Restoration of 2358R

[Certified Lotus]

Thanks to Alex (he brought one of his Europa's over to 1st Performance and Exhausts Ltd. in Norwich) for getting the pattern made for these custom Stainless Steel exhaust systems.

I now have one here in the US😎

[BDA]

Those are beautiful!

[dakazman]

Big thank you, certified, your project is a good read and well documented. Keep up the great work.

Really nice shop also from an x New Jerseyian.
Dakazman

[Gmg31]

I had mine soda blasted and in my view it was a terrible  waste of £800.  It left a dimpled finish over the entire body, a bit like a golf ball.  It slightly damaged the gel coat in a couple of places and it meant the car needed extra body work and base coats of high build primer that ended up costing even more.  If I were doing it again I would rub her down to the base coat.  In my humble opinion that was the worst advice I had listened to in my two year restoration.   

[jbcollier]

Operator error.  Mine was soda blasted by the PO with no issues.  That said, I would recommend rubbing it down as well.  Less skill is required.

[Certified Lotus]

Just to be clear, I'm only soda blasting the transaxle casing, not the fiberglass body.

[Certified Lotus]

Soda blasted the bell housing. In removing the bell housing from the transaxle it was evident someone had previously disassembled as the bolts had flat washers and not lock washers. Tomorrow is further disassembly to see what else we find. Ordered new seals and bearing from RD Enterprises.

[BDA]

Pretty!

[Certified Lotus]

Seems automotive painters who have experience repairing and painting fiberglass are in high demand in my area. The body shop I have used in the past and have been patiently waiting for (4 months) to pick up the body has fallen off the planet.

So as a back up I have spoken with 3 other well recommended places. One turned me down as they only work on cars that are "rollers". The other two are booked into early next year.

So goes my fall 2017 completion date for my restoration.

[BDA]

Bummer! Hopefull you can find another body shop that can accommodate you on a better time line. I wonder what the consideration is for shop that only accepts rollers is. Would they accept it if you got it to them on a dolly?

[jbcollier]

Better wait for quality than hurray for poor job.  Fibreglass work on old Lotus vehicles was never very good from new.  It takes a lot of work to repair and prep to get a good, long lasting result.  After spending a huge chunk of money, mine is going to have to be completely redone.

[Certified Lotus]

The one paint shop won't allow a dolly, they only want cars on its own wheels. I'm going to have to make a hard decision on who to work with next. Lou gave a an excellent recommendation, but he is 6 months from starting a new project. Guess I will just bite the bullet and commit.

[Lou Drozdowski]

Sorry to hear about the long wait...Dave Hoffman is still my choice, he is a Lotus guy and his work speaks for itself. Are you sure he can't squeeze you in sooner?   

[Certified Lotus]

Sorry to hear about the long wait...Dave Hoffman is still my choice, he is a Lotus guy and his work speaks for itself. Are you sure he can't squeeze you in sooner?

Hi Lou, I spoke with Dave and he has a number of projects already in line. I reached back to him to reconfirm but didn't get a response. I'll try again this week.

[Certified Lotus]

Further tear down of my 352 transaxle. Gears and synchro's all look good. The bearing races are scored so they need to all be replaced. Now comes the hunt for parts. The aluminum casing is pitted and soda blasting didn't smooth it out enough. Getting the pieces tumbled would make a great finish, but it's expensive. I'm thinking of just painting it semi-gloss black.