54 and 65 in Australia

[Willa]

Red is  the 54 and Yellow is the 65
Cheers Willa

[blasterdad]

  (again)

They look great!
You should be able to set them up to race pretty easily.

[Clifton]

Nice side by side. When I started looking at Europas I could not see the difference.

[Willa]

The 65 is left hand drive and an import, the history of which is unknown. It is clean and original, right down to having the original stickers in the engine bay, I will post a few more pictures soon.
Cheers
Willa

[BDA]

 

Nice pair of cars you've got there! I look forward to seeing and reading more about them!

[Willa]

Here are some pictures of the red 54. It is a one owner possibly the earliest in Australia fully documented history with period race log book and lots of parts. The paperwork comes with an article published in a Lotus Drivers Club magazine of 1989 from the UK and an interesting letter from the factory.
Given the history, it is this car that I am planning on preparing to a race spec. In the article, it suggests that the is greater than 10.5:1 as it has had a shave and has been mildly ported and generates about 85hp at the wheels.
A lower wishbone on the passenger side is damaged and the bushes are worn, any recommendations as to where I can find quality bushes for racing and a lower wishbone set would be welcomed , I plan on replacing all the bushes as time permits.
Cheers,
Willa

[BDA]

I assume you want to bush the arms you have now. In that case, you'd want polyurethane bushes. There might be a supplier down under but I know that Richard at Banks in the UK has them (http://www.parts.banks-europa.co.uk/). I would expect Dave Bean in California to have them too (http://www.davebean.com).

You may also want to get adjustable suspension arms. Those two should have them also.

[EuropatcSPECIAL]

 
Welcome Willa, nice looking Europa's
all the best
Stuart

[Willa]

Hi Blasterdad,
Thank you again for the welcome. As with everyone who is a Europa owner the journey of discovery begins.
After I purchased the good condition 54, albeit with amazing documented history I wanted to take it for a run through the Adelaide hills where I live. I could not get it to run properly so decided to take it to a webber expert to dyno tune it and rebuild the distributor. After much fiddling and drilling an additional progression hole we had it running quite well at low revs. On the high speed run (only 4000 rpm) we blew a head gasket...... Not impressed!!
I remove the head for a simple gasket replacement and discover that two of the combustion chambers are damaged one particularly so. What to do? Put one of the heads from the spare engines on and scrap it or rebuild it and keep all the engines and parts complete.
I decided to rebuild the head, so off the the machine shop it went, bead blasted, pressure tested, ports cleaned, new valve guides, new valves and valve seats, filled the damaged combustion chambers and polised the face. The head should be back together tomorrow, only have to modify if required the intake and exhaust manifolds as they were not fitting perfectly.
I am making progress and will post a few pictures of the head work once finished.
I am really looking forward to that run through the hills.

Attached is a letter from Lotus

[blasterdad]

It's good to hear you are taking it all in stride! These are old cars, & things of this nature are to be expected, but our love for them will always keep them, (and us) going.
I think you made the right choice in fixing your head & keeping all your engines complete, why dig into your rainy day savings when it's only sprinkling. 

   Keep the faith,
   bdad. 

  P.S. Cool letter!

[Willa]

As promised, here are a few pictures of the cylinder head after repair and clean up.

[Willa]

And the rest of the bits to make it all go together. I think I have my weekend planned what about you?

[Willa]

The plan is to run the car like this for a while as I want to enter the festival of Motorsport in Adelaide, look it up as it is a great event. After this I will look to find a cylinder head from an 821-30 and work that to provide as much power as it can in preparation for hill and track work. Any help or suggestions are welcome particularly with respect to the porting.

Cheers,

Willa.

[blasterdad]

Looks like it's going to run BETTER than brand new! Sweet!!!
  

[Willa]

I hope so!

Stage 2 of the development will be to make up a full race engine, I have heard that it is possible to get 145hp from the wedge engines, if anyone knows how and or what spec these are I would be very interested to know. I have just found an 821 and a fuego cylinder head at a local spares yard both have full length separate ports which will be a better place to start for a powerful engine. Does anyone know if the fuego go will fit and or if there will be any problems.
Have a look at the photos and comment.
Cheers,

Willa.