Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: ron parola on Monday,April 28, 2014, 09:25:27 AM
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Just joined the group, so I'm introducing myself; I've been a brit car mechanic for 40 years now, even had to do warrenty work ON the Europa's when new. Sold my last Jag about 10 years ago and a few years ago felt the NEED for another british car. SOMEHOW talked myself into buying an Ebay 72 Europa. I bought a runner to be sure I still liked them AND could still fit, yes on both counts. However I didn't recall them being THAT slow, yes faster than the B's and Sprigets about the same as a Jenson Healy, but couldn't keep up with a new Beetle... oh the shame. So after some pondering settled on a transplant; 2.2l Ecotec mated to a Surbaru transaxle. Didn't feel too badly about that for two reasons 1) a kit car to begin with and 2) Ecotec were design in Hethal, Hah; a tenuous Lotus link. That's my story, car continues development and will attend to paint when fall arrives. Cheers Ronp
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Hey Ron! Welcome!!
You might want to know that the original twincam is now able to get up to180hp.
Maybe it's less expensive than swapping to an Ecotec.
More, You will preserve the value of the car when original...
Ciao
Valerio
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Anyway enjoy your Europa!!!! :Welcome:
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Well Ron,
love having a professional wrench on sight here. I'm a simple sort, I like pictures. Got some? Was your car a '71 registered in '72 or is/was it a twin cam. I am intrigued by the transplant.
mike
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:Welcome: Welcome to the forum, Ron. Sounds like an interesting project. Cheers.
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Welcome to our small group. Having owned my TCS since 1978, I've been occasionally let down by its quickness but never its handling, so I do feel your pain. However, I'm not sure if I'm willing to irreparably modify a running stock Europa for an engine transplant. I have two engine transplants in progress on an S2 and another TCS so I have nothing against transplants. The S2 will be reversible if needed, the TCS is permanently modified (I bought it that way from the PO).
Love to see some pictures.
Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca
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IF I can get my WIFE to be able to upload pix I'll try to this weekend....I'm NOT to good with confusers. The car is a 72 twink but a four speed, I did try for close to a year to get a good five speed but no one was breaking loose with one, and to think of the Fuegos we used to throw away! Ecotec a good fit and very easy to connect to a Subie trans. Yes I realize you could get almost 200 hp out of the twincam, and the NEW Kent block allows for an even bigger motor, but the water pump and oil leak issues sealed the deal for me. Gad, did too many pumps at the dealership. So I went modern....and then got greedy, ie turbo. I think it's fast enough for NOW, lets see if it stays together! Cheers ronp
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Wow, a former Lotus mechanic. Got ask how the how the pros replaced the TC water pump. Did you have to drop the engine and remove the head for the replacement or did you figure out a way to do the job with the engine in place to save time?
Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca
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No good way, not so terrible on a lift, I recall undoing the motor mounts to sag the engine to gain some space but we didn't remove the head. Tried not to hurt the gasket at the head if possible OR cut a new piece out of a new gasket and used Hylomar to seal it up. Silicone sealers were still in their infancy, if Hylomar could seal up the 907 cam boxes on Jensen Healy's (WAY to many recalls there) it was good enough for me Cheers ronp
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:Welcome:
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Thanks to my LONG suffering wife, here are some pix; 2.2l Ecotec mated to a Subie fwd trans, turboed, alcohol injected, and intercooled. Foto of rear of car shows rear end cut out of body to allow air through heat exchanger and that's the reason for the heat shields at crossmember and above muffler, TRYING to get cooler air through heat exchanger. I didn't want to run more plumbing to front of car, and no good place to put exchanger in front cuz that would block airflow to AC condenser (Hey it's hot up here). Didn't weigh car when stock but without driver and with half tanks of fuel it weighs 1710lbs and that's split 56% rearwards, better with driver on board I would think. Whenever I had to make or modify something, if possible, I made it out of aluminum or at least made it lighter, trying to add lightness as it were. Well, tried to send pix BUT they are too large limit, seems to be 1000k these are 2.5meg I'll try in the photo section otherwise how do we cut pixels out of an I phone pic Cheers ronp
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Ron,
the pix thing isn't working..........I see nothing
mike
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OK, this time for SURE, maybe, had to find out how to size pix for site, hard than you'd think IF you don't know what yer doing ron p
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That's quite a tidy conversion, and one that I don't think I've heard of before. That thing must move along quite smartly.
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Hi and welcome.....
Is that "Subie" as in Subaru ? If so, I'm intrigued by the use of a different gearbox to the usual Renault ones. Is it a difficult job ? If you've got a website showing the build I'd be interested in seeing how it's done.
Cheers
Brian
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Dang...........after looking at the sano job of installation.............suddenly I'm feeling dumb.......reeel dumb.
Nice job and holy smokes.....I can't imagine how quick it must be. The Subie transaxle is in fact an intrigue.
mike
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97 Subaru legacy, FWD trans, last year for the front drivers, I haven't looked but possibly you could remove the rear drive assy of the all wheel drive trans and use them, but I don't really know. They also shift out the rear end but I changed it to a side shifter, I didn't want the lowest rearmost part to be the shifter. I recall to many customers breaking the rear housing or shift linkage with the Renault trans from backing into curbs. If I remember correctly you could back into the curb (gently)and shove the linkage into reverse only, you couldn't leave the parking spot cuz you were bound in reverse, push in clutch and have someone push you forward, HAH. So to mate the axles to the trans I used TR6 ujoint flanges and subie flanges threaded AND welded together, with the Subie diff stubs drilled and threaded to hold the flanges in place, no more roll pins. The drive axles are 1/2in shorter to accommodate the wider trans. The clutch is a combination of Ecotec pressure plate and Subie disc with an aftermarket hydraulic T/O bearing assy, a custom pilot bearing had to be made and of course I made up an aluminum adaptor plate. All pretty straight forward, the only problem turned out to be 5th gear lubeing; The Subie car has the trans tilted downwards at the stern; a puddle of oil lubes the rear gears. Sitting flat or tilted the other way made them run dry (Dammit). So I had to plug off the drainbacks and put a feed trough to feed oil into rear of trans whilst running, but never completely drain out. They aren't the fastest shifing gearbox but are good for around 350 hp.... depending on tire size and hole shots, your mileage may vary, the six speed is far stronger AND far larger and heavier! cheers ronp
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Wow, that's a lot of work that you're casually listing there Ron, I definitely think you've got the "Street Cred, Spanners Award" bang to rights ! :)
But after reading that I can see why I've not heard of anyone else using a Subaru box as a substitute for the usual Renault ones. Just getting the lubrication to work properly would have been a deal-breaker for me, in fact I'd go as far as to say that the first time I would have realized something was wrong would have been when little sparkly bits of metal came out in the oil change.
cheers
brian
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Ron,
Was the Ecotec and Suby Tranny direct bolt ups or did you have an adapter plate? Also which Subaru transmission are you using?
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The ecotec was a 2004 Chev Cavalier L61 F engine CHEAP! $650 with wiring, ecm, flywheel, everything including shipping, off ebay. Since that time it's been rebuilt but it did hold up well for a used motor. The trans is a 97 Legacy TWO wheel drive; the last year made, yes an adapter plate had to be made; 1/2 aluminum; easily done even with just a sabre saw and a drill, and a new pilot bush is needed, oilite has worked fine. Also the input shaft had to be shortened bit, I think it was about a 1/4 in, cut off wheel did the job, or you make a thicker plate, it was almost too easy! Cheers ronp