Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[910Esprit]

59 minutes ago, TAR said:

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.  

 

Maybe not that straightforward - My car is 84,   oilstat in engine bay!

[Lotusfab]

Well it's been a very busy day and I've come in from exhaustion! 

[Lotusfab]

Well it seems I can't post any more pictures as I've ran out of allowance??? Shame because the engine is now on a stand . The clutch is off and I have removed the exhaust manifold.

Exhaust Manifold

To remove you need a shortish 12 mm spanner. A ring spanner will work only on some of the nuts. The engine mount must be removed to access the nuts. 

Seems to me the engine has been rebuilt recently, but the state of the internals is unknown. I was told the lower end had been rebuilt and I have receipts for pistons etc. I plan to remove the sump and take the head off anyway. The clutch release bearing looks new as does the pressure plate.  

So much easier with an engine stand. Taking the engine out was easy with a new hoist and the chassis off. Much easier than removing all the rusty bolts! 

Chassis wise it's annoying someone has messed this up. The bobinns are immaculate. There is also a drilling error in the bulkhead fixing. I'm pretty sure the body has never been removed because the original foam was still over the centre and I have a documented history upto fourteen years ago when the car was off road. Maybe they let the rivnut specialist have a go at fitting the body? It's not really an issue  just annoying. Corrosion wise the galvanised coat is pretty intact. Just the usual spot near the exhaust where there is slight corrosion. My trouble is I like everything to look new! I found the oil thermostat in the engine bay. I also found my ten mm ringspanner in there ,that I lost a few weeks back, Im still looking in there for the gold bars! 

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Buddsy. Just found out the problem I've paid for a full forum account and it's reverted to a basic one! Hopefully Bibbs will sort it and I can post all the engine out pictures.

[Lotusfab]

Thermal metal spraying, the holy grail for Lotus owners? 

Have read several articles about Galvanising processes. There are three- hot dip, Cold Galvanising( zinc rich paint)  and thermal spraying. 

Thermal spraying zinc is melted in tiny droplets an sprayed onto the metal. It forms a coating. Because the droplets are so small practically no heat is transferred to the object. In corrosion tests it's better than hot dip. It weighs slightly more as the thickness is down to the skill of the sprayer. It can be primed and powder coated. Sounds good but might be expensive? There are many companies in the uk that can spray zinc. Some advertise chassis spraying.

I have been thinking about what Jon said. My chassis is rust free with the galvanised coat intact. Only a slight corrosion in the exhaust area which is surface in the usual place, I will heat sheild this bit when it has been treated. So what will a zinc coating achieve? It will make it look nice, but that could be achieved with a cold galvanising system. It's not paint but it's easier to refer to it as that. I have found many high concentration paints that are zinc rich and resistant to chemicals, such as oil. They are formulated for bonding  to galvanised metal. They will achieve a pretty chassis at a lower cost. How long the coating will last who knows, but the galvanised coat is still underneath. Hammerite make a suitable formulation. A hot dip at 850 degrees would look the best IMHO, but the temperature worries me, although it seems to have been done successfully to great effect. The thermal spraying is better heat wise, as it will not distort the object. The chassis has to be blasted first to roughen the surface. 

Still need to talk to all the experts, get some costings then decide. Corrosion wise there no issue with these chassis, it's just a question of what you want it to look like and how long into the future you want it to last. As they won't be driven very often in the wet it's probably not worthy of consideration.

[DaveyT]

I had 2or 3 bike down pipes galv sprayed back in the eighties..surface was slightly rough, but the level of protection was very good, although the coating did delaminate around the exhaust port flanges, probably due to heat variation.

i expect the process has been well refined since then, and should be fine for a chassis. I imagine localised spraying of repairs would also be possible if you go down that route.

[Lotusfab]

That's a good idea. I could have just the exhaust area redone. Then maybe they could powder coat using the same technology they use to powder coat over the zinc spray.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Lotusfab

[Lotusfab]

So as I a full forum member again, here's the pics.

Engine does look like it has been rebuilt. Need to remove the sump and have a better look.

[Lotusfab]

There a lot of pipes in there! Wish I knew where the seat earth straps went before, here's the answer. The cooling pipes have rubber hose cut in half in the centre of the tunnel to stop them knocking!

Going to renew everything, there's really not much to it. I have done all of this before so piece of cake, I hope! Danny, nearly got your bits off - hoping the hubs play ball!

[910Esprit]

As you probably know, your input shaft should not be detached from the box....     you need to remove/replace the diff to refit it.    I assume its failed through fretting & rust as they often seem to do

[Lotusfab]

I didn't know that, thanks. Another problem! 

I contacted thermal zinc sprayers. They cannot make a local repair, as the coating may peel off the original metal. So the chassis has to be blasted and completely redone and then powder coated to get a good finish. This will obviously be expensive. I am loathe to remove the original,coating which is 99.9 percent intact. 

Hot dip.Marvelous finish but 850 degrees. Apparently they don't hot dip chassis any more because of distortion. I have negative vibes about it.

Powder coating 

can powder coat over but in order for it to be successful long term it has to be prepped and applied exactly.

 

Cold Galvanising, zinc paint. Cheaper but the finish won't be as good unecessary over 99.9 percent of the chassis.

POR 15

can it be applied over galvanised steel? Answer is yes, provided its prepped correctly with a metal,ready. Here's the extract.

 

 

POR 15 will protect the failure area and produce a decent finish if sprayed so I think that's the way ahead.

[Chillidoggy]

Can I ask how much the thermal spraying is? I'm just wondering what kind of percentage it is in the overall cost allowed for the restoration.

[Lotusfab]

I'm still waiting for the quote to return. When they told me that had to blast all the good coat off it put me off.

[Fridge]

I certainly would not powder coat over galvanising. In fact I'd refrain from powder coating anything structural, as I've seen it fail too many times. Cracking and peeling like egg shells. Even when dry stored for 10 years or so. Possibly due to surface prep? I redid my other classics in Hammerite (smooth), as it can be reapplied, unlike powder coating.

For the S1 chassis, I had it media blasted and them painted in black satin 'Raptor', which not only looks like the original finish, but is hard as nails, but can be touched up.

I'd fear powder coating could deteriorate in time, and be a water trap.

[Lotusfab]

Thanks, good to hear similar view.

Disclaimer

obviously anything posted in this blog is my own personal view and I cannot be accountable should anyone emulate anything I have done and not get the intended results. I post here purely out of interest in the car and restoration work. All the pictures taken are how my car came to me and when reassembled and I post more pictures I suggest you only use the approved workshop manuals and disregard my pictures which are purely for entertainment! 

Now back on with it!

[Lotusfab]

Silverfrost will be happy to know I have removed the radius arm, upper and lower links on the driver side!????

Tomorrow the other side. The chassis itself is almost completely stripped. 

I've been pretty lucky so far (apart from the inputshaft coming out) the lower link stud came out quite easily and looks like it's quite new,as is the split pin. The engine mounts have both disintegrated but the gearbox and radius arm mounting look new. The cross gate cable is also not that old but I might replace it anyway. Should be pretty easy to rebuild this and I won't need many parts which is good news as the costs really mount up when bits are missing or unusable. 

[Fridge]

They do. £19,000 in parts (incl. VAT), on my restoration.

[Lotusfab]

wow you must have replaced everything! Look forward to seeing it! What colour is it?

[Fridge]

Yes, all bushes, bearings, hoses, ancillaries apart from starter motor have been replaced. Though that figure includes the gearbox and carb refurb. The car was complete, but most parts were pretty shot. Ideal, as I wanted to completely rebuild one as wanted it, not a half restoration. It's a financial stretch though.

The colour is black with silver bits at present  

Edited June 5, 2017 by Fridge

[Lotusfab]

That's real pretty!

[Fridge]

I took inspiration from your S1 at Brands Hatch last August bank holiday.

[TAR]

I looked into thermal zinc spraying as there is a local company. They explained that they would need to blast the current coating off and then spray it. The issue I had was that it won't look anything like the original coating. it ends up as a dull slightly rough flat grey colour which can be over painted. I didn't get a quote as they wanted to see the chassis to make an estimate and they are usually very busy.

As I'm not in a real hurry, I'll wait to see what happens with Richard's chassis.  

[RichardJGC]

This is a link to the S300 restoration thread which includes the successful regalvanising of the chassis.

The whole thread is a great read and mentions use of Zinga as an option for addressing poor areas of galvanising.

 

[Lotusfab]

Zinga looks really good stuff. I'm starting to think Zinga for damaged sections then POR15.

I like the look of the new hot dip, so still,a bit on the fence. I know when another gleaming chassis is done I'll be thinking maybe it should have been three!

[Lotusfab]

Rear chassis taken apart! The hubs came apart easily. Looks like a lot of new parts have been installed. The hub studs are perfect!

A lot of the bolts are also fairly new. Overall this car is in good shape. I think I will have all the bolts, shims and washers plated. It looks very cool!