Newby

[lotuseater]

 
1st post to say Hi. Bought a Europa S2 August 1969 type 54 (UK car) in pieces, back in March 2014 - Lotus history says it's the 112th UK Europa, so quite an early UK Europa. Still has original chassis and engine (1470cc Renault). Trim (oatmeal) appears to have been taken from a later (Twin Cam?) Europa. Would like to revert to original Black vinyl. Aiming to restore to as close to original spec as possible.
Chassis has been blasted and repaired and painted inside and out with POR15. All suspension blasted and painted the same. New bushes and bearings etc throughout. Engine 'looks' to be in decent condition - aiming to fire up in next month or so. Brake lines causing some confusion at present, as I didn't remove the old ones (the long one at front that goes through the front cross member - surely this fouls on the bodytub footwell? Have lowered body onto chassis to have a better look later today.)
Will eventually respray in original colour L09 - Royal Blue. Has been racing green and then red.
Wheels: Cosmic Alloys - anyone know if these were offered as a dealer option or are they just period aftermarket accessory ? May consider steel/hubcaps if I find any. Exhaust/Inlet cast iron manifold is cracked - original replacement is needed. Hoping to use the Solex carb as I think there aren't many cars left running them. I know they generally aren't rated that highly, but they must have worked OK.
Gear linkage sorted - new rose joints/bushes/spacers and made own spherical ball joint mount for gearlever.  S/S transfer pipes fitted.
Next purchases will be recon radiator and probably Protech dampers (anyone tried these via SJ Sportcars?).

I'm near Hereford on the Welsh borders/UK. 

I suspect I will be placing several 'wanted' ads quite soon.

Richard.

[cal44]

I'm a big fan of Cosmics but steel wheels and caps also look sharp.   I say have both and when you get tired of one design, switch over.  You are lucky to live where the major parts suppliers are.
The car will look real nice in Royal Blue with black interior.........

mike

[jbcollier]

"Hoping to use the Solex carb as I think there aren't many cars left running them. I know they generally aren't rated that highly, but they must have worked OK."

Not really, almost every period road test recounts carb issues: blocked jets, parts loosening, erratic idle, etc.  If you end up using a downdraft carb with the original air cleaner housing, add  a discreet support for the long intake "snout" to eliminate the strain on the carb.

[EuropaTC]

Hi Richard, and 

The Cosmics could have been dealer fitted but even so I think it would have been as an aftermarket deal with the owner rather than something offered officially by Lotus. AFAIK only the Brand Lotus wheels were offered as options.

In the S2 days there were a few tuning packages that included Cosmic alloys, maybe your car had one of those ?  My TC had 13x5 Cosmics when I bought it but they'd been fitted by the original owner and the car came with the standard steel wheel as a spare.

Brian

[Bainford]

Hello Richard and welcome to the forum. I ;look forward toi seeing more of yoyr project. Cheers