I promised i start a thread when i start working on the car.
So here we are.
My last full restoration took about 9 Month, but the timeframe for the Lotus is roughly 2 years from the point i move it into my workshop. Hopefully in early September.
Until then there will only be slow progression, but something has already been done.
The plastic windows were pretty much opaque and had internal cracks.
So i started experimenting, i tried Lexan and Plexiglas in 4mm thickness.
The process was pretty simple, i made a frame for the plastic sheet which fit in the kitchen oven, the slowly heated the sheet until it gets soft and start to bend.
Heated it for another few minutes the got it out quickly and pressed it against the old windows until it cooled down.
This was a lot easier than expected.
First i tried Lexan i, needed 210 Degrees Celsius (410F) to get it soft enough to take the shape from the old windows but around 200 Degrees steam bubbles started to appear in the sheet from moisture, pre drying did not resolve this completely.
So the next try was Plexiglass, which is acrylic. The magic temperature was 145 Celsius (293F), testpieces from 150C on showed distortions in the glass.
What i learned here, work clean even the slightest dust particle will give you a small dent in the new window, which need to be sanded and polished out. When cutting Plexiglas speed is the key, i used a circular saw mounted upside down, not the safest way i know.
Next step was cutting of excess material and sanding to final shape using a belt sander, if i needed slight adjustments to the shape, i could do the with a heatgun.
Finally i sanded with 500 1200 2000 2500 grid, then polished with 3M polish white cap.
The blower motor was the next candidate.
Mice ate my fanblade, the motor was rusty all over and it did not work.
Created and 3D printed a new fanwheel, testprint came out OK but is PLA and finall thing will be in ABS or PETG and smaller layerheight. Even the blades could be tweaked a bit.
After disassembly i found a piece of isolation lacquer which came loose and cut the coils two times, i soldered them back together and isolated with lacquer.
After reassembly the motor is working fine.
Don't mind the old screws all nuts and bolts, the will be re galvanised later. I had this done my last restoration and every nut, bolt and bracket from a 65 ford Taunus came as new, for slightly over 100€.
Next steps are:
Order the seat vinyl from the UK.
Find a solution for the quarter window plastic chrome, seems unobtainable, does someone have a source?
Rainer
