small progress

[frix]

well its going back together SLOWLY! enjoy.

well its taken a while but ive made a bit of progress, about 100 hours of work and nearly £1500 later. ive now started on the body work and will post the pics soon. cheers paul.

yes that is a coffin in the back ground just in case you were wondering!

[esprit s2]

Pretty amazing what a can of WD40 can do! Looks fricken amazing Paul!!!!

[cjtpb13]

Paul,

Great work...at least we know you are not a vampire as you are working in the daylight.

Amazing turnabout from the original photographs. Always amazes me the amount of corrosion I see on some of the cars due to environment.

[frix]

[giorgio67]

That's a fantastic job mate,

I have the same car under restoration but I've lost my mind looking for the perfection....

Well, the new year is coming and I want to finish my restoration, I will keep this project first on my mind.

Congratulations.

Giorgio

[lotus4s]

Very nice work.

[andydclements]

That's chassis is too pretty to be covered up. You'll just have to leave it with no body on, drive with a piece of plexi-glass to sit on.

[gvy]

Paul,

Congrats with the restoration so far. It looks amazing. I too have an S2.2. They are rare, so they deserve it. (as all esprits do of course)

Geert

[GavinT]

Outstanding job Paul. Keep going.

[frix]

well guys a little update on progress, well its been hard work and alot and i mean alot of hours work but the fibre glass in the boot area is finished, i added a black pigment to the resin and im pretty happy with the finish. Next on the list was bonnet area which i claned, sanded, repaired and the stone chipped, it will be painted satin black once back from the paint job. The wheel arches took 2 days to clean off as they were coated in underseal, and then my shower was coated in underseal! The underneath of the body was cleaned sanded and also treated to a coat of stonechip. The body goes away the 3rd of April to have its body repaired and painted by stock coachworks, i hope Mark is prepared for it!? im excitied about it going to have the work done although nervous at the same time.

[Guest WausauLotus]

Paul- Great job on the chassis. It's too bad that most of it will be covered up. What did you use to get the metal parts back to base? They look great all painted and assembled. Keep up the super work.

[vintaylor]

Hi Paul,

Your chassis gear is looks great!! what paint did you use to paint the engine bay and front boot?

Cheers,

Vin

[frix]

hi, thanks for your nice comments guys, Dave i was lucky that i know someone with a sand blaster although for some parts i used a drill and polycarbide discs, you can use them on an angle grinder as well. Vin i used stone chip black from halfords, its good for painting stright on to fibre glass and covers well, it drys matt black but you can paint over it with a colour which i intend to do when the car comes back from the paint shop. Cheers Paul

[vintaylor]

Hi Paul,

Did you use the same parts on both the rough fibreglass parts and the inner engine bay area (smooth finish). Would it be resistant to the heat cause by the engine?

Regards,

Vin

[rocket63]

Nice work and some great progress

[frix]

Hi Vin, i did use the stonechip on both the rough and the smooth fibre glass. im not too sure about the heat issue but the boot was covered in what looked liked underseal and it didnt look like it had melted so im not sure if the stonechip paint will be affected but its spayed quite thinly and when the car comes back from the body shop i shall be giving it a coat of satin black. I will let you know what mark at stock coachworks thinks next week. Cheers Paul

Edited March 28, 2012 by frix

[simon a-b]

_{Hi, I'm interested in the brackets holding the rear brakes... on my car (S3) the rear calipers are mounted onto the gearbox housing. Is this a S1/2/2.2 thing?}

_{Lovely work, keep it up!}

_Cheers,

_Simon

[richardvg]

looks tit !

[frix]

At last shes off to the body shop, 3 months time i should be able to pick it up, fingers crossed.

[88csx-t]

3 months?? Wow, you must be getting the deluxe paint job!

By the way, how do you take care of spider cracks? Do they have to be filled with gelcoat, or can you just sand them out and fill/paint over them?

[nic996]

According to my glass fibre bible, traditional body filler should not be used. Instead resin mixed with talc or micro balls fills the gaps.

[jonwat]

traditional body filler should not be used. Instead resin mixed with talc

I thought that was what body filler was??

[ramjet]

Kudos on your work so far!

First class!

[nic996]

I thought that was what body filler was??

Oh yeh, so it is. Need to read that section in the book again and see what the hell it is on about then

[frix]

well after a trip to Marks at stocks coachworks progress is being made, Mark informs me that it was one of the worst bodys hes had to do! Hopefully i will get it back in a month so i can start putting things back on, im not sure if im excitied or scared, where the hell do all the bits go?

Edited June 13, 2012 by frix