Lotus 7 Project Arrived

[ianashdown]

Over a year since my last post!  It goes by so quickly!!

 

The chassis needed so much work and it was impossible to find anyone who would take this on in California, or even the US.  Shipping it to Arch for repair and reskin was just unbelievably expensive, so a while ago I made the tough decision to have Arch build me a new S2 chassis.  I know it will never be original again with a replacement chassis, but it already doesn’t have the A-Series engine it was born with in 1961, but I think it will be a better, safer vehicle in the end and probably will get finished much sooner.

 

Shipping has become super expensive; and then I got shafted for 25% tariff.  It made the whole replacement exercise really expensive.  I can’t bring myself to add up all the costs yet, but I think the crate, shipping, customs, duty, tariffs and extra storage fees ( while I bitched about the tariffs and tried (failed) to point out that the should be 2.5% not 25%, was more than the cost of the new chassis!

 

The new chassis just arrived and I’m more than thrilled!  It looks great and I feel so much more enthusiastic now I can actually start to hang things on the chassis; actually build the car.  The engine, 1500cc pre-crossflow, is at Mountune and should be finished soon, the gearbox needs one new part and a seal a gasket kit and it can go back together.  Both will then be installed, not permanently, in the chassis, likely followed by the wiring harness, once I decide if I’m repairing the original one, building one myself or buying a reproduction one.  I think the latter, but I’ve not decided yet.  Building one might be interesting, but anything that moves the project forward is being favored right now; I have to finish this car before I can move on to my Elan, Reynard, Elva FJ, or any motorcycle projects!

 

Being an over-organizer type engineer I’m trying to write a project planning/management spreadsheet to plan out what has to be done, what each task is dependent on etc.  I hope it’ll help . . .   
 

Ian

[IamScotticus]

is there an instrument panel?

How is Arch covering the red inside panels? Paint? Powder coat?

Edited Monday at 03:31 AM by IamScotticus

[ianashdown]

There is a dash panel.  You can almost see it in the LH cockpit area in bubble wrap.

 

Arch reproduce the Lamiplate with a really nice looking powder coat.  I’ll post some pics ASAP

 

Ian

[Joe Petty]

Good decision, a little painful but the right thing to do!

Nice to start with a clean straight chassis and not have to muck with all the misalignment and ill fitting that creep in over the years.

 

I just got my dash and interior panels back from the powder coater last week (Wrinkle red) and am very pleased.

When I put my 7 together 10 years ago I went with red wrinkle paint and it held up pretty well for 5-6 years, but powder is the way to go.

 

Good Luck - Joe

 

 

 

[ianashdown]

I think the Powdercoat wrinkle from Arch is really good, way better than I was expecting!  Should be tough too!

 

Ian

[IamScotticus]

well, don't forget all the white piping!

[ianashdown]

I’m working on trying to get the piping.  It seems the Woolies only sell interior, not suitable for the front and rear fenders; I’m also the side panel piping and the fender piping are different size.

 

what I want to avoid, if possible, is three different color piping; seats, side panels and fenders.  I really want cream or off white as the car will be painted in an ivory or old English white.  I think bright white would not be ideal.

 

I’m also told that Redline has the correct material, but Chris isn’t answering email right now.  I’ll keep bugging him!🙂

 

Ian

[IamScotticus]

consider upholstery materials used for outdoor furniture,  boat seats and canvas, and other period cars.  I will try to find something.  for a white car, I'm thinking black piping is good.