Lotus Europa 16V Gordini

[Chuck Nukem]

That was a very interesting read, thanks for sharing.

[Mecky]

Serge, thank you very much for the hint. I had a look at the 3D model of the 16V head. It's completely different to the original Gordini 16V head, but I'm very interested nonetheless. Back then, the Gordini 16 valve head was a DOHC concept. The MesPiecesAuto concept is still a pushrod engine. I have the feeling, that this could cause some trouble with the many newly constructed moving parts. But I'm very much looking forward to see their progress.

I'm planning to build a second engine sooner or later, when I have the teething problems of the car sorted out. For this second engine, I'd like to go a little bit less conservative, for example maybe with a 318° camshaft and a compression ratio of 12:1. Maybe the 16V head is ready until this time.

@jbcollier: The wear of pressure plate and flywheel was not excessive from my opinion. You can see it below. The surface looks a little bit strange, but I could not feel a rough surface or something.

I actually quite like the feel that the ceramic clutch gives me. As it's spring-damped the get-away of the car from a stand still is still quite smooth.

[TurboFource]

Mecky,
The one pic makes it look like the disc is not contacting the pressure plate towards the center,
have you put a straight edge across it (might just be the pic)?

[Mecky]

@TurboFource: No, I haven't. As it's now put back together, I hope it's just the pic. 

On this nice and quiet weekend I completed the car again and started the winter engine maintenance. I was able to install the gearbox on my own without help with a rolling board (even without swearing). Fortunately, there is plenty of room in the engine compartment. I cleaned up the gearbox and suspension parts and gave them a splash of paint. I gave the valve cover and camshaft sprocket the same treatment. These little things do the look of the engine compartment a lot of good, in my opinion.

As for maintenance, I started by adjusting the rocker arm clearance. After the major overhaul in 2020, I don't plan to open up the engine any further. According to my notes, it has only run about 354 km since reassembly. Bearings, piston rings and head gasket should still be in good condition. But what I will definitely do is change the oil and spark plugs.

[jbcollier]

Are you using a 200mm or 215mm clutch?

[Mecky]

I use the standard 200 mm clutch diameter.

[Chuck Nukem]

Serge, thank you very much for the hint. I had a look at the 3D model of the 16V head. It's completely different to the original Gordini 16V head, but I'm very interested nonetheless. Back then, the Gordini 16 valve head was a DOHC concept. The MesPiecesAuto concept is still a pushrod engine. I have the feeling, that this could cause some trouble with the many newly constructed moving parts. But I'm very much looking forward to see their progress.

I am certainly no Renault or Gordini historian, but does the design he is making have precedent in that world? I would think for all the trouble he went through to simulate light weight rockers, flow characteristics, etc that he would have decided to go with an aluminum head and twin cam set up for the obvious benefits. Still a very interesting read indeed. 

[MRN I J]

I assume the head is aluminium otherwise the weight of a CI head would be prohibitive, the only problem with one cam is you can't change the LCA without changing the cam which on a Renault means lifting the head unless you can find a way of holding up the followers assuming they made a bolt on front cover over the top of the cam sprocket or supply a new design of front cover.
Much prefer the Renault engine over a TC as a superb head / bottom end combo is let down by various odd things.

[MRN I J]

Looks like the head is of a composite construction, all the parts bolt or screw together to form the complete head, as one of the comments says like a VM diesel of the 80s, 'Separate cylinders, hmmm, this makes me think of the VM engine fiasco', this could work or not, love to see it run the 1st time on the dyno, it will have to be good to produce the same or better results as a full race crossflow motor

[gideon]

There's a fairly detailed description of the MesPiecesAuto.com 16v head project, translated into English, here

https://www.mespiecesauto.com/en/culasse-cleon-fonte-16-soupapes-le-projet-fou/

[GavinT]

There is a French company (MesPiecesAuto), that sell cylinder liners etc for our 'Cleon' engines, and they are designing a 16V head.

That 16V head appears to be for the Sierra engine as found in the Renault 8 etc., so not compatible with the 697/821/807/843 et al engines.

[MRN I J]

There is a French company (MesPiecesAuto), that sell cylinder liners etc for our 'Cleon' engines, and they are designing a 16V head.

That 16V head appears to be for the Sierra engine as found in the Renault 8 etc., so not compatible with the 697/821/807/843 et al engines.

After reading it I realized that it was for the smaller engine which I think has a cast iron block ?

[GavinT]

Yes, cast iron.
The French word "fonte" apparently translates to either 'cast iron' or 'melting'.

One give away is the dizzy placement in the middle of the block whereas the R16 derived engines have the dizzy between No.1 and No.2.

[Mecky]

There is a French company (MesPiecesAuto), that sell cylinder liners etc for our 'Cleon' engines, and they are designing a 16V head.

That 16V head appears to be for the Sierra engine as found in the Renault 8 etc., so not compatible with the 697/821/807/843 et al engines.

That's a pity. In this case I have to continue hoping for somebody to replicate the Gordini DOHC 16V cylindre head from Renault Alpine's WRC campaign in the mid-seventies. As far as I know, there are only three left in existence.
The engines shown below have around 230 HP, but with 1800 cc. I guess, with this head you will have no choise but use a bigger bore and change to the 2,0 litre class. Only problem is that the competitors in this class use the full capacity of 2000 cc. Also in my racing series, I'd have to put even more ballast into the car up to 810 kg. The forces induced by cornering and braking with that kind of weight could kill the Europa completely. The Spyder Cars space frame and suspension could maybe solve that issue.

I'd prefer to use a 16V head with 1600 cc instead. But that is not even possible with a Renault 697 crank shaft (81 mm stroke). Thus, I'd need a special cylinder head for Ø77,8 mm bore. Very difficult indeed.

[MRN I J]

We need a modern 16v head (in the breakers) that was sold in europe for a 1400cc or even 1.3 / 1.2 ltr or thereabouts as all engines built nowadays are short stroke large bore, if it can be done with an A series by fitting a BMW motorbike head it may be able to be done on our engines.
Need to put a different dizzy drive on it.
Will put a tape on one of my blocks & a few engines on our sales forecourt, K series springs to mind from memory.
it needs similar bore spacing aswell as fitting the 4 valves within the bore of 77.8mm although you could make it work with slightly larger bore.