"soft" Restoration of 2933R (JPS#059)

[tedtaylor]

Having seen/read Glen's blog posts on his yellow Europa restoration, I decided to do the same.   Actually this goes back to the "other" Lotus forum (LE.net) where Glen covered the restoration of a beautiful red Elan S4 DHC.   I followed suit and started a blog on the "soft" restoration of my '73 Elan Sprint DHC.  It was greatly received.

So in order to share with the group my restoration efforts on my newly acquired JPS#059 from Texas, I'll report/post here the steps i'm taking to make this road worthy once again. 

A little history:  I previously owned JPS#185 and sold it a couple years ago with great regret.   I now came across this JPS#059 right here on this forum and decided to "rescue" it.  It is a two owner car with only 30K miles.  Has a pristine interior.  The original paint is quite dull and needs buffing/polishing.  All the mechanical systems need a going through.  I feel the "soft" restoration process is the only way to go.   Keeping original paint and patina far outweighs the value of a fully restored car, in my humble opinion.

I'll post pictures along the way.   First thing I did was to address the wheels/tires.   I had an additional full set (advertised here for sale previously) and kept the best of them.   I mounted the nearly new Khumo tires and attached the new center caps.  I have inventoried the extra odds & ends parts the previous owner had boxed up and included.

The pictures show the car "as received" or just previous to its transport home.   Notice the absolutely completely original engine bay with all the evap system tanks, vacuum lines, crossover tubes, brake boosters, etc.  Never been botched, chopped or thrown away.   I hooked up a battery, turned the key, and BUZZZZZ, what's that?? the fasten seat belt buzzer sounded!!!  That's a first for me in any Europa i've been in.  All the lights, windows, switches, everything electrical working fine.   It even cranks over.   I polished half the roof to show myself that indeed, this car will shine up like a new penny.    I'm only dabbling around with it and will post on occasion as progress continues.   I'm in no rush to get it done.   I'm hoping others will appreciate seeing the progress on this one.   

[BDA]

That looks like it will turn out to be a very nice project! I look forward to watching your progress!


 

[Bainford]

It's clearly in need of some love, but it's a fine project. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Certified Lotus]

Ted, glad your documenting for all of us to watch over your shoulder. Can't wait to see progress. We have enough "local" Europa owners that we could do our own driving event! See you on the road soon.

[Lou Drozdowski]

Ted , Glad to see 059 in the pics, really looking forward to the progress reports...see you soon. ld

[Pfreen]

It looks like a good car.  I own 2963R which is not a jps, although it has the five speed and alloy wheels.  I guess they needed to be black to get a jps button.  I have owned mine since 1985.  I am just completing my restoration, ie paint, chrome, interior and upholstery.  Mine was originally regency red with gold  jps stripes.  The paint had a million cracks and flaws in the paint, so you are lucky.

Good luck and have fun!

[tedtaylor]

Thought I'd give a shot at a polish/buff on the old dead original patina paint and voila!   See the amazing difference on the roof where I just did half.  The chrome comes up nearly perfect too! 

[BDA]

There are lots of ways to resize pictures. This is one way Joe recommends: http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1379.0


I use the snipping tool (available on Windows after 7) - I display the photo on the screen and use the snipping tool to make a copy of the area I want to show and save that to a file. I can use the snipping tool to capture the entire picture if I want because the new resolution of the picture will be the resolution of the screen which will make it "small" enough to attach to your post.


Whatever floats your boat.

[Fourporche]

 
Could a white 74 with gold stripes TCS
Be a JPS?
I thought they are black only

[Certified Lotus]

Nice Ted. Should be show worthy after the work your putting into it.

[BDA]

Could a white 74 with gold stripes TCS
Be a JPS?
I thought they are black only

I'm almost positive all JPSs were black since that livery was a homage to the JPS cigarette package (though I think I remember someone claiming he had or knew of a JPS in a different color). If you're talking about my car, I'm kind of copying the look of the first Europa I had. It was a white four speed TCS with gold stripes and had the JPS sticker on the B pillar (apparently put on at the dealer). I liked the look of the JPS sticker, along with the stripes, so included them both on my current car when I rebuilt it. Maybe I've committed a heresy...

[brucelotus26r]

Nice car we need to get out and drive them soon. Mine has the seat belt buzzer to I unplugged it.

[tedtaylor]

Went and bought a new battery for the car today.  Tough fitting it into that small space and getting around the coolant header tank.  Cranks over nice and fast.
Filed the points and now have spark at the points.    Plugs are new and I set the gap according to spec.  I sprayed Gummout 2+2 carb cleaner (in lieu of starting fluid or gas) into the carb throats and cranked it over hoping to hear it run...... with no luck so far.
Still going over things.   I want to hear it run to motivate me to start chiseling away at the very long list of things to do on it.
Cooling system, Fuel system, Brake system......and so on.

UPDATE:  Just went out to garage after dinner, pulled the plugs and shot 2+2 carb cleaner into each cylinder, reassembled, and cranked it over and....... VIOLA!!!!    IT RUNS!!!!!!
sounded great, smooth, no knocks or funny noises, just roared back to life after sitting those many, many years!!!!
NOW I'M PSYCHED!

[jbcollier]

You fired it up with fresh oil, right?

[BDA]

Congratulations, Ted!


As John said, all new fluids - including gasoline - are certainly in order.


Things seem to be coming together. I share your excitement!