Early HPE restoration

[HFStuart]

My Spider has holes in the A pillar like these. As a matter of fact it had an awful lot of holes but these ones were supposed to be there!

[peteracs]

Hi Stuart

Know the feeling…..

Anyway had a couple of photos of the underside of the car with underbody protection coat on it, things moving along!

Peter

[WestonE]

Turning it upside down beats getting a face full every time.

[peteracs]

Hi Eric

Yes, custom roll over hoop has made life much more enjoyable for them to work on it.

It will be for sale when all is done should anyone be facing the same job…..

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Looking great Peter! I wonder if that frame would also fit a Saloon and a Coupe? Not that I need one but it's a really useful thing to have if you're embarking on a full restoration!

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

Probably need a tweak, but I know the front subframe mounts suit a later car as we had to mod the original having changed the front on the car. The main change I would think may be the rear mounting points? The main thing is the hard work has been done.

Peter

[peteracs]

One of the things I have always disliked on the early cars is the gear lever gaiter, on the spider it is a vinyl part, on this it is a rubber boot, functional, but not pleasant to my eye. So I had a new gaiter made when retrimming the car out of the seat leather. All good so far, but I really wanted some sort of collar to finish the top of the gaiter. The gear lever is approx 14mm diameter and most of the ones I see on Ebay are around 11mm if I remember correctly, but I came across one which was 15mm, but attached to a gaiter already. However for £5 delivered I decided nothing lost even if it gets thrown away. However it arrived from China and the collar is simply held in with a Ty wrap, so easy to remove and fit to my gaiter. It is only plastic, but looks the part and finishes the gaiter off quite nicely.

Peter

[WestonE]

Well done on the collar. That is always a challenge. My rubber gromet solutions look horrible be comparison.

[SanRemo78]

Very neat. More work to do when the interior goes back in.... Thanks for setting an example Peter!

[peteracs]

Thanks, so pleased with it I am going to get one for the Spider’s vinyl gaiter.

Peter

[peteracs]

On with one of those jobs you thought about ages ago, but never got around to it yet…..

The interior of the Spider is pretty simple in terms of coverings, just one carpet (with bits attached to the center console) and some headlining. The HPE in contrast has various coverings, mostly brown and made out of man made material. On the Spider we reused the carpet and stuck a n other carpet on top to keep the profilenetc which worked ok, but that is not really an option on the HPE as there are various coverings. The big issue is Sun fade which has affected various parts differently. I therefore wanted to try dyeing to see if I could get a more even and original colouring. So I finally found a dye which claimed to work with man made fabrics such as nylon, polyester etc. It is an American dye called Rit DyeMore. You have to use it with near boiling water which is going to be a challenge for the carpet etc, but as a test I bought the Chocolate Brown dye and tried it on a piece from the center console. I used boiling water in a bowl with water and it says add a small amount of dish detergent (Fairy in my case) and keep it hot for an hour. I actually added some more boiling water after 15 mins and left it for around 30 mins. Result was pretty impressive. Photo shows a comparison of approx what is was like (ginger colour) of another part of the center console and after the dyeing process.

Challenge will be doing the larger carpets.

Peter

[peteracs]

Just finished writing the last post and had a flurry of photos from John the body guy. He has finished the stone chip around the lower sills, front and rear valance and then 3 coats of primer on the main body. His comment was to get the Spider storage sorted as it will not be long before the finishing coats are being applied and has said I will need to go over to view in a couple of weeks time……..

First 2 photos are of the stone chip, the the body in primer. The stone chip was applied as a ‘smooth’ coat.

Peter

[peteracs]

Carried on with the dyeing process on the interior coverings which had faded. So far have had a go at the rear turret covers, rear side cover and boot carpet. Apart from the carpet, the rest have had two sessions and the results are very acceptable. I will have to reshape the turret covers, but small problem against having them a uniform colour compared to how they originally were before I started. The following photos were taken in different lighting, but serve to show the change in colouring.

I have yet to look at the two carpets I have. One is the original which had damage due to welding being done under the car without removing the carpet….. (one born every minute as the saying goes), the other is a left hand drive carpet I bought in France which is a different manufacturer, but hoping I can use to repair the original as the damage is mainly under the passenger seat area.

Peter

[WestonE]

Well Done Peter. This is the really clever work and it will make the car look amazing.

[peteracs]

Hi Eric

Not sure about clever, it was a suck and see really as never tried this before. Interiors for the early cars are a real pain to get hold of so reusing what you have has to be the first port of call if possible. Sadly I had a good look at my original carpet today and the spare one I bought in France and the pile is totally different (loop pile on the spare one as opposed to a furry finish on the original) so patching the the original is not going to work.

So…… I have decided to use the whole of the spare one which is in decent condition, albeit it is a LHD carpet, so has the cutout for the steering column on the wrong side. Given I shall be using full size mats in the car, I do not think it will be too obvious, hopefully…..! Will see when I get the car back and try it. It is in need of a good clean, but does not appear to have any significant fading.

I still have some more of the rear coverings to dye, namely the rears of the rear seats which have to be un-stapled from the mounting board and the long thin cover which goes over the rear hatch.

Peter

[WestonE]

I have a Numatic George so I was able to wash hoover several carpets. This does make a difference but does not make wear go away. But it does significantly improve them. Your earlier pile carpet can be made in sections by a good trimmer, but the later loop S2 highly molded would be tricky IMHO.

I am using an HPE VX carpet cut at a line under the front seats. It was just in far better condition than everything else.
LHD is interesting because the wear pattern is reversed. Could you do a join right down the middle to have the good bits of LHD and RHD?

[peteracs]

Hi Eric

Sadly the carpet material is completely different which is what I had intended doing, but cannot now and the thoughts of trying to find another does not bare thinking about!

I am hoping I can ‘pinch’ a piece from under the rear seats to replace where the steering wheel would go on the LHD, though I am anticipating that area will change anyway as looking to locate some of the relays/fuses there if possible. Will not get a better idea on all of that until the car comes home.

Peter

[peteracs]

Often with working on restoring things on the car it is the small things which give as much enjoyment as the larger events. In the centre console is an ashtray which had very old grease and the surrounding metalwork paint was very tired. So a bit of scotchbrite and some enamel paint I had originally bought for parts on the Spider, a small amount of light grease and it is now looking the part. At the same time I have part dismantled some of the covering for the rear panels attached to the rear seats to go through the dyeing process. This necessitated partially drilling out three rivets to remove these plates which I removed the old paint and re-painted at the same time as the ashtray.

Re-assembly of the plates means I have to drill and tap the remains of the old rivets as access to the back is not possible without removing more covers which does not need to be done as they are in decent condition.

Peter

[peteracs]

One thing that I had never really understood was why a good quality repaint cost so much, however having now seen various cars on the Retropower YouTube channel going through the process and witnessing the HPE going through it in person, I realise just how much work/time and hence cost is involved. Not something to be undertaken lightly, but as with Guy’s car the results can be stunning. I shall be visiting the car this coming week, but latest photos are here of the underbody final coat. Note the colour in the photos is a lot lighter than in real life, the colour is a darker brown metallic.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Having paid the bill I can tell you it's eye watering.... But you get what you pay for (mostly) Peter.

Is that a Foreman P3 replica in the background?

Guy