Refinishing the Suspension Pieces

When it came time to refinish all the suspension components, I chose to powder coat them. The great thing about powder coating is that you can drop off your parts as dirty as they came off the car, then pick them up a week later with everything looking brand new. The sandblasting process removes everything from the part, including the old paint, rust, and any other corrosion or material. Better yet, it creates a nice surface for the powder to adhere to when the part is heated. The process certainly costs more but well worth it as the finish comes out more durable and even and it’s resistant to the elements.


The springs were in excellent shape so I simply had them refinished.


My rear control arms were pretty badly rusted for some reason so there is a little pitting of the metal that shows through the finish. Not the biggest deal as these are never seen anyway.


The rear control arms were a little beat up because of their low location on the car. Trying to grind them down or fill the imperfections prior to powder coating would simply be time wasted as I plan to drive the car.


I opted to have the chassis support braces finished in flat black to match the chassis.


The motor mounts and chassis support brace mounts were also finished in flat black to match the chassis.


The gear linkage looks like it did when it left the factory. I ordered new bushings from SJ Sports Cars so the connections are tight when it all goes back together.


The front control arms were in great shape so it was an easy job sandblasting them down and refinishing to new.


My brake dust covers were pretty well rusted in areas given their exposure to the elements on the road. I’m happy with the way they turned out given the way they looked when they came off the car.

Zinc Plating the Trim Parts

Most of the plated parts on my car were either rusted, corroded, worn, or simply in need of a refinish. Things like door and hood latches, brackets, bolts, calipers, and springs were all great candidates for plating. I chose yellow zinc chromate on most of the parts including the brake calipers, although black oxide was also used on some of the brackets to keep the originality.

I once read that it’s easier and cheaper if you have everything plated in one batch as opposed to doing small runs. Overall that’s advice I didn't follow and I ended up paying too much for two medium size batches. Overall it was about $350 to plate every relevant part on my Esprit. Still not bad considering how everything turned out.

It did take time to prepare the parts, as I opted to use a coarse orbital wire brush (especially the brake calipers) to remove the dirt and rust prior to having everything finished. The plating company said this wasn’t necessary, but I didn’t trust them to clean and polish the parts as thoroughly as some of them needed to be. The thing about plating is that any imperfection in the metal prior to plating will only become more obvious after it’s done. I found that using a very fine orbital wire brush as the final step removed the heavy scratches and gave the metal a smooth and polished texture. The technique worked well and the outcome was excellent.

Introduction

In 2009 I purchased a 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 with the intent to fully restore the car in under 2-years. My main objective was to obtain an un-butchered car with the original power plant and all original equipment, and I succeeded big time. Although it had been stored for 15 years, the previous owner had stored it well and kept all the service receipts. The car was reported to have only 18,000 original miles when I took delivery. Whether that's true I'm not sure, but it seems to match the service history and the car was in remarkable condition upon taking it apart. Things like the brake rotors (front and rear), pads, u-joints and other common wear areas showed very little use. Still, the car had deteriorated badly after sitting for so long so it was necessary to examine, restore or replace virtually everything on the car.

As I start the monumental task of taking everything apart and eventually putting it all back together again, I hope my progress as its documented here will be of help to those undertaking a similar restoration.