Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: aspares on Monday,July 01, 2019, 05:28:41 PM
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My new to me Europa has arrived and its exactly as described which is a relief since I bought just on an ad in Hemmings. Obviously the car needs work but the engine and gearbox seem to be in great shape although I have only driven it less than a mile so far.I'll be getting plates this week so I will let you know how it really is later. Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think of it. I plan on driving it as is till this winter then do lots of interior and a repaint. Thanks, Martin
Take a look at the pedal pic as I doubt that return spring on the brake pedal is factory.
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Very nice! Does it have an A/C?
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:coolpic:Great car! Nice engine upgrade. Very envious. What is the VIN? It looks similar to my 1970. the brake return spring is definitely a later modification. Nice to know that you have actually driven it. I would recommend changing all the fluids so you know they are all good. Please keep us informed and enjoy.
Sandy
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The fan unit was also a modification and your vin plate seems to be missing. Very clean looking and a nice engine intake upgrade. Glad you got the hang of the picture resizing.
Congrats Aspares!
:lotus:
Dakazman
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It looks very tidy. Ditto on the nice engine upgrade comment. I think we need to get a closer look at those wheels, I don't recognize them. Also, I don't recognize the AC unit, can we get a look at the compressor? I'm a bit dubious about that big spring attached to the brake pedal. It shouldn't be necessary, so if it were mine I would investigate that.
It looks like the choke and heater valve cables were relocated. I'm not sure why someone would do that, but if you're going to do interior work you might consider putting them back to the original location.
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Or is that thing in the front luggage compartment a heater core and fan, rather than an AC unit?
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PO sure liked red.
Please fit a proper air filter (not foam) as you have open bell mouths right now. You are one backfire away from a total loss.
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Please fit a proper air filter (not foam) as you have open bell mouths right now. You are one backfire away from a total loss.
Ditto, in fact a very loud "ditto". Open carbs right above a hot exhaust in a confined space would bother me. Either a proper filter or I think my preferred option would be a filter box plus trunking to direct cold air from elsewhere which might even grab you another hp or so.
The wheels look like the OEM steel wheels where someone has swapped the chrome hub caps for trim rings similar to those used on the Elans. If you want to return to OEM spec, you do see new chrome hub caps come up from time to time, I think there are some reasonable reproduction items around ?
It's a good plan to drive it for the rest of the year, you'll get a nice prioritised list that way and be sure you're getting the best bang/buck from your budget. Considering some of the cars you see around for sale, I reckon you've done all right there (especially if you like RED ;) )
Brian
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Hi aspares,
great looking car, I hope you get to give her a good drive and a shakedown once you have plates!
:lotus:
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The fan unit was also a modification and your vin plate seems to be missing. V
Dakazman
The VIN plate looks like it has been pop riveted to the floor of the front plenum chamber by the heater matrix.
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The wheels look like the OEM steel wheels where someone has swapped the chrome hub caps for trim rings similar to those used on the Elans. If you want to return to OEM spec, you do see new chrome hub caps come up from time to time, I think there are some reasonable reproduction items around ?
OEM steels on the S2 had the centre hub caps AND the outer rim trim rings. - The ones in the pic look to be the OEM steels (painted black) with the outer chrome ring minus the centre hub caps.
Car looks great, like what has already been said - be careful with the open trumpets right above the exhaust manifold.
Otherwise enjoy driving it and getting to know it!
Jon
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Look great! Are you bringing it to LOG39?
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The fan unit was also a modification and your vin plate seems to be missing. V
Dakazman
The VIN plate looks like it has been pop riveted to the floor of the front plenum chamber by the heater matrix.
4129 , Good eyes . I was looking for a index card size placard. That one looks like the one that is in my left side window.
Asperes, enjoy driving your new baby. It seems you have a two urgent tasks to complete. Fluids and trumpets. If you know me , lol , wash , compound, polish and wax.
Dakazman
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Martin,
Car looks like a great start. I'm guessing driving the car will be like night and day compared to the usual cars you sell parts for.
Rod
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Please fit a proper air filter (not foam) as you have open bell mouths right now.
Why not foam (asks the guy with the foam air filter)?
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Foam filters do catch fire easily. A single backfire can be enough. With cars made of gfrp this can be the end of your car.
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I used to be a track rat with a Lotus Exige S for many years. I saw more Lotus Elise and Exige’s catch fire than I care to remember. It was amazing how fast they burned once catching fire.
I good friend of mine had an Exige but from the factory for racing. Had the factory installed fire suppression system built in by Lotus. Burned beyond salvage at Summit Point. No crash, no hitting a wall or going off track. Something caused a fuel leak and the car burned in a few short minutes even with the suppression system fully operating.
Personally, I always install SS braided fuel lines, have Airboxes covering the carbs and keep a fire extinguisher in the passenger area at all times. One good backfire and you will probably be in flames faster that you can believe.
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I like air boxes as well. Any backfire is simply sucked back in.
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Foam filters do catch fire easily. A single backfire can be enough. With cars made of gfrp this can be the end of your car.
Hmmm. I suppose I should have been suspicious when the filter cleaning process involves spraying it with (highly flammable?) solvent and finishing it with sticky (highly flammable?) oil.
One of my Lotus mentors cautioned me against separate air filters for the two carbs, saying it was a recipe for imbalance. What does the tribe like for aftermarket air filters?
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Both the stock systems on the Renault and TC/S Europas actually work very well. The only improvement would be to fit aftermarket bell mouths to a Stromberg equipped TC/S. That said there are two issues with the stock systems: dirt and high air temps.
Road dirt and dust seems to be the most concentrated right where both systems suck in their "fresh" air. Period tests commented on the fact that the Renault air filter became restrictive fairly quickly. I run a twin Dell equipped crossflow with a TC/S air box and filter. I find that I have ti change the air filter every 2K to 3K kilometres or performance suffers.
Equally spooky is the Lotus engineers unerring ability to find the hottest possible intake air. Intake air temps can get up to 120°F+! Building an air box and accessing air down low towards the front can make a huge difference.
My plan is to fit an air filter from a Jag XJ6 series 3 and duct it to cold air just behind the driver's seat. That will draw cool air and the larger filter area will last much much longer.
What should Mr. A. Spares do? Fit an airbox and a remote filter down low on the driver's side. Here are some air boxes for single Webers:
http://www.bitsofitaly.com/cold-air-box-intake
(The MGB set up would be perfect)
https://www.efihardware.com/products/c59/Air-Boxes
(you have to cut out the base plate to suit)
When choosing a filter bear in mind that more surface area (lots of pleats) is better than bigger holes (more dirt along with the more air).
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John, I agree with you about getting cooler air. In my mind what you are describing using the air space in front of the left side fuel tank. Is this what you are describing?
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John, I agree with you about getting cooler air. In my mind what you are describing using the air space in front of the left side fuel tank. Is this what you are describing?
There is an article/thread from Peter Boedker which analyses the air intake temperatures for his TC and how he set it up to draw air from underneath the car. From what I can see a few others (myself included) have followed that lead and made up some ducting to take air from underneath.
I don't do a great mileage in mine but having said that, the filter is far cleaner than you'd expect from the system description
thread here http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=2658.0 (http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=2658.0)
and a couple of shots of my installed system, one from the engine bay and the other from underneath. This is on a TC but it should work on most cars with some tinkering I'd have thought.
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Nicely done, Brian! :beerchug:
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I have bought the parts for my custom Airbox, trunking and large capacity filter. You’ll need to wait until I’m ready to install before I reveal, but cool air flow is the requirement.
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I used to be a track rat with a Lotus Exige S for many years. I saw more Lotus Elise and Exige’s catch fire than I care to remember. It was amazing how fast they burned once catching fire.
I good friend of mine had an Exige but from the factory for racing. Had the factory installed fire suppression system built in by Lotus. Burned beyond salvage at Summit Point. No crash, no hitting a wall or going off track. Something caused a fuel leak and the car burned in a few short minutes even with the suppression system fully operating.
Was it a Mk1 Motorsport Elise (what the Mk1 Exige was made to look like) by any chance? A very good friend has one and used to compete in a series made up predominantly of those and I don't think there was a car on the grid that hadn't been on fire! - fuel rail vibrating loose was the most common cause which allowed atomised fuel to fill the engine bay. We nicknamed my mates car "Jerry Lee" because of how many times it went up in flames! Annoyingly not the same cause each time but he had a repeat order set up for replacement extinguishers! - luckily it was never too badly damaged.
Foam filters aren't the best choice as has already been mentioned and it's also worth considering carrying an extinguisher - better to have at least tried to put it out and save your pride and joy than wish you had one whilst watching it burn (I hate seeing things burn).
Sorry for the high jack/off topic deviation.
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As described......
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A Mk2 Exige, that's not a nice thing to see. :'(
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Very sad... :'(
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Learn from others mishaps. Don’t risk fire.
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Thanks for all the feedback. Got the plates and have a few hours drive time on it. Great car, a blast to drive, shifts great excellent oil pressure does not overheat (its been pretty hot here) and has really good acceleration.
I did put the K and N air filter on and will work on an air box this winter.
I would like to get a new carpet set, tires , Lotus hub caps and a new or really good center consul. I doubt that I will ever put the A/C in but open to thoughts on that. Also thinking of getting new tires, I have not checked but the tires are at least 10 years old. Looking at these Blockleys would they be the correct size?? https://www.blockleytyre.com/product/165hr13
also https://www.blockleytyre.com/product/185-70VR13 or
https://www.blockleytyre.com/product/235-60VR13
Thanks for any other ideas
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Aspares,
https://www.autointeriors.biz/Carpeting/Carpeting_main_page.html.
R&D has the center console.
https://www.rdent.com/
What size tires are on the car now? It’s a good idea to replace them for sure.
Have fun driving it .
Dakazman