Restoration of 2358R

[4129R]

The later models have a map box attached to that ply panel. The original wood sheet was hardboard which seems to warp quite easily, but is cheaper than ply.

I glued my carpet to the ply about 2 weeks ago.

I just need to find my new interior lights. I put them in a safe place.

[BDA]

I just need to find my new interior lights. I put them in a safe place.

I hope you're not like me. When I put something in a safe place, or the best place so that I'll be able to find it later, I never see it again! It's better for me to leave it out and have to move it or trip over it ten times a day till I need it! 

[Dan C 2624R]

Glen, 

Regarding the "fiberboard backing in decent shape", I would like to take you up on the offer and use yours as a template.  Mine is toast and worthless, so it will be a help.  I'll sent a PM note to set something up.

Dan.

[dakazman]

I just need to find my new interior lights. I put them in a safe place.

I hope you're not like me. When I put something in a safe place, or the best place so that I'll be able to find it later, I never see it again! It's better for me to leave it out and have to move it or trip over it ten times a day till I need it! 

Yep , been there!
I just put the wiring print sheets under our formal dining room mat . This will remind me....

[Certified Lotus]

Can’t tell you how many times I have out smarted myself and put something where “I know I’ll find it” only not to be able to locate it later on. I’ve learned to be a lot more organized.

Dan, the firewall back board is yours. Now you just need to pick it up (before I forget where I put it).

[Certified Lotus]

Focused on the interior last night. Glued down the padding and then placed all the carpet sections in place (dry, no glue yet) to understand the overlaps and what needed to be glued down first and in what order. Plus there is lots of custom cutting for seat belt bolts, seat rail bolts and throttle cable.

I realized the black vinyl along the bottom of the rear window is supposed to be tucked into the window molding.  That took hours and you need to do this with the seat belt retractors OUT as you cant get to the curved section of the window with them in. I wasn't taking the sealt belt retractors out as they took hours to install so I'll figure out a workaround later.

One of the things I was concerned about was the door seal fitting over the carpet edge.  Cut a piece of door molding to test and found out there is no problem.  Good, one less thing to worry about.

Installed the sun visors I had recovered. Test fit the vinyl strips along the windscreen pillar.  I had saved the original pieces as they were in good condition. I'm glad I did as the contour of these pieces are important to fit.

One of the things I need to make is the trim piece above the rear window. When I removed the OEM piece it came apart in pieces.  I saved most of the pieces to make a template as there are notches in it for the air vents above the window.  Will look in an art supply store or Loews for the material as it is some type of coated cardboard.

Adjusted the rear engine deck lid and locking mechanism.

Tic Tock.....time is getting short to finish the restoration in time for LOG.  I'm taking off work today to focus on getting the engine started.  Need to wire the electric fuel pump, connect the radiator thermostat, wire the petronic distributor, wire the tachometer that was converted for electronic distributor, put fuel into the tanks and see if I can get it running.  I have asked Larry to come over to help as he has so much knowledge of sports cars that there isn't anything he can't figure out. Good to have someone like that to help. 

[4129R]

Focused on the interior last night. Glued down the padding and then placed all the carpet sections in place (dry, no glue yet) to understand the overlaps and what needed to be glued down first and in what order.

Rear floor where seat runners go.
Rear bottom bulkhead behind seat.
Panel below door.
Panel rear up to seat belt.
Side panel in front of door.
Side panel to footwell
End panel to footwell.
Round bit to raised part of footwell, overlaps.
Front floor removable mat, leave unglued for cleaning.
Repeat for other side.
Centre bit over tunnel.
Rear panel on board below rear window.

To lip the carpet under the door seal, use a thin filling knife or putty knife to lift the seal as you go.   

[Certified Lotus]

Thanks 4129R. That helps a lot!

[Dan C 2624R]

Glen,  Glad I was able to stop by today and see the car up close and personal.  It looks GREAT.  I'm just sorry I couldn't help more than I did.  I appreciate the panel and the light.  Keep Chipping away at the to-do list and I'm sure you'll have a great drive in it to LOG.

Dan

[Certified Lotus]

Long day but lots accomplished.  Larry came over in the morning and we discussed the list I had made on what I was hoping to get accomplished today. Reviewed each area and decided on how we were going to go about each step and who was doing what.  I got to work inside the car upside-down and under the dash to wire the tach to the coil, make the connections for the electric fuel pump along with a remote on/off switch and generally trace wires and connect more grounds.

Dan arrived while we where in the midst of things (he came to collect the firewall carpeted panel I offered to give him for his Europa restoration).  Dan jumped right in and help diagnose and hand me tools while I was squashed in the car.

We ran wiring and tested circuits.  Double checked our work and prepped everything for trying to get the motor to start.  Dan had to leave and Larry and I went to lunch.

When we returned went to try and turn on the electric fuel pump. Wouldn't run. Took a few minutes to realize it was a bad ground. Once I rectified that problem the fuel pump started right up. Good. Turned the engine over to build up oil pressure.

Time to add some fuel. I had gone to the gas station earlier in the morning and got 10 gallons of 93 octane gas. Poured the fuel into both tanks, let the electric fuel pump fill the carbs, pump the throttle a couple of times and turned the key to activate the starter.

Mission control, we have a launch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLPOCwKO4YM

The engine started right up and had a nice idle.  There was a slight exhaust leak, but that was from the collection tube clamps not being tight enough. Easy fix.

Shut the engine off and filled the cooling system with antifreeze nice and slow.  I had opened the vent on the top of the radiator and the entire system filled in about 30 minutes without issue.  23 pints.

Restarted the engine and watched the swirl pot to see if any air bubbles appeared.  All good. Oil pressure, amp meter, engine temp, fuel gauage all working. Let the engine run for a while to warm up and then shut it off.

Larry left and I continued connecting wiring in the front area of the bonnet and organizing the wiring layout. Made a custom bracket for the electric fuel pump switch and installed it. Ted stopped by and we talked about the work that got done over the last couple of weeks. I asked him about how the spare tire gets stored in the front of the car and Ted pointed out that my air horns are in the way.  Will need to relocate those.

Tomorrow is bleeding the brake system and more wiring connections.

[Dan C 2624R]

That is GREAT.  So sorry I missed it. Dan

[BDA]

That HAS to feel really GOOD! Congratulations! 

I think we can say with some confidence, "Have a great time at the LOG!"

[Certified Lotus]

The plan was to bleed the brake lines and adjust the rear drum brakes. It's good to have a plan......even if it doesn't get completed.

Larry came over to help.  The left rear hub had a stud that wasn't seated correctly as it was crooked inside the aluminum wheel opening. We pulled the hub, took out all the studs (they were not OEM) and replaced with all new ones.  Reinstalled the hub and then put Loctite on the spline and torqued the retaining nut to 150 lbs and bent the washer over the nut.  Did same with the right side.

I have found that pressurizing and bleeding an entire brake circuit from empty is a two person job.  We made little canisters to hang off each axle and installed clear tubing to each bleed nipple. Poured a little brake fluid in each canister and then filled the master cylinder reservoir.  I got in the car and started pumping. Took longer than we expected to pressurize the system and get the air out and as we were closing off the bleed nipples the left front caliper started leaking. Uh oh.

Larry looked at me and said "did you split the caliper?  You never split the caliper".  To which I replied, that's an old saying as it used to be that you couldn't get the special rubber seal that fits between the caliper halves.  And yes I split the calipers because I wanted to completely rebuild them.  And I installed the correct size rubber seal.

Larry went about removing the LF caliper and taking it apart while I installed the seat belt brackets from the inner wheel well to the top of the shock mount. When I got back to the work bench Larry had everything apart and was trying to figure out where the leak was coming from. He traced it to one of the pistons and pulled it out. Yup, when I rebuilt these I must have torn a seal when installing new pistons as there was a rip in the seal that fits inside the piston cavity. I didn't have another rebuild kit in the garage so I called RD Ent. and spoke with George who shipped one out for delivery the next day. Larry went home and I went about my other things to complete (its a long list).

If you have been following my restoration you know that I seem to jump around on different projects that aren't connected. There is a reason for this. I try and pick one major job each time I work on the car and a couple of minor ones. I know the minor ones will typically get completed and there is a strong sense of accomplishment. The major projects don't always get completed the same day and you walk away thinking I need to finish this vs look what I did.

When I had the windshield installed, I noticed the top corner moldings sit proud of the body and the trim. It flexed and had a gap that I didn't like. I had been thinking about this for a while and knew what I wanted to do. Taped off the molding and the body around the gap, filled with black silicone sealant and let cure. Removed the tape and admired the finished look and no longer flexible corner molding. Will do same for bottom ones another time.

There is a piece of trim across the top of the inside rear window that I had removed when dismantling the car.  I am very careful during disassembly not to break anything as lots of parts are unobtainable. But this trim piece came apart in pieces. I had saved all the pieces for reference to making a new one. Looking closely at it, it had the vinyl pattern on one side and a cardboard backing on the other.  Drove over to my local auto interior shop I use and showed the owner the piece. He had the black vinyl in stock and cut me a piece 60 inches long (I need 48") and gave me a scrap piece of upholstery board to make the trim backing.  All free and took everything home to work on another time.

The time has come to permanently install the interior carpeting. I had dry fit all the pieces, gotten sage advise from 4129R about the assembly sequence (which for my carpet kits wasn't exactly correct).  I knew this would be a several hour job and waited until it got dark and cooler outside. Turned on my big fan, positioned it towards the door opening and went about spraying adhesive to the fiberglass or already installed matting for each piece of carpet. First I would spray the area that the carpet was going to be fitted and then I sprayed (outside and attached to a stand with a large clip on it) the carpet backing. Being careful not to touch anything with the adhesive on the carpet backing I would position and press into place the carpet (this is known as dry mounting, putting adhesive on both sides before installing).

Here is what I found out about the Europa carpet kit from Automat.  It's nicely trimmed and most of the pieces are the correct dimensions. The lower back firewall carpet could have been wider for an overlap seam or the tunnel carpet could have been a little longer. I will need to order a few small pieces of the same carpet to fill in a gap or two.  The installation sequence should be as follows:  Install all the side pieces first starting that the front of the foot well. You want to make sure the overlap seams are all facing forward so your feet don't rip the seams when you enter the car.  Then install the floor carpet as it over lay's on the side pieces and makes for a nice clean install. You will need to make various cuts for the throttle cable, speedo cable, door courtesy light switches and seat belt bolts. Just have a razor blade handy and slice the areas you need to have an opening. 

It took me 5 hours to do the complete install plus gluing the OEM vinyl trim onto the windscreen pillars (you will note in the photos I taped the area so I could spray adhesive without getting it all over the interior). I had already installed and glued down the matting, that took and additional 2 hours.

Overall the carpet kit looks nice, but if I were to do it again I would bring the car to a professional upholstery shop and let them do the installation with larger pieces vs the smaller trimmed pieces as if you look closely you can see the entire interior was pieced together vs seamless.  But the Automat kit and my labor was far cheaper than having an upholstery shop do it (by thousands of dollars).

By the way, I did get glue on the carpet. I need to figure out how to remove it without ruining the carpet.

As I was installing the rear firewall panel I must have knocked the plastic cover off the top seat belt retractor because all of a sudden there was a spring steel all over the corner of the car.  Figures. Something else to do that wasn't on my list.......

I had a beer (it was midnight) and slowly rewound the spring placing it carefully inside the plastic cap. Then I carefully connected to the spindle coming out of the seat belt reel making sure the spring edge was inside the slit in the spindle. Snapped the cap back on and tried the retractor. It works but needs some adjustment. Will do that another day.  I'm exhausted.

My new door seals arrived from the UK, will install those this week and realign the doors (again!)

As I was shutting down for the night I noticed a nice lime green bug was sitting on my rear engine deck lid. Wonder how long he had been there and if he was inhaling the same adhesive fumes I was all night.......

[tedtaylor]

the Lime Green bug loves a yellow car....   my M100 (Norfolk mustard yellow) gets bugs all over it, especially at car shows!!!
so were you high as a kite inhaling those fumes??   goes good right along with Jimmie Hendrix watching over you...

[BDA]

I was getting ready to really worry about your retractor. I had mine checked over and rewebbed at Ssnake Oyl (https://www.ssnake-oyl.com). They told me they couldn't do anything with the retractors because they were unlike anything they work with. So they just rewebbed them. So I figured those retractors were pretty much unfixable. Glad it will only be a minor distraction. Hopefully the brake caliper re-rebuild will go smoothly and the door seals go in without issue and everything falls into place!