Europa S2 540936 in Sweden

[lahi]

That machine looks very nice! Would love to have one in my garage What industry do you work in mostly? I am looking forward to your progress! Especially the 3d scan and molds.

It would be very nice to have one of these in the garage but they are quite expensive  But I have 5 minutes to work so I can play there instead.
At work me make the core material for composite sandwich constructions. Mainly for wind industry and marine applications but also aero and others. We make the material and finishing too. Some parts can be quite complex so that's why we have so many machining centers.
I'm there as a project leader for bigger investment projects. Previously I worked as head of design and development at a car manufacturer but I decided I want to keep my hobby as a hobby so I quit  My only way of relaxing was to go to my garage and build cars and motorcycles, and working with cars everyday for a living made me not want to do that in the evenings, meaning that I couldn't relax at all. And i didn't want to change hobby.

[lahi]

It's so satisfying to glass blast the parts  From dirty and horrible to shiny and looks like new 

[BDA]

Love the look of bead blasted parts! Paint sticks to it really well too!

[Certified Lotus]

Just remember to paint right away with a primer otherwise the parts will start rusting in hours. Aluminum the metal gets opened up and will start a corrosion process.

[lahi]

Just remember to paint right away with a primer otherwise the parts will start rusting in hours. Aluminum the metal gets opened up and will start a corrosion process.

Already done a few minutes after the pictures were taken 

[dakazman]

  I assume you had the brake line inlets taped over, but from the pictures it looks like they were open. Are you going to split the calipers?
Dakazman

[lahi]

  I assume you had the brake line inlets taped over, but from the pictures it looks like they were open. Are you going to split the calipers?
Dakazman

They are split already.
I blasted them, got the pistons out, split them, cleaned internally and painted with anti corrosion paint (on the outside, not the inside...) 

They are getting a complete rebuild with new seals everywhere so I had to split them. I also wanted to make sure they are ok and not clogged with anything.

Picture below. Also a picture of the manifold.

[BDA]

Looking good!

In case you're not aware, there are special square o-rings that should be used on those calipers. You should make sure to use the right ones.

[lahi]

Looking good!

In case you're not aware, there are special square o-rings that should be used on those calipers. You should make sure to use the right ones.

Thanks! I didn't know that. I have a shopping list at SJ Sportscars for all the parts and I intend to buy the caliper repair kit from them too. I hope that kit is the right one with the correct seals 

The order will be made this weekend as I think the list is complete now  Hopefully...

Forgot to write that the calipers will get the right grey paint later on. The grey I think is closest to original. The black is just anti corrosion primer. Just to make sure noone thinks that I don't try to make it 100% as it left the factory 

[BDA]

SJ should have the correct seals. Grey is probably pretty close to the original color. I think they had a rust resistant plating  that was similar but lighter than the raw cast color but I don't remember specifically. I think that should satisfy most people who might criticize you for straying from the original look! I'm not one of them!

[jbcollier]

Kits do not come with the seal between the two caliper halves.  Only a few suppliers carry them: Angloparts, Moss for a couple.

[lahi]

More has been done. Not nearly as quick as I planned but three small children and all the animals at home takes a lot of time.

I got the frame blasted and powder coated. Repaired and reinforced some small rips where the backbone meets the T before powder coating.

More small stuff are blasted with glass beads and there's more to come. Did some more yesterday but forgot to take pictures. More parts are also painted after blasting but forgot to take pictures of that too...

Also thinking of what to do with the carb. As I really want to make the car as close to original as possible I would like to use the standard Solex Didsa2 as my car has the 1470 cc Renault engine. I know, bad decision, but that's the standard carb. Are there any rebuild kits around for those? Hasn't found any for the Didsa2 but there are for many others. Perhaps one of those fit?

I have two different twin port Webers too (36/36 I think) but I don't know now which ones they are as I'm at work and not in the garage  But if I don't get the Solex to work properly I at least have alternatives.

Next time in the garage I will remove the original wheels from the other Europa and get them blasted and powder coated too. I have a set of magnesium Minilites but they will not be used on this car that I'm restoring now as I want the wheels that were on the car from the factory.

[BDA]

Great work! I'm sorry to say the frame does not look original. It looks way too good! 

[gideon]

Those rips, where the backbone meets the T, exist largely because the T isn't welded to the backbone along the bottom edge.  The simplest fix is cut the bottom plate, so you can bend a piece up to the backbone to be welded on.  Pictures of one person's version of that repair are here

https://groups.io/g/LotusEuropa/album?id=157178

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they did almost exactly that with the Twin Cam chassis.  Then, I believe they corrected another mistake, when they built the Esprit chassis, and folded those flanges on the sides of the backbone inwards rather than outwards.  And later on with the Esprit they corrected their 3rd mistake and added some triangulation between backbone and T piece at the bottom.

This is the most important pic from that album.

[jbcollier]

There isn’t such a “flap” on the S1 chassis.  It’s still an excellent idea to reinforce that area.  I did on mine.

Check the wheels for true and out of round before re-finishing them.

Have any vintage magnesium wheels crack tested before use.  Test them at regular intervals and after any impacts from, for example, a large pothole.  Better yet, just don’t use them!

I understand the desire to keep it original though I must confess I didn’t do so with mine.  The original carb has a weakness.  The top cover screws are not sufficient to stay tight while supporting the air cleaner.  On Renault 16s, the protruding “snout” was supported by a bracket from the valve cover.  For some reason this was not there in the Europa.  I would strongly recommend adding a discreet bracket back in.  When the top cover works loose, it wears rapidly and fuel consumption goes way up.