Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Lotusfab]

Ohhhhhhh S.......

[Fredrik Larsson]

39 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

Ohhhhhhh S.......

Been there......

[TAR]

Looks as if you got your window frame shimming sorted. I had a quick look at one of my doors but where it is (back of a dark garage) makes it hard to see. I only found 4 fixing points (I've got poor close up eyesight!) The shims are very thick as mentioned earlier and with the oxidation on them it was very hard to see how many there were. The only one I could really see with any clarity was the top frame mount by the rear of the window motor. It appeared to have 3 washers. The one forward of it looked as if it had 2 and the one below that (most forward point of the frame) seems to have 1 (but I couldn't really see it properly). The mount at the rear to the bottom of the door beam looked as if it had 2 washers but again it wasn't easy to see.

Not a lot of help I suppose? I hadn't realised just how inaccessible they are unless removed.  

[Lotusfab]

Hi Tim, thanks for looking. David on herevfound a picture of my shim numbers. Mysteriously I had to change some of them to get the frames in. There's still more adjustment required but I'm doing that after it's all in one piece. Cheers. 

[Lotusfab]

Heatsheilds

there's not much on here about the heat shields. I'm at the point where they need to be put back on . I'm not happy putting back the original shields. They are old technology and not user friendly! So I am considering a modern alternative has anyone tried this. I am considering fixing it ontonthe original Aluminium wheel arch sheild?

[Lotusfab]

Well, I the absence of any other ideas I have my own solution. The problem with the ferrobestos is the realease of nasty contaminants. So I have bonded it together using a ceramic silver paint. The paint is heat resistant to about 800degrees. I then intend to cover all of the ferro part in the ceramic material above, which is quite thin. I will get the insulation benefits of both and have a new looking, more efficient sheild, but more importantly a sealed heat sheild! QqJob done, pictures to follow when I receive the above product.

I have started to sort the trim and will be sending most of it to the best trimmer I know, Steve Fulcher at Fulcher coach trimmers. For those of you who don't know Fulcher Coachworks Steve has acquired the techniques from his father who was the main man at Lotus in the seventies. He's done a fantastic Bond retrim on my S1 and this should be equally impressive. I am going to try and retain the original features and leather as much as possible,  but it will be full leather as per the Bond car, in of course Lotus Gold. It may not be possible to save all of the leather as some of it is really worn out.

Andy on here told me the bottom of the door cards are vinyl. I can confirm they are also vinyl on my car with the upper part leather.

How do you know what is vinyl and what is leather? The vinyl has a pattern on the back with the manufacturer trademark! 

[Andyww]

A method of reconditioning the heatshields would be really useful and warrant a thread of its own.

[RichardJGC]

Just out of interest....does anyone know if the early ‘full leather’ cars had vinyl lower halves to the doors or was this just a leather look solution for the half-leather spec’d cars? I only ask because my half leather car has vinyl yet i managed to pick up some early door cards that were leather top and bottom.

Anyone got a definitive answer? 

[Andyww]

All the full leather ones including Essex, which I have seen have the lower half and the bulkhead in vinyl.

[Lotusfab]

Was the binaccle in vinyl? 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Buddsy, I remember I bought some of this when I saw your post some time ago. I shall use this to make the engine mount sheilds and the flexible adhesive mat for the rear sheilding.

[Andyww]

1 hour ago, Lotusfab said:

Was the binaccle in vinyl? 

No, this was leather

[Lotusfab]

Heatshield 

Frist  part complete. Thanks Buddsy! This material is excellent. Easy to cut and ridged enough to hold the shape. I made this out of three parts and shimmed it away from the chassis to reduce conducted heat.

[Lotusfab]

Disclaimer

Anything copied from this blog is done so entirely at your own risk. It is not intended for anyone to copy,  purely posted for fun and interest. Any loss that results from copying whatbI have done etc I cannot be held responsible for! Because of liability I have edited some of this post. 

New JVC speakers in, Essex style! Ceramic paint.

Zircotec with a reinforced heatsheild edge. I'm not happy with this so intend to remake the entire over wheel heatsheild  from the rigid material and get rid of the ferro stuff. bespoke spacers for the speakers so they don't vibrate on  the dash . The screws are now fixed with resin. Leather dash to be cut and fixed then recoloured to Lotus Gold. Slowly this car is being dragged back to something decent! 

 

[Lotusfab]

One Lotus Gold binnacle fully restored - you don't want to know how much effort that took! Six finish coats and once again the pictures don't do it justice. It's a bit James Bond!

Dashboard tomorrow, I hope!

23 hours ago, Buddsy said:

I think it is good stuff. 6 years on mine still looks good.

 

buddsy

Buddsy, did you make the wheel heatsheild from that material and if so how has it performed? 

[Lotusfab]

[Lotusfab]

It's really taking a mammothamount of work! 

[Lotusfab]

It's an odd colour scheme, with the leather in the body has started to look red? 

[Lotusfab]

Mr Bonds car...

[Lotusfab]

The dash has seen better days, look at the left hand corner!

[Andyww]

Water damage. Oh wrong movie

[Lotusfab]

My new leather is resting for 24 hours due to a recolour. I will fit the dash  tomorrow if all goes as planned. Four layers of colour. Three layers of seal and a mat finish of two layers! Takes all day to do a few bits with constant cleaning of the airbrush. The steering wheel was even worse as it started out black!

5 minutes ago, Andyww said:

Water damage. Oh wrong movie

This and my one only can go  underwater once! 

It's taken two whole days to recolour three small pieces of the car. 😫😫😫😫😫I suppose you could do it quicker but the end result might be erratic?

[Lotusfab]

A Taste Of Bond

 

g

[stephenwhyte]

Looking perfect Fabian as expected!!👏👏

[Lotusfab]

Strange how the body looks red with a beige interior? 

That dash was pretty tricky!!! Still the worst is now over. Still a lot of work to do on the trim!