removing the head and cam towers

[bigsi]

thanks very much for the pump dave, troy can fit it to the car when he has time and get it running to test it.

he said mine had failed so he needs to replace it.

at least with the engine sorted i can get on with all the other things i wanted to do as time aloows when it gets back here.

my gearknob bits are ready and im sourcing the wood part for it then i can turn that down and fit it to the car. just the pedals to do then.

be nice to do something other than sit in the house all day!

[John V6]

Any photos of your gearknob.

Any chance of a look at it on Saturday ?

[Advantage]

One hundred and seventy four quid, fully comp?

We've met, Si. You didn't look like a bloke who gets his insurance from SAGA! Flippin eck, I pay more than that to tax mine!

[bigsi]

no the insurance came to a grand total of..

[arbell9]

[esprit350]

I wonderd how long it would take to start talking about knobs

[dodgy]

no problem Si, glad i can help

[t70]

i polished my knob (and re-finished it)... and had to get a stick reduction... it was too long.... lol... my goodness... i think that was certainly bordering on "crossing the line"

[bigsi]

NOW NOW... this is a family orientated thread, put your hands up and walk away from your knobs!

[John V6]

Obey last order, Sir !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bibs]

It's all a bit quiet in this thread now!

[bigsi]

the thread will stay alive as i have to do the interior yet!!

[arbell9]

the thread will stay alive as i have to do the interior yet!!

Hows the car, she running like a dream? Now we want regular updates on the Zondaesque interior from you.

Alex

[yeller77]

the thread will stay alive as i have to do the interior yet!!

D@mn, you mean they forgot something??!!

Maybe we should just rename this the "BigSi's Esprit thread" so you always have a place to post updates on what is now the forum's most notable Esprit! (especially now that removing the head and cam towers is ancient history! )

Enjoy, Si!

Eric

[bigsi]

well this hasnt been updated for a while because well it didnt need t be, i start an interior thread but prehaps having that merged with this one and renaming this the bigsi's esprit thread would be good.

well heres an update:

both inner sill formers have been made from aluminium, they are shaped and ready for sanding, it will be a while before they are ready for carbon moulding so in the meantime i having some pure carbon scanned in at its highest resolution and it will then be transferred to a high grade vynil and then wrapped over the aluminium s i get a feel of what it will look like, removal will be easy as all it will need is a hairdryer and a special chemical, lift the one edge pour the fluid behind it and the adhesive releases and it comes away clean. it can then go for carbon moulding along with the other bits when the time comes. this wnt be until the new year but in the meantime i am learning about trimming and double baseball stitching leather and whats needed etc, i retrimmed my old fairlady so i may just do the esprit myself also. if i can find a picture of the fairlady trimming i will put it up for y ou to see.

keep tuned.

simon

ps: my 'o' on my keyboard randomly doesnt type so if theres a single wrd with no 'o' thats why

[bigsi]

well its been a while since i added to this thread but i am still at it!

today i will be re-finishing the front and rear bumpers, the fornt bumper has a very bad craze on the top center, probably due to a little knock in its life, i have to take this back and fill prime then i will rub back the whole front bumper and re paint it with a nice satin black then colour sand it.

the rear bumper will also come off and i will rub it back, clean and de-nib it then re paint in satin black and colour sand that also.

above the rear passenger wheel arch is some crazing so i will also take that back plastic prime and rub back then re paint and colour sand.

all this is to get the car ready for the factory, as she has to look her best, also to do are the wheel centre caps to repaint, and fit new black lotus badges on, then compound and polish the wholecar.

the inner sills are being covered this week in a carbon wrap for now.

more to follow with pics.

simon

[bigsi]

here are the pics as promised.

[bigsi]

well to aid in the work i have taken the front bumper off completely it was easy enough to do i had to undo the lifting arm for the pods and inside there are two holes for undoing the internal bolts 13mm took them off, unbolted the earth wires from the backs of the lights and seperated the push connectors and its off!!

so now i can paint that and the rear in peace around the back of the house today.

the rear wing is in final primer drying at the moment and i just have to wet that back again and its ready for paint so that will be finished today and colour sanded and compounded tomorrow.

same with the bumpers.

pics to follow later.

right the wing has had its first dust coats, many thanks to troy for the advice i used several primers to do this, all of them from tetosyl pro paints.

first a plasic-primer, this isnt your ordinary primer, its clear with a fine metallic silver colour to it, only two fine coats of this needed by the way, then a dust coat of hi build primer followed by a good first layer, when dried i dusted with a black then wet sanded it back so i could see the hig low spots, when i got where i wanted i cleaned it all off, then when dry i re-coated with hi build again let dry dusted and wet sanded again, i did this 4 times.

when this was dry i then applied the first dust coat of white over primer, let it dry then a full coat over the top, when dry i sanded it back and applied another coat, this was enough then, so i sanded it back and then began the first dust of red paint.

that is drying now so more as i continue.

Edited September 11, 2007 by bigsi

[talon]

Good stuff! This may sound silly, but are you spraying from a can or airgun? If a can, I assume you had to have the color custom matched?

[Simon350S]

The colour was custom matched by a auto paints shop not far from my house.... took the light pod when we were doing the restoration project of the car and they cut the paint back and matched the paint from there.....

Not a bad match actually once its all dried and buffed up......

Simon

[bigsi]

well the front bumper is finishedand drying overnight in the conservatory where its a nice temp all night.

heres the finished product, just the rear bumper to take off and paint next and the wheel centre caps.

the rear panels are now done and drying over night before i colour sand then compound and polish them up

Edited September 11, 2007 by bigsi

[bigsi]

heres the finished item, i have jsut spent all day on this, colour sanding it back, then g3 and g10 compounds, i then spent an hour polishing it bit by bit and then with the crappy random orbit polisher i have got. but all the hard work paid off and its come up ok, still needs some work in places but its better than it was.

[Simon350S]

Looks good mate.... nice n shiny.....

Although you've created yourself a few mor ehours work removing all that overspray fron the waist line trim..... why didn't you use more masking tape.....???

Simon

[bigsi]

its ok i got a special fluid that takes that off in two wipes

[Artie]

Cheers Simon, looks great. Wish I had the courage to sand my baby down and put some paint back on it! I've got me SE sills waiting to be fitted onto mine but sit in the boxes they arrived in until I can rummage up the cash to put 'er back in the body shop for fitting and paint. The bumpers look fantastic! Are you feeling better? Don't be overdoing it again! Keep up the pictures!

Artie