Restoration of 2358R

[Certified Lotus]

Thanks everyone for your comments on my engine builds. I’m fairly conservative on the HP and torque requirements of the builds as I want a streetable engine that will last (you can get 200 HP out of these engines, but they become temperamental and very fragile). The real work is done by Quicksilver RacEngines as they are the experts (their engine building shop is amazing). All I did was talk through what I wanted and the purpose.

I find that an extra 20 to 30 HP in these cars makes a world of difference. But you also need suspension and brake upgrades to match the new performance.

By the way, my Elan TC that was built by Quicksilver has now been installed in my car for 3 years, been driven thousands of miles and doesn’t leak a drop of oil.

[buzzer]

Impressive, nice work. If I read it right running 33mm chokes. Is your bottom end apart from pistons std.? 

[seniorchristo]

  Hello fellow Lotus owners and enthusiasts!  My name is Chris Herr and although I only own an Elan , I do share a great interest in Europas having driven one as early as 1975.  I was drawn to this forum because I was befriended by Glen and follow with great interest his restorations and his all things Lotus enthusiasm.
I will soon be rebuilding a twincam motor and wish to use cams  similar or the same as in Glen's S1 Elan.  These are Kent BLF46.  280 degrees duration, .380 inches valve lift.  Burton Power describes the power band as 2000-7000, ideal for my purposes. Once Glen works out his low speed bugs I will be convinced to use these cams.  Thank you Glen for an excellent and detailed restoration thread! 

[BDA]

  , seniorchristo!


I wouldn't say that you "only an Elan." I love my Europa but I have warmed up a lot to them as I got older.


Hopefully you can get your own Europa some time!

[Certified Lotus]

  hey Chris, glad your here and I look forward to your guidance in the additional tuning of my Weber carbs on my Élan and your continued friendship while I rebuild my Europa. Stop over at my Lotus garage anytime!

[Certified Lotus]

I'm a bit behind in my posts.  Was sidetracked by building a 1/10th scale Lotus 102B RC car in my spare spare time 

My friend Drew has taken over the rebuild of the 352 transaxle as I have been insanely busy at work and traveling way too much. He is also a much better mechanic than I am and fusses over the details, which is hugely important in rebuilding a transaxle. So the transaxle is over at Drew's shop and he has been working on it nights during the week while I am flying around the planet.

The aluminum casing was very pitted from salt air moisture when it sat in FL for a couple of years.  Had it soda blasted but it only took the major pitting off, the all the little stuff.  Tumbling the casing would have smoothed things out, but its expensive.  So we decided silver spray paint was the way to go.

Some test fitting of the bearings and then everything assembled on the main shaft.  Needed to order a new reverse switch from RD Enterprises as the old one was broken (one of the spade plugs gone).

[BDA]

Glad to hear you're making progress. There's no shame in spray painting your tranny case. Even Fosse did it for 7upJohn's car that was the focus of two of the old Overhaulin' shows.

Hopefully you'll get more time to play soon!

[Certified Lotus]

Yesterday was the start to reassemble the front suspension pieces.  I always do a "dry fit" to ensure everything is ready for final assembly, then take it all apart and finish the last details (painting of aluminum pieces, plating nuts & bolts that have been media blasted) and during reassembly use never-seize on all nuts and bolts. It's labor intensive, but the results turn out the way I like.

My friend Bruce came over and helped with compressing the 10" springs on the front shocks and took over the disassembly of the left front caliper.  Both calipers were seized and I'm doing complete strip down, paint and rebuild of them.



 

[Certified Lotus]

Went over to Drew's garage this morning to deliver the new reverse switch for the transaxle and check up on the progress. All the exterior aluminum was soda blasted and painted silver. The bearings and gears were reassembled on the main shaft and that is when we ran into a problem. One of the new bearings I ordered is not the same width and there is too much play in the shaft.  Seems there are two types of roller bearings for this part and I need to get the wider version which has a different prefix on the model number. Two steps forward, one step back.

[Certified Lotus]

Impressive, nice work. If I read it right running 33mm chokes. Is your bottom end apart from pistons std.?

Thanks. Quicksilver is one of the best in the US regarding the quality of the work they do. Yes, running 33mm chokes. Steel crank, new bearings and pistons.  The rods were brand new from the previous rebuild and we kept them as they were already upgraded (I honestly don't remember who's they were).

[BDA]

That tranny looks great! Hopefully you'll get your bearing and get your tranny together soon. Those AVOs look great, too! What spring rates are you running?

[dakazman]

Ditto what BDA said .... tranny looks  great , post some part numbers, vendor and prices of the shocks and springs .
How did the assembly of the spring go ?
Dakazman

[Certified Lotus]

That tranny looks great! Hopefully you'll get your bearing and get your tranny together soon. Those AVOs look great, too! What spring rates are you running?

Springs are:

Front 2" 10 x 150
Rear 2" 12 x 115

[Certified Lotus]

Ditto what BDA said .... tranny looks  great , post some part numbers, vendor and prices of the shocks and springs .
How did the assembly of the spring go ?
Dakazman

I'll do a full write-up with the details on the transaxle rebuild when its completed in another post just for the transaxle (this has been requested before)

The installation of the springs went fine.  I have a set of motorcycle spring compressors as normal spring compressors for cars are too big. My friend Bruce had this great idea of putting the whole assembly (spring compressors, shocks and springs) in the vice to hold the spring compressors in place while we ratcheted the springs tighter.  Worked like a charm. 

The shocks and springs came from Dave Bean. They dyno them before shipping out.

Front AVO adjustable shocks:  074C 9040  $239 each
Rear AVO adjustable shocks:  074D 9040   $239 each
Front springs: 1000CB0150 $66 each
Rear springs: 1200CB0115  $67 each

[Certified Lotus]

I've gotta tell you, anything I order from Eastwood shows up on my doorstep the next day......sometimes even the same day.  I wanted to paint my calipers silver but only had engine paint that was good for 400 degrees. Not good enough for the brake calipers so I went on-line to Eastwood's website and found what I was looking for. Hi temp paint that will handle 1400 degrees. That ought to do it.

Wiped the media blasted and rebuilt front brake calipers clean with lacquer thinner, masked off the areas that do not get painted and sprayed three coats of paint.