The start of a long journey

[BDA]

Things are looking up! That roll cage is very nicely done!

[Bainford]

Very impressive work. Nice job restoring the body/ eliminating the mods. Progress is looking good.

[nigelc]

Been a while since i updated ... many many weekends of fibre glass repairs but a real milestone moment this last weekend . First coat of Primer is on , so for the first time in around 20 years its all the same colour .  Some work to flat out some runs , and a few other lumps and bumps now .. but i believe i finally see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

Chassis is coming together separately.. and has been a case of , assemble , not be happy with it  , disassemble , improve , re-assemble .   But its looking better by the week .

[BDA]

Good work, Nigel! I'm glad things are moving along!

Don't be shy about asking for advice or suggestions and POST MORE PICTURES! 

[lotusfanatic]

That’s an important milestone Nigel!

(and making me feel slightly envious...)

Mark

[Certified Lotus]

Impressive work being done. Looking forward to following your progress.

[buzzer]

Looking good, getting there. Who did your roll cage?

[nigelc]

Thanks for the comments all ... yes i should really be a bit more regular with the progress pics. 

The cage was based on a large kit of parts at enormous expense from Custom Cages .  Dont be fooled by the pictures they show in to thinking that their  "Europa Bolt in Cage " comes as a set of bolt together sections ...ooooo no.  It comes in about a hundred pieces of tube and various ends / plates / brackets . So you either need to be an exceptionally confident welder , or find somewhere that knows their stuff . Mine was assembled by Matt Roach Racing in Rayleigh Essex ... Really nice guys, brilliant job done of it.   In all honesty had i appreciated up front that the cage didnt come with the sections pre welded , i would probably have gone to somewhere like MRR and had them design and build one from scratch , it would have been more cost effective , and certainly faster ( custom cages took months to deliver) .   

[dakazman]

Nigelc
Welcome to the forum.

 1970 s2 0453 here . What is your build number?

Keep the pictures coming !!!
Dakazman

[buzzer]

Thanks for the info on the cage. I have a safety devices bolt in approved roll bar (can't call it a cage). My plan is to get someone to make a front cage to bolt to the approved cage if possible. so this needs designing. The best cage is ..was....a Banks cage but he doesn't do them any more.

[Europaforever]

Nice work Nigel-

I'm back into it now with a new project Europa!

Regards Mark

[nigelc]

Thats great news Mark.. what have you got ? , and how much work does it need ?

[Europaforever]

I bought an S2 project! So I guess I'll be needing most of those spares I sold you back

[Nick74R]

Hi Nigel,

Great project and it's something I've done a couple of times most recently with a twincam using Banks supplied chassis. See Nick74R pics! Rollcentre is the firm whom I bought all the cage components from - an efficient and friendly firm in St. Ives Cambridgeshire, they sell all the bent bars necessary for you to build a cage to whatever stage you need - you then cut the bars and weld accordingly as each bodyshell is different. I also opted for the side bars which run down the inside of the sills and attach to the backbone chassis fore and aft.
I'm only up the road from you in Suffolk so if you want to get in touch please do.
Some pics attached...

Nick.

[skippopotamus]

Nigel, I hope you don't mind if I ask Nick a question in your thread.  Apologies if you do and I'll remove it.

Nick, I'm doing some fiberglass work on my car and I am struggling with getting a contour right.  May I ask how you got the contour where the arrows are in the attached pic?