S1 Project car - part 2 - the continuation

[Lotusfab]

Found this picture. Presumably the three instrument Panel bulbs push into the 3 rectangular holes?

Better picture.Two panel bulb holder rectangles visible.

[jonroberts]

That was brave of you to totally disassemble the cluster ! Yes, as I recall those two are the panel lamps, but where is the single centre one ? I wonder if you have a different cluster to mine - I don't have any photos I'm afraid.

[Lotusfab]

I was missing some of the push in bulb holders and the others were badly corroded. The cluster was very dirty so took it all to pieces and cleaned and tested all the instruments. Bought a Talbolt Simca dash for spares as no Veglias are available. It uses the same bulb holders and was in perfect condition. Dispite some info on here it's not an identical dash. The instruments are laid out the same but are made by Smiths. They are arguably much better than the ones in the Veglia. The faces are black but the internals could be adapted and used as spares in the future. Had forgot about this, as did it all about 11 months ago.

[Lotusfab]

Before, after.

[jonroberts]

Don't like to mention it, but you've put it back together upside down. 

[Lotusfab]

Finally got round to fixing the light pod and motor. Swapped the shaft over from the spare. Got a new rotor arm from S and J. Then pressed out the screw on the rotor. Cut a grove to the end of the rotor and placed another screw in the slot with a serrated nut to hold it in position. Adjusted the screw to increase the effective rotor radius to the center nut at the motor until the pod had the same travel range as the opposite one. Now both pods extend the same amount and retract flush.

Have repaired Demist vent that broke trying to attach spire clips. Next job is to complete the vent system with new pipes and the spray screws in Nextel.

[Lotusfab]

Just occurred to me no mention of how to do any fiberglassing on here or what to use. I'm not an expert but once built a hovercraft using a plywood and expoxy hull, which is identical to the bulkhead design of the Esprit. For anyone who hasn't done this here's a starting point. All easy to do when you get the right stuff. Mostly fiberglass is used in boat building and this is where I got the resin. I used West System. It has easy dispensers that screw onto the tins. The dispensers allow you to mix the hardener and resin in exactly the right quantities. Keeping this simple there are different types of matting. Coarse and a much finer sheet. For repairs on the car I used both. Anything you can see I used the finer sheet. You need a plastic container for mixing. You can break of the mix after hardening and reuse the container. The best disposable brushes came from ebay, ideal for the job. The best tip I can give is that you can dye the resin. I used black dye to match bits like the demist vents. West System sell all different dye colours. Here's another picture if the demist vent, remoulded using dyed fiberglass. some fine fiberglass sheet off cuts on the left.

[Lotusfab]

Projects come to a halt - as too busy. Did manage to get a three way switch form PMN engineering for the panel, they're really helpful and have a stock of used parts as well as new. They also supplied the steering Lock for which I'd tried everywhere!

Have unwrapped the dash and unfortunately this needs retrimming too! Still very enthusiastic after 11 months as just Watched the Classic car show, Jodie Kidd review on Channel 5 . If you missed it you can find it on demand 5. A glowing review of the S1. need to redo stitching from the above to this.

[Paul Coleman]

It's very difficult to stitch that double line unless you have a double head for the sewing machine. Mine have been done by eye with a single head so they're not perfect but a blind man would be glad to see them

[Lotusfab]

Yep, looked into getting a double needle for the door cards. Only certain types of industrial machine can take the double needle with sufficient width. In the end gave up and got a professional trimmer to stitch the double line. To my surprise he didn't use a double needle! He used a chalk line as well and the machine feet as a spacing guide. I had my doubts but It's really good, he does trimming all the time and he has a talent for it. Will probably get him to do the dash and headlining. The other bits are much easier. My seats have to be done again too! Never mind it's worth doing properly and the end is in sight. Wolfraces next for repairs and diamond cutting!

[Paul Coleman]

Those seats are a nightmare!! No wonder Lotus ditched the green/tartan after a short while.

 

Re diamond cutting - a lot of people don't go down that route as it removes metal. Most seem to just go for the polishing route.

 

Paul.

[Lotusfab]

Does anyone have a link to the Festoon type number plate and interior light bulbs on ebay? Bought some but didn't realise they were different lengths. The 39 mm ones are too short.

[jonroberts]

The whole LPB790 assembly is available from AES for under £3.

 

http://www.autoelectricalspares.co.uk/number-plate-light-lens-replaces-lucas-l860-lpb790-2157-p.asp

 

Strange that 39mm bulbs won't fit - have you tried bending the bulb holder tabs inwards a little ? I measured mine at 38mm tip-to-tip.

Re diamond cutting - a lot of people don't go down that route as it removes metal. Most seem to just go for the polishing route.

 

I second that. The diamond cut takes the soft edges away which I didn't particularly like.  I bought a polishing kit and although takes a lot of manual work gives great results.

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Jon, hope the car is coming along. Only tried the bulbs in the interior light holder. They were too short even with bending, assumed the number plate bulbs were the same but maybe they are shorter? Bought the holders a Long time ago new from S and J. What polishing kit did you use? May get my spare wheel diamond cut and try polishing the others to see what looks best. Mine have been polished a little but are far from perfect. Shouldn't take much metal off if done properly.

[Lotusfab]

Just having a look at the AES website Jon recommended. It has lots of bits you can use on the esprit. Have found longer festoon bulbs that should fit the interior light for 49p! Also stumbled across bulb holders for about £3 that should fit the Veglia dash if anyone needs some, like the one below. Did anyone see the Jodie Kidd test drive on the classic car show? Think the S1 was owned by Ken Baird.

[Lotusfab]

Am in the process of removing green cloth, cleaning glue of panels and repairing defects for recovering. Orange carpet kindly supplied by Steve Fulcher, who is also supplying edging in orange and gaiters. He can supply a cutting pattern also. For those of you who don't know Steves father trimmed the original Lotus cars for the bond movie.

[Lotusfab]

Have just taken the sun visors apart. They would not move. Unfortunately the pivot bars were rusted! So will have to recover in green cloth and either rechrome the pivot bars or get some new ones from S and J. They were really rusty! The early S1s apparently only have two pivot bars? How does the whole thing attach to the body, it's not obvious?took a bit of effort and some wd40 to get the bars out!

[Paul Coleman]

I had both 'L' shaped brackets re-chromed and had the sun visor parts blasted and painted. The panel the sun visors attach to has 5 screws in it which screw into the wooden batten which runs across under the windscreen. There are two screws on either end which are hidden by the cant rails but there is also one screw right in the middle of the panel which is visible (near the rear view mirror).

 

Paul.

[jonroberts]

.. and either rechrome the pivot bars or get some new ones from S and J. 

New ones are less than a tenner from SJ's (A079V4361F) 

[Freemason]

Mine are so rusted they hardly swivel at all. The foam is so flimsy it's barely there, you can feel the bars through the pathetic padding. 

[Lotusfab]

The visors are now being acid dipped and plated. The last few parts are being blasted and powder coated in satin black. Still waiting for boot carpets. Cheaper to buy new chrome from Steve at S and J, than plate the ones I have. No time to do anything for another two weeks, but after that will go for it and finish this project. Dash partially cleaned of glue. Steve Fulcher (coach trimmer website) has kindly agreed to do the dash. He's the best and I think the only person who can get the stitching perfect on the corner.

[Lotusfab]

It's been covered before, but I have only a Lotus decal on the front because it's identical to the bond cars. Here's a picture of a car that was used in the movie. for those movie buffs the position of the lotus decal moves down when you see the underwater shots. This is because there's a flap that opens on the front, the decal sits below it!

[Lotusfab]

Don't wish to ruin the movie for anyone, but there's a lot of discrepancies in the cars.

[peteyg]

Looks like the sub has the side/indicator lights on the the wrong way round. Honestly!

[Lotusfab]

Mmmmm, hadn't noticed that. Good spot. The movie will never be the same now!