Right then better start my '77 S1 project...

[johnpwalsh]

Nice vid Charlie and she sure dont look out of place

[CharlieCroker]

Thanks to #SlamMedia for these two awesome photos, soon to release a medium format set, watch this space...[br][br][br][br]

[Elitus]

Inspirational... Your car is one of the most interesting cars I have seen for a long time. The Hayashi fakes are the perfect choice. If I may, you should consider going a bit more east with a set of Nissan S130 front wing mirrors!

Bravo, bien joué.

[CharlieCroker]

Inspirational... Your car is one of the most interesting cars I have seen for a long time. The Hayashi REPLICA'S are the perfect choice. If I may, you should consider going a bit more east with a set of Nissan S130 front wing mirrors!

Bravo, bien joué.

I've corrected that for you. I've gone far enough east with it, just trying to bring it back home now.

[Elitus]

Edited November 14, 2014 by Elitus

[CharlieCroker]

 Quick update, I've been looking at repairing the two loose sewing in the seats that I found off eBay. I bought a hook type needle and from the under the rip I go through the original pin holes and slowly lace the stitch, so far it has proved to be a real success even though hard on the hands,

 

 

 

 

The aim is just to close the weak stitching, I'm not too bothered about having it match exactly the original stitching, happy days! 

 

Edited November 14, 2014 by CharlieCroker

[Simon350S]

Good work, again, must be tricky as originally they would have been sewn from the rear.

[dixi4uk]

 Quick update, I've been looking at repairing the two loose sewing in the seats that I found off eBay. I bought a hook type needle and from the under the rip I go through the original pin holes and slowly lace the stitch, so far it has proved to be a real success even though hard on the hands,

 

 

 

 

The aim is just to close the weak stitching, I'm not too bothered about having it match exactly the original stitching, happy days! 

 

Coolhand to Sorehand!

[CharlieCroker]

Even more updates today... So I've taken Mike's advice regarding strengthening the bolster piece that is currently out of shape. I've stretched fleece over the piece, nice and tight and this morning applied resin over the whole lot. This should go rock hard and be a great base to re-upholster. Have a look at the photos.

I may add a sheet of glass fiber to add even more ridgity. I've also completed the sewing on the seat, it's a bit 1950's rugby ball esc. but does the job. I'll get the old seats out today and get them on eBay, all good fun. Oh and I've touched in some of the cracks in the leather, looks a hell of a lot better now.

[dixi4uk]

Coolhand to Sorehand!

Only three more seams to go to match!

[mikeeech]

Has the resin gone hard now? Did it work o.k.

[CharlieCroker]

Yes it worked. However I should have prefitted the piece first, next to the eclat rear seats and elite rear quarter. I've now discovered a gap between the two, err! So it looks like I'll have to fabricate my own bolster piece to make up the gap. I really don't want to bastardise the eclat quarters they are too nice and untouched. I'm not going to rush this because the show season is finished and won't start again until next spring, so plenty of time. Btw, well done on the job offer, look forward to seeing your progress on your car

[mikeeech]

Btw, well done on the job offer, look forward to seeing your progress on your car

Thanks for that. Not at the level I would have hoped but a good payrise, a redundancy cheque and I keep my stock options. Perhaps a type r engine for my insight after all!

[CharlieCroker]

I made a start on the rear quarters today turning, straight flat Eclat quarters into swooped Elite quarters, I've combined the two and just need to reupholster them now, turned out quite well. It's a very involved process but more than possible. The difficulty is knowing where to cut the two so that they will appear seamless once upholstered, this took me hours of scratching my head, measuring, prefitting and testing. Anyway you'll see from the photos that it has actually worked...[br][br]Flat Eclat.[br][br][br]Combining the two[br][br][br][br][br]Prefitted, seems to be a snug fit :-)[br]

[markgenesis]

Great work Charlie, certainly have a lot more patience than me with interior work

[mikeeech]

The headlining is looking good at the back there.

[CharlieCroker]

So after a couple of stressed out weeks a nice distraction has been working on the interior swap. Although the photos do not show a huge amount progress there has in actual fact been a massive push forward with the install. After cutting and test fitting and more cutting and test fitting I think I now have the rear quarters at a stage to recover. I'm going to keep all the seats in their original upholstery as I really like the patina so only the rear quarters will be done. There's so many little tweaks I've had to make to get these to fit it would take a week to explain in detail and I wouldn't want to bore you with that. Will recover these shortly, once that is complete, I'll look at the door cards.

Oh I forgot to mention, the center padding piece between the headrests will need to be reduced to fit properly, shouldn't be a problem though.

[dixi4uk]

I know you like a challenge but it has seemed a load of hassle to convert seats from Eclat to Elite. I would have asked the eBay seller for a partial refund for the misdescription.

The end is is sight and an accomplishment that deserves a round of applause. I would have given up a long ago and would have seen what Lotus bits had to offer.

The door cards should not present a problem I believe they are the same on Eclat and Elite.

 

I also admire the headlining and rails in grey as seen in a picture earlier in this thread. I know you said at some stage that the material came with car but I would appreciate you having a look at eBay item number 151373712237 and tell me if this is the same sort of stuff.

It seems very reasonable at £6.99 a meter, 54" wide and free post. How much would I need?

As an alternative I am contemplating covering the rails in black leather salvaged from a few pairs of leather jeans which came from my sister. (she was a shopaholic and had never wore them) The jury is out at the moment as I would have to have a join on the longer length rails. What is your opinion on this? I have never sewn leather.

 

Anyway Coolhand congratulations.

[CharlieCroker]

When you are on a tight budget, you have to get creative. The fact is the eclat interior was in such good shape and my elite interior was is such poor state that a combination was the best outcome. As you say it is done now barring a touch of recovering. I'm over the moon with how it has gone and for well under £300 (I've already sold the old seats so clawing back the cash) I will have a completely refurbished interior, seats, carpets, headliner and door cards, plus I keep a very original look to the thing.

As far as your interior goes, that headliner looks good to go, you'll need at least 3m sq, I bought loads more than I needed in the case I ballsed it up, and there were moments where I had to do it twice. Some of the interior rails I covered 4 separate times to get it right. I still have a few meters remaining of my final material in case I need to redo something. In my opinion leather will be very hard to use as your final top material as there is no flex in it at all. Something that stretches is a much better option, your call though.

Edited November 29, 2014 by CharlieCroker

[dixi4uk]

I take your point on the leather I had not considered the stretch. It seems a shame as I have all these pairs of leather jeans which need recycling. Maybe the cubby box door, sun visors etc

So the item I mentioned is good to go, great, thanks for the advice. I will be ordering soon. I know what you mean about a tight budget.

Glad you sold your seats (the colours were horrible and looked like they were made by Stevie Wonder).

I wonder what the buyer will do with them.????

 

Speak to you soon,

Adrian

[CharlieCroker]

You could always give the leather pants to a YMCA tribute band, I'm sure they would make good use

[soldave]

You could always give the leather pants to a YMCA tribute band, I'm sure they would make good use So next up are the speaker pods, I've managed to save them but need to source some modern speakers to fit behind the pod. I tend to go for Vibe speakers as these are good quality at not a lot of dollar. I've already started to refurb the speaker grills and bezels and they look good. Never ending...

Nice one.  What's the speaker size behind the pods?

[CharlieCroker]

They're 4", I've got the original grills and bezels so I'm hoping to keep a stock look to the front but have modern behind the grill. The front speakers I'm going to fit in the footwell, I've noticed just enough space to add 6x9s right next too the vacuum cans for the light pods, don't want to cut the door cards no matter what.

[johnpwalsh]

Hi Charlie sounds like it's all going well. I have an ECLAT leather interior to get rid of which isnt in too bad condition, do you know anyone looking for a complete set. Cream/Beige leather, requires a good clean and a feed, little bit of stitching come undone on a seat and a split on the back of one headrest where someone was a bit rough with it and threw it down on a sharp edge. The dash etc is all there, footwell panels etc included, the dash is in Black.

[CharlieCroker]

Sounds interesting, put it in the 'for sale' or look in the 'wanted' section, I'm sure if it's all there and on good nick it will go for the right price, or eBay.

I'm getting so close now I can feel it, as soon as these rear seats are in I can look at the carpets which where a total botch job, pieces covering pieces covering pieces! Fwiw, RetroCars magazine have earmarked a shot for February so I'm aiming to get the interior complete by then, that means every piece done and dusted, which leads me nicely into this quote "Shall we synchronise our watches" haha...