The Zetec 'Ropacane

[Chuck Nukem]

Progress today! After almost a month of filling pin holes and sanding both cars...Primer round 2! I used almost 2 gallons of Evercoat slick sand in 2 coats with the 2.5 tip gun and it worked well. I experimented with the thickness to see if I could chase out the last of the pin holes. Mixed results with how it was able to absorb those. I managed to fill some of them, but it ran a little in other places. Still a few pin holes to fix, but this round of blocking should go much faster.

I got some threading tools to turn up the hinge pin bushings out of brass. My plan is to fit the doors before next priming so I can see how much adjustment needs to be made. 

[1970EuropaGuy]

Chuck, that bodywork is looking great. I just looked through the past 7 years of your project. I'm impressed with what you have accomplished! If I had brought that car home my wife would have killed me.

Where are you at with the frame, suspension and engine at this point?

[surfguitar58]

Chuck, that bodywork is looking great. I just looked through the past 7 years of your project. I'm impressed with what you have accomplished! If I had brought that car home my wife would have killed me.

Where are you at with the frame, suspension and engine at this point?

I agree, everyone should go back and look at the first photos in this thread and compare to where this car is now. Great work Chuck!
Tom

[Chuck Nukem]

Chuck, that bodywork is looking great. I just looked through the past 7 years of your project. I'm impressed with what you have accomplished! If I had brought that car home my wife would have killed me.

Where are you at with the frame, suspension and engine at this point?

I agree, everyone should go back and look at the first photos in this thread and compare to where this car is now. Great work Chuck!
Tom

Thanks guys! I alluded to "keeping it at a friends house" in my initial post because the first year I owned it I was in college living with my father. I was restoring the '66 pick up truck and I was not to bring ANY other projects home... So I kept it a secret for a while... You know you have a problem when you begin stashing car projects in friend's garages. I probably mentioned it but when I was looking for a car there was this one and another JPS car for sale at the time. The other car had been sitting in storage and needed the carbs rebuilt. It was immaculate and the price was $3000 dollars. This car was $1000. Being a student I had $1,100 to my name at the time... to be young again!

My frame and suspension components have all been sandblasted and painted
I have a brand new set of protech shocks (and every other part) waiting in the attic...(I have 3 lotus europa's and a 1966 chevy pick up worth of parts in said attic....)
There are a nice pair of aluminum gas tanks waiting for me at my friend's shop in Connecticut.
The wheels are painted and eagerly waiting with tires on them
The zetec engine is supposedly fine with 30k miles on the clock. It will be a stand in motor until the real one is born.
My last big hurdle is that my 365 transaxle is totally locked up.

I was going to wait to post this til I had practiced a little bit, but I bought some real gold leaf and size to do my pin stripes with
It could be my greatest triumph, or the paint's undoing... time to practice!

[BDA]

That body is really shaping up, Chuck! She's going to be a beauty!

I'll have to go back and see her beginnings. The only thing I remember from then was stories about building your house and garage. You have certainly kept busy for the last several years! Great work on everything!

[Rosco5000]

Good luck with the real gold leaf.  It is fun but i have only seen it used where it is pin striped on the edges.  This is the mail box I made for my parents.  It turned out pretty good.  It has stood the test of time too.  in the weather with little protection.

[Chuck Nukem]

Good luck with the real gold leaf.  It is fun but i have only seen it used where it is pin striped on the edges.  This is the mail box I made for my parents.  It turned out pretty good.  It has stood the test of time too.  in the weather with little protection.

Rosco that looks great. Did you find it hard to work with? I am concerned about the edges. If pin striping is best I may have to get a fine brush to do the edges in a gold color.

[Chuck Nukem]

The more I sand the more encouraged I get. I am hitting it with 180 and it is really cleaning up nicely. Just a few pin holes left to fill. I think this next coat and sand are going to do it! Then it is on to epoxy primer.

[1970EuropaGuy]

Good stuff. My wife has me working in the garden so I have to sneak the Europa in.

[Chuck Nukem]

Good stuff. My wife has me working in the garden so I have to sneak the Europa in.

Get it in any way you can!

[Chuck Nukem]

The doors need some work! What kind of gap do you guys have? I noticed that my "rain channels" are different on both sides of the roof. I believe this is pretty standard fit. I want to make it look nice but I don't want to undo all the Lotus charm from it either

[BDA]

One of my doors still needs work so I'm no expert, but I wouldn't worry as much about gaps as much as the door following the contours of the car.

[TCS4605R]

When I refit the doors, front & rear covers I worked to a 4.5 mm gap between panels by sanding or adding body filler and sanding that.  As a gage I took a piece of wooden door shims and cut a piece about 1/4” wide lengthwise.  I then used a caliper to mark shim thicknesses 3, 3,5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6 mm etc and used that to have the gaps - took a lot of time but the result looked good.

Tom
74 TCS - 4605R

[Chuck Nukem]

Not sure if I have stumbled on to something significant yet, but these rubber bonded stainless washers are working great for initial door alignment. They have enough play that you can snug them down and it will hold the door in a fixed position. They are forgiving enough that if you tap the door you can realign it in the snug position, but it will not immediately droop when you reopen it.

https://www.boltdepot.com/Product-Details.aspx?product=15791

Has anyone out there used anything like this before? for the final adjustment I will use some adhesive bonded sandpaper to the rubber so that you get the bite needed for long term holding.

[dakazman]

  Switch to 400 grit here on out till your ready for color. 180 is to course and probably the reason you went thru 2 gallons.
   Those washer look like what is in the s/s kit.
Dakazman