New Special owner - a few questions

[SilverBeast]

Is had 100-200 miles a year from MOT website.  MOT is still current.  One of the things that attracted me to it was that it looks mostly original (and probably paid over the odds for the same reason).  The dealer bought it from a gentleman who bought it from a friend who had had it with his father for a number of years. I understand one of them was more into classic motorbikes,  and rebuilt the engine while it was in their care. It also had a banks replacement rear selector linkage (last section that goes to the gearbox) and drivers door hinge pin kit.

I intend to get in touch with last owner, if possible, once I've had chance to investigate more and try to get a bit more history.

[JohnMcL]

Hi Silverbeast. You can have your gas struts reconditioned here
https://www.sgs-engineering.com/gas-struts/re-gassing-service
I have used them twice.  Good service.

[Bainford]

Welcome to the forum, Richard. Very nice looking Europa you have there. You have found the right place for advice and encouragement. Cheers 

[4129R]

I reckon your car chassis number is between 74012340P and 74122407P, so only 67 UK models were built in 1974 as they were sending everything they built to the USA.

 

Alex in Norfolk.

[SilverBeast]

Registered 01 11 1974, Chassis plate seems to indicate manufactured November 1973, almost as if the 01 and the 11 have been transposed at the DVLA....

[Roger]

Just t o clear up what BDA wrote.
The UK-specification original TC did not have the Big Valve head that went on the Federal US cars. The TCS did have a Big Valve head, but it was the high-compression head as fitted to Elan Sprints, and the +2S 130, though again not in the US.
The US Big Valve head is a bit of a joke. Sure, it has very slightly larger valves but with the original compression ratio and Stromberg carbs it's hard to see why, except as a marketing gimmick.

[4129R]

Registered 01 11 1974, Chassis plate seems to indicate manufactured November 1973, almost as if the 01 and the 11 have been transposed at the DVLA....

Sitting around for a year between manufacture and registration.

Very strange.

[BDA]

Not in the US. I bought mine "new" but in fact, it had baked in the humidity of New Orleans at the distributor for about a year or so. They stacked up so much that the distributor offered really great prices such that at least one guy came in from California to get the deal.

[surfguitar58]

My understanding is that "7311" means it was manufactured in November of 1973. Registration would happen sometime after that. Might the registration use the American date designation 01/11/74 meaning January 11, 1974, as opposed to the European 01-11-74 meaning 1, November, 1974?

Detail nerds might be interested to note there are subtle changes to the nameplate between mine ("7310" = mfgr. October 1973) and S-Beast's ("7311 = mfgr. November 1973). On mine the brake fluid has "Crimson" crossed out and "Green" stamped in, and the order of the lube makers is different. Both plates have the same part number.

Tom

[Sandyman]

I also have a Europa that was built in January of 1970 but not registered untill some time in 1971. I am going to try to get this changed along with an incorrect  VIN once the car is certified to be road worthy.

[Gary t]

54-1173 was built in, I think January of, 1969 but registered as a 1970, I will be trying to get this fixed when I reregister it.

[dakazman]

Same here. Mine is a 70 , but title shows 71. I thought it was a motor vehicle typo.
Dakazman

[jbcollier]

Very common back then for this sort of thing.  Ducati motorcycles even left the last digit blank on their serial number plates.  The dealers were meant to stamp it in when sold.  Many didn’t which can make matters very interesting 50 years later at the local registry.

[SilverBeast]

So I took it into work again today, only 10min and noticed the following:
(I) Throttle seems to stick if you ease your speed down. I have to blip it to get it to go back down to tick over.
(II) When  I put it in the garage the handbrake seemed to be still on a bit.
I'm assuming both of these are likely to be fixed with a bit of oil on the cables.
(III) When checking under the big bung in the front plenum chamber the wires for the fan override switch have been run under the pivoting bracket for the handbrake - seems like an electrical problem waiting to happen, if not worse.
(IV) The radiator thermostat (otter switch?) has been disconnected  completely  in order to connect manual fan override. Does anyone know of away to check this (I'm assuming it's broken) or a suitable replacement. I'm in the UK. I intend to reinstate the thermostatic switch and modify the override to use a relay.

I definitely need to lift the car and get the wheels off to give everything a good check over.  I have two ramps,  a trolley Jack and four axle stands, as well as the scissor jack that came with the car, though that seems to be missing the L shaped bracket mentioned in the online handbook.   Any recommendations for lifting and supporting the car to get all four wheels off the ground, and to be able to get underneath and check out the chassis.

Any common chassis defect areas to look at in particular?
Any recommendations for cleaning the oil off the engine and gearbox so I can start tracing the minor leaks?

Clearly it's time to read Certified Lotus's epic thread and look for pointers!

[4129R]

Jack up the front under the metal cross member where the metal plate attaches with 3 x 7/16" head bolts.

The rear is easiest to jack up centrally under the gearbox either at the rear mounting plate or where the suspension arms connect to the bottom centre of the gearbox.

Main places for rust are the bottom of the front box section described above, and the bottom of the Y  where the chassis splits at the front of the engine.

Throttle jamming can be caused by any of the cable especially both ends where the cable frays, or the linkage where the rod goes under the plenum chamber.

For cleaning oil, I use a garden pump up spray that you would use for spraying weedkiller available from Homebase or B&Q. Put in a pint or two of paraffin and spray the mucky area. Leave to soak in for an hour and hose off with water.

The otter switch earths the radiator fan, so an ove-ride switch is another way of starting the fan working by earthing via a manual switch. Even new otter switches can fail, so a manual over-ride is very useful if you are using the car regularly in traffic. The car is only self cooling with a 50 mph wind coming through the front grill so the electrical fan is essential.

Alex in Norfolk.