Restoration of 3940R

[Kendo]

That crossover pipe arrangement between the carbs and engine head is not original. Might still work for all I know.

[BDA]

The paint looks original to me. Time for a respray!

[TurboFource]

VIN is written on door…I will have to look at mine closer …

[Kendo]

Yes, the VIN on my TCS was written on the top “shelf” under the window on both doors. That’s how I know that both my doors are original, even though the driver door was extensively damaged and repaired by a PO. Protip (actually, amateur…) scrape the paint out of the VIN casting so paint doesn’t “erase” it.

[berni29]

Hi Guys,

Not had much time to work on the car lately, but have the seats stripped for blasting now. Hopefully the metal is not too thin anywhere to stand up to it.

Berni

[Cheguava]

What media are you having them blasted with? Not sure mine would withstand being blasted by anything - got to get the bolts undone yet to get them out but there's a lot of rust flakes in the seat pan! 

[Bryan Boyle]

Nothing too serious there.  Bead blasting (not sand...too aggressive...), some repairs where necessary...POR15 coating.  You'll be good to go.  I've seen worse.

[berni29]

Hi Bryan

I think you might be right. Maybe I will just get my brother to laser them and then just paint them myself. It's always tempting for me to get stuff sandblasted and powder coated as it costs me nothing. I really do not want the frames damaged any more than they are already. I think perhaps a 2k etch primer then hammerite or similar will suffice.

Edit: Thinking about it a couple of coats of epoxy primer would be a better choice. No need for a top coat that way also.

Thanks!

Berni

[Bryan Boyle]

Hi Bryan

I think you might be right. Maybe I will just get my brother to laser them and then just paint them myself. It's always tempting for me to get stuff sandblasted and powder coated as it costs me nothing. I really do not want the frames damaged any more than they are already. I think perhaps a 2k etch primer then hammerite or similar will suffice.

Edit: Thinking about it a couple of coats of epoxy primer would be a better choice. No need for a top coat that way also.

Thanks!

Berni

Sandblasting is so so destructive.  I prefer beadblasting, or, if it's really delicate, soda. 

You have decent bones there, Berni.  Good epoxy primer after cleaning up, and a topcoat of paint would not be out of place.

Good luck.

[GavinT]

On sandblasting, I think it depends...

I did portions of my chassis with an old school 'home gamer' sand blaster attached to my air compressor. The unit essentially consists of a suction type paint spray gun with a hard steel nozzle. Apart from the fairly regular and irritating material pick-up issues, it worked fine.

Now, if considering a commercial outfit, those are often powerful enough to put a sheet steel seat into low earth orbit, so yeah, too aggressive.

[jbcollier]

You can blast with very fine grit, or you can use pea gravel.  Match the medium to the material.

[berni29]

Hi

Small update, I had to stop stripping the car down as the DVLA wanted to inspect it as part of me registering the car here in the UK. Probably because the US title had the model listed as "Champion" and not Europa. Anyways, thats done now so hopefully will get my new age correct reg number in a couple of weeks, and can start taking things apart again now. The car has to be basically complete for the inspection.

Secondly Lotus Supplies got back to me about the Europa seat cover kits, so I have ordered a pair for the TC in black with no perforations. Hopefully copying the old foams will not be too difficult!

Berni

[My S1]

Berni,  I made some seats for my home made Can Am car which I modelled after the S2 Europa seats.  It was allot of fun sculpting the foam.  I had to change the width, back angle and thigh support angle which is why I did not end up using the Europa pans.  I used three different durometers to dial in the comfort level.  I used a band saw with widely spaced teeth for the main cuts.  An ellectric meat knife to rough in some parts.  Pneumatic die grinder with coarse discs.  Hand block sander with 36 grit paper to finese.  Took me about a week of vacation time to do the foam.

[dakazman]

Hi

Small update, I had to stop stripping the car down as the DVLA wanted to inspect it as part of me registering the car here in the UK. Probably because the US title had the model listed as "Champion" and not Europa. Anyways, thats done now so hopefully will get my new age correct reg number in a couple of weeks, and can start taking things apart again now. The car has to be basically complete for the inspection.

Secondly Lotus Supplies got back to me about the Europa seat cover kits, so I have ordered a pair for the TC in black with no perforations. Hopefully copying the old foams will not be too difficult! The s/n's are stamped on the frame just before the shock mount.
Dakazman

    Bernie, show them the S/N markings on the frame and the door inscriptions of the s/n'S

[4129R]

Anyways, thats done now so hopefully will get my new age correct reg number in a couple of weeks, and can start taking things apart again now.

Good luck with that. My 8 months getting 3089R registered due to a 75/3089R instead of 74/3089R does sound insignificant v "Champion" and not "Europa".

WTF were they looking at, the spark plugs?