Good luck with that! As the owner and restorer of a newly completely rebuilt Esprit S1 (which they have continually used to launch all of their new models for the past 7 years) I contacted their marketing department for a small donation of Lotus Cars branded corporate merchandise that deprived youngsters would enjoy and use. Such as pens, pads, perhaps a fleece or bag, but they didn't even respond.
This is giving me flashbacks. My elder brother trained as a coach builder in his youth, so would always have a rotten and/or damaged project car or two kicking about (Much to the annoyance of my parents). One of his mates got a Lotus Eclat cheap because someone had run into the drivers side rear quarter and left it looking a right state, and he talked my brother into fixing it. This was in the early 90's and bodywork sections weren't easily available. The chopped body sections that did turn up weren't cheep, and because of that the car had been deemed "Unrepairable". The scrap yards didn't want something with so little metal in it, so my brothers mate paid next to nothing for it. I can't remember what he paid, but my brother said he could have doubled his money by selling the engine, gearbox, and interior, then "Cutting up the rest for the bin men". I'll always remember watching my brother make 50 or 60 vertical 1/8" plywood profile templates of the good side, all spaced at most an inch apart. He then flipped the order of them to get the profile for the other side. The gaps between the sheets was packed with newspaper, skimmed in filler, then it was painted. He used that as a mold to make a rough new drivers side rear quarter. It still took a few months of evening and weekend work to repair the damage underneath and make this panel fit right, but I found the whole process mesmerising. In the end I think with all the extra layers of glass fibre inside so he could sand through the replacement panel where the profile was way too proud of where it needed to be, and laying more glass and resin into low spots on the outside, that panel must have weighed triple what it was meant to, but it was DEFINITELY structurally sound (with zero actual filler). The end result did look nice though. He finished it by respraying most of the outside because the original yellow gel coat had for some reason got slightly faded in multiple places, and that meant there wasn't ONE solid colour to blend into, so he blended out into a wider and wider area until it turned into near enough a full respray. The biggest memory about it though was the fist fight my brother and his mate had in the garden a couple months after it was back on the road. It seems that my brother had done the work for material costs because it was his mates personal car, but the mate promptly sold it for several times what he'd paid. My brother felt like he'd been taken advantage of, but the mate kept saying he WAS going to keep the car, but someone offered him more for it than he was willing to turn down......... All good street theatre for the neighbours. 🤣
*Just a note. Standard procedure in repairing cracks in composites/fiberglass REQUIRE that you drill a hole at the tip of the crack for stress relief, as the tip of that crack acts as a stress/load concentrator. If you do not drill the tip, with time, the crack will continue growing at the tip. Drill out the tip (1/8"-1/4") then fill in normally. Clearly this was not done in the previous, amateur "repair". Hope this helps. Great channel. Cheers.*
You've shown us some pretty gnarly stuff on this channel George, but watching you rip that fiberglass sill off made my hair stand on end! Kudos for all your patience and hard work, and thank you so much for sharing your journey with us all these years.
It is important to remember to always drill a hole just past the end of the visible crack - then prep the crack - this reduces the chance of a stress riser later on down the track. CHEERS from AUSTRALIA
While restoring the body on my S1 Esprit, Im constantly reminded that I'm better off than someone restoring an old steel body car. Other car resto shows, show vehicle bodys that look like swiss cheese. The Esprit is a winner in this respect. Cheers from Australia ...
I build giant wind turbine blades for a living. Switch to epoxy on your repairs. Epoxy adheres very well to materials less superior than it and it shrinks much much less. So if you want dimensional stability mate, go with the epoxy! Great workmanship on the repairs though…you beat most of our experienced crew!
It's tremendously satisfying to see such meticulous and well researched work being done. This is a wonderful channel, in case I haven't mentioned it before! 😊
Your videos simply put “ARE SO FUCKING GOOD!” I give them a like at the beginning so I don’t forget. I’ve turned on more than a few friends to your channel as well who aren’t even car people but artists, musicians, photographers. I’m sure you hear too often “I only wish there were more.” But I also know it’s just you making them. The stop motion alone has to be brutal! Ray Harryhausen & Phil Tippet would be proud! I’d worry that if someone came in with a pile of money to “improve” your show it would also come with a lot of uncreative notes that $$ usually comes with. That said I DO hope you get help and $$ while maintaining 100% creative control! Someone in another comment said Lotus should sponsor your build. I agree! Artists always dreaming right? Anyway, big fan and Cheers to your continued success!
I'm Just going to repeat what others here have said in hopes you won't miss it: drill a hole at the end of the cracks to stop them from continuing under the repair. Looking forward to seeing you tackle this challenge, sure you wil prevail!
Bummer about the corner. Makes sense to keep it when you explain about the pre-shrinkage being done. Just needs to be properly done where they didn't have proper access originally! Progress is progress, George. Keeps looking better every episode!
I was horrified seeing that crack and watching how bad it got as you kept uncovering more of it. Then again, I grew up repairing surfboards and at the end of this, it’s just fiberglass. While it can be a lot of work, it’s not particularly difficult to do correctly. You’ve done a great job so far, so all I can say is that’s it’s going to make for more content. I can live with that. It’s not like I have to put in the hours, I just get to sit back and watch you do it :) Great job this far, keep it up!
Another Saturday and have been waiting…LOL! I have a 914 and was left with a similar issue and then decoded to get rid of it and relocate to the centre with a traditional centre mount park brake! When done, I will have to send ice but my situation is a little easier I think than your set up!
A very resilient car guy, it’s amazing how they mounted the handbrake for near impossible future maintenance, and sad to see less than decent previous repairs, hang in there
Nice work mate enjoyed the video was still a good update, i did forward your channel to a fella in the states with a burnt JPS as your work is a video gift to anyone needing a lotus Manuel of how too
I think most bodyshops both now, and back then don't knowm much about fiberglass. I have pretty much the same problem on one of my cars, where a corner isn't slightly right. Turns out they didn't straighten my frame properly, and then just fit the new corner wrong to compensate for the frame.
Loving the new bout of videos. This project is taking longer than Project Binky, but it's still a worthy project. I can't help but think this would have been completed already if it wasn't for the stop-go motion, but at the end there should be a great "Jason and the Argonauts" style movie that I'd love to see from start to finish.
My S1 Esprit handbrake had exactly the same problem, other than it being on the other side of the car! I never had the guts to take off the rocker panel to fix it.
Would Kevlar tape, often used in joining kayak halves together, be suitable for reinforcing the area of the handbrake bracket? A layer could be laminated into or over the glass fibre matting. It would add strength around the holes without having to add excessive thickness.
George, I don’t understand how replacing polyester with superior epoxy for repairs is any different than replacing mild steel components with stainless steel. You are recovering this pool Lotus and I wouldn’t hesitate to add as much structural integrity to the repairs as possible. Epoxy and carbon fiber
because you might introduce stress in new areas due to the different characteristics of those materials. instead of something flexing it could just shatter and that is not what you want part of your car to do. Now remaking the entire body with some engineering changes out of epoxy and carbon fiber would get you around those issues. replacing steel with stainless in the places he has done just eliminates corrosion issues.
@@lesdmark sorry, I'm afraid that swapping to stainless steel doesn't just change corrosion characteristics because stainless steel and steel have very different characteristics and reactions to load/stress and can also be problematic if this is not understood, in the same way that you pointed this out in relation to the bodywork materials. So I struggle to see how the point differs.
The old saying that goes about Lotus is only true when previous owners neglected the cars, and many owners were not engineers and found Lotus Dealers to be not up to snuff. Consequently over the decades many old Lotus cars were like the sticky sweets you find under the carpets. But to own now, a car that has been maintained by an engineer , or an enthusiast is something wonderful and many cars are living their best lives now. I see your issues with the handbrake which is why on the Europa is was and umbrella type under the dash, but the seat belt mounts suffered in the sills on the Europa, just like the Esprit handbrake, and need careful surgery to the body to replace them.
Imagine dropping the Lotus into a local mechanic to have the handbrake fixed "Nah mate, I don't need a quote, take as long as you need..." You wouldn't see it for 12 months and you'd need a bank loan to settle the account. Thank you for providing automotive therapy. This year my Mazda BT50 (Ford Ranger) 3.2 engine scored a piston and it has taken most of the year to rebuild. My wife's CX5 blew a stupid plastic coolant union, so I had the front bumper off and radiator out to replace it with a metal one. My RX8 ran over a crankshaft pulley rolling down the centre of the road which pushed the exhaust up into the carbon fibre drive shaft. That took 2 nights to fix. I'm not supposed to be working on Mazdas, my 56 beetle is my project car. Regardless, it's rewarding to overcome these challenges. There's lightning at the end of the tunnel!
Since you started working on this car, a couple other youtubers picked up one of these, then the projects sort of fizzled out and the content dried up almost instantly. I hope you can prove them all wrong and that this content is going to be amazing.
I only know of tony from stay tuned, who got one and left it in storage because it needs a new interior thanks to mold, and he cant find parts for the engine. Who else got one (assuming their channels are bigger than soup)
That pink stuff is Bondo (filler). If you're leaving ANY of that in the car, then you should start doing the glass work with epoxy resin. Epoxy is much stronger, and easier to work with than polyester.
Yikes! That's going to be a lot of work. But more work for you means more content for me :P (The stopmotion was particularly enjoyable this episode. Sanding back several layers of different colors really works well in stop motion!).
There are companies with fiberglass and resins and bondo and primer that do not shrink and they have proven themselves in a test of time. The only kicker is they are expensive, so I would say spend the money on the right materials that have been proven to not shrink. I'm talking about over ten years span.
Epoxy would work fine. See the Gougeon brothers book on boat work. Did you thing of opening the sill to get at the handbrake lever assembly from the inside?
Aaaaaaaaaaagh!!! Don't you hate that sinking feeling of discovery? Sorry to hear George, but it'll be alright. And it will be more 'your car' when it's done. Think of it as a 'bonding experience'...yes - pun intended. Cheers Lad🙂
While you were drilling rivets and peeling the first panel off, I was already thinking, "Aren't you glad they didn't use EPOXY?" That was long before you dug into the crash damage. I'd be glad those "repairs" were not made with epoxy...
All glass fiber bodies have vagaries. Makes them unique. Plus that repair was made to fit. Putting it laser correct will throw it off elsewhere. Right decision. Carry on. North Florida USA. Plus it’s white-no one will notice…
Curiosity killed the cat, but they have nine lives so all good. You're a cool cat, George. What number are you on? Great episode, congrats on the laurels! Brilliant editing as always.
Help me George. There's an Esprit needing rescued in Worcestershire, and having watched your videos I have this uncontrollable urge to buy it. Talk me out of it quick!
@@soupclassicmotoring Thanks George - I was hoping you'd say that. Incidentally, your excellent story of the handbrake reminded me of I when had to replace the wiper wheelbox on my old Eclat (Austin Maxi I believe). It took absolutely HOURS AND HOURS to do as I had to completely dismantle and remove the entire dashboard and console. I spoke to the friendly dealer about it and he said "Nah, we just cut a hole in the bulkhead and then glass it over afterwards. 20 minutes max."
Why did Lotus insist on building roads cars anyhow. To fund the racing I guess. They were pretty optimistic about the build quality and the interior appointments shout “ VW kit car”. I had a glancing blow at saving an Elan, which used ordinary rebar inside the doors.😮
Dude, again - just fucking wow... That side panel removal would have driven me mad in no time... I think i would just multitool slice it off and patch it back together to make a negative for carbon fiber - kevlar replica of the original part... Hell, i think i would try and remake the whole body like that... I would not have the patience to deal with the old plastic that is just begging for an excuse to crack... Just thinking about that kind of work makes me angry... As said, well fucking done... You have my commendations! Best regards! Steuss Edit- My dude, you gotta get a machinist friend... I could remake that damned bracket in half an hour in proper steel, and with a nice and even bolt pattern that includes the original holes - just to spread the load... It could be made wider and longer, as well as thicker... A mill and a tig torch would suffice if you had a bit of round stock on hand for the spindle bushing... Otherwise a lathe might be called into service for a quick bit of hole-making... The amount of time you wasted sandblasting that junk and tigging ``da boosh`` is pretty much how long it would have taken to pop a few holes into a plate and a chunk of bar, plus a few more minutes of welding... If you were close enough, i`d be willing to have you over when you need such crap and i`d do it for free, just pay a few quid for scrapyard steel(my scrapyard deals in good shit, not rusty crap(tho that can be found too) - factory offcuts and extras from jobs for the most part)... 3 euro a kilo for stainless, say 2.5 quid, and a bracket like that would be a savage overkill even at 400 grams of stainless, so you get my point... BEFRIEND A LOCAL MACHINIST! Cheers!
wow, and a lot of work. I guess if you keep the car for many years, it is worth it but if you sold it right away, you might not get all your labor's worth out of it
Lotus Cars should really sponsor this build. Your love for this vehicle is incredible and they should recognize it.
Unfortunately lotus have went totally EV
@@superseven7947from light, responsive cars , to a generic lump, with a bonnet like an aircraft carrier's deck. Designed by Stevie Wonder.
Good luck with that! As the owner and restorer of a newly completely rebuilt Esprit S1 (which they have continually used to launch all of their new models for the past 7 years) I contacted their marketing department for a small donation of Lotus Cars branded corporate merchandise that deprived youngsters would enjoy and use. Such as pens, pads, perhaps a fleece or bag, but they didn't even respond.
"Tis a flesh wound!" "I'M INVINCIBLE!!" This car should be named The Black Knight.
😂 so long as it doesn't bite my legs off
''A flesh wound? Your parking brake lever's off!''
This is giving me flashbacks.
My elder brother trained as a coach builder in his youth, so would always have a rotten and/or damaged project car or two kicking about (Much to the annoyance of my parents). One of his mates got a Lotus Eclat cheap because someone had run into the drivers side rear quarter and left it looking a right state, and he talked my brother into fixing it. This was in the early 90's and bodywork sections weren't easily available. The chopped body sections that did turn up weren't cheep, and because of that the car had been deemed "Unrepairable". The scrap yards didn't want something with so little metal in it, so my brothers mate paid next to nothing for it. I can't remember what he paid, but my brother said he could have doubled his money by selling the engine, gearbox, and interior, then "Cutting up the rest for the bin men".
I'll always remember watching my brother make 50 or 60 vertical 1/8" plywood profile templates of the good side, all spaced at most an inch apart. He then flipped the order of them to get the profile for the other side. The gaps between the sheets was packed with newspaper, skimmed in filler, then it was painted. He used that as a mold to make a rough new drivers side rear quarter. It still took a few months of evening and weekend work to repair the damage underneath and make this panel fit right, but I found the whole process mesmerising.
In the end I think with all the extra layers of glass fibre inside so he could sand through the replacement panel where the profile was way too proud of where it needed to be, and laying more glass and resin into low spots on the outside, that panel must have weighed triple what it was meant to, but it was DEFINITELY structurally sound (with zero actual filler).
The end result did look nice though. He finished it by respraying most of the outside because the original yellow gel coat had for some reason got slightly faded in multiple places, and that meant there wasn't ONE solid colour to blend into, so he blended out into a wider and wider area until it turned into near enough a full respray.
The biggest memory about it though was the fist fight my brother and his mate had in the garden a couple months after it was back on the road. It seems that my brother had done the work for material costs because it was his mates personal car, but the mate promptly sold it for several times what he'd paid. My brother felt like he'd been taken advantage of, but the mate kept saying he WAS going to keep the car, but someone offered him more for it than he was willing to turn down......... All good street theatre for the neighbours. 🤣
Good read, when’s the next installment??
*Just a note. Standard procedure in repairing cracks in composites/fiberglass REQUIRE that you drill a hole at the tip of the crack for stress relief, as the tip of that crack acts as a stress/load concentrator. If you do not drill the tip, with time, the crack will continue growing at the tip. Drill out the tip (1/8"-1/4") then fill in normally. Clearly this was not done in the previous, amateur "repair". Hope this helps. Great channel. Cheers.*
Exactly! I hope George sees this.
This Esprit got incredibly lucky to be now in your hands. 👍
You've shown us some pretty gnarly stuff on this channel George, but watching you rip that fiberglass sill off made my hair stand on end! Kudos for all your patience and hard work, and thank you so much for sharing your journey with us all these years.
It is important to remember to always drill a hole just past the end of the visible crack - then prep the crack - this reduces the chance of a stress riser later on down the track. CHEERS from AUSTRALIA
I thought I was really obsessive until I watched your videos. Amazing work!
Getting that sill off definately looked (and sounded) like a labour of love. Well done for having the patience George.
Holy cow George ! It’s a banger of an episode and I’m only 7mins in - congrats on your film fest award 🏆👍
Thank you 🥂
I just love watching your work and the way you film.
🍻
Love this . looking forward to your repairs
What a journey you are on, this is going to be a very special car when you are finished. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the years of soothing lilt. You are a positive influence in my life.
🤝
Dont ever stop doing what you do!
Pretty sure he will never finish it so no worries there.
😂
@@soupclassicmotoring sorry, lol.
Its looking great
I love this series. Keep it coming!
While restoring the body on my S1 Esprit, Im constantly reminded that I'm better off than someone restoring an old steel body car. Other car resto shows, show vehicle bodys that look like swiss cheese. The Esprit is a winner in this respect. Cheers from Australia ...
After the rust battles rust on the Range Rover, the Mercedes and even the camper conversion, I love this car for being composite built
@@soupclassicmotoring Ah but you learned your metalcraft on those mutha’s allowing you to do such an excellent job with the Esprit chassis 😊
That time just flew by, great to have regular updates on this. Fantastic work as ever.
Wow. impressive to see the hidden damage under the repair.. Good luck with getting the repair fixed and with the restoration to perfect condition.
Wow! 😮 That was hard to watch. Great job diving in and moving forward to fix it. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😃
What a heroic fight !!
Saint or madman ? ... I'm not sure, but I can't look away ...
I build giant wind turbine blades for a living. Switch to epoxy on your repairs. Epoxy adheres very well to materials less superior than it and it shrinks much much less. So if you want dimensional stability mate, go with the epoxy!
Great workmanship on the repairs though…you beat most of our experienced crew!
This story just gets better and better..
I've been working a bit with fiberglass. Never really loved it and I hated repairs...
You have a lot of courage! I wish you strength!
Thanks 👍
Dude, when you peeled that wheel well I sat there, mouth agape, just repeating, "wow.....wow.....wow....."
It's tremendously satisfying to see such meticulous and well researched work being done. This is a wonderful channel, in case I haven't mentioned it before! 😊
Your videos simply put “ARE SO FUCKING GOOD!”
I give them a like at the beginning so I don’t forget. I’ve turned on more than a few friends to your channel as well who aren’t even car people but artists, musicians, photographers.
I’m sure you hear too often “I only wish there were more.” But I also know it’s just you making them. The stop motion alone has to be brutal! Ray Harryhausen & Phil Tippet would be proud!
I’d worry that if someone came in with a pile of money to “improve” your show it would also come with a lot of uncreative notes that $$ usually comes with.
That said I DO hope you get help and $$ while maintaining 100% creative control! Someone in another comment said Lotus should sponsor your build. I agree! Artists always dreaming right? Anyway, big fan and Cheers to your continued success!
Well done, thank you for sharing, always a highlight of my day when you post a new video to watch :)
Great content! Huge respect for the editing and pic-vid thing what ever it is called😅. Pure art👌💥
Legend!
Excellent video as always.
I'm Just going to repeat what others here have said in hopes you won't miss it: drill a hole at the end of the cracks to stop them from continuing under the repair.
Looking forward to seeing you tackle this challenge, sure you wil prevail!
Dang, that’s a fun find on a project. Love the stop motif on the damage reveal, that’s definitely you showing off.
My Soup Tee arrived. 'Tis a thing of beauty. 👍
Bummer about the corner. Makes sense to keep it when you explain about the pre-shrinkage being done. Just needs to be properly done where they didn't have proper access originally!
Progress is progress, George. Keeps looking better every episode!
🤘🏼😉
I was horrified seeing that crack and watching how bad it got as you kept uncovering more of it. Then again, I grew up repairing surfboards and at the end of this, it’s just fiberglass. While it can be a lot of work, it’s not particularly difficult to do correctly. You’ve done a great job so far, so all I can say is that’s it’s going to make for more content. I can live with that. It’s not like I have to put in the hours, I just get to sit back and watch you do it :)
Great job this far, keep it up!
Well if the car was in concourse condition, this series would be a lot shorter! Fantastic stuff as always. 👍🇦🇺
I could feel your teeth grinding while you were staying positive - thank you, as always, for sharing.
Great inspiration to get back at my own car. Great episode as always.
I really like your video style, it reminds me of Tony Hart. I expect to see Morph popping out of the paintwork :)
Hart was a hero!
What a great episode - well done George
2-35: Jesus, look at all that weight saving falling out! Colin Chapman would be so proud!
Jeepers; Great effort at removing that sill. The patience of an Irish Saint !!!
It’s such a gorgeous car even in its current state!
If you can't have rust problems on a car body, may as well have fibreglass woes to make up for it.
Oh - as you can see in this video, owning a Lotus gives you the luxury of having both problems at the same time ... 😎
Another Saturday and have been waiting…LOL! I have a 914 and was left with a similar issue and then decoded to get rid of it and relocate to the centre with a traditional centre mount park brake! When done, I will have to send ice but my situation is a little easier I think than your set up!
A very resilient car guy, it’s amazing how they mounted the handbrake for near impossible future maintenance, and sad to see less than decent previous repairs, hang in there
Nice work mate enjoyed the video was still a good update, i did forward your channel to a fella in the states with a burnt JPS as your work is a video gift to anyone needing a lotus Manuel of how too
Superb video and work.
grat detective work. love the fiber repairs
Maybe you should make a plate for the inside of the e-brake mount, in effect sandwiching the fiberglass
Fill me with confidence? the music had me reach for a bottle of wine 😊
10:11 oooooh that hurt my heart watching that peel away. Gotta be done though.
That guy in the USA who bought the burnt JPS Espirit from the old Porfor motors auction (Rudi Kleins ) has a bigger job ahead. 😁
I have winced already
This reminds me of the Saab 900 classics; much of those cars appeared to be assembled using sikaflex as the primer fastener.
I think most bodyshops both now, and back then don't knowm much about fiberglass. I have pretty much the same problem on one of my cars, where a corner isn't slightly right. Turns out they didn't straighten my frame properly, and then just fit the new corner wrong to compensate for the frame.
Loving the new bout of videos. This project is taking longer than Project Binky, but it's still a worthy project. I can't help but think this would have been completed already if it wasn't for the stop-go motion, but at the end there should be a great "Jason and the Argonauts" style movie that I'd love to see from start to finish.
My S1 Esprit handbrake had exactly the same problem, other than it being on the other side of the car! I never had the guts to take off the rocker panel to fix it.
Would Kevlar tape, often used in joining kayak halves together, be suitable for reinforcing the area of the handbrake bracket? A layer could be laminated into or over the glass fibre matting. It would add strength around the holes without having to add excessive thickness.
👍 Soup guy, I remember the guy who owned "Reuters"restaurant in Dublin years ago drove a JPS lotus, black and gold, stunning.
I've heard of it but the car is long gone
@@soupclassicmotoring The restaurant was closed because of copyright,in the late 70s, the owner was an UK Arab, the car was on British plates .
I think I would have used a heat gun on that adhesive. But, of course, I am not there! I can't wait to see how the repair goes.
That black/grey resin is the grandma of 3M's panel bond
George, I don’t understand how replacing polyester with superior epoxy for repairs is any different than replacing mild steel components with stainless steel. You are recovering this pool Lotus and I wouldn’t hesitate to add as much structural integrity to the repairs as possible. Epoxy and carbon fiber
because you might introduce stress in new areas due to the different characteristics of those materials. instead of something flexing it could just shatter and that is not what you want part of your car to do. Now remaking the entire body with some engineering changes out of epoxy and carbon fiber would get you around those issues. replacing steel with stainless in the places he has done just eliminates corrosion issues.
@@lesdmarkespecially with how these cars are designed …the backbone chassis means a LOT of stress points/flex in the body.
@@lesdmark sorry, I'm afraid that swapping to stainless steel doesn't just change corrosion characteristics because stainless steel and steel have very different characteristics and reactions to load/stress and can also be problematic if this is not understood, in the same way that you pointed this out in relation to the bodywork materials. So I struggle to see how the point differs.
The old saying that goes about Lotus is only true when previous owners neglected the cars, and many owners were not engineers and found Lotus Dealers to be not up to snuff. Consequently over the decades many old Lotus cars were like the sticky sweets you find under the carpets. But to own now, a car that has been maintained by an engineer , or an enthusiast is something wonderful and many cars are living their best lives now. I see your issues with the handbrake which is why on the Europa is was and umbrella type under the dash, but the seat belt mounts suffered in the sills on the Europa, just like the Esprit handbrake, and need careful surgery to the body to replace them.
We're staying positive.
Imagine dropping the Lotus into a local mechanic to have the handbrake fixed "Nah mate, I don't need a quote, take as long as you need..." You wouldn't see it for 12 months and you'd need a bank loan to settle the account. Thank you for providing automotive therapy. This year my Mazda BT50 (Ford Ranger) 3.2 engine scored a piston and it has taken most of the year to rebuild. My wife's CX5 blew a stupid plastic coolant union, so I had the front bumper off and radiator out to replace it with a metal one. My RX8 ran over a crankshaft pulley rolling down the centre of the road which pushed the exhaust up into the carbon fibre drive shaft. That took 2 nights to fix. I'm not supposed to be working on Mazdas, my 56 beetle is my project car. Regardless, it's rewarding to overcome these challenges. There's lightning at the end of the tunnel!
Since you started working on this car, a couple other youtubers picked up one of these, then the projects sort of fizzled out and the content dried up almost instantly. I hope you can prove them all wrong and that this content is going to be amazing.
I only know of tony from stay tuned, who got one and left it in storage because it needs a new interior thanks to mold, and he cant find parts for the engine. Who else got one (assuming their channels are bigger than soup)
@@NextDoorGuyTavarish had one as well (far later car), did sone work, bought a crashed car for spares then gave up
Watching Doctor Who as a child was less scary than watching clawing at the glass fibre, but I know it will all come good in the end!
Wonderful
The title of this video frankly scares me. I really hope years of work has not been for naught. FS, Lotus !!
*heavy breathing* look at all that fun fiberglass work you get to do.
That pink stuff is Bondo (filler). If you're leaving ANY of that in the car, then you should start doing the glass work with epoxy resin. Epoxy is much stronger, and easier to work with than polyester.
Love some afternoon soup. 😊
only love could drive a man to do this kind of work
Yikes! That's going to be a lot of work. But more work for you means more content for me :P (The stopmotion was particularly enjoyable this episode. Sanding back several layers of different colors really works well in stop motion!).
There are companies with fiberglass and resins and bondo and primer that do not shrink and they have proven themselves in a test of time. The only kicker is they are expensive, so I would say spend the money on the right materials that have been proven to not shrink. I'm talking about over ten years span.
Epoxy would work fine. See the Gougeon brothers book on boat work. Did you thing of opening the sill to get at the handbrake lever assembly from the inside?
Didn’t consider it to be honest, the car has enough holes cut in it already
I agree. The repair isn't great but you can make it certified good enough.
SuperFastMatt is the person to certify things Good Enough
Aaaaaaaaaaagh!!! Don't you hate that sinking feeling of discovery? Sorry to hear George, but it'll be alright. And it will be more 'your car' when it's done. Think of it as a 'bonding experience'...yes - pun intended. Cheers Lad🙂
While you were drilling rivets and peeling the first panel off, I was already thinking, "Aren't you glad they didn't use EPOXY?" That was long before you dug into the crash damage. I'd be glad those "repairs" were not made with epoxy...
They’re proof themselves that even badly prepared composite repairs can still have a lot of strength
Cut the inner sill and laminate in a new ring plate to carry the whole mechanism that you can mount and unmount the mechanism from inside the car?
All glass fiber bodies have vagaries. Makes them unique. Plus that repair was made to fit. Putting it laser correct will throw it off elsewhere. Right decision. Carry on. North Florida USA. Plus it’s white-no one will notice…
The black adhesive is Mansory Glue
Curiosity killed the cat, but they have nine lives so all good. You're a cool cat, George. What number are you on? Great episode, congrats on the laurels! Brilliant editing as always.
It is my personal uninfluenced opinion that you have the best RUclips channel intro theme. Could be even shorter though.
I don’t know if I’d enjoy driving this after all of the painstaking effort. I’d be paranoid.
Oh I will! And if I crash it I’ll be ok with that too
Help me George. There's an Esprit needing rescued in Worcestershire, and having watched your videos I have this uncontrollable urge to buy it. Talk me out of it quick!
Yes yes, buy buy! (And send me the seats)
@@soupclassicmotoring Thanks George - I was hoping you'd say that. Incidentally, your excellent story of the handbrake reminded me of I when had to replace the wiper wheelbox on my old Eclat (Austin Maxi I believe). It took absolutely HOURS AND HOURS to do as I had to completely dismantle and remove the entire dashboard and console. I spoke to the friendly dealer about it and he said "Nah, we just cut a hole in the bulkhead and then glass it over afterwards. 20 minutes max."
You are on track for the 2125 reveal !.
April 2025. No rain checks.
@@soupclassicmotoring Good Luck, Sir └(°ᴥ°)┘
Why did Lotus insist on building roads cars anyhow. To fund the racing I guess. They were pretty optimistic about the build quality and the interior appointments shout “ VW kit car”. I had a glancing blow at saving an Elan, which used ordinary rebar inside the doors.😮
Irish boat builder 🍀
Thought you had decided to go to Lotus Yellow L07 lol
just one question, who will paint this piece of art?😅
See you next saturday in Kent, George?
Some heat would probably have helped that bonding agent to let go. I expect it was mastic
Paint it a sparkly white. Please. It’s a classic.
Dude, again - just fucking wow... That side panel removal would have driven me mad in no time... I think i would just multitool slice it off and patch it back together to make a negative for carbon fiber - kevlar replica of the original part... Hell, i think i would try and remake the whole body like that... I would not have the patience to deal with the old plastic that is just begging for an excuse to crack... Just thinking about that kind of work makes me angry...
As said, well fucking done... You have my commendations!
Best regards!
Steuss
Edit-
My dude, you gotta get a machinist friend... I could remake that damned bracket in half an hour in proper steel, and with a nice and even bolt pattern that includes the original holes - just to spread the load... It could be made wider and longer, as well as thicker... A mill and a tig torch would suffice if you had a bit of round stock on hand for the spindle bushing... Otherwise a lathe might be called into service for a quick bit of hole-making... The amount of time you wasted sandblasting that junk and tigging ``da boosh`` is pretty much how long it would have taken to pop a few holes into a plate and a chunk of bar, plus a few more minutes of welding... If you were close enough, i`d be willing to have you over when you need such crap and i`d do it for free, just pay a few quid for scrapyard steel(my scrapyard deals in good shit, not rusty crap(tho that can be found too) - factory offcuts and extras from jobs for the most part)... 3 euro a kilo for stainless, say 2.5 quid, and a bracket like that would be a savage overkill even at 400 grams of stainless, so you get my point... BEFRIEND A LOCAL MACHINIST!
Cheers!
How about converting to an electric parking brake?
wow, and a lot of work. I guess if you keep the car for many years, it is worth it but if you sold it right away, you might not get all your labor's worth out of it
Why don't you make the parking brake to be foot-operated, like in a Mercedes? You could even borrow the pedal from one...
Grreat stuff
Oof. I got two lemon projects right now but I don't want to admit it
make lemonade! ;)
@soupclassicmotoring I'm trying, though it's tempting to make charred lemons instead lol
🧨