Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Lotusfab]

Colouring everything in Lotus Gold the Connolly Colour they used in the car, I had it colour matched and some leather colourant produced. I'm  and having the same speaker detail! Here's my experiment for the speaker holes. Richard on here kindly sent me the spec.

BOND Car above.my test piece. The dash speaker holes were spot on! I will be replacing the dash leather from new Hyde and recolouring it  .The original was not very nice and had dryed out so tore when I removed it! The problem is the interior seems to be a mixture of Vinyl and leather. Still possible to recolour, but more tricky. Also all the half leather has to be replaced to full leather. I advise anyone with old leather seats to keep them fed or they will dry out and become nasty! It will be over to Steve Fulcher to work the magic on some of this interior. I need to do the upper dash by myself. I like a challenge and it's going to be so much simpler that building a spray boothe and spraying Nextel Coating! It also has the advantage your lungs don't solidify if you breathe the dye in! 

[Lotusfab]

If anyone would like to know how I made the speaker holes it's Magic! No not really. 5.4 mm graph paper produced on Microsoft word. Marked and stuck on the back then a 3 mm leather punch. Find a quiet place and concentrate real hard for a lot of hole punches. You can't make a mistake else the hole job is ruined! 

This is what I hope my Turbo will look like inside, identicle to the Bond car but as new. I'm looking forward to installing the cockpit stereo. Tanks to Dave Noble I even have the original wiring harness, thanks Dave if your reading👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[Lotusfab]

IThis is what I hope my Turbo will look like inside, identicle to the Bond car but as new. I'm looking forward to installing the cockpit stereo. Tanks to Dave Noble I even have the original wiring harness, thanks Dave if your reading👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻If anyone from the latest Bond movie is reading I will soon have two Bond cars for a cameo??? I won't hold my breath! 

Thanks to Andy I will have the clock in the correct place the same as this.

[Lotusfab]

[Lotusfab]

Eureka!

The seat belt reel bolts materialised! They don't look like what I might have expected, but they were labellled in a bag I took off. Here they are for the record to help other restorers.

 

[Fridge]

Yes, same as the S1.

Just fitted mine recently.

[Lotusfab]

I

[Dan E]

Do you know what Fabian that has got to be worth an email to the Bond franchise Broccoli or whatever they are called 

[Lotusfab]

4 minutes ago, Dan E said:

Do you know what Fabian that has got to be worth an email to the Bond franchise Broccoli or whatever they are called 

Will get around to it when the cars done. It's coming along nicely now! I have developed a technique where I can slow my heart rate down for painting the Good Year letters! 😀😀😀😀😀😀

[Dan E]

Excellent pop round and you can show me, probably need to be shown say 4 Times 👍

[TAR]

Fabian, your attention to detail is epic!

I'll surely be using your method to create the speaker holes when I finally get around to sorting my car.

 

[Lotusfab]

Door handle - rebuilding

the barrel can only be put in and taken out with the key in!  Here's the set up. Nylon washer in between the moving parts as shown.

There is a rubber stopper under the handle. On most of them it may not be there! I had some spare door locks 

[eeyoreish]

2 hours ago, Dan E said:

Do you know what Fabian that has got to be worth an email to the Bond franchise Broccoli or whatever they are called 

Seeing these cars cameo in a new Bond pic would be truly epic. I'd even buy the VHS release of that...

[Lotusfab]

Washer order.....left spring washer inner then other two on last! 

At last the front calipers and new hubs are on with the new bearings!

[TAR]

@Lotusfab I've just had a look back through some of my photos and I think you may have the wrong number of holes for the dash speaker. Mine has odd numbers of holes starting with 5 .

So 5, 7, 9 and 11.

Looking at the Bond car, I think you don't see all the holes because of the dash.  

EDIT!! It must be an age thing, I can obviously see yours is correct. I looked at your paper template and only saw the 4 hole diagonal. 👀

[Lotusfab]

That's seen better days! New leather me thinks.

I'm glad I got it correct, it takes a large mental strain punching all the holes out, no pressure! 

[Fridge]

My locks came apart without the keys. I'm the end I picked up NOS exterior door handles.

[Lotusfab]

Finished rebuilt and one door handle fixed. Frames soon!

[eeyoreish]

It's interesting that on the G cars the rubber weather strip is cut around the window frame but on my Stevens the rubber just bends around the frame. I assume that's original spec on the G car?

[Andyww]

Yes I think they were all cut out on the G cars. When I replaced mine I didnt cut them out.

 

[Fridge]

Just done the window seals on my S1. Really fiddly work

 Taking me 1.5 hours for the first and 1 hour for the second. Just to assemble. Stretching the rubber the extra 6mm or so to the full length being the trickiest part.

Interesting that you cut yours out prior to fitting the window frames. How and why did you do that @lotusfab ? It's not a job I'm looking forward to doing. *Yikes!*

Edited July 9, 2018 by Fridge

[Lotusfab]

 

Well done! I hope my info helped? It  was the original seal! I only had to replace one side. I had just returned it. The original seals are much better quality like just about all the bits on the car, such as the door handles. The modern replacement are very poor quality. Remanufactured are also pretty poor. In general refurb what you have. It will fit and be better! 

[Lotusfab]

Anyone got a spare one of these?door ajar light? One of mine is broken. Stupid and cheap design the plastic snapped holding the bulb. I can fix it using a metal bracket and festoon bulb holder, but prefer to put a correct one in. Thanks all.

My fix is just a metal bracket held by the two mount screws with the bold holder screws to the bracket, simple but effective. 

[Fridge]

49 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

 

Well done! I hope my info helped? It  was the original seal! I only had to replace one side. I had just returned it. The original seals are much better quality like just about all the bits on the car, such as the door handles. The modern replacement are very poor quality. Remanufactured are also pretty poor. In general refurb what you have. It will fit and be better! 

Oh I did my window seals the other week. They are very fiddly. Like you say a lot of remanufactured classic car parts are substandard compared to the original parts. My weather strips, though complete, were shot to pieces, and beyond salvage.

I've sought a lot of NOS parts to get around that problem.

Still intrigued by your trimming of the exterior weather seal. Did you fit the window frame and measure the rubber seal, and remove again, trim and then finally refit? I am going to trim mine whilst on the car at a later date, after the seal has settled against the glass.

Edited July 9, 2018 by Fridge

[Lotusfab]

When you have adjusted the frame it really isn't wise to move it. . I use a small sharpe blade prise the seal away and trim it little by little to get the best fit if it's wrong water runs down inside the door when it rains! I have another small problem. I diligently recorded all of the washer quantities and positions for each door when I took them apart. I have now lost the piece of paper!! That will cost me hours and hours of work! If anyone has any ballpark figures I'll be interested! 

You can't buy the door ajar lights anymore, not the originals anyway. Maybe they are used on other cars??.