Espada thread

Just looked at a couple of photos. This happens, if one does not recall in detail how the interior must be put together again. Who notices what is wrong (disregard the right half of the dash)? Hint: a matter of incorrect assembly, two parts seen belong to the other car side .

Cheers, Bernhard
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Well besides the obvious style changes of color I'm stumped as to how you accomplish the difference in the door's center panel decorative chrome piece? This is what mine looks like.
But I can't say that is an assembly issue?
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It is, Bob, yours is correct. Your door looks nice, obviously not the "yellow dust disease". My trim had this everywhere and this means to rip all leather off the panels anyway, since that trickling yellow stuff is from desintegrated foam under the leather.

Whoever did that in my "riddle-photo" mounted the center piece (loop form) upside down. The straight parts extending therefrom are separate and have angled ends to match the angles of the center piece. They, thus are from the right hand door, otherwise there would be a gap.

Cheers, Bernhard

 

You have the advantage on me, I haven't removed mine as yet and thought it was all one piece. Thus the puzzlement.

I'm pretty sure I recognize that car too. It was restored by a very nice fellow as was the car. He fitted it with electric power steering. He was on the Billings Montana rally a few years back.

 

Then do not tell him . Getting that right now will not be a good idea, since the central part will have created impressions in the leather in the meanwhile and flipping it will not look nice then.

 

Bernhard, looks like a big Puzzle☺, hope, finally will finish it the way, you expect, looking forward to some pics, keep us posted!��

Usually Hubert receive the whole Espada for the interior renovation, not just the single pieces (compliments to you for dismantle it by yourself�&#65533. He's done several of these cars, so please feel free to contact him for any assistance. By the way, he had also done the interior of the oldest surviving Espada, don't remember the chassis number��. It was a pre-production car, he told me that it differed to the Series 1 car a lot in details. Nice colour combo, a kind of middle green metallic with a green interior (as I remember, not as dark green as your's....).


Saluti,

Jürgen

 

Oh he sold the car a couple years ago for great money too. It's a very nice car, this is minor IMHO.

 

Jürgen, not really a puzzle, if all parts are spread, sorted in groups, on the floor of the loft part of the garage. Just need to pick up a group belonging to a specific panel under work and put it together, very convenient.

Next weekend I might attempt to fit the dash. Presently I am fitting and assembling the components thereof. Typically some alignments need to be made. For example getting the glove box to shut nicely consumes some time. Things like this are the points, where precisely executed leatherwork is important also, because you will not be able to file off leather to make it perfectly fit . I personally would tend to want to improve a fit e.g. like in the photo in post #4351.

Yes Bob, that upside down brightwork on the door panel is indeed minor. But nevertheless, if I would notice something like that having happened to me when fittimg, I probably would at least bang my head at the floor for some time . I would look at it every time I open the door and consider continuing the head banging ... . Silly, I know .

A friend had a lovely Diablo GT (in blue, beautiful!). The end pipes of the exhaust were somewhat out of true and whenever he tryed to fix that, after a short time they were out of true again. Whenever I met him with his car, I pointed to the exhaust tips and his head turned red . We nevertheless still are friends ... .

Cheers, Bernhard

 

So, dash is in (though not yet fixed). I even managed not to break off the indicator stick when pushing the dash home .

The rear is competely assembled, including rear seats and side panels. The drivers side is some fun, because the release lever for the rear hatch must be connected to the cable with the panel mounted. It took some time and a lot of temper, since you need to pull the cable against spring action together with pulling the sprung lever, in order to fix the loop of the cable to the lever. This would actually need 4 alien hands (those with the very slim fingers). But no such guys around .

Actually, if one would want a really perfect result, then it would be neccessary to individually make all panels new and perfectly adapted to the bodywork, because at least some of the panels (independent of the new leather, this was so before) do not really fit, or presumably the panels have been made to spec (by others), but not the steel body (I recently compared length of the doors, right/left ... ). But so I am happy to "fiddle" a little bit, though with better results than the factory . Some things are really amazing. The originally intended and provided fixing points for the rear window handles to the body are so far out of place that the handle never would be able to work as intended (knee joint effect). Thus, in the factory the fixing holes were drilled in better positions, which is about 1 cm off (!) the intended points. Fixing was/is with tappet screws (which must be shortened) and one is happy that all this is covered by a small trim panel afterwards .

A few photos will follow as soon as I have the mood to make such .

Cheers, Bernhard

P.S.: A few minor trim parts have been missing or were broke and I would need such. No parts number, they are not listed in the parts catalog I have. Perhaps someone has such or knows a source?

1) The black U-shaped cover around the latches (where you look onto the latches) for the hatchback, I would need both.

2) The black (metal) cover for the grab handle (inside door pillar) fixing points. One of the four is missing.

 

With respect to your comments above I can only describe Espadas as wildly imprecise in their assembly, these were not assembled in the Rolls Royce factory ...

Having disassembled and reassembled the rear hatch area several times now for an eventual complete refurbishment of the gas tanks and fuel system there's one thing that scares the crap out of me about this car. Unlike my Bora there is no emergency access route that I can physically negotiate to release those reach glass hatch latches should that cable break. I looked at it for a while to see if I could hied an additional cable that could be pulled by hand even from other locations?

I didn't see a simple or even reasonable way to accomplish this.

I have seen this happen on a Bora and the emergency access plates in the wheel wells saved the day in that case.

I think it's a worth problem to solve.

 

Nothing easier than that, if the cable breaks, just remove the vertical rear window from the outside and you have full access to both sides (the internal blinds come off easily as well) *looooooooool*.

And never put suitcases back there, which do not fit through between and/or above the rear seat headrests ... .

Yes, I had the same thoughts , and had a close look at the cable ends. Making these an inspection point might be a good idea. As soon as they start to splitt, early replacement should be considered .

Cheers, Bernhard

P.S.: It is a good idea to secure alle these tiny nuts fixing various brightwork elements to the panels. If one or the other comes loose one might become rather sad having to rip out the panels again. I used a small drop of screw locking varnish on each of them.

 

? Good luck with that ... Even Lilliputian mechanics are gonna have a hard time back there ...

Just getting those catches in and out plus aligned & tight along with the interior panels free of damage WO dropping a bolt, washer or nut down inside of the rear quarter panel where it will most likely rattle incessantly is challenging enough thank you! Doing that with the hatch closed !

What do you mean by "screw locking varnish".

 

I never yet had anything fall down there ... . Reminds me of the Jarama. There is an opening behind the air channels on the inner fenders to an otherwise closed cavity. Never put anything near there, although seemingly convenient for laying off some parts. I lost something, don´t remember what this was. The cavity is not straight, but of complex form. A normal telescopic magnet probe does not go down. I fitted a strong magnet at the end of a semiflexible hose and went "fishing". I did not recover what I had lost, but plenty of other things, including a quite massive wrench socket (all unfamiliar to me) ... .

"Screw locking varnish" means this. Although the name suggests similar effect as with locktite, it is used externally and the locking function is rather moderate only, because only small amounts enter into the treaded joint. Nowadays mainly used for indicating purposes on critical joints, to show if a nut has started to come loose. But for M3 just the right thing for "locking", since it can be "broken" rather easily, if necessary. Also additionally useful as a "mark" that you have properly/finally tightened the joint.
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Here are a few photos while work is ongoing.

Cheers, Bernhard
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These are the trim parts I am looking for in good condition. Two of the U-shaped and one of the other.

Cheers, Bernhard
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On my car those U shaped pieces are stamped steel that is then black wrinkle painted.
Are yours plastic?
I would think these could be made of with one of those proto-type printers and painted?

I didn't see either of your missing items on the Urospares parts catalog. But then losts of Espada parts are missing from the Lamborghini parts catalog.

 

Indeed

Yes, mine are plastic and the surface structure is consistent with other black plastic trim parts. I have also seen the metal variant with black wrinkle paint, and assumed that these were made as a later substitute for the apparently unobtainable original.

Since it is likely that no new old stock of this part exists any more, and that the existing parts are mostly broke, I just commissioned 3D construction and printing. If anyone needs the STL file for having those parts printed locally, just contact me and provide an email address to where I can send the file. Will become available in one or the other week.

Cheers, Bernhard

P.S.: If someone has the metal cover for the handle fixing point (right side in the photos above) please advise. I am not going into the costs of having those SLMed .

 

The armrest picture is interesting because having just had mine redone we struggled with the chrome trim that separates the upper portion from the lower clamshell piece.
The originals did not fit well and while I haven't reassembled mine yet, as I remember it that chrome trim was secured to the underside of the top half of the arm rest?

I await the joy of locating and punching the holes in those lower pieces to gain access to the screw holes for securing these lower covers.

Have you figured this out yet? It's been well over a year but my recollection is that on the backside is the small diameter hole for the screw and on the other side is foam with a hole through it which makes it difficult to manipulate the screw. I am thinking of a socket headed cap screw glued to the tip of a long thin hex bit.

But I need to punch a hole in the leather and the question is how?

I think I can locate a center for that hole from the backside with an awl or something but hen what?

BTW these are the awful and incomplete rubber plugs which were in mine. I've got something else I'll try instead which is close in color. I also have seat dye the same color as my leather. Here is my substitute plug.

Ford Trim Panel Retainer Prairie Tan
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Yepp, that is the reason why this lower cover is still missing in my photo. I do not want to make these holes/cuts! .

As one of the last things (after everything else is fitted) I will try to construct a "click-on" or "insert and push home" solution using the original threads in the upper armrest and the holes in the metal of the lower cover (two only instead of all three). That should work, the lower cover is of no structural or operational relevance, it holds nothing and one never pulls there. It is just trim.

If that does not work, I will go your way, i.e. making/using a screw with an "extended head" for immediate access below the leather cover (no poking around any more). And using such plugs . Of course it would be difficult to punch holes. The typical approach (of all leather pros also) in such cases is to cut a cross into the leather such that the plug is held sufficiently if pushed into the cut area.

I actually do not recall for sure to where the chrome trim part was fixed, but will presumably fix it to the lower cover. If a "click" solution works better with the chrome trim fixed to the upper part, this is easlily redone. The chrome trim can be carefully bent to a better fit. I had to do this already with various other parts, in particular at the rear armrests.

 

These may be of some help. Yes It does look like the "hole" might have started out as a cut cross?
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I just had a look at your great clips site, nothing around like that in Germany .

It should be possible to modify a clip such that one end is screwed into the thread of the arm rest and the other end is pushed into the existing hole of the lower cover, with a snug fit. Then you just screw in the clips into the armrest, and push on the lower cover, finished! Without any hole in the lower cover. Sounds nice, theoretically

That is the kind of idea I am presently thinking about. Will spend some time looking at all those clips in your link . Hopefully they deliver internationally .....

Cheers, Bernhard

P.S.: If my idea works, I like to think of some person needing to remove the armrest in some distant future, but not knowing how to get the lower cover off (no holes) .

 

I think you might be much better off with metalic securing clips which thread into the lower portion and then snap into the upper portion.

The only problem I see is that if it's not really tight it could look sloppy.
When you utilize screws you can tighten them and remove some of the unfortunate appearance of hastily constructed, hand made Bertone workmanship.

If you want some of my button style clips I have a ton of them and I can send some. I'm not sure the ones I have are workable for your idea though.

There's always the idea of two or 3 metallic locating pins instead for the alignment and velcro for grip! You could experiment with just the velcro to begin with. It might be too thick though?

 

Yes, the problem you see is what I anticipate also. And the reason that I immediately discarded the velcro idea. That will for sure look sloppy. It will need to be really tight.

Many thanks for the offer with the clips, I will maybe come back to that.

I will report in due course ...

Cheers, Bernhard

P.S.: By the way, early Porsches use the same design solution with such silly black rubber plugs in armrest holes for fixing screws, so it cannot be THAT bad *looooool*

 

http://www.itapestore.com/technical_data/dual_lock/duallock_SJ4570_sj4575.pdf

The surfaces would probably have to be very flat and parallel to each other.

 

Admire the work going into your Espada interior, Bernhard, true dedication! I never realised how complicated the Espada interior actually was. I've been contemplating re-doing mine at some point but I've decided to put it off for now..

To give you a little inspiration, I stumbled across this photo of my Espada on display at Wilton House last summer. I would never have gone out searching for a 'red' Espada but having owned it for four years now, I'm often surprised how striking it looks out in the real world..
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