S2 New Resto

[Djlisi1]

New to the forum. Located on the east coast in chilly upstate New York. I just purchased a 1980 S2 2.0 w/ 28K original miles..silver w/ red leather. Has sat in a barn untouched for 30 years and will need a full restoration. The car is generally in nice shape and seems worthy of the investment and time. I'll outsource the engine rebuild, paint and chassis prep. Just reading through these posts it looks like I'm in for a long haul. Any advice moving forward is greatly appreciated. Parts(where to go), steps, etc.. Great to be part of the Lotus group.

[CarBuff]

Welcome to the fold. 🤗

Lots of sources for USA parts & expertise at Lotus Ltd, the national Lotus club.

https://lotusltd.com/

 

Besides this Forum, LotusTalk, LotusEspritFactFile, and Lotus Esprit World are good sources of online information.

[Djlisi1]

Thansk for the info

[JonSE]

Good luck and welcome in!

Take your time, document with photos, enjoy yourself and don’t put yourself under too many deadlines would be my advice.

They are just large toy cars assembled imperfectly a long time ago, that with a little care and attention, you can make good (or even better than new again if that’s your thing) as a rewarding hobby.
 

Do you have any other experience of restoration? 

Given the choice I would probably take the body off the car as whole as possible and fix all the mechanicals first, replace the body then enjoy the car for a while as a scruffy running vehicle that’s sorted mechanically.

Return to sort the body and the interior as phase 2 and 3 a little down the line as rust won’t be an issue and you will have added value to your project as you have progressed and then get the chance to enjoy it.

A forum member observed that cars that stay apart for longer than a year seem to have a diminishing chance of ever going back together again. You do end up with a bewildering amount of parts if you do everything at once......

If this changes now as the project cars become more desirable is open to debate, but fixing the mechanicals first wouldn’t have you repeating much later on if you do then strip the body, and it would allow you to get to know the car in two phases with a period of driving it in between which is a great motivating factor.

It also gives you a break point if required before you attempt the body element of the resto.

If you can share the details as you progress on here, that would be a fantastic bonus, the forum has meant I could at least attempt a refit myself that I probably couldn’t have 10 years ago.

[Djlisi1]

Thanks for the replies and info. I'm fairly handy but have not completed a full restoration. Great advice.