S1 Project car - part 2 - the continuation

[Lotusfab]

Have to apologise, I will not be manufacturing the hooks for the engine bay cover as I now have a set! Its created more work as I now have to take them apart, replace the webbing and get them powder coated! This is a nice problem to have, just goes to show never give up. I have the Kangol stalks and reels which I Shall be taking to a company in byfleet for a refurb. The driver stalk has the wiring for the seat belt light which was one of the circuits I installed which was missing from the new loom. A special thanks to Brett and Mark at Lotus Bits who really pulled it out the hat, if they are reading this! I can't praise them enough whether its headlights, seatbelts or engine Hooks they've saved this project several times.

Will post on here how to refurb the straps. They are grey Pirelli webbing. I've decided to go black as they age poorly and look dirty grey. I have new Pirelli staples and period webbing to make the new ones.

[Lotusfab]

My cars taken four years with the previous owner and I've done 13 months of all day on days off and something every other day! Five years and three months. Despite how much work you do more and more jobs keep cropping up!

[Lotusfab]

Spent some time trying to sort the Kangol seatbelts. After a lot of diliberation have decided to adopt Jon's approach. The Kangol reels are really too old and their design is not great. I have new reels from S and J and have decided to fit these for safety reasons. I am still using Kangol stalks and will get a company in West Byfleet to fit the Kangol buckles to the belt. Then will get new stickers for the stalks and hopefully this is the end for the seatbelt saga.

The mirror is nearly finished after extensive fiberglassing. Still doing the engine straps.

[Lotusfab]

Problems with the seat belt runners. The original bolts that pass through the lower part of the seat belt runner are not long enough! They need to be 10 mm longer inorder for there to be underlay under the seat with carpet. Otherwise the runner will crush the carpet on tightening. The only way to do this is grind out the original bolts and weld some high tensile steel bolts in their place. A shame I have aready powder coated these!

[Lotusfab]

Engine straps.

They are 220 mm long x 19 mm wide, made from Pirelli seat webbing, in grey.

Woolies sell pirelli staples. They are the same diameter as the original wire and cam easily be cut with pliers to replace the old rusted staples.

I'm replacing mine in black.

[Lotusfab]

Soon will have to screw wing mirror on. There are two mounting holes. Do the screws go all the way through the body? Also how do you get the screws in with the mirror in front of them? Cheers.

[Lotusfab]

Engine straps almost complete after new webbing and staples, which turned out to be grey after all. Look foward to fitting them.

[Lotusfab]

Just had the seatbelts refurbed. Used the new reels but the webbing was all wrong so had it replaced with more new webbing to match the original pattern. Got some original buckles in as new condition they were fitted also.

Got the stalks sorted too, just need to fit.

[jonroberts]

Soon will have to screw wing mirror on. There are two mounting holes. Do the screws go all the way through the body? Also how do you get the screws in with the mirror in front of them? Cheers.

 

Hi Fabian,

 

The screws go all the way through the 'A' trim piece and into the fibreglass. The mirror should swivel on its ball joint (at least the Steve Fulcher repro ones do) to allow access to both screw holes.

 

Pics below for you from my car. 

 

 

[Lotusfab]

Perfect! Thanks Jon. Do my mirror bits look like they come from Steve? Do you have a spring or just a screw in the pivot? Mine has just a screw but was thinking of changing it to a spring?

[jonroberts]

Actually I don't know. Mine came fully assembled and ready to fit and I didn't feel inclined to take it to bits to see how it worked !

 

It feels slightly sprung though, but that might just be the fibreglass flexing.

[Lotusfab]

The boots finally finished! Just filled the coolant back up. A lot of work. The belts are now installed also. Bonnet next then more trimming.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

keep going, won't be long now and you can enjoy the car all that hard work will pay off

[Lotusfab]

Thanks, Rob, need some encouragement keep finding more and more problems. Latest one the steering wheel is slightly bent. But the good news is I've managed to buy another one thats perfect! You need a lot of luck when it comes to restoring esprits.

[Lotusfab]

Bonnet

Have started to refurb it. The wire mesh is shot so bought and excellent copy from S and J. The metal grill is held by 5 small screws that pass through the mesh into plastic caps. The bonnet needs recurving. Have to drill the rivets out of the metal strip which holds the curved shape. Make a jig for the new curve and re- rivet into the new position. Then paint and fit new seals, which I have purchased from S and J. There are two seals on the bonnet. One around the air intakes and the other in a large loop. They are glued with contact adhesive the same as the tailgate. The seals are just like a bicycle inner tube.

[Lotusfab]

Have removed half of the rivets. The metal strip is corroded behind so will have to remove the whole strip and start again! Got a little time next week to move the project forward. Am hoping to have the doors, bonnet, underlay and some of the orange carpet done. Steve also may have finished the dash so I will be able to rebuild the steering bits, instrument binnacle etc. have to refurb the new steering wheel, the frame is perfect but the leather tatty. Has anyone tried removing the leather? Might be able to get it recovered?

[Lotusfab]

The screws that hold the grill pass through the top, where the marks are in the picture.

[Paul Coleman]

Has anyone tried removing the leather? Might be able to get it recovered?

Steve Fulcher's your man for that.

[Lotusfab]

Yep good idea will ask him when I pick up the dash and drop all the other bits off.

[Paul Coleman]

I bought some black dye for mine and some wax and refurbished it myself - looks pretty good and it's still original

[Rolls]

Hi Paul.

Im keen to keep the interior original. I don't like it when everything is too shinny. Could I trouble you to post a pic of the re- dyed leather? Many thanks

[Paul Coleman]

Not sure how well you can see it...

 

Paul.

[Lotusfab]

That looks great! Have you sorted the MOT?

Ps please can you finish mine now?

[Paul Coleman]

No no MOT yet. I've sorted out the steering u/j fouling the chassis by shimming the rack out another 3mm.

 

I couldn't select 1st/2nd and 5th/reverse so I've bought the uprated SJ cable and linkage rod. But changing a cross gate cable with the body on is not something you EVER want to do!

[Lotusfab]

Yep I had to mess around a lot with the shims! Still y,our nearly done! Have you had it retuned? I think theres a lot of things you never want to do on an S1, like installing vent pipes but something keeps you going!