Restoration of 2358R

[BDA]

Aren't those tapes a bit bulky in a Europa? 

[Certified Lotus]

I got distracted this weekend........  I started to tear down my other twin cam weber head engine that I recently acquired to see what kind of condition it is in.  It had been sitting in a race car project for more than 10 years and you never know what you will find with these things.

The Weber's need a complete rebuild, but they are in good condition for that. It looks like the top end of the engine was done as the cam hardly has any marks on it. Will pull the oil pan next week to see what that looks like, but the engine turns over with a wrench.

I'll send it out to Quick Silver racing to have them strip it down and build it for about 150HP and lots of torque. That ought to make the Europa a little quicker ;-)

I wonder if this was the original engine for 2179R ?

[BDA]

That should make a nice motor for your toy! I don't think the Weber head was ever standard equipment on a Federal TC so I don't think it is original.

[buzzer]

And I don't think Weber's were ever fitted standard to the Europa, should be Delorto's.

[Certified Lotus]

So all the weber head Europa's I have seen are all modifications by an owner? I've seen quite a few over the years. Never knew that.

[buzzer]

So if Weber carbs are fitted, yes. All Twincam and special Europas had the Weber head fitted with Dellorto carbs as far as I know.
Weber's were fitted to the twincam in Elan's, Ford Cortina's etc. in the 60's until the Early 70's when Lotus swapped to Dellorto's just as the Europa Twincam was launched.Swapped from Weber's I think for emission reasons, (but just as likely for cost reasons tho). So the heads were originally designed for Weber's.  Dellorto's are basically a copy of the Weber carbs and they are supposed to have a better transition off idle jet to main jet. But a personal preference really.

[Roger]

They first switched from Weber to Zenith-Stromberg,  for all models.
However, the buying public preferred the look of Weber,  so they switched back (except for Federal cars) and then went to Dellorto to comply with European emission regulations.

[buzzer]

Roger,

Yes you are right, spot on, but not sure there was any UK spec Europa twincam with Strombergs? I know there were UK spec Elans with Strombergs for a while

[Roger]

You are right, my comments were really a Twin Cam engine history rather than specific car model. The S4 Elan and its contemporary Plus 2 had Strombergs for a while in Europe, and forever after in the Federal version. The Europa TC was too late for Strombergs in Europe, only the Federal version getting them.

Roger,

Yes you are right, spot on, but not sure there was any UK spec Europa twincam with Strombergs? I know there were UK spec Elans with Strombergs for a while

[blasterdad]

Sorry the paint code link is no help...
I will be painting ours eventually, so your dilemma will become mine also...
Maybe some e-mails to Lotus...
A brand new big name body shop just opened about a year ago close to me.
I had the manager come look at the lotus for an estimate, two days later the reply was, "The owner said your car is too old/rare, we are a production/insurance shop." Thus wanting nothing to do with it.
I'll talk to some other leads I have & see what I can come up with...
Meanwhile, I sleep better knowing that if I ever buy a Prius & get a dent in it, they will be glad to take my money. 

[Certified Lotus]

I know I can match the paint by bringing in a body panel they can scan. I have done this before and it turned out perfect for a blend in paint job. May have to resort to that.

[Certified Lotus]

More progress this weekend. Removed the dash and all the instruments. Found out the speedo/tach binnacle is warped so I need to get a new one. I saw a fiberglass one on ebay that compares to the plastic one RD sells.  Anyone buy one of the fiberglass versions? 

There was also a hand written marking on the back of the dash 10-9.

[Certified Lotus]

Spent a couple of hours getting the black windshield sealer off the body. Was that a mess. First I tried goop and that took the paint off. Then I tried lacquer thinner and that didn't even put a dent into the black stuff. Then my friend Drew told me about M600, a paint prep chemical.  It's expensive as all get out ($63 gallon) but it really works!

After I got the entire windscreen clean it was obvious this car had been re-sprayed.  The mystery continues..... the entire exterior of the car EXCEPT the engine deck lid was re-sprayed a slightly different color than Lotus Yellow.  And it was done with all the door seals, windscreen, etc. left in. The interior of the front nose section and passenger compartment are all the original color.  Not a single area of the body has had any repair work.  And the PO told me the car had been resprayed and didn't know why (which I don't understand as his best friend had the car before him).  I'm perplexed.  I wonder what the real story is on this.....

[Certified Lotus]

Pulled both the seats out. That was fun. The tracks were rusted in place and it took forever to remove the bolts holding the seat tracks in place as you could only turn the bolts less than a quarter turn before the wrench fouled.

They weren't really in bad condition. After seeing all kinds of photos of totally rusted out seat frames I was pleasantly surprised. Took all the tracks off, media blasted them and will need to have them coated so they wont rust again.

My friend Drew (who works on my Lotus cars with me) said this car is a bit strange.  There are parts of it that look like it is a 5000 mile car as the parts are in perfect condition and never been touched (interior, wiring, boot area, etc.) and other parts that look like a 80,000 mile car (suspension and brakes) that are all rusted. I reminded him this car sat in a garage in MN for many years and then got trailered to FL when the PO moved and the car sat (probably outside) and then got trailered back to MN when they moved back and sat in a garage again. What ever the story is, I certainly don't know it and the PO wasn't very forth coming.

[BDA]

More progress this weekend. Removed the dash and all the instruments. Found out the speedo/tach binnacle is warped so I need to get a new one. I saw a fiberglass one on ebay that compares to the plastic one RD sells.  Anyone buy one of the fiberglass versions? 

There was also a hand written marking on the back of the dash 10-9.

I don't have any experience with the fiberglass instrument binnacle, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a huge improvement over r.d.'s which is a huge improvement over the flimsy stock part.