Just bought a 1973 Lotus Europa

[Phill]

Just a quick update to let you all know the car arrived in Southampton a day late. I was lucky enough to be able to arrange its collection and it was delivered to a very surprised Dad on Tuesday!

It's not his birthday until Monday but he's been complaining he's been bored, especially having to self-isolate due to the virus situation. He's been flat out stripping the car ever since! I think I'm going to have to start spending money on bits very quickly.

Will get some pics taken shortly.

[BDA]

It sounds like your story has a happy beginning and on its way to a happy ending!

I'm looking forward to pictures!

[jbcollier]

Lucky son, I say.

[Lotsof 3146 R]

Hi Phil,
73033146R 1975 twin cam special  arrived from Houston at London gateway on the 27th March 2020.
I bought this unseen and knowing it had not run for possibly 20 years.
Three weeks in, what I know.
1. Mud wasps build nests everywhere. Including inside the carburettors. Inside the chassis. All appear inactive and no damage done. It does make cleaning the carburettors a little more difficult.
2. More squirrel shit behind the seats than in a Topic. (US will need to google this to understand)
3. Ultrasonic cleaners need the right fluid to work well
4. To inspect the inside of the chassis look inside the opening in the Center tunnel- where the hand break adjustment is.
5. Lights UK spec rear lights are going to be 5-600 quid. I have rewired so the break lights are independent of the indicators and used the reversing lights as indicators with some repair film to tint amber. And added a new reversing light.
6. It’s easy to retire front indicators to only be indicators and not amber sidelights. The sidelights need to be wired into the headlamps. I USED LED HEADLAMPS
7. The ht leads were labelled 1,2,3,4. Incorrectly- no wonder it was running rough when I first started. For some reason it was only running on two cylinders and back firing badly.....
8. Good compression on all cylinders- yippy
9. Engine started and sounded sweet for a minute before squealing like a scorched pig. Waterpump seized.... not leaking oil clean... I’m going to leave in place an try a Davies Craig electric water pump, removing the waterpump drive belt. If it works good - if not then engine out and impeller removed. I’ve already decided that I’ll never run a mechanical waterpump.
10. Cooling fan motor, badly corroded-
11. Seats and all interior trim removed. Easy.
12. ½ the time on google amazon and eBay searching parts. Multiple daily deliveries.
13. tyres- speed rating h should be fitted- I had to use different manufacturers front and rear to get the correct 175/70 R13 and  185/70 R13 ( I used Nankang on the front and Hankook on the rear) mail ordered from mytyres.co.uk.

Three weeks into lockdown - the Europa couldn’t have arrived at a better time
   

[lotusfanatic]

Just a quick update to let you all know the car arrived in Southampton a day late. I was lucky enough to be able to arrange its collection and it was delivered to a very surprised Dad on Tuesday!

It's not his birthday until Monday but he's been complaining he's been bored, especially having to self-isolate due to the virus situation. He's been flat out stripping the car ever since! I think I'm going to have to start spending money on bits very quickly.

Will get some pics taken shortly.

Hello Phill,

Have you received the NOVA paperwork?
Send that off with the fee and you should receive a V5 with an age-related registration for the car,

regards,
Mark

[buzzer]

A comment on your list lotsof. The light units. Just replace the lenses £50 each and modify the case to UK spec.

[Rosco5000]

Hey Phill,
Welcome to the Europa family.  My Dad and I did a father son build of our Elan+2 it is a fantastic journey and I loved it so much.  Good luck to you and your Dad.  What a great way to stave off the boredum!
 
Oh and pictures, we love pictures.
 
Cheers,
Ross

[4129R]

Hi Phil,
73033146R 1975 twin cam special  arrived from Houston at London gateway on the 27th March 2020.
I bought this unseen and knowing it had not run for possibly 20 years.
Three weeks in, what I know.
1. Mud wasps build nests everywhere. Including inside the carburettors. Inside the chassis. All appear inactive and no damage done. It does make cleaning the carburettors a little more difficult.

Been there, done that, they were in the oilways in the blocks of two stripped engines.

2. More squirrel shit behind the seats than in a Topic. (US will need to google this to understand)

You have to be nuts to understand this.

3. Ultrasonic cleaners need the right fluid to work well
4. To inspect the inside of the chassis look inside the opening in the Center tunnel- where the hand break adjustment is.
5. Lights UK spec rear lights are going to be 5-600 quid. I have rewired so the break lights are independent of the indicators and used the reversing lights as indicators with some repair film to tint amber. And added a new reversing light.

I drilled two holes in the units for two bulbs, fitted two separate bulb holders, made up a dividing strip from ally, bought UK lenses, much cheaper than complete new lights.

6. It’s easy to retire front indicators to only be indicators and not amber sidelights. The sidelights need to be wired into the headlamps. I USED LED HEADLAMPS
7. The ht leads were labelled 1,2,3,4. Incorrectly- no wonder it was running rough when I first started. For some reason it was only running on two cylinders and back firing badly.....
8. Good compression on all cylinders- yippy
9. Engine started and sounded sweet for a minute before squealing like a scorched pig. Waterpump seized.... not leaking oil clean... I’m going to leave in place an try a Davies Craig electric water pump, removing the waterpump drive belt. If it works good - if not then engine out and impeller removed. I’ve already decided that I’ll never run a mechanical waterpump.
10. Cooling fan motor, badly corroded-

New ones are available. Don't risk overheating, buy a new one.

11. Seats and all interior trim removed. Easy.
12. ½ the time on google amazon and eBay searching parts. Multiple daily deliveries.
13. tyres- speed rating h should be fitted- I had to use different manufacturers front and rear to get the correct 175/70 R13 and  185/70 R13 ( I used Nankang on the front and Hankook on the rear) mail ordered from mytyres.co.uk.

Three weeks into lockdown - the Europa couldn’t have arrived at a better time
 

[Phill]

Hi guys,

I know I've been a bit slack with posting so I thought I'd do a bit of a catch up post. My dad has really cracked on with the car, he had it in bits within days of the car being dropped off.

We pulled the original dash out and labelled the wiring loom up, while taking lots of pictures. We are fortunate enough to live just a few miles away from the original Smiths factory that manufactured the Smiths gauges that were fitted to these originally. They are now called Speedy Cables. The original gauges were a bit tired and the amp meter had been changed to an after market unit so I've dropped the gauges off to them to be checked over and cleaned up with an aim for them to match up a Smiths amp meter.

While we had it apart we noticed the AVO coilovers that it has fitted, one of the ARB links at the bottom of the shock absorber on the front had snapped. AVO were very helpful but didn't offer that part as a replacement so we reverse engineered it from the good one and I had a couple made (1 replacement and a pair for spares). The bushes were also looking pretty tired so we replaced them with fresh ones which was really hard work. The new ones just didn't want to squeeze down into the original mounting points on the dampers, but we managed to make a jig to hold them and the push them in place using a vice. The dampers and springs were in pretty good condition.

We looked at various options with regards to the braking system and different ways to convert it to RHD and decided to stick with the original arrangement and just moved the stock master cylinder to the right hand side of the car and re plumb the front end of the pipework. We have had to trim a bit of the bodywork away and space the radiator forward a little, but all this with get remade in fibreglass while at the paintshop.

I managed to pick up a set of 15" Compomotive ML's to go on the car. The are a Ford PCD so I'll get a set of hubcentric spacers to make them fit.

So it's now fully converted to RHD and it's been dropped at a mates paintshop to get it prepared for being repainted in the original LeMan's blue.

[lotusfanatic]

Hello Phill,

I was about to ask what colour you were planning to have it painted (then I read your post properly!)

it's going to look superb! 
Mark

[Grumblebuns]

Very nice solution for the broken pickup point for the ARB. Bent ARB bottom studs are a common issue with the Europas; both of mine are a bit tweaked on my TCS.

Looking at the master cylinder placement, did you consider using remote reservoirs instead of cutting out the fiberglass? I'm assuming that that body of the M/C will not interfere with the body.

Nice work so far.

Joji Tokumoto

[BDA]

Congratulations on your work so far! 

I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures of your progress!

[4129R]

The Europas seem to have Lucas ammeters and the rest of the gauges are Smiths.

Quite why, I have no idea.

Hands up anyone who has a TC or TCS with a Smiths Ammeter.

[BDA]

At one time I did read why the ammeters were Lucas and the other gauges were Smiths. The best I can remember, and this information is probably not worth what you're paid for it, back in the day, Smiths and Lucas divvied up the market and Lucas took the electrical part (i.e. things having to do with the electricity and Smiths took the rest. A quick look didn't find any information on the subject much less confirmation of my memory so you may have REALLY over paid for my information!

[SilverBeast]

At one time I did read why the ammeters were Lucas and the other gauges were Smiths. The best I can remember, and this information is probably not worth what you're paid for it, back in the day, Smiths and Lucas divvied up the market and Lucas took the electrical part (i.e. things having to do with the electricity and Smiths took the rest. A quick look didn't find any information on the subject much less confirmation of my memory so you may have REALLY over paid for my information!

That's what I heard too.  But it was probably on here!

Mines a 74 TCS, but built 73. It also has a Lucas Ameter, and all the rest Smith's. That's all I've ever seen, in any of pictures.