JPS # 044 body restoration.

[CHANGES]

JPS  #044 continuation 

Moving on from the GRP lay up on  main damaged areas,  we need to flat back to establish uniform thickness and shape..   Because the GRP is a tough substrate it take quite a bit of sanding and shaping to get right .. As i said previous we can not just attack it with a grinding disc , it needs progressive flatting.. 

During this process we also make sure there is no air pockets trapped between the layers .. So far i have none but they can happen and if not addressed can give you problems later .. 

This is the point where my processes start to differ from what was done on giorgio67 in previous post ..   At this point instead of applying filler then sealers and primers , I coat the whole repaired area in a GRP tissue bridging coat ..  In the case of #044 that will involve doing virtually the whole of the shell.   This will provide a completely sealed and very stable layer as a foundation for the next stage. 

 

As i have said before this is not an easy substrate to flat out which is why most will avoid this stage .  As you can see i am putting a grey tint in the resin . This is so i can see where has been coated while at the same time providing a guide to over flatting the finish ..  Although it would not be an issue flatting through i try not to , thus maintaining a fully sealed coat ... With the grey tint you can see when its getting a bit thin in spots so time to stop. 

The last two pics show show that stage complete on those sections. 

Because of the curing time of the GRP we have to jump from section to section to keep the flow of work ..   So we now move back to the roof..  This was flatted in the same way as the other repairs establishing shape and required thickness..   Then the tissue layers were applied .. 

Once this had cured for a few days i checked how close the profile was.

This was surprisingly close . For those who have followed my previous threads , you will have seen me use this method on an original roof of similar age 'G' Esprit.  On that one like most originals it had sunk over time to a worse situation than this repaired version ..   The up side is the next stages should be a bit easier that the last one, requiring less shape building to get final profile ..  

So till next update back to more flatting ..    Oh so much dust .. !!!   

[LOTUSMAN33]

Looking good Dave, I will adopt this approach when I convert my S1 back to its original shape following sinkage in the past.

Thanks for the free lessons 😊

 

[Djs44]

Great progress Dave - must get the rest of the car moving now ...

[CHANGES]

Well i have been busy and this has been a lot more involved restoration than i first thought ..  But here is an update with all the fiddly bits that needed doing along with a few surprises ..

So lets get back to to roof where we had established a near profile with all the GRP layers . The next step was to refine profile buy sanding then applying filler , so i coated the whole panel.  

 This is then flatted using a large plane sander until the high/low spots show. 

This is then recoated with another layer of filler flatted and so on, until a uniform finish with the correct profile is achieved.  Once achieved I move on to the next section and allow the fillers to fully harden before progressing further .. 

The same process is followed on all panels , Here are two pics of the rear quarter undergoing same,  First is GRP flattened then second filler stage.

When the rear quarters and front wings reach the above stage I refit the doors ..   They were previously fitted and shimmed , but now will need setting before then filler layers can be applied to get the flat alignments we are looking for .

The straight edge shows up all the miss matches . It lets you see how the panels roll in at the gaps..  The gaps are not good.. HUGE in spots and very inconsistent..  something just had to be done to correct that .. 

In above pic, the first fillers were applied on the door to correct the worse sections . This was followed by the second layers which were planed in one with wing and quarter to give that flat alignment we are looking for  

The same job was done on the other side , getting these section to the same as the roof..   

next post will show how we finished these off and matched the tailgate to the roof, quarters and transom..     

[CHANGES]

Quite a bit of work was needed to get the doors to run true and fit at all the corners without any gap height dip.   As you can see from the next two pic's they were just ugly.. 

The door height and overall position is determined by the waste line profile . The rest has to be formed from that point . So with it now in the correct position we can finish the filling section and close those gaps up .. This is followed by the glaze coat which will refine the finish further.

This is then block flatted across the gaps to make sure the gap height dip is eliminated and a true flat body line can be seen front to rear.

After refining the few low spots you can see marked , the gaps can start to take shape.. 

We now have to leave that side and repeat on the other side, letting the fillers fully cure before finishing. 

Moving back to the roof and tailgate.

Once the the tailgate was positioned in the best possible match, we were left with a bit of a dilemma..   In the pic;s above you can make out that the center of the t/gate roof section has sunk, signified by the shadow under the profile guide.(steel ruler), but that was not the main issue .

(above)The bottom edge was fairly true along 2/3rds then ran high on the one corner .. This can be addressed at the same time as tidying up that gap.   However the side height match with the top 1/4 panel  were another thing altogether . 

We don't need a straight edge to see that.. 

I will get into how we overcame this in the next post..  and yes in involves more flatting... 

 

       

[CHANGES]

So moving on to the tailgate, we first start by putting a skin of filler to level out the low spots  on the roof section 

This was flatted using the roof as an extended profile guide, flatting across the two panels ..   At this stages we also fitted the capping rails with a shim under them to allow for the trim that will be fitted on completion . 

Whist waiting for the fillers to fully cure out , the top of the rear quarter panels  were built up with GRP and then fillers to the same stage, but now all in lining up properly  .

Once a rough gapping had been set the next stage was to apply the glaze coat. 

At the same time the rear transom was re-formed to match how the tailgate sat in that area.  Then a glaze coat applied .

Once the glaze coat was on all the back section, it was time to move back to the front and address the bonnet .    The original bonnet was long gone and a new replacement had been supplied.   I thought this would be straight forward and had not paid much attention to it .. Big mistake ! . You have all heard the saying  ' it fits where it touches ' .  well that was just the start of it ..  I fitted the new seal and put in place.. 

Uhmmm ..  This was going to take a bit of adjusting and custom fitting same as the tailgate ..    But that was just the start..  On careful inspection, It soon came apparent the mold this came from, was itself taken from a less than perfect example ..     It was deformed on the outside , pushing up where the hinges mount , along with the usual dips and hollows normally found in really old panels, Not really what you expect from a new panel  .. 

I will move onto this in the next post ..    

[CHANGES]

Time to finish this thread.  A lot has gone on in the last year, some hold ups and a lot of storage time . However the work did continue , I just never found time to update.  So back to it .....

THE BONNET, 

 

This was going to be fun , a lot of work went into matching to the adjacent panels , but it still needed lots of levelling.. 

On the above pic , all the dark areas are low spots. On a good black paint job this would look all lumpy and crap .. This was the same all over with some major low spot areas.. So the only answer was to give this new panel the same treatment the rest of the body has had  ( did not anticipate that)

A quick check with the flexible steel ruler confirms the consistent profile is achieved   . 

There was a big belly droop in the centre section,  This took quite a bit of building to retain the profile in all 3 section of the bonnet .. Failure to do this would create a break in a smooth transition between the front panel and the bonnet angle .. This can be seen in the gap under the steel ruler, the dark area was actually 4mm at the worse point ..  

The next post will see the prepped shell going into polly coat then primer..      I will do this in the next few days , I think a year between posts is to long     

[CHANGES]

After all that flatting and shaping, the wrists and finger are starting to feel the strain..  Time to take a break and shoot some paint,(well the polly coat) Three full coats were applied and this stuff goes on thick and heavy ..  

The polly coat leaves a very orange peal finish, while at the same time isolating all the substrates from any solvent ingress during paint application.   

Once applied we leave for several days to fully cure and get on with all the panels .

The front spoiler off this Esprit was well damaged with previous repairs, so needed complete re-laminating like the rest of the body.  Maintaining the shape was important so most of the work was done while fixed to the body .. 

This along with the rest of the panels were finished and polly coated . Everything then went into shadow coat of black...... 

Then back to MORE FLATTING , Its a good job i enjoy doing this.  

The above pic shows the orange peal clearly ..  By using a large semi flexible sanding plane you can expose any low spots that did not show up in previous stages.. These will tend to be micro dips and easily missed.. 

Any of those little spots can be fatted out while carrying the flatness through to the tailgate and cap rails in one plane or curve angle. 

When the outer body is done its on to the panels and inner sections

You may have also noticed that the panels have been fitted and removed and re-fitted several times during the processes. This is to insure alignment is maintained and provide access to normally closed off areas.  A real pain but necessary   

Now another break from flatting.....     

Time to shoot some black primer at it  ..... 

When you get to this stage , without the photo history no one would know how much effort has gone into each section .. And what was actually under that coat of paint ?...  It can cover a multitude of sins , short cuts and cock ups !!  

Next stage More flatting ....

[CHANGES]

Next stage is to shadow coat the black primer with white... 

Then you guessed it more flatting... 

This was much the same as previous except with much finer grade flatting paper..    The main consideration here was quality of flatted finish as the colour coat will be next.. 

The colour was applied in 4 coats , a light gripper coat followed straight after with two full weight .. after 20 minutes  flash off a final drop coat was applied ..   Another 30 minutes flash off, then a tack rag to remove any residue ..  Then clear coat is put on .. one gripper coat followed by 2 full coats , 20 minute flash off then two more full weight coats ..

Not bad out of the gun.  But will still need some finessing ..   

The next step will make some cringe , but yes its back to flatting .. 

This is what is referred to as colour flatting .  Many will just do what is called a nip and polish to remove any dust spots etc..   I prefer to remove any orange peel effect no matter how slight, especially on black .. As a result this requires being way more aggressive .

The above is stage one , below is the second stage on the side section , with the centre still at stage one flatting.. 

The first stage was done with 1200 grit , second with 1500 grit..  This was followed by 2500 

Then 3000

then 5000

A quick check with the line board for any little Wobblies that are harder to see in the semi matt finish .

When happy, its on to the final flat with 7000 grit paper . 

As you can see we are now getting an acceptable flatness.   So next stage is to work though the layers of polish grades with the mop, but i wont bore you with those just show a finished section .. 

  

Now all i have to do is the rest of the panels and the  shell to the same standard ..   Even more flatting.. but the result is worth all the effort.. 

Next post will be the culmination of all the hours of work ..  

   

[CHANGES]

As my involvement in this restoration comes to an end , I have time to reflect on what was required to get #44 back as is should be, body wise ..

As always these are hard work but so rewarding to do. 

As we left it with the bonnet I will start with a pic of it finished,

But its only when I look back that a proper comparison can be made .. 

Front panel/headlamp pod, before /after....

Remembering that out of shape poorly repaired , gel cracked quarter.

After......

the rear transom area

After......

And who could forget that roof......  

After.....

Getting the gaps smaller and consistent , is always rewarding , especially the t/gate and door gaps, along with panel alignment

So that is it , onto the trailer and back to Derek. 

I would like to thank Derek for the opportunity to work on #44 and look forward to seeing it all completed ...

For those who may not be aware, This was my last customer job, I am now retiring from restoration professionally...   My own Esprit has been neglected too long, so after a short break that will be my next task.. 

thankyou, 

Dave  Lisle ( CHANGES )    

   

[Bibs]

Wow Dave, just wow! The transformation is incredible! 

[LOTUSMAN33]

Top work again Dave, you will sit with the legends like Fulcher for their work, I’m sure there’s a few owners who planned to use you at some point who will shed a tear.

Enjoy retirement and playing with that beast of an SE 👍🏻🍻

[jonwat]

Great work Dave, now enjoy your retirement 👏 👍 

The great mystery of gel coat cracks is that no matter what colour the paint they occur in they're always black, unless the paint is black in which case they're white. 🤔

[drdoom]

I want to offer my greatest appreciation for this thread, Dave. My trimmer pointed me in the direction of a shop at which he has found one may expect fine results at a fair price, and I have made acquaintance with the proprietor who makes clear he's good with finishing and painting though not inclined to GRP repair. This is not unexpected as GRP cars are quite uncommon and, as DL has enlightened us, repairs made by others are likely to be found appalling once exposed. This thread will serve to guide my own work on 7807/0100S GRP preparation in the new year and gives me confidence that it will not come up short.

Bravo @CHANGES

[Djs44]

It is a real shame that Dave has retired .