After 27 years I finally got my dad's car I took to prom. LOTS of questions

[jbcollier]

You have to mark the position of the distributor body AND the distributor rotor!!

I put the car in 4th gear and gently turn the engine over until the rotor points straight up.  The drive gear is helical so note which way it turns as you remove the distributor.

DO NOT TURN OVER THE ENGINE WHILE THE DISTRIBUTOR IS OUT.

[BDA]

My advise is once you have the whole thing out, just replace the points and condenser with the Pertronix kit. They are widely available including r.d. enterprises. No more worrying about points!

[EuropaTC]

There are instructions in the Elan manual for removing & replacing the distributor. Because it's something I used to get wrong, I scanned & laminated a page for one of the "important instructions" that I keep in the workshop.

Brian

ps - another vote for pertronix here......

[Roger]

NGK BP6ES are plenty hard enough. You might get a bit of fouling with 7s, if the engine's a bit worn.

[HelpMyLotus]

New plugs, new wires, cleaned the points, a squirt of starting fluid and if fired up!   It ran rough and wouldn't stay running.  I put a gallon of fresh premium fuel in the tank and gave it another squirt of starting fluid.  It stumbled at first then ran GREAT.  60 lbs of oil pressure, steady idle and revs freely when the throttle is poked.  I couldn't ask for more.  I put it in gear and let the clutch out and it started to move.  The tires are SHOT, like split down the tread so those will have to be replaced. 

All in all I'm really stoked.  I pulled the wheels off the front to expose the finger tight castle nuts.  Seems the PO left them loose to put the calipers on.  The brand new discs are horribly rusted so I will have them turned and see what I get.  Everything is there except the calipers.  I found a set on Moss for $127.  Any word on those? 

Once I get the brakes sorted and new tires it should go down the road.  Next up is figuring out what all the BS is with the wires.  Loose fittings, crimped wires, bare wires, etc. 

Can't wait to get back down there.

[BDA]

Congratulations on your car making noise for you for the first time! That has to feel good!

Moss is a good outfit and I have no doubt that jbcollier is correct with the proper Spitfire calipers. You should be fine there.

Wiring problems can be the most vexing. Good luck with it. One thing you might consider is soaking the fittings in vinegar if it's practical to get rid of any corrosion. It's not necessary (I didn't do it), but I think it could help on the margins.

[HelpMyLotus]

So are the GT6 brakes compatible or an upgrade?  I bought a set of calipers and pads for a GT6 from Vic Brit.  From what I'm told the rotors are GT6.  I bought the calipers, the pad set and the two flex lines.  Are the pins separate?  Are they car specific or can I get them locally if needed.  When I bought pads for the mini they came with them.

[BDA]

Golden Gate Lotus Club addressed brakes here (http://gglotus.org/ggtech/europa-brakeinfo/brakeinfo.htm).

Here's an excerpt:

The more powerful Elan/ Vitesse/ GT6 front brake discs can be fitted to a Europa, but it's a complete package deal. Everything between the ball joints and trunions must be swapped... vertical links, spindles, bearings, steering arms, etc. are also fitted during the swap. Before you jump on that idea, read more comments on Europa brake response near the end of this message.

[EuropaTC]

So are the GT6 brakes compatible or an upgrade?  I bought a set of calipers and pads for a GT6 from Vic Brit.  From what I'm told the rotors are GT6.  I bought the calipers, the pad set and the two flex lines.  Are the pins separate?  Are they car specific or can I get them locally if needed.  When I bought pads for the mini they came with them.

The GT6 rotor is larger diameter, thicker and slightly deeper than the spitfire one, which puts it closer to the steering arms/track rods if you try and mount it on your existing set-up. I think it might just go with some other mods and did consider the set-up at one point, but decided against it.   

Because the rotor is bigger diameter you need a caliper mounting bracket to which mounts the caliper further out, but it will go under a 13" wheel. The other snag is that the caliper mount hole spacing on the GT6 (Type 16) calipers is, IIRC, 3.5" against 3.25" of the spitfire type 14 calipers.  So you definitely need new brackets.

The GG website that BDA linked to reiterates a lot of what folks have said in the past about Europa braking and how not to lock up the front brakes. They comment about the speed of application of disc vs drum brakes but I think it's more than reaction times because even for the lighter S2 the rear drums only contribute something like 25-28% to the braking package. IMO brake balance is the real reason you need rear discs.

So if your car is otherwise standard then I'd not make the "upgrade" because you'll drive the brake balance even more towards the front end.  And as it's been said many times before, it's not the brake size that stops you, it's the friction you can generate at the tyre/road surface.  So if you have an S2 with 13x155/80 tyres or even a TC with 13x175/70 tyres then the type 14 caliper is going to provide plenty of power to lock the wheel.

[HelpMyLotus]

Michigan.  Middle of January.  This doesn't happen often.

[4129R]

You are low enough to see under the fog.

Just keep every light on and hope the trucks see you before they drive over the top of you.

[andy harwood]

You are low enough to see under the fog.

Just keep every light on and hope the trucks see you before they drive over the top of you.

I feel safer on my motorcycle than my Europa. A lot safer.

[jbcollier]

A lot more visible on the motorcycle, too.

[BDA]

Have a very loud horn. If you can't be seen, you must be heard!

[HelpMyLotus]

Dykes, Strippers, a blow torch and some male and female parts.  That's all that was needed, aside from 3 hours of my time, to repair the wiring in the nose of my TCS.  I started by just cutting anything that was obviously cut, spliced, taped or tapped into.  Every wire that wasn't necessary was history.  I even cut off 20 plus connectors that were broke, orphaned or plain old unworthy.  I then printed the full color wiring diagram onto 4 sheets of 8.5x11 paper, taped them into one big schematic and started at it.  I found that many of the connections were straight forward.  Green/White went to Green/White and so forth.  Some took some additional digging but I identified them all. Then I ran a new, large gauge ground for everything to feed from.  I hid the wires where I felt they were best placed, under the blower fan.  I got both side markers, the front indicators/flashers and headlights to work.  I identified, but left, the horn for now as I know it works.  I identified my blower issue is the motor itself, not the wiring and the cooling fan for the radiator WORKS!.  The thermostatic switch is suspect so I left that for now.  I went inside the cockpit and started cutting all the spliced BS for a modern radio out.  Got all the frayed and bare wires out.  Then I just happened to look at the wiring on the window regulator on the driver's side.  I noticed a wire at a peculiar angle.  It looked broken from the fitting and holding on by the insulation so I stripped it back and put a new one on.   THE WINDOW WORKS NOW!!!.  Gotta love a fix that is so simple a monkey could do it. 

The things I still can't get to work are the Bright/Dim feeds for the headlights, and the blinkers.  Strangely enough the hazards all work but no blinkers.  I would have thought that if you had one you had the other, but not so. 

When I got the car it had a replacement set of column stalks (blinker/wipers).  Since the Bright/Dim feeds come from there I may install them and see if it helps.  If not, I get my trusty meter back out and start poking.


Either way, I was able to take an evening run around the block (country block = 3 miles) at dusk with full lights on and feel a touch safer. 


MAN I LOVE THIS CAR!!!   So low. So sleek.  So unique.    Can't wait for summer to be in full swing so I can start racking up miles!!!!!