Looking good.
Great work James 
Not much done today, but finally got around to putting the foam onto the boot floor as I want to finish it up with the DIY divider panel some time soon. I’m sure items wouldn’t fall down onto the driveshafts but I haven’t wanted to risk it so far.
I gave it a hoover and wiped around some white spirit to give the foam backing a clean surface to adhere to.
Not the neatest job and I’m not overly happy with how it meets the edges but it was tough to get the sheet in the right place on my own with the adhesive backing sticking to everything it touched.
I’ll see how well it holds up over time. I’m a little concerned about the exhaust bolts already nearly breaking through the foam.
While I had the boot lid up I noticed the bolts and washers used to fix the engine finisher panels on had been rusting in the weather channel. Perhaps these bolts weren’t stainless so we’re always going to rust in the position they were in.
I took them off and gave them a quick spray with the matte black paint I’ve used on lots of things and these should hopefully be a bit more protected now.
I also think they look better when you catch them against the black of the acrylic cover instead of the silver.
Finally grabbed the tiny bit of bunting we had in the house to get the car a bit more jubilee ready. Next event is the Goodwood breakfast on Sunday for the jubilee event.
Lovely job!
Hi James, can you remember what size the rubber you got the for the rear clam sill edge and engine cover?
Need to order the same and yours looks to be an ideal fit
Hi again everyone,
I have neglected this thread a bit over the months and thought it would be good to post a few updates and what’s happened in that time. I’d love to say that most of it was happy motoring but it doesn’t always work like that!
Over the coming days/weeks in drip feed in photos and stories from the past 10 months or so and although not as in depth as the build will hopefully be interesting for some to hear and read about.
So starting where I left off…
The Goodwood Jubilee breakfast meet was my first and so far only breakfast meet. It was good but over half the cars had left before I was able to get a proper look around the paddock area. I think the event is good for those who are local as it is a very early start if you want to get down there in good time to see everything if you aren’t!
I went down with Dad in his DB7 V12 Vantage and as you can see, no one was left by the end of our trip so have us some good photo opportunities.
One day I’ll do Goodwood as a trackday and see how scary it is!
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With my cousin being a Firman (ex S2 Exige owner) and telling me of countless vehicle fires he attends, I decided to buy a fire extinguisher for the car.
I researched for a while about what type and eventually decided to go for a 2 litre foam canister.
I was tempted with the fire sticks as they are compact but ultimately wanted something that might actually do a decent job at putting a fire out!
I plan to place the extinguisher in front of the passenger seat so it is in easy reach and also the passengers legs should fit over it quite comfortably.
I will need to mock up and fabricate my own bracket for this and plan to utilise the front 2 mounting bolts for the seat.
I’ll also be using a quick release to secure the extinguisher better as I don’t want it to become a projectile in an impact.
I made the mistake of originally buying a smaller 1 litre powder extinguisher after my cousin said they are the best for putting out fuel fires, but after reading how destructive the powder is on aluminium, went for the foam instead.
The following photos are of the powder bottle but I did the same for the foam one. I didn’t like the idea of a big red canister in the interior so did some modifying.
First I took some fine sandpaper and scotched the surface to cut the paint back a bit and remove any labels. I then took white spirit and cleaned up ready for masking and painting.
I rigged up my workmate to hang the bottle from a metal pole so I could cover all areas without needing to touch or disturb anything.
Light layers built up the finish and I waited for it to dry.
I then took clear matte lacquer and gave another few light coats as the matte black marked easily. I plan to put a sticker/decal on the top facing surface of the bottle but I’m not sure what to put on it yet. It might be either the Lotus logo or LotusSport etc or something unique. Being a designer I should come up with something really but it’s just another job I’ve not got around to.
This powder bottle now sits in the garage so at least serves a purpose. The foam is on a shelf ready to be mounted some day.
Welcome back. Looking forward to reading more.
you can buy brackets that bolt on using the seat mounting bolts, i picked one up years ago for mine, but like the rest of the car still not finished putting it back together yet
Yeah I have a bracket from the front passenger seat mounting bolts, to which I’ve riveted on a plate to mount the extinguisher to. If you order the driver’s side bolts at the rear, they have a few mm extra length to compensate for the thickness of the bracket.
Would I know your cousin? Or is he in LFB?
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I am tempted to buy as it will be neater that what I’d manage to make I imagine. I would probably look to try to cut the arms shorter to really tuck the bottle under the front of the seat which is the advantage of making a custom one.
I’m not sure, he is stationed at St Alban’s. Like all of his cars he didn’t keep it very long, couple of trackdays in it, I’ll try and find a picture
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Yeh I won’t know him James! See you around Essex over the Summer
Oh small update, I moved into my first house late January so now live in Letchworth Garden City, back in Hertfordshire
Congratulations!
Other than not being up North where the greatest people live its a good move!
Best part about the house is it has a garage that’s a decent enough size for the Lotus! I’m have a few plans for this so at some point this will be another small project. Good roof storage too as it is pitched.
I’ve also now finally got my genuine Lotus Sport indoor cover I’m told from the Autobytel champion series on the car, finally took it back from dad who was using it for his E-Type.
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An unfortunate discovery back in July last year was that my Carbone Lorraine RC5+ pads had disintegrated and cracked.
I was aware about this issue however this was the first time experiencing it. This was my third set of CL front pads I think.
One pad had a large chunk completely split from the rest of the material, whereas others were more subtle with cracking and with one having cracked and lifted from the backing plate.
Photos probably don’t show the cracks all that well but I think every one of the fronts had some form of defect. This was also right before a Cadwell trackday which wasn’t great timing but better to find out before than after hitting a barrier!
I contacted CL and they from memory were fairly unhelpful and uninterested to help, so I then contacted Yvo at Elise-shop as I’m pretty sure that’s where I got them from. He was understanding but ultimately wasn’t able to help either, not his fault. This left me in a predicament as to whether to replace like for like (all my other sets have been fine and I love the feel that give) or look for something else.
As time and money were tight I opted for new CL pads from EP and so far I’ve not encountered the same issue. As ever EP were great and the pads were delivered extremely quickly so shout out to them! It might have been something to do with the car sitting a while not being driven during the conversion, damp build up and essentially rotting, who knows.
Maybe when these front pads and the rears are done (they should be finished at the same time as the rears last twice as long as the fronts) I might look to change brand, but this is hopefully a while off yet.
Here is a photodump of what I found. Check your pads!
