The Wedgie files - A restoration moment of Zen, pt.2

[Musiccitylotus]

Aloha!

Been a while since I had time to post, but such is life, I guess...

Well, Wedgie is coming along pretty good, albeit slower then we thought. Which is usual. It is also strange for me to farm out that much work, but I can't do it all by myself and take care of customer cars at the same time. So right now the paint shop massages her fiberglass body, and the upholstery is almost done:

[Stokey]

They look superb!!!!! What colour are you painting the car???????

Jase.

[Guest mkelite]

lets see the car then................ pretty, please. (long live the Elite...... the wedgy one, the first ones nice too!). DC.

[Musiccitylotus]

The car will be BRG metallic, like the new F1 cars. But right now it is primer grey. I'll post pics as soon as it has paint.

Stay tuned!

[Emmerg]

Michael - really like the re-trim. This is going to look great

[mat grant]

Hi,

Yes please post some photos once you've resprayed the car - I'm going to be refinishing my Eclat once the major work on it is finished, and metallic green is one option I'm considering.... It's red at the moment.

Btw the interior parts look great!

Cheers, Mat.

[silverfrost]

Michael.

Those seats looks fantastic, And a re paint in the new lotus colours will look superb, really looking forward to some more pics of the other work, As you said some stuff you cannot do yourself as never in a million years would you get and interior that looks that good, May cost more but it will really will give the wow factor to the car.

They look that good it will be a shame to sit in it

Regards danny

[Musiccitylotus]

Thanks for all the positive replies! Wedgie is still in the paint shop, still not in primer... guess we don't make it to Barber next weekend with her.

[GavinT]

Seats look great. Very interested to see more, so I'll keep watching for updates.

[Musiccitylotus]

Upon the great demand

Here are the latest pictures fresh from the paint shop. As always, things take much longer than anticipated, and life get's in the way also...but no complaints, as the result sure will be stellar!

All the cracks (and there were quite a few!) in the body have been relaminated with veil cloth and resin after stripping the paint. We did that in large sections rather than patchworking. The underside has been cleaned, and now it is in primer. Because the roof section had a huge dip in it on the right side just after the windscreen (the Georgia sun wasn't too kind to it), we decided to not fill it in with tons of bondo, but to go with a vinyl top, as it presumably had from factory. This will add some more cool 70ies vibe and straighten out the wavyness!

After the paint it will go straight to the upholstery shop where the carpet and interior is done and waiting.

[Emmerg]

I am getting excited so God only knows what you must be feeling. Thanks for posting more pictures...keep them coming !

[Musiccitylotus]

Good morning, Elite world,

after a long wait caused by the incredibly hot and humid weather, Wedgie could finally get her new green coat. Have to say, it turned out GREAT! My Buddy Todd, in charge of prep and paint did a wonderful job. All the fiberglass repairs and careful sanding and blocking turned into arrow straight panels and beatyful lines without a single crack anywhere left. It was quite the investment, but you get what you pay for, and in this case, in a positive way. We sank over 150 manhours into it, but that's what it takes to bring a battered body up to this show quality standard.

And then there is the colour. We all were a little nervous as how the 2005 Lotus British Racing green would look on the car, but man! It is gorgeous! Well, it better should be at $450 the gallon... the pics really don't do it justice, as the pearl effect doesn't like fuorescent light and flash, but in daylight it really is beautyful! If you wonder about the orange peel on the rear quarter shot: The car still needs to be coloursanded and buffed.

Now it is off to the upholstery shop!

[EliteMike]

Hi Michael

Well she sure looks very nice, think you can see on the door in the background the effect of the paint, bet that looks amazing in the sun shine.

I am slowly moving towards the bodywork, but first some more mechanical works to get sorted.

Not realy looking forward to many many hours of rubbing down the bodywork, but on the flip side means will be on the road to completion, so every cloud has silver lining.

Best of luck with the re build keep us up to date with more info and photos

Regards

Mike

[Musiccitylotus]

Two steps forward, three steps back...

after insulating the interior from heat and noise with Lizardskin, we rolled Wedgie out of the workshop and onto the trailer, headed for the upholstery shop. Arriving there, the Elite gleaming in the sunshine for the first time I could not believe my eyes: The whole paintjob is cloudy in the base coat!!! We could not see it in the shop, only under true sunlight. So, after the carpet is in, it's back to the paint booth...

AAAARRRRRGH!!!!!!

Edited July 20, 2010 by Musiccitylotus

[USAndretti42]

That's a great shame. It looks fantastic in the photos.

Do you have to remove the old paint or can you just paint over it? How much paint did you use to get this far? The colour really suits the car.

[Musiccitylotus]

The paint gets wet sanded with 400 and then on goes another coat. We thankfully still have half of the gallon of base coat. So the only thing the painter has to buy is clear coat. Although I hoped to keep some base coat in case of a damage. But, oh well....

In the meantime I will work on the little details that go on the car, trim pieces, hinges etc. But I wish we wouldn't have to paint it again!

On a lighter note: Now every little imperfection in the panels that was still left will be gone for good!

[rocket63]

That must be a real disappointment. Hope the next phase goes to plan. Good luck. The car looks great by the way.

[Emmerg]

I am loving the colour Michael. Best of luck sorting the paint.

[esprit s2]

Looking forward to seeing the finished car!

[Musiccitylotus]

Shape of things to come:

Things have made steady progress over the last couple of weeks. The car is reshot and finally looks as we want it! Next stop was the upholstery shop for some carpet action. Turned out really nice. At the same time they glued on the new headliner and vinyl top . After some discussion, between me and my significant other, we agreed (as in: she demanded) on a black vinyl. I was leaning towards sand colored... maybe a little too out there in the 70ies?! (Where are my bell bottoms?)

After all the farmed out work, Wedgie is now back home in my shop for the final touches. Like building the bumpers, rebuilding the steering, fixing the electrics and a gazillion other rather boring things.

But before the grease hits the fan, and I get my hands dirty again, I assembled parts of the interior and furnished the last headliner covers with foam backed cloth, the same material that went on the headliner. All in all we are pretty excited!

Would like to upload pics, but obviously I maxed out my upload quota...

Edited August 15, 2010 by Musiccitylotus

[silverfrost]

Michael,

Fantastic job so far, really pleased that people are still willing to make the effort to bring these early car back to life as personally the early cars look so retro its fantastic, they really should demand more money than what they get sold for here in the united kingdom, they will become very rare soon as most people dont restore them they just part them out for spares

The new paintwork looks great as does the interior, keep up the great work

Regards danny

[Musiccitylotus]

Been a while since I logged in here... other projects needed attention.

But the Elite makes quite some progress. The engine is finally running, after some wiring problems (who would have thought???). Turns out that resistor wire going to the coil is not in the wiring diagram, so a little difficult to track down a fault there :-(( But it's sorted, broke right off a connector under the dash. Then it was on to the carburettors, a good soaking in carb cleaner did the job. Now it idles smooth, no more sputtering!

Another thing out of the way is the master cylinder, I got a rebuild kit. If anyone needs one, contact me!

Next it's on to the doors, got new weatherstripping and the door channel felt strips. Stay tuned!

[Emmerg]

I was hoping you would provide an update - well done you, keep the pictures coming.

[lotus4s]

Looking good!

[Musiccitylotus]

I have a lot more pics, just not on the chip in my phone. More soon!