Lotus Europa Restoration

[HealeyBN7]

Here are a few more photos of my endless Lotus sanding process. Enjoy

[HealeyBN7]

And just a few more commemorating the New Year...

[Steve Simmons]

There's a car in those photos? All I can see is that purdy garage.

Nice work. I don't envy you at this point in the project!

[Larry Kluss]

Dean, Looks like good progress since I saw it on Thursday. In a warped way, I kind of enjoyed the last block sanding stages. It can be a bit stressful trying to make sure it's right, but the potential payoff is worth it. Similar feeling with the color sanding stage.

[HealeyBN7]

Dean, Looks like good progress since I saw it on Thursday. In a warped way, I kind of enjoyed the last block sanding stages. It can be a bit stressful trying to make sure it's right, but the potential payoff is worth it. Similar feeling with the color sanding stage.

Thanks for coming by. Good advise on getting all the panel hardware installed at this phase. While I thought I could wait for the final blocking, it was clear that alignment issues needed to be addressed. Had to straighten out the front surround and really work the doors.

The door hinges are not coming off again. I'll mask around them for paint. With these special Banks hinges, I can still remove the doors are leave the alignment fixed. The original door hinges used a steel pin that was extracted through a hole in the sill. Of course everything about that system rusted.

I now think I have a handle on the side window hardware - awaiting on a few parts to see if they go together as planned.

On the body work, the hardest part for me is getting the inside areas straight. It is easy (sort of) to block out the convex areas, but the small inside radius areas around the windows, headlight buckets and around the bumpers are just painfully difficult.

I caught a few hours of Barret Jackson this weekend, and every time a car rolled across the auction block all I could think about was how straight their body work looked. I don't think I enjoyed watching a single car. Today's paint standards are so out of touch with the way these cars rolled off the factory floor. Wasn't there a time when something just a little better than Old Yeller was a successful effort?

One thing for sure, the closer I get to finishing, the more places I am finding for vintage race stickers .

[Jimmy]

Can I borrow some of your patience, Dean?
Please.

[HealeyBN7]

After another round of sanding and blocking. I shot it again. Once it dried, I had the chance to see if the body and chassis liked each other before heading off on a business trip.

There are several issues to work out. Number 1 issue is getting the body centered on the frame. Seems to be about a 1/2 shifted to the left.

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[Steve Simmons]

Oh wow, it looks like a real car now! I was just showing my better half the last set of photos because she wanted to see the garage. You should update your garage build thread!

[Larry Kluss]

Looking good!

[HealeyBN7]

Thought I would post a few shots and thank Larry and his son for their help as we painted the Lotus.

Of the 200 shots we took, I like the first photo of the boot in the dark the best. After converting the barn into a paint booth, we shot on the base color coat. According the the PPG instructions we had no more than 24 hours to lay on the clear, so within a few hours we started to lay out the graphics. I mean how long could it really take to tape off a couple circles and a stripe. Well now I know. I took that dark booth photo an hour and a half after midnight. The next day we finished masking the car and shot the white (technically a Jag off white).

Within a few hours we scrubbed down and switched to clear. The barn cleaned up quickly, yet I can't understand how one roll of plastic can fill up four trash cans. By all measures, I think I ruined Larry's weekend, but thank you.

Now I just have to put it together:)
Dean

[Steve Simmons]

Wow, looking great! I like the second to last photo the best. I also see you went Austin's stripe idea. Very sharp!

[Jimmy]

Nice, Dean!
And now that it warmed up a wee bit, that paint should be cured in about...oh, 3.74 milliseconds.
Will we see it at Channel Islands on the 25th?

[Larry Kluss]

...By all measures, I think I ruined Larry's weekend...

No worries, you picked the perfect weekend with the 70 degree weather and, most importantly, Janell being out of town!

It looks even better not surrounded by the booth.

An update on my E-type Jag. The paint shop said they're ready for it, so I start disassembling tomorrow!

[VWNate1]

That's just terrific ,THANK YOU for sharing .

I've not had the patience to totally strip , block and paint a vehicle since 1977 or so...

Here I was going to blather on about my new old truck but nevermind .

[HealeyBN7]

Oh - this is terribly out of date. So here is a quick catch up.

Finished wiring and the interior over the holidays. I am showing a few photos of the upholstery work. Perfect thing to do while we had all that rain. Rather enjoyed it.

The last two photos are of the car actually running. A few test drives to date, but nothing too long yet. Still sorting out a few issues...

Dean

[tannyo]

It is beautiful. Nice jobe Dean. Did you create the upholstry yourself or buy a kit. If a kit were you happy with it and who made it?

[HealeyBN7]

Tanny,

I did the upholstery myself. Pleated the seats, the diamond pattern in the door pockets and access panel. It wasn't too hard. Could have used a walking foot industrial machine...

If you are interested I can show few more photos of the upholstery and document the process.

Dean

[tannyo]

Tanny,

I did the upholstery myself. Pleated the seats, the diamond pattern in the door pockets and access panel. It wasn't too hard. Could have used a walking foot industrial machine...

If you are interested I can show few more photos of the upholstery and document the process.

Dean

I'm intrrested. I think that would be great.

[HealeyBN7]

Still sorting issues on the Lotus. With so many modifications, I guess the sorting time goes up exponentially.

Thought I set the rear toe correctly only to find that a 10 minute fwy drive was down right scary. One side was toed out the other toed in. Lotus flip flopped between toe in and toe out, but never recommended a little of both.

Austin and I reset the rear toe back to factory specs. It wasn't too hard. We used the string method and then unbolted the forward rear mount and added shims until we were happy. We only did it three, or four or five times - I ended up having to pay him.

I spend a while scratching my head regarding a tire balancing issue. Shop said it was fine - drove terrible. Turns out the wheels are not centering to the hub - manually centered them for now until we can make hub centric rings (much improved)

Installed a wide band AFR (Innovate LM-2). This will eventually datalog with the MegaJolt, but for now Austin is reading AFR numbers as I drive. An expensive device, but each stumble is now know as either a rich or lean event, and I can see how close I am to an ideal mixture. A few new Weber jets are on the way to lean it out over 3K.

See it does move on it's own. The recent picture shows the window trim , wipers, etc. You would think it would work great in the rain, but that is another story...

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Dean

[Steve Simmons]

Drool!

[gorms68]

Double drool

Drool!

..the garage in the background!

[MoPho]

Hey wait a minute! Ummm.......






You know I have that color/number meatball combination on a Lotus trademarked and copyrighted, I will have to send you bill for the usage ...



Looks fabulous, can't wait to see it in the flesh, congrats

[Larry Kluss]

You know I have that color/number meatball combination on a Lotus trademarked and copyrighted, I will have to send you bill for the usage ...

I think Dean paid extra for the stripes!

Glad to see you're still alive and kicking, Morgan.
Did you sell the Lotus?

[MoPho]

I think Dean paid extra for the stripes!

Glad to see you're still alive and kicking, Morgan.
Did you sell the Lotus?

Thanks, yes the Elan was sold about a year ago to a guy up in Palo Alto, he seems to be enjoying it.


.

[HealeyBN7]

Had a slight misfire after a spirited run and getting caught in traffic and putting through town. I had forgotten that I threw in Autolite plugs which are generally not recommended for my setup. Testing out new colder Denso Iridium plugs here and another round of squeak and rattle containment.

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Dean