Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Andyww]

A cake decoration syringe is great for putting grease into CV joints. For some reason my wife didnt want it back afterwards!

They come with a selection of nozzles so you can inject the grease with various nice fluted patterns!

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Andy great tip! 

Ive just bought some Redline CV2 grease from Deamon Tweeks.

I thought. Get some new cv circlip pliers. Ear type only £8 on eBay.

Might have to service the S1 cv joints whilst I'm at it!

Shortly I will be rebuilding the original  Wastegate with a new diaphragm.I have done some research concerning the blow off valve lubrication. Recommendations vary from no lubrication, copper slip if Nickle grease. A tipurbomrebuild company sells a spray but I can't find out what is in it. Anyone hog any string thoughts on this? 

[Lotusfab]

Have ordered a cake syringe! 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks to PNM engineering I now have a thin gear lever and an Aircon knob. So I now only need 

Aircon panel with the writing DEF, FAN rather than the symbol and

One front wheel lip 15 x 1 Compomotive twenty hole.

quite exciting after two years I nearly have enough to finish this project. 

SKI Racks

I have thought a lot about these. In my view they have to be made of aluminium, the same as modern ski carriers. They will then have a fairing that fits over them to achieve the appearance of the originals. I will start work on these in the next few months. I'm thinking ABS plastic fairings  fitting over the aluminium racks.

[Lotusfab]

For those of you new to the Lotus you may not know the RM610E cockpit stereo is too long to fit the roof on the Lotus. In order for it to fit the light part of it is removed and the structure essentially  cut to fit the bulkhead. A nerve racking job and one I'll be attempting very soon! There is a steel structure to cut through under the rubber moulding. You can see how it fits in the earlier picture of the Bond car roof. A  metal bracket grips it to the wood roof moulding at the front and the metal body is shaped to fit the rear bulkhead. A wiring harness fits behind the front trim and goes down the side trim to the footwell area. It's a four speaker system with the main amp in the footwell. The pre amp is built in. 

[Lotusfab]

Close up for anyone fitting one.....

Yes, well spotted! The Bond car has a RM610 ( no graphic equalise) the Stereo I have is a 610E with the extra graphic equaliser panel. Well it's been almost 40 years since the movie so I think a very small upgrade is appropriate, I'm sure Q would approve! 

[RichardJGC]

Good luck with the cutting Fabian! They say measure twice, cut once. I’d measure 10 times and cut once. Been there...done that...

I chose to cut through the plastic accurately with a new surgical knife before using a small hacksaw for the remainder.

 

[skiing]

That's what I did. sharp scalpel for the rubber and hack saw for metal. I actually used the metal chassis as my rear brackets to attach to the bulkhead by bending to right angle and drilling a couple of holes to attach directly to the wood.

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Chaps, I plan to bend the end chassis and measure many many times,. hopefully it should go ok! Just about to order the second leather Hyde for the seats then they are off to Steve Fulcher. He has his dads original seat cutting patterns. He's currently working on my door cards. Can't wait to get it all in. All I need is Carole Bouquet for the perfect picture!

[Lotusfab]

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war! I have burnt all the bridges and cut it! Pictures show the front bracket. Metal has been shaped into brackets but because it's so thin I have to stiffen it with the light backing metal case. Will put some pics on when I'm done! 

[Lotusfab]

Front of the Bond car.

[Lotusfab]

Finally, its in but has to come out again. The header rail is not strong enough to take the load of the stereo. This means glass fiber reinforcement is needed. In addition I know have to fiberglass the trim piece that fits over the header rail. Lot of work needed to get this tI an acceptable standard.

[Lotusfab]

I had to modify the end brackets so the bulkhead would fit flush to the end.  They have to be flush with the roof then go through 90 degrees.. I riveted a second panel on to the stick outbbits to give it  more  strength. The stereo is quite heavy and in my opinion there is too much load on the front crossmember. With the windscreen bonded in this increases the strength but even then the header is very thin. The easiest way to reinforce it is with fiberglass paste pressed in the gap and clock detent. I have ordered all the fiberglass materials to refinish the header rail. I will remove the clock part then re gel coat.

Soon I will have another go at the ski racks. It's  a very long process . Firstly styrofoam to craft the shape. Then cover this in glass fiber cloth and use Epoxy resin. Polyester will melt the foam! SO cannot be  USED! The  smooth the Epoxy with West coast Epoxy filler. Once this is done cover it in release agent. Polyester gelcoat and three layers of chopped strand Matt. This produces a mould. Both racks are different so this has to be done twice! Then when the mould is done cast two racks using more polyester. 

I may use the Epoxy rack for a tool and vacuum form abs over it. All an experiment, These racks will only be cosmetic and not structural. All the loads will be taken by the metal structure underneath.

 

[Lotusfab]

I'm hoping I have found someone to make the original style Aircon panels. When I have them made exactly the same I will put the supplier on here so anyone who wants one can get one..

[Lotusfab]

Have just been to the NEC classic car show. With renewed enthusiasm I hoping to get this car finished. I am planing, subject to getting a place at the show, to display both of my  Bond S1 and Turbo restoration cars in November next year. If you would like to see the results of over four years and hundreds of hours of work please come along,  no zips or test driving though please! 😀😀

Can anyone recommend a four inch car speaker that is ultra thin - 25 mm or so?

[silverfrost]

Sounds like a great idea Fabian,  It will be nice for you to show the fruits of your labour and at the same time make a very intresting stand a the show to see, 

Everybody love bond,  Small chance but does madam toswords or however you spell it,  hire out the full size Rodger Moore !    Now that would be fantastic lol. 

Cardboard cut outs will be just as good.  

Or maybe one of those shop manakins dressed up in 80s ski wear like the film wearing skis,  wooly hat and 80s ski googles would cover most of the face anyway.  

[21gg]

😁 Don't get him started on the outfits! He's had enough issues sourcing car parts! He would be easy to spot though!

[Lotusfab]

Spent an enjoyable hour today at PNM engineering checking out their sport 300 race car. I was lucky enough to get a short ride in it from the PNM stall to the main gate a year or so back to save me carrying a manifold about a mile at Brans Hatch! It was real cool. Pete found me an original gear stick thin gear stick. It has been welded so will need bringing back to life for use in my car. There's a circlip at the base which needs to be taken out so you can pull the stick out if the mechanism. 

Does anyone have experience with CNC lathes? I was thinking it should be possible to cut exactly the same gear lever on a lathe?

[Lotusfab]

Nice!

[Andyww]

39 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

 

Does anyone have experience with CNC lathes? I was thinking it should be possible to cut exactly the same gear lever on a lathe?

Paul at Cranford Eng could probably knock one of those up in 5 minutes.

[silverfrost]

11 hours ago, 21gg said:

😁 Don't get him started on the outfits! He's had enough issues sourcing car parts! He would be easy to spot though!

Fabian may as well go the full hog as he does with every aspect of his Bond Replicas,,    I am sure changing his name by D poll to Sir Rodger Moore is not far off once the cars are finished,  Just the white G turbo for him to do next lol.

[stephenwhyte]

Well done getting one of the thin gearsticks Fabian - I’ll put my hand up and admit it ewan me that spotted it was missing...... but it’s a must for your restoration👍

[Lotusfab]

Thanks for pointing it out. I did know it was as wrong, but under pressure to get it done I was going to leave it. Now with renewed vigour it will be sorted. I'm planning on an identical replica. This hasn't been easy to achieve. From the paint colour, leather colour, suspension, wheels, cockpit stereo, speaker grilles, centre consol, air conditioning panel, ai conditioning knobs, ski racks and gearstick. My advice to anyone reading this don't build a Bond replica. To do it correctly requires much more time and money than a normal parts of the shelf resto! 

The only thing left to sort out is the ultra illusive front wheel lip. What do you mean I hear you ask, you have already made the wheels? Well what is not publicised by anyone with a Compomotive car is the from wheel lips we're done in two styles. Centre on inside of Barrel and Lip or centre outside. The centre inside is the Bond car and on this the lips is 1 x 15, 20 hole with rolled edge. They are almost impossible to find and most replicas or comp cars have 1.5 inch fronts. I have one of these so need another one. Then I will take  the fronts apart and remake them. I was hoping to have found another one but they seem to be very rare. If anyone reading this has one please contact me. As a last resort I will have one Lip made at enormous expensive but wish to avoid this if possible. These lips were made in two parts a front rolled edge on a backplate which was fused together by machine. I have another rear lip which the front could be removed and welded to a CNC rear. This would make another Lip, but Id rather buy one if there's one out there? After two years of looking I got a rear lip for £30. Then I located two more which I passed onto Tim, the chap who helped with the speaker grilles. He needed them to complete the wheels on his dry sump. Should look awesome when he's done!

So one wheel lip stands between this project and completion, oh and one Aircon knob. The PNM one was different. If anyone would like to swap out their knobs for the PNM aluminium ones I'll buy the old ones? Cheers....👍🏻

9 hours ago, Andyww said:

Paul at Cranford Eng could probably knock one of those up in 5 minutes.

Yep thanks Andy. Yep I was going to have a chat with him bout making some new ones.

[Steve4012]

The dry sump on ebay has spare front wheels, may be worth a try to see if he has what you need Fabian? 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks, may have to contact him.

Managed to get the gear lever out. You have to push the pivot out of the mechanism. 6 T of force and it wouldn't budge so before it cracked I sawed the bottom of the mechanism off, I could then remove the circlip and spring. Unfortunately the lever was welded to the gear shift mechanism, so had broken before at the normal place where the pin is. Now I have three choices. Weld the old lever to my thicker one. Turn the thicker one down to match the old. Or have the old one remade. Watch  this space for my solution.