Ian's S4s refurb

[silverfrost]

Never mind replacing the matrix,  Watch you do not drop a socket extension down the gearbox selector hole in the chassis or you will be pulling it to bits again trying to find a knock when driving 

[Chillidoggy]

Note the strategically-place cubby hole to catch any stray bits and bobs.

[silverfrost]

My Bad 

[Chillidoggy]

Spoke to someone from Liquid Leather yesterday, their car care kit for £30 looks just about right for what I need to refurb the remaining grey leather. They had 'raven' listed as a Lotus trim colour as XX13, which didn't match with my XX15 code on the VIN plate. As a result, I shall send them a leather sample for colour matching.

I also contacted Muirheed Leatherrr for some samples. The person I spoke to didn't have a clue as to whether they supplied Lotus, but we shall see what arrives.

[Sparky]

3 hours ago, ian29gte said:

And verily Ian did glimpse the face of Lucifer, saw the terrible evil therin, and fell upon the stony ground, crying "You must be joking sunshine, I'm giving that one a wide berth."

You know what'll happen...

[Chillidoggy]

Get thee behind me, Satan.

[TAR]

Are you sure you want him behind you?  

[Chillidoggy]

Oh, you know him, then?

[Choppa]

10 hours ago, ian29gte said:

also contacted Muirheed Leatherrr for some samples. The person I spoke to didn't have a clue as to whether they supplied Lotus, but we shall see what arrives.

Nick Fultcher told me that Lotus started using Muirhead when Connolly went out of business. UK Hides now offer some of the Connolly leather range again, produced under a  agreement  with the Connolly family, but they don't offer the entire range they used to produce at the Wandle Bank factory.

[Chillidoggy]

Thanks, I'll give them a call.

[Chillidoggy]

We took the entire leather interior to the trimmer this morning so he can see what he's getting himself into. I didn't need to call UK Hide the trimmer already had the leather swatches, so we selected their Bentley magnolia nappa which was exactly the right colour, and even smoother than Sparky's new lycra running shorts. The trimmer can't start the job for another four weeks, which will give me time for sorting out plenty of other things in the meantime.

I'll be attending to the plastic cant and header rails before the broken bits disappear. I reckon I'll have a go with superglue to start off with, then if that's successful, lay up some 300g CSM on the reverse sides, and hopefully that should fix them permanently.

In other news, the burning desire for an oil temperature gauge has been quenched by the fact that it's going to cost a whopping £210 for the all the bits, so I'm afraid the standard S4s clock will be staying firmly put for the time being. Well, unless the lamebrain from Watford gets behind the wheel, then God knows what will fall out of the binnacle.

I also picked up the new oil cooler pipes on the way, I'll get round to them later.

[Sparky]

Who told you about my running shorts?

[Chillidoggy]

The local police.

[swindon_alan]

9 hours ago, ian29gte said:

Which will give me time for sorting out plenty of other things in the meantime.

Haven't forgotten about your buzzery thing Ian. Need to ask you some more questions about that seeing as you have your binnacle off and I don't...

Oh and a replacement non-Delco brake servo/master cylinder combo is still on the to-do list.

Apologies, I have been quite busy what with the pop up Swindon Lady of the Night establishments an' all

[eeyoreish]

Ahh, NOW the Pretty Woman rear lights make sense...

[Chillidoggy]

All the instruments are out of the binnacle, and will be on their way to Speedy Cables for a refurb. Interestingly, every one of the plastic Caerbont minor gauge bodies have cracked just aft of the bexel. I'm not sure why, but it's possible they've been over-tightened by an over-zealous PO, a weakness in their design, or simple fatigue. Once they're back, I can fit them in the new binnacle I bought a while back. I'll be disposing of my original one at some stage if anyone is interested. Meanwhile, I'm building up to refitting the oil cooler pipes at the weekend, and hoping to remove the original carpet set so I can see about getting it off to Steve.

Alan - Ask away, the fitting of the buzzery thing while it's in bits is probably a good idea.

 

 

"Ahh, NOW the Pretty Woman rear lights make sense..."

Now you know why every time I see reference to 'Pretty Woman', it reminds me of Alan.

[Chillidoggy]

Today, I are mostly been working on Rubik's cant rails. For some reason, they've been smacshed at the aft ends. Failed to get the Superglue to stick on every piece, and thus have ended up with the wife's hot glue gun. GRP reinforcement is on the list later, I'm hoping to salvage them, if not I'll be looking for a secondhand pair.

[Vulcan Grey]

Try ABS cement

[Chillidoggy]

Bit late for that, Travis!

I'm into the laying-up of the repair stage now. They look shit, but there's still some more work to be done to make sure they'll hold together. I thought I'd finished one side, then yesterday I noticed a crack right across the thing just before it split in half, so I had to make another reinforcement. The way it's going, they'll be all GRP soon. If I'd had a good set as plugs, I'd have made a mould for them, and junked the ABS crap.

[Chillidoggy]

This job is not going well. The plastic is so brittle, presumably with age, I fix one crack and another appears. Worse, I'm struggling with the final shape so much I now wonder if  they're going to fit the car. Not often I admit defeat, but................

Anyone got a pair of S4/S4s cant rails they want to sell? Or know where I might get some?

[silverfrost]

Douglas Valley will have them for sure Ian,  just have no idea what price he would put them out at !

[Chillidoggy]

Having drawn a blank on the secondhand front, I saw no choice but to persevere with the GRP repairs to the cant rails. By increasing the ambient temperature, I managed to get the Superglue to bond some kind f the pieces, but I mustn't go too mad with the CSM layers because the rails need some flex when they're fitted. Interestingly, they're not identical, clearly fitted by either two different blokes at the factory, a bloke with a wonky eye, or a bloke with a hangover and a wonky eye. Still, the rails are at least now in one piece, rather than the jigsaw I was presented with when I took them out. 

But whilst I might have made some headway this afternoon I noticed the header rail is also cracked, so the saga is set to continue.

[swindon_alan]

14 hours ago, silverfrost said:

Douglas Valley will have them for sure Ian,  just have no idea what price he would put them out at !

Did you try this Ian? Obviously you would need to liquidate some of your many Krugerrands but hey ho...

[Steve V8]

So Ian, now you know why they're called cant rails.

You cant get them off without breaking them, you cant stick them back together, and you cant find a replacement! 

[swindon_alan]

No Steve. Incorrect. They are misspelt. There is a vowel wrong.