Author Topic: Restoration of 460489  (Read 8020 times)

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Offline BDA

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #45 on: Friday,June 18, 2021, 01:00:06 PM »
Excellent work! You've done a great job recreating all those missing pieces!  :beerchug:

Offline GavinT

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #46 on: Saturday,June 19, 2021, 05:58:13 AM »
My compliments to the chef, Rainer. You're doing a bang up job.

Your repairs are a testament to how forgiving fibreglass is and how a daunting task is actually quite doable with a little ingenuity and forethought.
Good onya.

Offline Rainer

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #47 on: Sunday,June 20, 2021, 08:06:25 AM »
The next big step was closing the hole in the front.
But before i had to chisel away a lot of earlyer repairs, luckily these have been done very bad, the fibreglass was not even cleaned before they layup was made and most broke away easily.
Still took me two days.
Most of the broken parts were still present, i just needed to puzzle them together. Woodblocks, screws with big washers, and some quality tape did the trick.
I used the headlight gasket as template and printed a ring to fixate the headlight part. I used PETG for printing, as resin does not stick well to this material.
Starting with the big parts i worked from the inside towards the left corner, only fixing a maximum of 2 parts at once, checking alignment after each layup.
On the right side there was a repair just with body filler, after cutting out the filler i used tape as backing material, which worked very good for such small areas.
In the end this repair was allot easier than expected and finally it starts to look like an Europa.

Offline BDA

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #48 on: Sunday,June 20, 2021, 08:16:50 AM »
Wow! Amazing work! You are performing a great resurrection!

Offline TurboFource

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #49 on: Sunday,June 20, 2021, 10:32:44 AM »
Nice work!

Is the Mk1 Capri yours too?
The more I do the more I find I need to do....remember your ABC’s …anything but chinesium!

Offline lotusfanatic

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #50 on: Monday,June 21, 2021, 04:07:22 AM »
Great progress Rainer!  :trophy:

Offline Bainford

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #51 on: Monday,June 21, 2021, 08:39:26 AM »
Wow! Amazing save. Excellent work.
The Twin Cam plays the symphony whilst my right foot conducts the orchestra. At 3800 rpm the Mad Pipe Organ joins in.

Trevor

Offline Chuck Nukem

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #52 on: Monday,June 21, 2021, 09:28:57 AM »
Excellent work!!

Offline dakazman

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #53 on: Monday,June 21, 2021, 11:55:00 AM »
   :trophy:
  Nicely done Rainer!

   Dakazman

Offline lotusfanatic

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #54 on: Tuesday,June 22, 2021, 12:13:13 AM »
as BDA said,

that really is a resurrection, so good to see it has a new face!  :D





« Last Edit: Tuesday,June 22, 2021, 12:16:47 AM by lotusfanatic »

Offline Rainer

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #55 on: Wednesday,June 23, 2021, 11:33:12 AM »
Nice work!

Is the Mk1 Capri yours too?

Yes and its actually my first car and first restoration, took about 4 years.

After getting the front back together, the body was stable enough, to reunite with the frame.
I had help from friends to get it back in on a Saturday but it was not possible to get it the last centimeter to the front, the rivet holes just did not line up.
We decided to stop before braking anything and continue on Monday.
But this bothered me so much i asked my wife for help me on sunday, after 15 minutes she discovered that the choke cable slipped between frame and body.
Half an hour after getting the cable back on top of the frame the body was bolted and riveted, to the chassis.

The next, step Lotus on a stick.

I used a few steel tubes i had around, they go straight through the frame. In the rear i strapped the tube left and right to the chassis and to the crossmember, this way the tube could not move in any direction.
For the Front i printed an adapter plate which fitted onto the tube and into the big hole of the front section.
Two modified exhaust clamps locked the tube to the frame and one clamp on the front of the tube could be used to lock the rotaion of the tube, sadly i forgot to take pictures of this mechanism.
The whole assembly was rotated a bit more than 90 degrees, the i used screws and big washers to line everything up and laminated the cut out pieces back in.
Finally some sanding for the better look.

Offline TurboFource

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #56 on: Wednesday,June 23, 2021, 12:27:14 PM »
Nice! I had a 1971 Capri with a mildly modified 2.0, wheels off a Capri II. One of my favorite cars I wish I had kept!
The more I do the more I find I need to do....remember your ABC’s …anything but chinesium!

Offline Pfreen

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #57 on: Wednesday,June 23, 2021, 02:26:03 PM »
I had a 74 Capri with the Cologne 2.8 V6.  Great car, except the US crash bumpers, which were like railroad tracks.
Nice job Rainer.

Offline TurboFource

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #58 on: Wednesday,June 23, 2021, 04:17:34 PM »
If I could have found one to restore there might not be a Europa in the garage :confused:

I have a 2.3 Turbo drivetrain that would be great in one 8)

But there is a Europa in the garage and I am excited about it!!!
« Last Edit: Wednesday,June 23, 2021, 04:19:24 PM by TurboFource »
The more I do the more I find I need to do....remember your ABC’s …anything but chinesium!

Offline Rainer

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Re: Restoration of 460489
« Reply #59 on: Sunday,July 25, 2021, 03:35:37 AM »
I finished the most time consuming body part, the rear section.
Everything was out of shape, filler blobs everywhere and parts missing.
I started with cutting the lower part and bending it to shape, fixing it with pliers and tape. A few layups later the grille section had at least the rectangular shape.
The left corner was crooked, i had to cut it again to pull the section backwards, which made the lower corner to wide.
To get my rear light mounting flange back, i printed templates from PETG, this material does not stick to well to polyester and broke away easily.
The whole process took several weeks and sometimes i decided to work on different parts of the car, mainly sanding away the paint.