ago, JonSE said:

Are these both SJ items off the shelf or engineering solutions I need to investigate, based on the several builds where you guys blazed the trail?

No, but any decent machine shop could replicate them. Worth the effort! The nylon bushes are rubbish.

[Lotusfab]

23 hours ago, JonSE said:

Are these both SJ items off the shelf or engineering solutions I need to investigate, based on the several builds where you guys blazed the trail?

Matt Oxley on here sold me some.

You must fit these the plastic ones are absolute rubbish. The door will move around as they wear.

[JonSE]

My engineer friend has had the expansion tank for a while, but I’m going to scrap it…..he’s opened it up and I’m going to buy new, versus saving this thing….

The bottom pipe had rusted away, I had this happen on an SE I owned on the charge cooler circuit. Rot destroyed the outlet at the base of the tank, but clogged it so the tank looked full still!

Led to the pump burning out!!!

Is there any merit now I need a new one to adding more water capacity via a larger tank?

Looking at the state of this, I expect the cooling jacket etc to be a bit compromised.

Once a 100% new cooling system is installed, is there merit in still flushing the whole thing through a few times to purge it of any contaminants etc quite early on??

My plan remains to delete the heater matrix and replace with electric, but to maintain the water loop that exits C4 to allow the cooling that the matrix once brought with it.

Just wondering if a restrictor is required to mimic the little radiator I’m replacing or if the full flow is ok. Could even fit an aux water pump in there at the front chassis area to help with return flow…..

[JonSE]

I’d like to fit a front towing point to the car if possible.

Later cars had an option of a hidden metal loop with a spreader plate that bolted under the front floor.

I know when I’ve seen an S2 towed in the past onto a flatbed they just looped flat tow rope around the wishbones etc but I’d be concerned about distortion?

Ditto the rear if its towed backwards, using the u-channel or similar as a mount risks the same?
 

Plus there may be instances where it needs to go forward on recovery.

Anyone explored this or is it not necessary?

I thought about a large spreader plate with a towing socket hidden behind the front number plate which will be removable, similar to the standard set up below, while the car is apart and accessible….

 

[Fridge]

Numberplate is mounted on a plastic bumper, which in turn is mounted onto a plastic body.......

Remember the car only weights about 1,000kg.

[JonSE]

I’d create a spreader plate inside the front body behind the place where the bumper mounts, behind here if that makes sense.

The SE version I had was remarkably small plate wise but was mounted horizontal under the spare wheel, didn’t inspire confidence and the tow rope exited through the front duct which to me looked as it it might foul the body!

This plate would be say 10Cm by 100cm with the threaded female bang in the centre and a hole in the bumper in front to allow an eye to be inserted.

Just around the point this car is draining it’s ballast from the submarine tests we did recently (sshhh, it’s secret!)

[Fridge]

You crack me up Jon.

But not as much as the cracks in the front nose section that would no doubt appear after using this idea.

[drdoom]

I have seen Esprit towed onto a flatdeck transport via straps carefully wrapped around the lower TCA's at their inner pivot points, no concerns for damage given the light vehicle weight. 

[Barrykearley]

An esprit on a recovery truck 😳 nope never 

[Djs44]

From memory ( haven't seen the body for a while ) , there is a plate bolted to the front floor that the spare wheel bolts to - could this be modified to suit ? 

 

The Elise has a vertical bar in the grill that the tow eye screws into - when the breakdown truck collected mine we agreed to just push the car on .... 

[JonSE]

I think the spare wheel bolt mount is too small to spread the stress, but I’ll have a look!

[peteyg]

The last time I was pulled onto a recovery truck the guy used a set if these straps so I bought a pair and they've been really useful. They hook around the suspension front or back.

https://slingsandstraps.co.uk/products/even-pull-brother-strap/ 

Pete

[LotuStuart]

24 minutes ago, peteyg said:

The last time I was pulled onto a recovery truck the guy used a set if these straps so I bought a pair and they've been really useful. They hook around the suspension front or back.

https://slingsandstraps.co.uk/products/even-pull-brother-strap/ 

Pete

Advert says they "fix onto the axle"

Yikes!

[snowrx]

On my Turbo, I made up a plate from 3mm steel plate, with a doubler inside the frunk, that sandwiched the frunk floor to spread the load in the plane of the floor. Obviously for light duty use, but much easier than groveling under the car or damaging the spoiler. It's pulled the car down the road , and onto a flatbed so far.

 Not sure the layout on an S2 though...

 

[JonSE]

I need to cut the newly filled-in area around the rear lights to allow for the new light surrounds.

I’ve zero fibreglass experience!😁

 

Is there a particular way to do this and do I need to refinish the cut edge with resin again (or anything??)

 

[jonwat]

1 hour ago, JonSE said:

do I need to refinish the cut edge with resin again (or anything??)

No 

[EXCEL V8]

I use a drill/hole saw on the corners to produce the radius required and the a thin diamond blade in the angle grinder for the straight bits.  A small sanding drum in the Dremel to tidy up any irregularities in the cuts and a final sand down with wet-and-dry.  As John says - no further finishing required.

Pete

[Excel SA]

Once you've drilled holes you can also use a jigsaw to cut the rest  The edges left sand easily and quickly to finish the holes off.

Neil.

[JonSE]

Much appreciated!

Have to get the doors stripped and the small bits of paint left on the body sorted so my paint man can think about a booking slot, so will be progressing this in the near future….

[JonSE]

Goodbye Esprit!
 

Crikey, been a while since I updated, not that there’s been that much progress with holiday, work and a potential house move on the horizon.

Anyway, as per @Fridge I’ve been trying to keep momentum going and the time for the body to go off to paint snuck up on me a little bit (despite being planned in nearly 2 years ago!)

I’ve been trying to do some final prep, mostly inside the cabin so that the outer paint marked the turning point of the restoration, but I underestimated the amount of time needed and just got some basics done before the car goes off to the body shop.

Reading the various blogs on here, I wasn’t initially too bothered about painting the inside of my cabin as it’s going to be covered anyway with carpet etc. 

Having scraped the horsehair insulation and removed the incredibly heavy bulkhead insulation, I’ve revised this and will paint the interior with raptor or similar just to try and limit the dust that’s generated!

Removing the heavy sound deadening panels has lifted nearly 13kg from the car, I’ll replace this with lighter weight sound matting.

Also tidied the area around the windscreen which had a good 8mm of sealant from the last windscreen fitment some time in the distance past, now scraped off.

Body shop reckon the body needs a lot of prep to make it ready, so will be a longer project……

 

 

[drdoom]

Well done, Jonathan! That collection of pics brings memories of my early efforts. The sound deadening material is indeed heavy but there is some correlation between weight and sound abatement as I understand things. I'm intrigued by products latterly available that incorporate both squishy foam and fairly dense polyvinyl to form a 2 element sheet, whereby the PV forms the primary sound block and the foam de-couples that from contact which would transmit energy.

Cheers 

[Rudi K]

Of course, some Esprit drivers don't mind the sound of the engine! 😎