New door handle escutcheons

[cliff]

1. Wayne
2. DaveB - Carbon Fibre only...(not broken my originals... yet!)
3. DeanG
4. Brit-Car-Nut
5. Brit-Car-Nut
6. ex-exige (if they're £20-25, I'll take two pairs)
7. smudge
8. Geoff
9. Lansledj
10. maz_r (These or c/f; whichever comes to fruition first...)
11. inkitin
12. Dunnlor
13. rip
14. rip
15. theelanman
16. Dave Eds
17. Bob
18. Hatters
19. Pinky
20. Gazza
21. Paza1
22. Steve M
23. LGM
24. LGM
25. Lotus54
26. Cliff
27. Epipete
28. Camalot
29. Ekapol
30. Ekapol
31. NSR250
32. havacs
33. Gareth (with a "G")
34. Racerstev
35. Erod
36. Nicowalker1 (asked to be added on 10.11.2011)
37. donsladek[/quote]
38. lotusnut
39. Denny
40. Stryker

You mean like this?

[Camalot]

Yes, The Kia ELAN uses the same part, but its also unavailable. I tried directly w/ Korean Kia site that thought they had some.
They would have been quite cheap, even after 100% of the price for S&H to US.

The Kia part number for those are:
0K50A-68-425 ESCUTCHION-DR RELEASE.RH
0K50A-68-455 ESCUTCHION-DR RELEASE.LH

[Brit-Car-Nut]

I managed to buy the last 2 r/h escutcheons from Kia. Wayne now has one for his sample.

For what its worth, the KIA escutcheons were both damaged during manufacturing. Since the damage was consistant on all pieces, the molds were probably past their end of life.

I also bought the last l/h escutcheon from Lotus and it too was damaged during manufacturing although not as bad. The Lotus one has a line in it that appears to be a repaired mold crack. The KIA one has both a repair line and a colour blemish. The Lotus escutcheon is also more warped than the one from KIA and the KIA one has a different panel hook design on the rear.

We have asked everyone who would listen if the original molds were still available, but are always told the molds have been destroyed.

I am getting a 3D scan of the KIA one by a local engineering firm, but costs to manufacture are outrageous from what I have been quoted. Molds are being quoted to be in the $8,000.00 range.

Silicone molds with urethane castings were equally outrageous at $1,100.00 for the dual cavity mold and $75.00 for each piece, not pair, thereafter.

Wayne is discussing the process with a company in China but he will be along with details once that has been vetted.

Don't give up hope yet, but there has been little cause for any excitement after months of research and emails.

[wayne]

As John as said we have both been looking into any alternatives that were available.
John has paid out for a 3D scan to be made locally.

Unfortunatly due to the quotes thet we have both recieved it has come down to the origional quote from China as being the only afordable option available for me to persue.

I have just arrived back fro vacation and will be contacting the company in China tomorrow morning to get them to produce the parts.

I have a couple of questions that I will need answers on about the quality of my cracked parts that I will be sending them to use as a model. I have 1 R/H part that is cracked but complete. and a L/H part that has alot of material missing.... I am hoping that they can reproduce the L/H part from a scan of the R/H part and that the method they use to produce the surface finish will not reflect the damage on the part that I will be giving them.

I will also be willing to send along the Kia part that Brit car nut sent me if it would help them.

My other concern is the colour of my escutcheons. I know mine are faded (due to spending 20 years in the middle eastern sun)! I'm not too sure how much the company I have contacted can vary the colour (on the pi they say black) I would like to get them made as close as possible to the origional. Although the mould cost is 99% of the total cost and once we have the mould it would be cheap to get more parts made by other companies.

I hope to go ahead and place the order for these parts ASAP. I am not making the thread as comitted to buy.... as I have no idea of how it is going to work out. I figure after starting this thread many months ago I should be willing to put up the funds to see if it works out ok|!

I'm just looking for any advice or if anyone has any uncracked parts that are not fitted to their car that they would be willing to loan should I need them.?

Either way I hope to have an answer in the next few days / week......

Many thanks foryour patience

Wayne

[epipete]

Could they colour match them to the actual leather/vinyl of the door cards?

[nitroman]

Insofar as the color not matching these were obviously made in multiple batches and the amount of coloring mixed into the plastic differed slightly each time. I sold two spare sets of originals and of course still have a pair on my car and although the color of each pair matches none of the three pairs matches another.

That said there is an interior plastic paint which will darken escutcheons too light to match the rest of the interior. I posted this once years before and still have the FOMOCO can of paint with the Ford part number in my storage unit about 5 miles away. I bought it from here http://www.midcomustang.com/newcapripar ... tml#appear It's listed as "Dark Grey interior paint (1991-1993)."

[wayne]

Finally a partial update.....

My parts were sent off to China this morning to hopefully provide something to produce a mould / scan from.

Whenever I recieve the scan I will post it on here for everyone to review. Unfortunaty I didn't send along Brit car nuts part for a colour comparison as I still have reservations about the company. I was quoted for black ABS plastic parts... So I guess I'll see how they turn out and take it from there!!!

If all works out fine I should be sent a few samples in the next month that I will fowrard to other people that can compare the colour better than me.

If they look acceptable I will go ahead and have them produce the final product.

My Apologies for this taking so long.

[hatters]

No apologies required
It looks as though you are doing a great job trying to source them
lets hope it all goes well

[rogthedodge]

I would like to be included for a pair as well.

You have gone to a great deal of effort, it is much appreciated.

[madbilly]

If your samples are good I'll be in for a pair or two too.
Cheers,
Will

[wayne]

I have finally recieved a 3D scan of the escutcheons but it is too large a file to post on here.

Here are some pics.

33.jpg

11.jpg

22.jpg

I am told that the surface texture will match the origional.

I have asked for a slight change to the rear lugs as it seems that the origionals had to be hand modified (dremel, etc) so that they had a cut out for the door card.

rear lug mod.jpg

Hopefully they will be able to change the scan to match.

Next issue is the final colour.

I was asked to provide a "pantone" colour that matches the origional. The parts I sent them are nowhere near an origional colour.
I have asked around locally to see if anyone here in Bahrain could provide this for me. Unfortunatly no one here seems to deal with this chart.

Can anyone here provide this info?

My only other option is to send over Johns part. which seems to look a reasonable match to the door card.

John has found a pantone colour chart online and suguested what seems like a good match. Anyone use these on a daily basis that could compare them to an origional chart?

colour chart available here:

http://www.professionalplastics.com/pro ... erence.pdf

Many thanks

Wayne

[Brit-Car-Nut]

For anyone who has access to the Pantone charts, I used the Pantone Matching System links on the web and find that Black 4 is a good match for the NEW Lotus Escutcheon while Black 2 X2 is a match for the NEW Kia Escutcheon which closely matches the fabric on my door card. The Lotus Escutcheon is much more brown - like the surrounds on the window switches.

My door card with the KIA Escutcheon

The Bird head artifact came with the NEW Escutcheon (Both Escutcheons I received had the same artifact).

If anyone wants to see any of the other pictures Wayne and I have been reviewing, go to HERE and choose from the list. The different hook systems are depicted and how they actually attach to the door card.

Wayne has put a LOT of time into this project and deserves a round of applause for sticking to it when everyone said it couldn't be done.

Cheers.

[hatters]

Yes well done Wayne 10 out of10 for your efforts

[maz_r]

Well done indeed!

[Rice crispy]

Wayne thanks for all your hard work, its always a pleasure to deal with you

David

[wayne]

3D scan has now been edited to make clearance for the door card and the mould is now in production.
I have been quoted 25 days for mould and samples.

new lug.jpg

As promised the file can (hopefully) be downloaded from http://www.uploading.com/files/28b1af3c/Escutcheon.stp

Still trying to work on the colour.


John has kindly offered to check with a local firm that uses pantone colour charts and I have just recieved confermation
that the company in China will try to compare the colour of the Kia part to the pantone chart. Hopefully they will be able to make a match.

As you can see in the very first post on this thread the colour of my origional is of no use.

I prefer the look of Johns Kia part compared to mine

filled-door-card.jpg

colour.jpg

As John pointed out. There seems to be a bit of difference between the kia part and the OEM lotus part.

My preference would be to go with the Kia colour that seems to match the door card.
If alot of people would prefer the origional colour now would be a good time to mention it.....

Hopefully I will recieve some samples within the next 25 days and send them off to people that can conferm the colour match and quality.

[maz_r]

Hi Wayne,

Great progress (again!)

The colour of the Kia part looks more like OEM to me. Yours look like they've caught the sun....

However, without a colour matched monitor it's darn difficult to tell...which is why, as you know, they're asking for a Pantone reference...

Keep up the good work

[Brit-Car-Nut]

I think it is now time to ask everyone to decide if they are in or out.

The price per pair will be dictated on the number of firm commitments. Wayne doesn't want to get people sending in payments or deposits, just a firm commitment (provided the final product matches expectations) so he knows how to divide the total costs up. In discussions with Wayne, we feel the price should stay close to the 30.00GBP per PAIR estimate, but if a lot of people pull out, then things could get dicey.

We probably need a commitment closer to 60 sets to keep that price secure. Please mention the project to everyone you know and see if they missed the posting. It would really be a shame to miss this opportunity as additional production might not be feasable.

The STOCK Lotus escutcheon has a BROWN tone to it while the KIA one has a DARK GRAY tone which matches the door car better.

I will get a picture of the LOTUS escutcheon in one of my door cards posted as soon as I can get to it.

This is the current list as I see it. Please join or drop out as necessary so we can get a firm grip on the quantity necessary.

1. Wayne
2. DaveB - Carbon Fibre only...(not broken my originals... yet!)
3. DeanG
4. Brit-Car-Nut
5. Brit-Car-Nut
6. ex-exige (if they're £20-25, I'll take two pairs)
7. smudge
8. Geoff
9. Lansledj
10. maz_r (These or c/f; whichever comes to fruition first...)
11. inkitin
12. Dunnlor
13. rip
14. rip
15. theelanman
16. Dave Eds
17. Bob
18. Hatters
19. Pinky
20. Gazza
21. Paza1
22. Steve M
23. LGM
24. LGM
25. Lotus54
26. Cliff
27. Epipete
28. Camalot
29. Ekapol
30. Ekapol
31. NSR250
32. havacs
33. Gareth (with a "G")
34. Racerstev
35. Erod
36. Nicowalker1
37. donsladek
38. lotusnut
39. Denny
40. Stryker
41. rogthedodge
42. madbilly

[maz_r]

1. Wayne
2. DaveB - Carbon Fibre only...(not broken my originals... yet!)
3. DeanG
4. Brit-Car-Nut
5. Brit-Car-Nut
6. ex-exige (if they're £20-25, I'll take two pairs)
7. smudge
8. Geoff
9. Lansledj
10. maz_r - Confirmed
11. inkitin
12. Dunnlor
13. rip
14. rip
15. theelanman
16. Dave Eds
17. Bob
18. Hatters
19. Pinky
20. Gazza
21. Paza1
22. Steve M
23. LGM
24. LGM
25. Lotus54
26. Cliff
27. Epipete
28. Camalot
29. Ekapol
30. Ekapol
31. NSR250
32. havacs
33. Gareth (with a "G")
34. Racerstev
35. Erod
36. Nicowalker1
37. donsladek
38. lotusnut
39. Denny
40. Stryker
41. rogthedodge
42. madbilly
43. maz_r (second set) - Confirmed

[inkitin]

1. Wayne
2. DaveB - Carbon Fibre only...(not broken my originals... yet!)
3. DeanG
4. Brit-Car-Nut
5. Brit-Car-Nut
6. ex-exige (if they're £20-25, I'll take two pairs)
7. smudge
8. Geoff
9. Lansledj
10. maz_r - Confirmed
11. inkitin - Confirmed
12. Dunnlor
13. rip
14. rip
15. theelanman
16. Dave Eds
17. Bob
18. Hatters
19. Pinky
20. Gazza
21. Paza1
22. Steve M
23. LGM
24. LGM
25. Lotus54
26. Cliff
27. Epipete
28. Camalot
29. Ekapol
30. Ekapol
31. NSR250
32. havacs
33. Gareth (with a "G")
34. Racerstev
35. Erod
36. Nicowalker1
37. donsladek
38. lotusnut
39. Denny
40. Stryker
41. rogthedodge
42. madbilly
43. maz_r (second set) - Confirmed