Burg57

https://www.yorkshirefabric.com/collections/upholstery/products/sand-8-wale-corduroy You could try this Derek, better than a black armrest, or recover the whole interior in this stuff! (OK, maybe a bit late for that!)

Yes they should be gold. Not found anywhere that sells them though, probably have to wrap some silver ones same as the cant rail trims.

Fitted my suspension first as that was ready and at least it got rid of a few more parts. Easy enough sliding the transaxle in after and lining up.

I wonder if John knew Andy who left his name on the inside of my 79 Esprit glove box lid?

That looks great Dave, you have made a great job of the car,good to look back and see how far it has come. Hopefully mine will look equally as good some time next year.

Did mine with black raptor by UPol which is a 2k pu paint for underbodies and truck beds. I've used loads of it as does my local paint shop. Gives a nice satin finish which is very durable. Loads of sellers on ebay. Can send you some pictures if it would be useful.

Reliability pure and simple! Proof is in the pudding though. They have it on a rally car so that will give it a thorough test!

Mike showed me this system the other day. Very clever, and replaces fuses and relays with a bcm and a switch board plus new harness of course, now developing it for a Lagonda!! Lots of work there! He said you were looking at this for your car Derek, certainly seems to introduce some modern electronic reliability so hope it goes well for you. Out of my budget and being a purist I will have to continue tinkering with electrical issues on my cars (part of the fun of owning classics, so they tell me!)

Useful information, thanks for posting 👍

Interesting, my experience is the same as V8. A small quality powder coating shop will produce far better results than OE finish from 30plus years ago as materials have changed and they are not working to fine budget constraints. Additionally, if you do get a chip on a powder coating finish then a local refinish at a later date with a different product is simple and effective, no need to remove the whole lot and start again. I did find a partial flaking of powder coating on an Elan chassis that had been powder coated in the past but that was a simple job of local repair to remove the loose paint and refinish with normal paint to replicate the original appearance.

Have you had problems with powder coating then? Works for me if done well, after all, it is only paint that is baked on, my powder coater always applies a zinc base coat for chassis components and I've never had an issue. Not as good as hot galvanising for long term protection but then not many of these cars will be subjected to severe weather conditions.

Haha, sorry Djs I did think that but then we all need a bit of inspiration from time to time. Good to see them both coming along, maybe get them together when they are finished although I suspect budget limitations may slow my progress. Keep up the work

That's number 82 back from the paintshop today, looks achingly good when it's that shiny.

Thanks Djs, look forward to seeing what they do for you. Do you have the JPS gear knob? Would be good to get some basic dimensions if possible, diameter of the top, diameter of the base, diameter of the emblem, height as I'm having to recreate my own as somebody had borrowed mine in the past, probably whilst it was stored. Thanks

Classicar Automotive. Easily found on Google for phone and address. Lots of positive independent feedback on the Google search too. Regards