Ian's S4s refurb

[Sparky]

I do love the bravado of these guys who've never met Shan.

[C8RKH]

Maybe I am just spoilt by not having a demanding wife who let's me get on with what i enjoy with minimal interference. We're all different as are our partners, I picked one with zero interest in cars and she never looks at a car related bill even once, let alone twice. Maybe that's why we've been together for 23 years. First marriage lasted just about 2 years if I'm being generous!  lol..........

She gets her space and hobbies and her time, I get mine. Both happy.  Works bloody demanding enough to have to deal with the same kind of shite/hassle etc at home too....

[Chillidoggy]

51 minutes ago, Sparky said:

I do love the bravado of these guys who've never met Shan.

 

Cliftonville's version of Maggie Thatcher: The Lady's not for turning.

[C8RKH]

7 minutes ago, ian29gte said:

 

Cliftonville's version of Maggie Thatcher: The Lady's not for turning.

In that case do you mind sharing her for a while please Ian!

Send her up to Scotland to deal with Sturgeon for us please. We need a good cage fight and it sounds like Queen Nic would not be leaving in anything other than an ambulance or a body bag.

BTW, my vote is for Magnolia with green piping. You need that contrast and it will look superb. You'll only do it once so do it right

 

[Chillidoggy]

She's busy at the moment: Some nonsense about independence for Margate, apparently.

In any case, the train driver's are probably on strike.

[Chillidoggy]

I've now repaired the ABS header rail by reinforcing it with CSM, and I reckon its good enough to hand over to the trimmer. It was a good few hours work which I could have done without, but so far that's been precisely the case for pretty much every job on the car that I haven't done yet!

So, I've started back on those wonderful cant rails, grinding off excess GRP and making sure the alarm bits fit in the holes.

Depending on how things go, and if there's enough surplus, I may have these bits trimmed in leather. And if so, it occurs to me that the holes for the cabin courtesy lamp assembly and the aforementioned motion sensors that poke through the end of the cant rail, might have to be enlarged a bit if the leather is thicker than the original fabric headlining. But that will have to wait until they're with the trimmer.

[Chillidoggy]

I'm looking for a Lotus logo/insignia for my seat headrests. I'm sure I've seen one that has laurel leaves, but can't find one. Can anyone help?

[Winter]

Usually, they are embroidered.  The factory used to do a seat re-cover-with-logo service, as in the image.

[Chillidoggy]

13 hours ago, Winter said:

Usually, they are embroidered.  The factory used to do a seat re-cover-with-logo service, as in the image.

 

That's precisely the image I'm looking for.

Do you (or does anyone) have an image I could use for the embroidery?

[Winter]

Sorry, I don't have a clear image only of the logo.  I suspect that one or other of the car-interior specialists will have something suitable.

Ahah!  I've just found a clearer image that might help . . .

[Chillidoggy]

Thanks, but I really need a head-on photo, jpeg or similar so I can get it duplicated for the embroidery.

[silverfrost]

 

Just inserted the image using basic paintspar on windows you will have to paint the leaves black where the icon was inserted ,

[silverfrost]

Done 

[Steve V8]

It's not as simple to do this as you might think. Now you have the design, this will need to be scanned and translated onto embroidery software such as PE designs, where the stitch pattern and direction colours shading ect is then installed by the programmer.

Alternatively Lotus may have a copy of the required software. Or you could go down to Hobby Craft and buy Shan an embroidery set and some needles, that would stop her from interfering with local politics for a few weeks. 

[Chillidoggy]

Dan, that is a kind gesture, but the design is slightly different to the factory one.

 I wonder maybe @Bibs could help - is there anyone you can think of at the factory I could contact that might be able to let me have what's required?

I will speak to the trimmer today to see what he says, but I suspect I won't be able to give him what he needs to do the job, al least for the moment.

Steve, I don't think Shan will have the time or or the inclination to do it. I've got her down for finishing off the oil-cooler pipe replacement and coolant pipe jobs. I haven't told her, but she's got to fit the new lead-sandwich bulkhead insulation, too. All that and cleaning the house, so even I think she's got quite enough to be getting on with for now.

[Bibs]

The factory closed the trim shop years and outsourced it to Allon White I believe. You can ask them but I'd imagine they'd like to do the work rather than tell you how to mate. Mel Broom at Lotus would have had the pattern but he's retired now.

Saying that I'll call anyway.

Call made - they said to call Allon White, speak to John Bellinger and tell him you're a TLFer

[Chillidoggy]

Just spoken to him.

No dice, unless they're doing the trimming. Looks like I'm going to have to cobble something together myself.

[silverfrost]

 what a shame, but i can see it from their point of view though,   

[Chillidoggy]

To be fair, I can understand Allon White not wanting to play ball, and I'm not gonna die in a ditch about it. I spoke to the chap who supplies my Company uniform, they do the embroidering too, and I reckon I can get any design done there if necessary, with the photos that Edward provided.

In other news, I'm having an issue at the moment regarding the hides supplier. Ordinarily, a supplier would first contact the trimmer not only to quote, but also to let him know how big the hide is so he can calculate how much he needs for the job.

Sadly, U.K. Hide simply sent the two hides without any communication, and they've invoiced £300 more than expected. They also gave some bullshit about it being a special order, which I find hard to believe if it only takes the usual two days to arrive. As I'm not prepared simply to stump up with that kind of sharp business practice going on, things are in the balance at the moment, at least with the hides. I have a meeting with the trimmer on Monday, so hopefully I can get something sorted.

[silverfrost]

I do not blame you Ian,  300 notes extra is a lot of coin to magically get added to your invoice,  stand your ground !

[Winter]

Also, there might be issues with third parties making unauthorised use of the Lotus logo ("device").  The service that was headed by Mel Broom was excellent.  OK, not much help here.  Some 35 years or so ago, I had the tunnel trim for a 1972 Lotus Europa Special recovered in oatmeal.  More recently I had both seats recovered for the Esprit I owned with the Lotus emblem on the headrest.  Piping and the emblem matched the azure blue of the car's bodywork.  However, I am sure that upholsterers will have computerised embroidery facilities that will allow replication of what you require.

[Chillidoggy]

Finally finished the caaaaant rails. Thank God for that, what an absolute time-consuming pain. It does however mean that all the interior trim bits are now ready for trimming, once I've thrashed out the issues with the trimmer.

Started on the lead sandwich bulkhead insulation. It won't fit in one piece unless you buy a whole sheet, but I calculated there's way too much wastage, and a half sheet gives perfect coverage. It's very heavy but easy to cut, and it any case it makes a nice change from staring at ABS plastic bits.

[Chillidoggy]

Just looking at the bulkhead, there's plywood fixed on the cabin side. The parts manual shows three pieces of 'timber', which makes me wonder whether there's a sandwich construction at all, at least on this model. It looks as though it's just plywood onto GRP.

Anyone know the answer to that?

[Chillidoggy]

I guess not, then.

Anyway after a bit of a kerfuffle, the retrim is back on track. Thankfully, UK Hide admitted that they hadn't acted in the manner expected, and are taking back the overpriced hides FOC. They will then supply another pair of hides from allegedly different range, the swatches of which look exactly the same as each other in both texture, thickness, and colour. Hmmmm....

Meanwhile, the original alloy Norfolk turkey foil that was half stuck to the cabin bulkhead has nearly been removed, soon to be ready for the new self-adhesive lead sandwich, which appears to have turkey foil on the front as well.

[swindon_alan]

Presumably you shall forever after be known as Bernard...