Lotus Europa 16V Gordini

[Mecky]

  Yes, I do. Unfurtunately, right now everything is still "falling" apart. But the dismantling and inventory analysis is the most important part of my whole job, I guess.

[Chuck Nukem]

Looking good Mecky!!!

[Mecky]

Hi Guys,

just a short update:
I wanted to do a quick (  ) check-up on the gear box. I only intended to open the rear cover, check the shifting mechanism, the overall condition and make an oil change.

Unfortunately that escalated completely and it had to be a full gearbox revision, because the synchro sliding gear of gears 1 and 2 was jammed. I looked around for a matching used gearbox, which is the Renault 395 five speed in my case. But it was not so easy to find the right one, thus I took a bit of a gamble with buying a used NG3 gearbox. I hoped that I could use the whole thing, in case I could not fit my customized shifting mechanism to it.
End of this story: The gearboxes look very similar from the outside and even the gear ratios are the same, but the housing doesn't allow the to fit the old suspension mounts and on the inside the gearboxes are almost completely different. I realized this while dismantling the NG3 and was already looking like this: 

But then I found out that the only broken parts on my 395 (one little spring and the sliding gear) are exactly the same on the NG3, which I just dismantled.
So now, I was able to convert a broken 395 and a running NG3 into a (hopefully) running 395 and many parts of an NG3 

That meant that it's not too much of a proplem that I'm still waiting for feedback from france for the engine gaskets, bearings and piston rings. The company may suffer from some covid-lock-down- issues, I guess. Hence, I had something to work on, while waiting. And I still have...

[Valerio Leone]

I am looking forward to see the Holy Graal. The 16V head!!!
Nice project Mecky!!

[Mecky]

Hi Guys,

I have some updates regarding my race car upgrade. It was harder than expected to build a fully airtight ducting into the nose of my Lotus Europa, but with many trial & error iterations I finally managed it. It was especially difficult, because the car has quite an eventful history with an accident caused by myself in 2014 and at least one more (I guess in the mid-nineties). The repairs have made the nose a bit asymmetrical. But it worked out nicely with the use of edge protective rubber seals, which I got from random cars at the local scrap yard. The rubber strips help to close the gaps between duct structure and the inner nose smoothly.

Now the new bonnet is painted green, which makes a huge difference in the feeling, when you come into the workshop and see the car. Next step is to assemble the engine. I received the new gaskets, bearings and piston rings. I'm looking forward to cover the parts in liquid gold 10W-60. But first, I have to disassembly the rest of the engine to clean everything in depth.

I have also bought the electrical water pump capable of a flow rate of 80 litres per minute together with an adjustable electronic monitoring system to be completely secure. It's this system: https://daviescraig.com.au/product/ewp80-combo-12v-80lpm21gpm-remote-electric-water-pump-controller-combo-8907/ewp80-lcd-controller-combo-12v-8907

This is the current status. I'll try to make progress over the weekend.

Regards
Stefan

[BDA]

Nice work, Mecky! She's coming along nicely! 

[Mecky]

My (still 8V) Gordini crossflow (Hemi) engine is finally ready after its overhaul. 

I have disassembled every part, cleaned everything and replaced the following parts:
- all gaskets
- main bearings
- rod bearings
- piston rings
- oil pump
- timing chain

It's the first engine built all by myself, thus I hope that it will run as good as it looks

[TurboFource]

Looks great!

[BDA]

If it does run as good as it looks, it will run very well indeed! Congratulations on your first engine build! 

[Mecky]

Hi guys,

good news: engine and gearbox are back in

Only thing I wondered about: the tiny amount of space between the intake funnels and the tank, espacially of cylinder no. 4. 
But I checked the photos and it's the same as before. Nontheless, I will try and upgrade the air supply through a feeder snorkle or something like that fitted to the engine bonnet

[BDA]

That really is close!! That doesn't look like a good thing. Is there anything you can do about it?

[jbcollier]

Give the tank a smack with a rubber hammer?

[GavinT]

That's pretty close.

After you've smacked it with a rubber hammer  . . . perhaps a longer term idea would be to move the tank to the other side.
That way, you've got room to install a cold air intake of some sort.

[Nero]

This is the exact reason why I´m running twin tanks with 25 liter each. That way I can even run a proper airbox.

[SwiftDB4]

If you can fabricate a 47 style snorkel airbox you will be amazed at the added power. I did one on my Zetec engine (twin 45's) S1 and I get 500 rpm more at top speed on long straights. i'll try to locate some pictures.