New member, 1st Lotus '74 Special

[analogmike]

Howdy,

I got this car a few months ago but too busy to register it or work on it yet.

Lots of info and pictures here:

http://vintageracecarsales.com/portfolio-view/1974-lotus-europa-special/



I will post in the garage area, looking for a good mechanic who REALLY knows these cars to go over it before I do anything myself. I'm in the Danbury, CT area.

Thanks and can't wait to drive it!

[BDA]

  analog!

Nice ride you have there! I'm having trouble understanding why you're not driving it! The ad says it runs like a Europa should. If it runs, you're supposed to drive it. That's what it's for!

A good English car shop that understands older English cars should be able to take care of you. If there's a choice, choose the shop that works on old Jaguars over MGs, but don't discount a good MG shop. Having said that, I wouldn't limit myself to just English car shops if there's a good general sports car shop. Give them a call and ask them if they've worked on Loti before or if they're afraid of them. They're fairly pedestrian mechanically. Get copies of the workshop and parts manuals for you and in case the shop doesn't have one.

Don't be afraid of it! They're pretty simple, straightforward cars otherwise I couldn't have built mine!

[Bainford]

Welcome to the forum, Mike. Your Europa is beautiful. I don't believe I've seen one in that colour before, but it is gorgeous.

As BDA says, these are simple cars mechanically. They have their quirks, but  nothing insurmountable and the forum membership is here to assist. And if everything is running, jump (squeeze?) in there and have a go. It may take a couple of drives before the magic of the Europa becomes apparent, but once you are comfortable behind the wheel you quickly realise what the fuss is all about. If it's a 5 speed, just be aware of finding reverse when you really want 2nd (or 4th!). And if that becomes a problem, there is a forum member with a solution to that problem as well.

Cheers, and have fun.

[BDA]

As is clear from my previous post, I didn't read the whole original post - I think I went to see the pictures and then started writing my post. I just realized there are two threads on this car! I edited my reply on the other one, but not this one...

Anyway, here is a link to a thread about a mod that might help your shifting situation. http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=127.msg8263#msg8263

There is lot of opportunity for slop to develop in the shift linkage, but another place to look is under the little plastic box that is bolted on the rear tranny mount. Under it is a detent/cam mechanism that makes it harder to get into reverse and 5th. If the cam or detent ball is missing, that might be part of your problem. The mod discussed in the thread referenced above apparently does away with the need for that detent/cam mechanism so that might be a good option for you.

[460384]

Welcome to the site. Love the L26 blue color. It looks a very nice one. Is this 74014231R from eBay?   

[analogmike]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, the car was on eBay a month or so ago, in CA, 4321R.

I read about that shifter mod, nice and simple, will see if I can get one of those parts. My car does have the ball and spring for reverse/5th but it's not that hard to engage, may try a stronger spring behind the ball.

[BDA]

The French seem to have an aversion to using 5th gear. I remember being frustrated by how hard it was to get in 5th when I had my 365. Now I have an NG3 and it requires effort to get into 5th again! I understand a little effort so that you know you're going into 5th and not 3rd, but I thought it was extreme. I always thought it made sense to file down the ear of the cam for 5th gear a little so that it wouldn't be quite so hard, but I would never try it unless I had an unmangled spare to revert back to if my experiment failed. I hear that Richard sells those so if you're somewhat adventurous, you can try that.

It's possible your spring is weak. You can test the effect of a stronger spring by putting small washers in the aluminum detent housing, then putting the spring and ball back in. Be sure to make sure you won't have coil bind first, but that would be self limiting since if the spring coils stacked up on you, you wouldn't be able to shift it into reverse or 5th at all.

Of course if you get Peter's kit, that would obviate the need for any of that and then you would only need to concentrate on all the places you can get slop in the linkage...