Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Phill on Tuesday,February 25, 2020, 05:18:02 AM
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Hi guys,
thought I'd say hello as I think I'll be asking quite a few questions over the coming months/years.
I've always been into cars, thanks to my dad. I've had loads of interesting bits and pieces including a TVR Chimaera and two Lotus Elise's.
Back when my dad was in his 20's he owned a metallic blue Series 1 Lotus Europa. He often talks about the car and I've been wanting to restore something classic for a little while, so as his 70th birthday is just around the corner, I bit the bullet and I have purchased a 1973 Series 2 Lotus Europa from the States.
My plan is to give it to him for his birthday and then spend some time with him restoring it. The car in question is currently a poo-brown colour with some aweful pin striping (some of you may have seen it on eBay recently) but it was originally Lagoon Blue which is about as close as I could find to my dad's original car.
I'm hoping to restore it to a nice useable car, in it's original colour and convert it to right hand drive during the process.
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:Welcome: Hi phil good luck with the build
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:Welcome: Your a wonderful son to buy a car to bring your Dad’s memories to life.
Great group of guys on this forum who were invaluable to me in my own frame off restoration.
I’m guessing you bought Ted’s Europa?
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Hello Phill,
:Welcome:
that's a great project, you will no doubt have plenty of fun restoring the car together!
Mark
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:Welcome: Phill!!
What a nice story! Give our regards to your dad!
I think I know the car you mean. I believe it's a TC Special.
We look forward to all your questions. Certified Lotus has a thread that details his body off restoration that will probably prove helpful as well. We certainly don't want to dissuade you from starting your own restoration thread!
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If you ever need to see an assembled car, I am in Duxbury. Look forward to seeing yours on the road.
Paul
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:Welcome: Phill!
If the car you purchased is the one I think it is, the guy you bought it from is a regular contributor to this forum and a knowledgeable Lotus addict. Lots of great knowledge and advice here. Really helped me a lot with my TCS. Post some pics when you get a chance. Assuming you are referring to the Swansea in Wales, are you planning to convert to RHD? Not all that hard to do, if I understand the process correctly.
Cheers,
Tom
Edit: Just re-read and see you already addressed the RHD issue.
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Welcome to the forum, Phil. This is the right place to get your Europa whipped into shape. Speaking of which, I believe your Europa is a Twin Cam Special, rather than an S2. Good luck with the restoration. Cheers :beerchug:
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:Welcome:
Mr Phill .
It’s all ready a great story! Nothing bonds better than a fiberglass car and the metallic blue is a nice color. When might you have it in your possession so you can post some pics?
Dakazman
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I changed tawny brown to Lagoon Blue too on 3089R.
If you want to know how to convert to RHD, I have done 7.
I used CF Rinkens to ship mine over. If it moves under its own power, a RORO ferry ends up at Southampton, otherwise it has to come in a container.
Alex in Norfolk.
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Hi guys,
many thanks for the warm welcome and offers of advice.
I can confirm I have purchased Ted's car. We are doing our best to get the car on a ship that leaves New York on the 9th of March which means it should arrive in Southampton 30 days later.
Once I have it in my possession I'll get a couple of pictures taken and I'll start an appropriate thread.
I'm really quite excited at the thought of getting stuck into it.
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Thirty days! Can you wait that long?! :)
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Quick update - I've had an email from the shipping company today to say it should arrive on the 4th of April!
I hope the current situation with the virus doesn't stop me collecting it! lol
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I hope so too!
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I hope the current situation with the virus doesn't stop me collecting it! lol
By then the Severn Bridge will have patrols stopping crossings.
I collected 4129R from Southampton docks. It looked very small among about 5,000 "Minis" being exported.
Minis are not mini any more.
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Just a quick update to let you all know the car arrived in Southampton a day late. I was lucky enough to be able to arrange its collection and it was delivered to a very surprised Dad on Tuesday!
It's not his birthday until Monday but he's been complaining he's been bored, especially having to self-isolate due to the virus situation. He's been flat out stripping the car ever since! I think I'm going to have to start spending money on bits very quickly.
Will get some pics taken shortly.
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It sounds like your story has a happy beginning and on its way to a happy ending!
I'm looking forward to pictures!
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Lucky son, I say.
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Hi Phil,
73033146R 1975 twin cam special arrived from Houston at London gateway on the 27th March 2020.
I bought this unseen and knowing it had not run for possibly 20 years.
Three weeks in, what I know.
1. Mud wasps build nests everywhere. Including inside the carburettors. Inside the chassis. All appear inactive and no damage done. It does make cleaning the carburettors a little more difficult.
2. More squirrel shit behind the seats than in a Topic. (US will need to google this to understand)
3. Ultrasonic cleaners need the right fluid to work well
4. To inspect the inside of the chassis look inside the opening in the Center tunnel- where the hand break adjustment is.
5. Lights UK spec rear lights are going to be 5-600 quid. I have rewired so the break lights are independent of the indicators and used the reversing lights as indicators with some repair film to tint amber. And added a new reversing light.
6. It’s easy to retire front indicators to only be indicators and not amber sidelights. The sidelights need to be wired into the headlamps. I USED LED HEADLAMPS
7. The ht leads were labelled 1,2,3,4. Incorrectly- no wonder it was running rough when I first started. For some reason it was only running on two cylinders and back firing badly.....
8. Good compression on all cylinders- yippy
9. Engine started and sounded sweet for a minute before squealing like a scorched pig. Waterpump seized.... not leaking oil clean... I’m going to leave in place an try a Davies Craig electric water pump, removing the waterpump drive belt. If it works good - if not then engine out and impeller removed. I’ve already decided that I’ll never run a mechanical waterpump.
10. Cooling fan motor, badly corroded-
11. Seats and all interior trim removed. Easy.
12. ½ the time on google amazon and eBay searching parts. Multiple daily deliveries.
13. tyres- speed rating h should be fitted- I had to use different manufacturers front and rear to get the correct 175/70 R13 and 185/70 R13 ( I used Nankang on the front and Hankook on the rear) mail ordered from mytyres.co.uk.
Three weeks into lockdown - the Europa couldn’t have arrived at a better time
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Just a quick update to let you all know the car arrived in Southampton a day late. I was lucky enough to be able to arrange its collection and it was delivered to a very surprised Dad on Tuesday!
It's not his birthday until Monday but he's been complaining he's been bored, especially having to self-isolate due to the virus situation. He's been flat out stripping the car ever since! I think I'm going to have to start spending money on bits very quickly.
Will get some pics taken shortly.
Hello Phill,
Have you received the NOVA paperwork?
Send that off with the fee and you should receive a V5 with an age-related registration for the car,
regards,
Mark
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A comment on your list lotsof. The light units. Just replace the lenses £50 each and modify the case to UK spec.
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Hey Phill,
Welcome to the Europa family. My Dad and I did a father son build of our Elan+2 it is a fantastic journey and I loved it so much. Good luck to you and your Dad. What a great way to stave off the boredum!
:Welcome: :Welcome:
Oh and pictures, we love pictures.
:ttiwwp:
Cheers,
Ross
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Hi Phil,
73033146R 1975 twin cam special arrived from Houston at London gateway on the 27th March 2020.
I bought this unseen and knowing it had not run for possibly 20 years.
Three weeks in, what I know.
1. Mud wasps build nests everywhere. Including inside the carburettors. Inside the chassis. All appear inactive and no damage done. It does make cleaning the carburettors a little more difficult.
Been there, done that, they were in the oilways in the blocks of two stripped engines.
2. More squirrel shit behind the seats than in a Topic. (US will need to google this to understand)
You have to be nuts to understand this.
3. Ultrasonic cleaners need the right fluid to work well
4. To inspect the inside of the chassis look inside the opening in the Center tunnel- where the hand break adjustment is.
5. Lights UK spec rear lights are going to be 5-600 quid. I have rewired so the break lights are independent of the indicators and used the reversing lights as indicators with some repair film to tint amber. And added a new reversing light.
I drilled two holes in the units for two bulbs, fitted two separate bulb holders, made up a dividing strip from ally, bought UK lenses, much cheaper than complete new lights.
6. It’s easy to retire front indicators to only be indicators and not amber sidelights. The sidelights need to be wired into the headlamps. I USED LED HEADLAMPS
7. The ht leads were labelled 1,2,3,4. Incorrectly- no wonder it was running rough when I first started. For some reason it was only running on two cylinders and back firing badly.....
8. Good compression on all cylinders- yippy
9. Engine started and sounded sweet for a minute before squealing like a scorched pig. Waterpump seized.... not leaking oil clean... I’m going to leave in place an try a Davies Craig electric water pump, removing the waterpump drive belt. If it works good - if not then engine out and impeller removed. I’ve already decided that I’ll never run a mechanical waterpump.
10. Cooling fan motor, badly corroded-
New ones are available. Don't risk overheating, buy a new one.
11. Seats and all interior trim removed. Easy.
12. ½ the time on google amazon and eBay searching parts. Multiple daily deliveries.
13. tyres- speed rating h should be fitted- I had to use different manufacturers front and rear to get the correct 175/70 R13 and 185/70 R13 ( I used Nankang on the front and Hankook on the rear) mail ordered from mytyres.co.uk.
Three weeks into lockdown - the Europa couldn’t have arrived at a better time
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Hi guys,
I know I've been a bit slack with posting so I thought I'd do a bit of a catch up post. My dad has really cracked on with the car, he had it in bits within days of the car being dropped off.
We pulled the original dash out and labelled the wiring loom up, while taking lots of pictures. We are fortunate enough to live just a few miles away from the original Smiths factory that manufactured the Smiths gauges that were fitted to these originally. They are now called Speedy Cables. The original gauges were a bit tired and the amp meter had been changed to an after market unit so I've dropped the gauges off to them to be checked over and cleaned up with an aim for them to match up a Smiths amp meter.
While we had it apart we noticed the AVO coilovers that it has fitted, one of the ARB links at the bottom of the shock absorber on the front had snapped. AVO were very helpful but didn't offer that part as a replacement so we reverse engineered it from the good one and I had a couple made (1 replacement and a pair for spares). The bushes were also looking pretty tired so we replaced them with fresh ones which was really hard work. The new ones just didn't want to squeeze down into the original mounting points on the dampers, but we managed to make a jig to hold them and the push them in place using a vice. The dampers and springs were in pretty good condition.
We looked at various options with regards to the braking system and different ways to convert it to RHD and decided to stick with the original arrangement and just moved the stock master cylinder to the right hand side of the car and re plumb the front end of the pipework. We have had to trim a bit of the bodywork away and space the radiator forward a little, but all this with get remade in fibreglass while at the paintshop.
I managed to pick up a set of 15" Compomotive ML's to go on the car. The are a Ford PCD so I'll get a set of hubcentric spacers to make them fit.
So it's now fully converted to RHD and it's been dropped at a mates paintshop to get it prepared for being repainted in the original LeMan's blue.
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Hello Phill,
I was about to ask what colour you were planning to have it painted (then I read your post properly!)
it's going to look superb! 8)
Mark
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Very nice solution for the broken pickup point for the ARB. Bent ARB bottom studs are a common issue with the Europas; both of mine are a bit tweaked on my TCS.
Looking at the master cylinder placement, did you consider using remote reservoirs instead of cutting out the fiberglass? I'm assuming that that body of the M/C will not interfere with the body.
Nice work so far.
Joji Tokumoto
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Congratulations on your work so far! :beerchug:
I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures of your progress!
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The Europas seem to have Lucas ammeters and the rest of the gauges are Smiths.
Quite why, I have no idea.
Hands up anyone who has a TC or TCS with a Smiths Ammeter.
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At one time I did read why the ammeters were Lucas and the other gauges were Smiths. The best I can remember, and this information is probably not worth what you're paid for it, back in the day, Smiths and Lucas divvied up the market and Lucas took the electrical part (i.e. things having to do with the electricity and Smiths took the rest. A quick look didn't find any information on the subject much less confirmation of my memory so you may have REALLY over paid for my information!
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At one time I did read why the ammeters were Lucas and the other gauges were Smiths. The best I can remember, and this information is probably not worth what you're paid for it, back in the day, Smiths and Lucas divvied up the market and Lucas took the electrical part (i.e. things having to do with the electricity and Smiths took the rest. A quick look didn't find any information on the subject much less confirmation of my memory so you may have REALLY over paid for my information!
That's what I heard too. But it was probably on here!
Mines a 74 TCS, but built 73. It also has a Lucas Ameter, and all the rest Smith's. That's all I've ever seen, in any of pictures.
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At one time I did read why the ammeters were Lucas and the other gauges were Smiths. The best I can remember, and this information is probably not worth what you're paid for it, back in the day, Smiths and Lucas divvied up the market and Lucas took the electrical part (i.e. things having to do with the electricity and Smiths took the rest. A quick look didn't find any information on the subject much less confirmation of my memory so you may have REALLY over paid for my information!
Yes, that's the way I heard it too, which explains why pretty much all British sports car of the era had Lucas ammeters.
Here's the back story for anyone interested. (scroll down a bit)
https://www.redlineauto.com.au/s-414-smiths.aspx
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Thanks Silver and Gavin! It's nice to know I haven't lost all my mind!
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I wonder what they agreed measured electricity so Lucas got the nod.
A temperature gauge and a fuel gauge measures the voltage from those senders.
A tachometer measured electrical pulses.
All I can see that are mechanical are the speedometer, and the oil pressure gauge.
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I wonder what they agreed measured electricity so Lucas got the nod.
Probably a consideration that Lucas had a significant R&D investment in the ongoing supply of their wiring harness replacement smoke . . .