Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[jonroberts]

Haha. Yes, pedal box bolts, I remember them well. Hours of fun ?  

You will be able to look forward to putting them back in too !

[Lotusfab]

Victory or death!i am minded to sledgehammer the pedal box! The solution was to remove the heater and take the rear bolts to the pedal box out using a universal socket and 1/4 inch drive. The lifter worked but the body needs to be very high to get the beam across, underneath. Now it's like thunderbird 2 I can drop the body onto a carrier or just roll the chassis,back under. Happy days!???

Took four days to do this and a lot of will power!

[TAR]

Excellent work Fabian. You'll have earned a beer tonight after that.

 

[Fridge]

That looks excellent Fabian.

It took me 3 days to strip my S1 completely, but I had an extra pair of hands to help.

I saw my S1 body shell in the paint shop yesterday. The Esprits look great don't they?

Well done.

[Lotusfab]

 Thanks. Yep need a rest now!

What colour have you gone for?

[LOTUSMAN33]

Fantastic work Fabian, well done that man! ??

How does the chassis look now without body attached, can't help but think I need to do the same allowing the shell to be painted by Neil on rollers. 

What is the plan next after your well deserved rest and hopefully a cold ??

Are you going to rub the body down or leave it to the bodyshop?

Keep up the great posting

Dave :-) 

 

[Andyww]

Great stuff! Can definitely see the TB2 likeness. So next time, rocket motors under the end of each sill should be a lot quicker!

It always amazes me how much silicone sealant they used on the heater area, they must have had daily truckloads of the stuff arriving at the factory. Maybe someone at Lotus had shares in Dow Corning.

[silverfrost]

Excellent work Fabian,  I hear someone's left a special box for you to collect 

[RichardJGC]

Amazing work Fabian! That's the quickest I've seen one stripped down. You deserve a beer or two.

Something for the garden perhaps.....to fill the holes made by your body lifting machine ?

 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Chaps! I like the flower idea Richard! The plan is to assemble my engine hoist and remove the engine. The chassis is now in my garage. Then I will strip down the chassis to swap the rear bits to dry sump. The engine was rebuilt by an F1 chap, I was told. I do have parts receipts, but I think I'm going to take it apart anyway and rebuild it myself as I want to check everything. I need to research the chassis process. I plan to strip it bare and powder coat all ancillary parts, replace everything and rebuild. I may well revgalvanise the chassis, but I'm still looking into the process. The body is off to the bodyshop for the full FYEO treatment to include paint matching to the original colour, but no immediate rush. I want to get the chassis sorted and then get the body done.  Steve Fulcher as always for the trim, which is also colour matched. I hope this car will be the best possible replica of the original Bond car, including the four stud Compomotives. 

[Lotusfab]

Coach bolts in and a little bracing with a waterproof cover. Easy to clean the engine bay and underside with the body raised. 

[Lotusfab]

Chassis 

[Lotusfab]

On 01/06/2017 at 23:18, TAR said:

I'm debating what to do with my chassis. The only way to get that factory fresh finish is using hot dip. I was worried it might warp it. I guess if you get it measured first and again afterwards it may be OK.

Do let me know who you choose if yoiu go down that route.  

There should be an oil cooler in front of the radiator. You can just see it attached to the undertray.

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Hi Tim what's that box on the right side that the oil coolervpioes are connected to, I don't seem to have that?

5 hours ago, silverfrost said:

Excellent work Fabian,  I hear someone's left a special box for you to collect 

A massive thanks to Silverfrost, who's swapping the rear suspension with me. Thanks!

[Andyww]

33 minutes ago, Lotusfab said:

Hi Tim what's that box on the right side that the oil coolervpioes are connected to, I don't seem to have that?

 

As I remarked earlier, the oil cooler thermostat on mine and other cars I have seen is mounted at the bottom of the engine bay not there.

[Lotusfab]

Mmmm will have to take a closer look. 

[RichardJGC]

The thermostat was mounted in two different locations. The parts list mentions it as you need different oil cooler pipes depending on its location.

Mine is located in the engine bay. Not sure when the changeover point was.

[TAR]

Dry sump cars with an oil cooler has the thermostat located at the front of the car with 2 short oil pipes to the cooler. Mine is original and in the correct place.

I think all wet sump cars have them fitted in the engine bay.  

[Lotusfab]

Mmm? My car is one of the first wet sumps, so there must have been a transition period?

[Lotusfab]

Planning on removing the engine today, then stripping the chassis to swap the rear with Silverfrost!??????

if this is successful will have taken five days. Have started looking into the chassis. I will have to find a jig, as welding will be needed to the mounting points. For some unknown reason the centre section mounts have been drilled twice? I don't think the body has been removed before as the foam in the tunnel was original and still intact. 

I think the way forward will be repair the mount points, regalvanise then check alignment on the original jig. 

Maybe other cars have been drilled twice in the side mounts as the chassis may have distorted after galvanising, as was mentioned before? 

[Lotusfab]

[Andyww]

That is curious. I was under the impression these holes were drilled after the body was put on.

It would be a lot to expect that the accuracy would completely line up if holes were pre-drilled with two structures of that size, body and chassis.

[RichardJGC]

Looks like the first set of holes were drilled...then realised they couldn't get a nut on the back....jiggled the body back slightly...and drilled another set?

Will be interesting to see what mine is like in a few months.

[silverfrost]

The extra drilled holes in the chassis is strange ?  Personally I would not even bother with a jig or attempt to weld in new metal. 

Two reasons for leaving it,  number one would be welding in new metal would make that area more prone to rust in the future, as properly galvanised metal is an absolute bugger to weld to, So you would have to aggressively grind back that area making it more rust prone. 

Number two is the body sits over the chassis in that area, meaning it's already well supported,  IMO I would leave as is and just use a decent quality slightly oversized washer on the back of that bracket. It has not pulled through over the years so will not in the future in my eyes.

Have never seen this but could of just been a case of the body holes been drilled incorrectly at the factory on the shell or wrong holes drilled in the chassis and adjused accordingly.  Either way not much of a drama, just paint the area on the bracket and leave alone imo.

 

[jonroberts]

I was looking at the photos of your chassis, it looks in pretty good condition - just dirty. Why not degrease and clean it all, inspect and rectify any local areas of rust or ineffective galvanising and leave it at that ?

[TAR]

Interestingly, one of the bulkhead brackets on my chassis has been 'double drilled'. All other mounting points are fine. I imagine that someone was less than careful when drilling the bulkhead to fix to the chassis.

Looking at the oil thermostat on the parts list indicates that a change was made in 1985 so I guess that early wet sump cars would use the same stat in the same place as the dry sump cars.