Procession...

[katanaman]

  Hi!  Been busy with my volunteer work at the museum.  Now it is warming up, and I am ready to begin work on the neglected Lotus.  Tomorrow I will travel with some friends into Portland to get an old American speedometer looked at, and will get some info about the tach thrown into the deal with my Europa -- I am not sure if it will "mate" to the rotary -- will find out tomorrow.  Spent today listening to the intoxicating sound of my friend's Sunbeam Tiger.  We travelled along the bay in perfect, though slightly cool weather.  There was a strange wind buffet thing going on that I have read about -- right down my neck!  Glad my MGB doesn't do that, but on the other hand, that larger Tiger windshield has less buffet from the front!  Can't wait to get the Europa going.  Soon...                                               Dan

[katanaman]

  And then today, there was the Portland "AutoJumble".  I had a fellow give me a free front turn indicator lense for the Europa -- one of mine is cracked with a chunk missing, and the other is discolored and cloudy looking.  So I made out!!  But... as I got there a little late, I missed the 3 friends I made just before winter set in, and didn't get to see what they've gotten done since I last saw them.  One of them you will see when you type Lotus Europa into YouTube -- the John Lexau one...  I wanted to ask him if that video is of the car with its Renault, or with the Zetec conversion...                                                                                                                                                        Dan

[3929R]

Hard to beat free!
On the cloudy lens, I've brought back cloudy lenses with Novus plastic polish. I think I used a buffing wheel on a Dremel, but it's been a while.

[LeftAngle]

What kind of volunteer work do you do?  I volunteer with the Parris Island MCRD Museum, making displays, models, working with recruits and all-around loose cannon.  Now I'm wondering if volunteering for museums might be an affliction Lotus owners get.   

[katanaman]

  Now that I'm retired, I just wanted to do something related to history.  There is no specialization yet -- I open the museum on the free day, Thursday.  I am involved a bit more this year helping out with the group that installed the latest temp exhibit -- our peninsula's railroad's 125th anniversary.  I did a bunch of research in the winter months, and will continue -- the rr's books ended up in distant Portland, Oregon as that was where parent company Union Pacific was based when the rails were pulled up and the enterprise abandoned.  We visit them from time to time as there is a lot of info in the journals and ledgers to fill in what we have in "collections".  Soon I will be involved in a new project taking oral histories from the locals.  Seems that we have done this in the past, but now it is apparent that we are missing a generation -- so it is time for me to get going doing this.  Could take years!!!  In the meantime, the locals get a kick out of seeing what ends up in the parking lot on "free day" -- usually some kind of LBC, other times my motorcycle -- wait till they see the Lotus!!!                             Dan

[LotusJoe]

Dan, what is LBC?

[3929R]

LBC =  Little British Car

[LotusJoe]

Got it 

[katanaman]

Itza 1977 MGB.  It came from California and was equipped with a Moss spec'd Cobalt aftermarket fuel injection system to get it to conform to CARB at the time, about 5-6 years ago.  Since then, Cobalt got busy with GM and doesn't support the system any more.  So now... the ECU has gotten some kind of glitsh and won't reliably perform -- if I can "allow" the car to sit overnight, it will start and run just fine the next day.  So... tomorrow, I will put a Weber conversion on it and be done with the fuel injection.  But... until the ECU problem, I was very happy not having to warm the car up, having smoothe delivery, etc.  The Weber, however, appears to be identical to the Weber my new (Hah! old Renault Europa engine) came with.  So... with a book that covers tuning and mods, it will be convenient to tune 2 LBCs so similar.  I just hope that being French the engine won't be as weepy as its counterparts across the pond...