Starting on Eyebrow and Dash

[Bryan Boyle]

Nicely done, Bryan!!   

Now comes the Big Job.  Pulling the windshield, removing the old one, swapping in the new dash, and refitting the eyebrow and then reinstalling the windshield (he says, smiling).  Nothing is straightforward.

[Bryan Boyle]

Kudos. Looking good.

Upholstery is one of those things I avoid, as it tends to activate my perfectionism and I am never satisfied with the result. If I farm it out, I am far less bothered. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with yours. Very tidy so far.

I had thought about that, but, being the hands-on type...I don't know what I can't do until I try (most times, it works out ok...just have to motivate myself to do it to begin with...like pulling the lump and doing all that work...), so, worst that happens?  Tear off the first attempt, bring to the upholstery guy and pay for it to be done.  I'm satisfied with how it turned out, to tell the truth, but (there is always that, right?) in hindsight...I'd rather it be done in leather, which is easier to work with, believe or not.  I have a nicely stored full hide of Connolly on a roll that I bought years ago, properly preserved, supple as the day I bought it (before they destroyed the cattle herds in the UK back in the aughts...which killed Connolly) that could have been used...oh well, hindsight, right?

(off topic: thinking of adding to the stable my second most fave Lotus)

[BDA]

I’ve always thought the Elite (2nd gen.) was vastly underrated. Being 6’2” and comfortably sitting in the back seat of such a small car really leaves an impression! For some reason, I’ve been seeing a lot of videos about them lately. There weren’t many made and even fewer that still exist. Good luck Elite hunting!

[GavinT]

Nice job on the 'eyebrow', Bryan. The ends look really good and they seem to be the hardest part to get right . . at least that's what I found.

Yes, leather is nice, of course. The leather dash top on my Excel suffered very badly in our hot summers. It shrank so much that, over time, it bowed up the two fibreglass dash binnacle structures where they meet the windscreen quite badly. It turns out that leather is much stronger than vinyl in that instance. I reckon vinyl would have just split.

Removed the leather, repaired the fibreglass binnacles and recovered with vinyl. The final issue was getting a colour match for the disparate pieces. I was put onto a business that did custom colour matching of leather dyes. He made me up a dye suitable for leather and another suitable for vinyl - sprayed them on with a small gun. When done, no one would know what was what.
He also had a tip for fixing the scar on the long centre console where someone had dragged a shoe over it - apparently that polymer gutter sealant was the go. It can be smoothed into the scar in the leather, remains flexible and readily takes either type of dye.

[Bryan Boyle]

I’ve always thought the Elite (2nd gen.) was vastly underrated. Being 6’2” and comfortably sitting in the back seat of such a small car really leaves an impression! For some reason, I’ve been seeing a lot of videos about them lately. There weren’t many made and even fewer that still exist. Good luck Elite hunting!

Actually going to look at that one.  The force is strong with it...from what I've been able to learn from the seller.  Has the Delorto carbs, recent clutch.  Needs some paint touch up (they all do) and doesn't have the rear lower link reinforcing fitting (but they are available), and the headlight vacuum pods are inop (he puts the lights up manually); could be vacuum issue or cracked lines...had the same issue on mine back in the day...with the vagries of how these things got titled back in the day...both the Elite and my Europa are titled as 1974 autos; I know there was some overlap (IIRC, the last Europa came off the line in spring of '75) at the same time the third gen cars were being rolled out.

(Photo is of my '74 that I traded 444R for from Marco Competition (Montclair NJ...other dealer was LaMonsa in Mahwah, which is where 3291R was sold from) in the fall of '84...sold that in '88 to get the funds to buy my first airplane...)