Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Bart on Monday,September 16, 2019, 10:49:51 AM
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Hi all,
I thought i'd share some of the photos of my TCS project, it's a family affair with both my kids getting hands on and dirty at 5 and 8 years old they are loving being part of the process and learning while doing is just great for them.
I thought i'd share some of the high and low points so far.
1. I only found four bolts that held the body to the chassis. two at the front and two at the rear, apart from the seat belt buckles that was all that was holding one to the other, I had been told there were more bolts inside the cabin area but nothing found. So getting the bodywork free was pretty easy.
2. Getting the lower part of the steering column off was a nightmare, no way to reach the bolts in the UJ and could not loosen the rack as the bolts for the rack mounts are not captive so real tricky as they turn. I don't have a lift so doing this on my back under the car was not fun. Problem was solved with a cutting disk when I chopped of the bolt heads on the mounts. When this gets re-assembled I am going to weld some strips of steel to the bolt head so they will not turn in the T section.
3. Found most of a skeleton of some critter inside the T section, not a problem but the kids were a little freaked out. Must have smelt to high heaven for a while. Funny though there were not any air fresheners inside the car :)
4. Doors, OMG the doors!, One came off with some ease, using a cut down and slotted wrench, the other would not budge at all, weeks of penetrating oil made no difference, but a mini reciprocating saw made pretty swift work once I'd decided that was the only way to go. I am going to re-assemble using the banks brass top and bottom hinge, no more steel pins for me.
5. The bulkhead is completely gone, a combination of old age, water penetration and the fact it was made of cardboard or something similar in the first place has not held up at all. I am thinking about how to address this problem. I did find a company "aandbracing" that have made a steel replacement but its costly and adding weight is a little counter intuitive for a Lotus.
6. Getting the outboard drive shafts out of the rear bearing carriers was not straight forward at all, the shaft was well and truly stuck in there, when I did finally manage to get it moving with a combination of heat, hammer and a press the shaft took the inner bearing with it, still stuck on the shaft, not in itself a problem except the diameter of the bearing is greater that the hole in the radius arm so could not withdraw one from the other. Since I was planning to replace the radius arms anyway out came the cutting disk and problem solved.
The body work is in pretty dismal shape with huge holes where the firewall used to be and the paint is just unbelievably bad, but that is all ok with me, this was always going to be a long process and i'm in no hurry.
The chassis has just been blasted and it about to be powder coated along with all the suspension parts. The motor re-build was done by John McCoy at Omnitech engineering in Washington State, I have only the pictures so far and hope to have it in my garage in a few weeks. Lots to do before needing it, but will be great to see it in person as it were.
When the chassis comes back next week I will begin the rebuild in earnest, the team is looking forward to working with nice clean new pieces for a change :)
Bart.
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:Welcome:
Great project for you and your family! You might want to read my restoration post to get more familiar with what your in store for. No need to do everything I did, but it will provide some perspective.
Omni tech does great engine work!
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Great update, Bart! I especially like your team! Having a blasting cabinet will be really helpful but having your two helpers will surely provide many memorable moments - probably for all of you! In fact the skeleton you found is likely to be one of the more memorable!
You were apparently missing the two bolts that hold the bottom of the dash in place. There are two brackets that bolt to the dash and the backbone. Those mounts are important grounding locations.
A lot of people have used marine grade plywood for the firewall. That's probably the most popular replacement.
Doesn't Omnitech do the Weber conversion for Stromberg heads? Did you get that or are you staying with the Strombergs?
Keep us up to date on your progress! It sounds like you've made a good start!
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Welcome Bart ,
sounds and looks like you have a great start and the pit crew seems very willing!
There is a thread on the bulkhead builds , search ,”firewall “. Are you planning to do the bodywork?
What is your build number? 5 or 4 speed?
Keep posting, it is a pleasure to read your own words years later and hopefully after you pass it down to the pit crew.
Dakazman
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Hi,
Thanks for the encouragement!
BDA, I did get the webber conversion, attached is a picture of the motor, John at Omnitech has dynoed it at +/- 160, with 130 ft.lbs. I think it will be a lot of fun with a little extra oomph.
Darkazman, its a five speed, can't remember the # but i'll post it next time, the car had only 20K on it and the box seems to be in good shape. I have talked to Evans Leinbach in NC for the body work, he's super nice to talk to and very knowledgeable so I have it "booked" in with him for mid-late 2020. I'd rather have it done sooner but he came so highly recommended that I'd prefer to wait. I could do the bodywork myself and did give it serious consideration, but my pit crew boss, aka my wife, did not want me consigned to the workshop for the time it would take to do a proper job of it.
I am going to read all I can about the firewall, I had thought about a laminate of aluminium and sound attenuation material but when I talked to Richard Winter about this as an idea and he (like BDA) suggested a marine ply, his concern was that an ally one would be too rigid and potentially crack the bodywork rather than flex with it.
Best,
Bart
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Hi,
Thanks for the encouragement!
BDA, I did get the webber conversion, attached is a picture of the motor, John at Omnitech has dynoed it at +/- 160, with 130 ft.lbs. I think it will be a lot of fun with a little extra oomph.
Well done! I read that not only does their conversion allow Webers but it allows a much better porting job than could be had on either the Stromberg or Weber heads since the intake runners aren't so long any more.
This is getting more and more interesting! I'm looking forward to your updates!
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Hi Bart,
Great story. Thanks. Having the kids around is a nice touch. Mine have autographed the new chassis. I did manage to keep them away whilst I stripped the body of paint. Thankfully there wasn’t too much dust as I used a really good dust collector.
Cheers,
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There are a few videos of John on youtube.
porting the head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysgRFdnfGrQ
Bit about Omnitech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL0kcA2shRk
Bart.
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Don't use plywood for the firewall. It's heavy and it transmits sound. It's a terrible choice.
There is a reason that speaker cabinets aren't made from plywood, but they do get made from chipboard, or MDF or similar. Chipboard and MDF don't resonate, they're acoustically dead. Plywood can resonate quite well. What Lotus chose for the firewall looks to me like Low Density Fibreboard, which you can still buy today
https://www.richwoodind.com/customwood-low-density-fiberboard-ldf
It's light and a good sound and thermal insulator. It wouldn't be a terrible choice to use again this time. What Lotus failed to do originally was to provide adequate protection for it, a light layer of cloth and resin on either side ought to do the trick. I'd use a flame retardant resin on the engine side at least. And for bonus points, instead of glass cloth, use linen. It is better at damping vibration than glass.
Lotus used a good 0.5 inch of extra insulation on the engine bay side (it's not horsehair, might be coir). So I think I'd look for a half inch of soft fiberglass insulation to replace that. Something like this maybe :
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hsp-175102?rrec=true
Anyway, it's late so that's enough for now.
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Wow! That engine is nothing less than a work of art.
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Yup, sweet looking mill!
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Thanks to Gideon, for the info and links. I will definitely take a close look at this as a solution, I really want to try and get some good sound/thermal insulation in there.
I'll post some pictures when I have this task accomplished.
Thanks!
Bart.
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There's actually a variety of lightweight core materials that could be used for the firewall that might perform better than LDF. As it's a firewall, it seems like a good idea to worry about how it would behave in an actual fire. I tried to light a piece of the original firewall with a blow torch. It didn't light, but it did start to smolder and made quite a stink.
I thought about using Nomex honeycomb core which is very light and stiff and doesn't burn, but it's hard to work with, wouldn't help to block a fire and would probably transmit sound quite well. Divinycell F and P are both described as having excellent Fire, Smoke and Toxicity properties, so maybe one of those would be a good choice. And then there's this stuff
http://www.cfoam.com/fireproofcore/
Whether you could get your hands on any of these core materials is another question. LDF you can definitely get hold of at a reasonable price. Also, I discovered that Aircraft Spruce has an excellent selection of firewall related products -
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ap/firewalls.html
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I was lazy and my firewall wasn't in that bad shape so I didn't replace it and reading this thread, I'm glad. I glassed some fiberglass cloth on the engine side which was really messy but it did stiffen it up a lot. Then I put some insulation from JC Whitney (it was before the Internet really got going). This was about 1" thick foam rubber with a layer of dense rubber in the middle and mylar cover. I wasn't able to find what I got but this is similar (https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/design-engineering-3370/performance-16477/safety-equipment-16821/heat---sound-insulation-19071/b9c593074df2/design-engineering-sound-dampening-sheet/050130/4240830?pos=10). Of course I have no idea how that stuff works compared to other insulation, but heat is no problem at all and I figure it takes care of the noise as good as anything. I only have room for the smallest muffler I can find and my exhaust pipe is 2 1/4" so it's going to be pretty loud.
I think DEI is a good source of sound/thermal insulation materials. You can see what they have here: https://designengineering.com.
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For the firewall I was looking at the Nomex product today, it looks like it might fit the bill with maybe another layer of sound attenuating material, but man, it's expensive.
https://www.rockwestcomposites.com/plates-panels-angles/sandwich-panels/honeycomb-core-sandwich-panels/2456-131-group
I've also been busy today getting the fuel and oil pipes and fittings organized, I'm using /6 for the fuel with a facet pump and /10 for the oil to a remote filter and currently thinking about mounting an oil cooler in there somewhere. Whats the consensus on oil coolers? I'm not sure its necessary at all, but cant help thinking about how much easier all this is to get done now compared to later when the car is back together.
Thanks again for all the input, this forum is very generous.
Bart.
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Your hose sizes are correct. As for the oil cooler, don't put it where I put mine! I put mine below and behind the rear cross member. I constructed a duct that went straight back to some louvers I made next to the license plate. What I didn't know is that there wasn't the low pressure area behind the car that I expected would help suck air through the cooler. It looks kinda cool (see attached picture), but beyond that it's not worth much. The majority of the air in the engine compartment exits out the vents in the boot or engine cover. That would be a good place for a cooler if it weren't so impractical. Unless you want to cut a duct in the side of the car behind a door and mount a cooler somehow there, the best place for one is in the front of the car - either in front of the radiator or with it's own exhaust. I think I would choose to put it in front of the radiator since you won't need the cooler that much (you should also use an oil thermostat before the cooler). I originally discounted a cooler in front of the radiator because I was worried about water cooling but in MA, that shouldn't be a problem. Having said all that, unless you're really stressing the engine, I don't think one is necessary. There is a guy who tracked his car and fitted a very cleaver cooler setup in the engine compartment (https://www.prevanders.net/europa/oilsystem.html, but his entire site is pretty interesting - https://www.prevanders.net/europa/index.html).
I have a warm motor and wanted to make sure my oil was cool enough. I installed an oil temp gauge and was worried about my oil temps on long highway trips until I bought a laser thermometer and found out my gauge is wrong! Looking back at the alarming temps I saw on the gauge and the amount I now realize it's off, I don't think I have anything to worry about. BTW - I don't track my car.
If you are intending to track your car, an oil cooler might be useful. Otherwise, I would save your time, money, and plumbing headaches.
At least that's my perspective.
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For the firewall I was looking at the Nomex product today, it looks like it might fit the bill with maybe another layer of sound attenuating material, but man, it's expensive.
Hi Bart,
Yeah, most of those ready made panels are usually expensive. That and the oft minimum purchase to accomodate the job always seems to incur lots of left overs.
Agree with Gideon re plywood, mainly because it'd be heavy at the thickness needed for some sort of rigidity.
I laminated firewall panels using 10mm PVC foam core - brilliant stuff, easy to work with and vastly superior to the Urethane foam core material I'd experimented with previously.
Haven't heavily scrutinized the fire rating of these panels largely because it assumes they'll catch fire before anything else . . kinda . . but it apparently has decent fire resistance properties anyway.
This is type of stuff I used.
https://trojanfibreglass.com.au/product/maxxcore-pvc-foam-core/
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An oil cooler is a good idea if you intend to drive hard for extended periods. I take long trips in mine and long mountain passes figure prominently. My oil temp never rises above 80°C. With an engine in the rear, oil plumbing and cool air access are significant issues. I plumbed mine to the front and it exhausts into the left wheel well. Works great -- as noted above -- but involves a fair amount of plumbing and ducting. Add in that I also have AC and my main frame section is literally full of pipes! There is another option, which BDA also notes, shown here:
https://www.prevanders.net/europa/oilsystem.html
This was not an option for me as I have an S1. If I had an S2 or TC/s, I would have gone this way instead.
BDA: IR thermometers are great for comparing temperatures -- say checking each exhaust stub for a misfire -- but not so great at giving absolutely accurate temp readings. Today for example, scanning my swirl pot gave a 20°C variation between clean and dirty sections. The dirty (darker) spots read the hottest. It's a useful tool but accuracy varies significantly with the type and colour of surface being tested. Test your oil temp gauge by dropping it's sender into boiling water. Remember to factor your altitude into the result.
Where you put the oil temp sender is also important. Measuring right after the oil pump will give much higher temps than, say, the oil sump. Opinions vary but I have mine in the oil sump.
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JB, I don't want to hijack Bart's thread but I really appreciate your input so I'll fill in some details.
I wasn't aware of that limitations on laser temp gauges which I'm glad to know for future reference. However, I think I'm on pretty solid ground. I got the very similar readings at the bottom of my oil tank, at the temp sender, at the oil filter, and oil hose fittings between the filter and the engine. I kept the gun as close to the target as I could for each reading. My sender is screwed in the oil filter which is the last thing the oil goes through before entering the engine. I like your test for accuracy so I'll do that at my next opportunity.
Thinking about it in other terms, if you are not stressing the engine unduly (adding A/C, tracking, etc.) you situation is not really different from stock in that regard. Lotus (and most manufacturers) didn't feel the need for an oil cooler (or an oil temp gauge) so your oil temps should be fine. If it adds peace of mind, then it's worth it.
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JB, BDA et all,
I have ordered up some PVC foam board and will experiment a bit with that over the weekend for the bulkhead, does anyone know if fiber glass resin will cure anaerobically? I assume its purely a catalyzed chemical reaction. I'm sure I am over thinking this but I was planning to layup some glass on the foam core and then use pull a vacuum to get resin solidly into the foam core, as I said over kill, but seems like it would be fun to see how it works.
In other news, and based on all the feedback I am going to add an oil cooler into the mix, I already have a higher volume Johnson oil pump on the motor and I think it would be perfect to mount the oil cooler up in the front somewhere, I am thinking that I can run the oil lines inside the chassis spine and out of the T section at the front and then route to the cooler. I'm not going to be carrying a spare wheel so there is some space there I can use. Not sure how it will all go yet but its now part of the project plan to get it sorted. I also liked the idea of mounting of the oil temp gauge where the radio would have been (as shown on the prevanders site), I did not want to muck about with the new dash too much and that's a perfect solution.
I have a bunch of parts coming in from Banks and more on order from RD, so with the chassis back from powder coat I am hoping to make some progress and post some pics soon.
Last question for today, I have the door handle style hand brake, (pull and twist), its a ratchet mechanism, but the (plastic?) piece(s) that interlocks with the ratchet is missing, I would make one but I have no real idea what it looks like. Just wondered if anyone out there has this part or a template of it??
Thanks,
Bart.
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Serge literally lays it all out in his video on the handbrake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqrfRhK0nIo
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Thanks
It unfortunate that its not the same arrangement on mine.
Oh well.
Bart