New owner

[Benn012]

Hello,
I'm a new member on this forum, I'm French and five months since the proud owner of a Lotus Europa TCS. The car was sold in the united states in 1973, and the last owner lives in Maryland. Then it was sold to a French merchant, who sold me the car in June. The serial number is 72112859R, type 74, with 28059 miles on tachograph. The car is in good condition, although there is some work needed. I want to take this winter to paint the chassis and change the seals of the engine and the gearbox, or install a 5 speed gearbox......

Benn012

[BDA]

  Benn12!

Please let us know if we can help in your restoration! Everybody with a Europa should know about Richard at Banks Service Station (http://www.banks-europa.co.uk/index.php). He can help with a 5 speed NG3 if you go that route (my choice). Unfortunately, your picture didn't make it.

Good Luck!! 

[EuropatcSPECIAL]

  :pirate:Welcome Benn

[3929R]

 

[Benn012]

Hello everybody
Hope now picture is OK!!
 

Benn012

[LotusJoe]

 
Nice car! I like the color.

[EuropatcSPECIAL]

what blue is that Benn  looks realy well

[LotusJoe]

what blue is that Benn  looks realy well

Maybe L12 Lagoon Blue. 

[EuropatcSPECIAL]

mmmmm looks a little dark for that I think

[BDA]

Hello everybody
Hope now picture is OK!!
 

Benn012

She looks great! Of course, we'll always ask for more pictures!

[Benn012]

Hello,
Original color was the L12, but was painted by a preceding owner. I do not know the color reference.
I started disassembling from the body, to treat and repaint the chassis, and I discovered that the car was very close to the total fire. There must be a  angel who protect the car !!!!
When I removed carburetors, I was surprised by the joints between the cylinder head and carbs. How do I tighten the at reassembly?
Benn012

[jbcollier]

http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/tcwork/l/index.htm#8

[Benn012]

Thanks for that quick answer. There are indeed springs on the studs from the top, but the bottom studs there are rubber rings. Thank you again for this help. 

[BDA]

There are two different ways of providing the flexible mount for Webers and you appear to have both. The original method is the 'springs' which are called 'thackery washers' and a more recent method is the rubber hour glass looking things. Ray at r.d. enterprises (rdent.com) sells both. Here are his listing with useful information about using them along with a valuable recommendation:

Carburetor mounting cushions and cup washers - Rubber cushions are shaped like an hour-glass, allowing the carburetors to be tightened sufficiently to seal against air leaks yet remain flexible.  Cup washers help retain the cushion's shape and keep the cushions from spreading too much.   (Installation note: Compress cushions by @ .100".  Do not overtighten.)
Ref. 36E0472 Carburetor Cushion Set - One rubber cushion and two cup washers  $4.50 each
 

Thackery Washers - An alternative to the rubber cushions, these spring washers are only partially tensioned during installation (leave a gap of .035" - .050" between coils).  The thackery washer keeps tension on the carburetor yet retains some "spring" to allow flexibility. 
Ref. 75W4040   $1.50 each

Nylon Locking Nuts - Good nyloc nuts are necessary to hold the cushions or thackery washers at their installed compressed length without loosening because of engine vibrations.  Most installations use 5/16-24 thread studs, and we supply aircraft-quality "AN" full-height nylon locking nuts. 
Ref. AN365-0524   $.50 each

Installation Tip:  Use the rubber cushion mounts on the top carb studs (this is where the thackery washers tend to fatigue and break), and use the thackery washers on the bottom carb studs where the inevitable fuel leakage from the carbs will cause the rubber mounts to soften and fail.

To make it even more confusing, I asked the folks on the sidedraft_central yahoo group (which deals mainly with sidedraft Webers) what the purpose of the flexible mounting was. I thought it was to keep the fuel from foaming  from vibration, but that didn't seem to be important to many of them. About half said they mounted their carbs solidly against the manifold and half used the flexible method and they all swore by their method. I asked a buddy of mine who has a lot of experience with Webers on TCs and BDAs and he said to use the flexible mount method because that was the original method. I decided to take his advice and mount mine flexibly with the rubber cushions on the top and the thackery washers on the bottom as Ray recommends. I have no complaints.