S1 Project car - part 2 - the continuation

[Lotusfab]

Hi Jon, havn't tried the front screen yet. Does the sealant bead on the lower edge co inside exactly with the black/ Nextel line on the dash or does the inside sealant bead sit lower? So there a small gap over the top of the dash to the sealant? This is important as the Black Nextel line is not perfect if it can be seen.

[Lotusfab]

Is this it?

[jonroberts]

Yes, I knew I'd seen a photo of it somewhere.

[Lotusfab]

Tailgate Latch.

If anyone's reading this whose got a problem adjusting the tailgate latch I just got round to doing it. I have spent several hours on this, so I hope this helps someone in the future. Getting it to close flush, latch and pop up to a height where you can get your fingers in is a big problem. Got it working in the end here's some tips.

1. Get the correct length and pressure spring. I bought a chrome replacement which would not work as it was too strong. To reduce the force needed to close the tailgate I reduced the length of the spring. This resulted in it latching but not popping up high enough to get your. Fingers in! Went back to old spring. This would not work either.

2. Bought a new bolt from S and J, no nut would fit. It's a 1/4 BSF thread! Got the new nut of Ebay. Could not press down far enough to get latch to work.

3. Window not yet in so looked from inside. The bolt was snaging on thread as nut was not tight enough. This resulted in the bolt closing off center and the tailgate being displaced from central when closing. Only a small offest but enough to stop it working. Tightened bolt till thread did not snag. Still enough room for fingers when popped up. Now still being offset by catch attached to tailgate not being central to lower latch or low enough to close catch. Added a shim and adjusted till central by looking at it when closing.

Tailgate now pops up and closes easily, flush and central. All I can say iis if your doing this just keep going, eventually it will work if you have the correct spring and number of shims.pictures closed, popped up.

[TAR]

Looking good. I'm liking your bespoke workglove holder at the rear.

[Lotusfab]

Made to measure!

[jonroberts]

Hi Jon, havn't tried the front screen yet. Does the sealant bead on the lower edge co inside exactly with the black/ Nextel line on the dash or does the inside sealant bead sit lower? So there a small gap over the top of the dash to the sealant? This is important as the Black Nextel line is not perfect if it can be seen.

 

There is a small gap on the inside between the top of the dashboard and the windscreen but it's not obvious on my car. I tried to put some white paper on the outside in this photo to make it clearer. On the lower part of the front screen I masked a 25mm strip for the black glass primer before fitting it which is the black line you can see from the inside.

 

[Lotusfab]

I didn't realise this when I sprayed the Nextel. Should have taken the coating over the Apex. Never mind may have to fit a black finishing strip if the Nextel/ black line is visible.

[Lotusfab]

Conected the brake light wires to the switch at the back of the gearbox. They were pin connectors and the new loom had spades so swapped them over. Reattached rear bumber after adding rubber edge trim. The best way to do this is use superglue and masking tape to secure the rubber edge trim before putting the bumper on, otherwise trust me its a nightmare! Believe me there have been a lot of nightmares on this project and probably still more to come. The rear is now finished apart from spraying the black around the tailgate and installing the glass. Will post on here although Jon has already done an excellent job and has posted some great pictures.

10 months so far, but the end is now in sight!

[jonroberts]

When do you plan on un-mounting it from the ceiling of your workshop ?  

[Lotusfab]

It's not an underwater car, it's an under ceiling car!

[Lotusfab]

One step forward, two steps back. Got the serrated nuts for the pod which fitted. Tested lights left pod can't br adjusted as arm rotates about 200 degrees and 160 degrees. This must be cause by a shredded worm gear. Now will have to dismantle check and source new parts! On the upside the electrics work!

Finished the spraying after masking for about the 12 th time! Hopefully tailgate screen fitting tonight. Will post on here step by step.

[jonroberts]

Couple of tips for you on the tailgate glass fitting.

 

1) Close the tailgate and latch it shut - you want it in its normal position when bonding the glass in, don't be tempted to prop it up horizontal so the glass can't drop down while curing as it may not be completely square.

 

2) Pack, wedge or otherwise secure the glass firmly in position after fitting. It has a tendency due to the weight to slide downwards while curing until it meets the tailgate fibreglass - but you must have a couple of mm gap all round the glass otherwise the chrome trim will have nowhere to slot into. In other words, centre the glass in the frame and make sure it stays there until fully cured. 

 

Good luck !

[Lotusfab]

Thanks, need some luck! Just securing harness, does the main part go over or under steering column? If under what holds it in place thanks guys.

[jonroberts]

it goes over the steering column and behind the crossmember. 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Jon. Just tested wipers, all working so far!

[Lotusfab]

Didn't get time to do glass, got bogged down with wiring and electrical bits. Am missing Two switches the INT and heater. Will have to source them. Just need to locate the washer bottle wiring and the wiring is finished apart from the binacle. Also broke the wiper switch! Half of it was broke already, it snapped where the srew went in! All new relays fitted, shame you can't see any of it. Fitted bonnet microswitch. Need to sort headlight motor, although it works of a fashion. Converting the vent system also requires a lot more work!

[jonroberts]

Great stuff - coming on nicely !

[Freemason]

I may have missed an explanation for this somewhere, but why does your bonnet have no badge and a 'LOTUS' decal instead of an 'ESPRIT' one?

[winners]

Early esprits had LOTUS and no badge, latterly they had the badge and ESPRIT. The Bond car has LOTUS for example.

When I resprayed mine I opted for a combination. just cos I could!

[Lotusfab]

I'm copying the bond car and it will have the same interior, ie green headrests not tartn.

[Lotusfab]

D day is here! Will attempt to install front and rear screens. The front screen is in my shed and I've never seen it, so hoping its in one piece. If it's like the back one only about 2 hrs of cleaning within a razor blade! Will post later how it's all gone with pictures for anyone else who does this in the future. Just reviewing the Lotus service notes as a starting point and remembering Johns tips.

[Lotusfab]

The front screen was extremely dirty and so will take a lot of cleaning. The rear screen is in of a fashion! I followed the Lotus Bullentin to the letter but think they actually don't work very well.made a Nozzel as per the manual, it was awful. Went back to using the Dinitrol nozzel much neater and cleaner. Put the spacing blocks which are 4 mm exactly where Lotus said but the corners sit quite low. The trims can be bent but I think they would be better if they sat higher. The glass is curved more than the tailgate surround so maybe Lotus did this so the screen would not crack?

Anyway one more to do, water test and put the trims on here's the pictures.clean the windscreen with the cleaner and then apply the black primer, this stuff goes on easy and only needs one coat. Be careful pulling the masking tape of to get a neat edge. The 4 mm blocks sit in 75 mm from edge as per the picture. The glass curvature is constant but the Verticle gap to the top edge of the tailgate varies. This will have to be compensated for by bending the trims.

[Lotusfab]

Used rubber spacers to stop screen sliding down.

[Lotusfab]