My Type 54 to sort of 47 Conversion

[dakazman]

Roddymac,
Looking GREAT.
Best of luck with her.
Dakazman

[RoddyMac]

I picked up the doors and other panels early last week and spent a bit of time on the weekend fitting the doors.  Fitting them turned out to be not as bad as I had thought.  I still have to slightly adjust the drivers door, and add another shim washer to the passenger door, but all in all it was relatively easy.  But, I still haven't fitted the door latches and strikers, and I've removed all the power window parts, so the doors are very light and easy to man handle.   Anyways, here are some pics:







Next weekend should see a lot more work done on the car, including some A-pillar reinforcement to remove the bow in them.  The plan is to install the door latches and slightly wedge the doors in place, then add wedges to the A-pillar to door area and bond in some carbon fiber tube to keep everything straight.  Plus a whole ton of other jobs such as wiring, installing the carbs, plumbing the fuel system, etc.

Rod

[BDA]

She looks great, Roddy! Just curious, which door hinges did you use?

[RoddyMac]

I copied the stock bobbins, but turned them from brass.  The hinge pin is stainless steel.  The only difference between my hinges and the stock Lotus ones (other than materials) is instead of a split pin to retain the hinge pin, I've machined up a brass collar with a grub screw to lock the pin in place.  I'm sure the split pin method would last the life of the car, but I had some brass left over so I thought why not.  I know it will add a few grams to the total weight of the car, but removing the door windows and motors has saved quite quite a bit.

[BDA]

Amazing! You made your own hinges! Well, you pretty much made everything else on the car so maybe I shouldn't be surprised! 

[Bainford]

Looking great!!

[lotusfanatic]

beautiful car! :)b

[Certified Lotus]

Such a great color. Nice paint job!

[GavinT]

Such a great color. Nice paint job!

Ditto, it certainly is a great colour.
Choosing colours for cars isn't exactly my forte but seeing yours and JB's in a similar colour . . pretty schmick.

[RoddyMac]

More progress was made over the Easter weekend,  the front lamps and rad were installed.  Though, installing the side lights wasn't as easy as expected.  The car had been hit on the front LH corner and the fiberglass repair was a lot thicker than original.  So, the studs on the side lights didn't even make it through the fiberglass,  I had to press the studs out of the lamp and use longer screws.





The rad is an Ebay Honda Civic ally rad with some modifications.

Next up was modifying the rear inner wings, I though I would be able to get away without touching them, but under full bump the swaybar hit the inner wing.  So out came the Dremel and the wings were opened up, then a lip was glassed back in place.



I then progressed to fabricating the firewall engine cover, I wish I had an english wheel to planish out the walnuts, but as it's covered in carpet it isn't that big of a deal.



Other than that, I received the air filter I ordered, so I was able to make the backplate and temporarily install it.





There will hopefully be even more progress next weekend, my self imposed deadline is to have it running and able to drive up and down the street by the end of this month. 

Rod

[Bainford]

Things are looking seriously good here, Rod. I'm anxious to see this thing running, to see how those carbs work out. The new air filter assy looks the business.

[BDA]

More serious goodness, Roddy! Good luck on making your deadline!

You are going to install gas struts for the boot, right?

[RoddyMac]

You are going to install gas struts for the boot, right?

To be honest, I hadn't planned on it.  They would be nice, but I'm planning on using something like pip pins for the hinge pins, that way I can quickly remove the rear lid.  Besides, gas struts add weight 

[Rosco5000]

How is the progress going Rod, do you think you will have it at the ABFM?  Hopefully you'll make it, I am looking forward to seeing the car in person!
Ross

[RoddyMac]

Ross,
At the moment I doubt I'll have the car at the show.  There's just too much to get done in the next two weeks.  The car currently holds an Ontario title, so it requires an out of province inspection which will delay things a bit (at least I think it will).  I'm having a hard time finding a shop that speaks old British cars and is relatively close to Coquitlam. The car also has to go back to the paint shop for minor touch ups and polishing, though if the car is inspected and ready for the road before the 19th, I may delay the paint shop till after the show.

Other than that, here are some pics of what's been happening (I did post most to instagram a few days back, so sorry for double posting):

Door inserts created and covered.  They're definitely not stock, but it doesn't bother me much.  I'll redo them if I keep the car long enough.



The center console was fabricated:





I'm not overly happy with it, but it should do just fine for the time being.

I had to remake the dash top which ate up a bit of time, but it looks and feels much better when installed:





Other than that, I've remade the lower trailing arms as they seemed to have been damaged sometime between sending the car off for paint and getting the car back.  I've also modified the rear lower wishbones so that I can adjust the toe much easier.  I had originally just welded a threaded piece of tube to the wishbone that a rod end screwed into, with this set up I would have to disassemble the rear end to set the toe.  The new set up allows adjustment without any hassle.  Unfortunately I didn't take any photo's of it, but I will once the rest of the car is finished.



I've also started on wiring the whole car, but ran out of wiring bullets.  I thought I had enough, but nope.  There are more on their way but I wont see them until Saturday.  I did however modify one tail lamp and will hopefully have the other finished up either tonight or tomorrow, then it's on to figuring out why the wiper motor doesn't want to work. 

I'll post more pics next weekend along with an update.

Rod