Getting work done

[exarkun1178]

last fall i changed the head gasket myself, after a i continued to drive with a bad water pump.... upon reassembly the engine would not fire.  i did the best i could do but ended up having it towed to the local dealership.

10,000$ later i had a new optical distributor, lowered front end, new brakes and bushings plus a few other things...

in may i drove the car home.  where it then sat all summer while i applied vinyl wrap, struggled to find a wheels/ tire combo to fit the new front end  and played with rocker lash.   

in the middle of all that my buddy broke my windshield.

after 3 moths of trying to get some one to install the glass and failing, i had the car towed to a local race shop with a surprising history of restoring europas.

its been there a two months now and we are making progress

new larger carb, my dash board is in, engine is running like a champ.

rear wheel issues has been fixed

new seats being covered and carpet installed.

windshield should be in any day now.


it is possible to have the car sorted by the end of the month.!


i do need to find a place to re finish a set of original steel wheels for the winter tires i have(yes i have every intention of driving the car 150 miles a day 5 days a week this winter.

Just wanted to share

[Bainford]

Woohoo! Exciting times. You must be anxious to get on the road after all that work and expense.

[yelloeuropa]

WOW, your Lotus must be a stunner...no competition from me. Hell, I ain't got 10 grand in all 27 cars I own. Man, lets see some pics of that baby-PLEASE. Best of luck, Rick

[exarkun1178]

10k at the dealership labor rate DOES not look like much.  the engine bay was cleaned up slightly,  lowered front end (with mangled fenders) and some yellow spark plug wires.  the body outside and in still looked like a 42 year old heap.

i am optimistic this round of work will greatly improve both inside and out, and look like its not a 42 year old heap

[cal44]

Here's the snapshots?

mike

[exarkun1178]

ill have to take a few next week when i go past the shop.  most recnt picture of the car  was of the can of ant spray sitting in the hood....  as it turns out i had an ant colony in the passenger seat foam.

[katanaman]

My neighbor took his wheels across the river and had them powder-coated.  They look great and promise to stay that way a bit longer here on the coast.  Maybe you can locate some powder coating people in your area and see their work...           Dan

[exarkun1178]

went by the shop today.

turns out things keep popping up.  todays topic, the rusted stiff brake pedal rod.

He says, it should be all buttoned up by end of december.

[exarkun1178]

images too large to upload.

[LotusJoe]

images too large to upload.

I have increased the size for uploads. Try again

[exarkun1178]

just going to type here a bit,  dont mind me,

i cant talk to my wife about the car- 3 years ago when i bought it, i didnt really tell her.  it just appeared one day.  and since, shes been unhappy with it.  i have a few local lotus friends,  all of whom have the elise and as such do not relate at all to my car.(i had a elise in 05,06, 07 when I and my business were doing well).  of those friends, two tolerate my rambling.

the example  bought a few years ago had very low miles, and a running engine and trans. however the body and interior were wanting.

i put 9k on it and starting having cooling issues, which led to some work getting done, including a new head gasket.  since that time i have been sorting it.  a few new components as well as visual enhancements. 

now its been two years lots of $ and even more sweat and tears chasing my vision.  one mod leads to 6 not thought of issues that each need to be addressed and those result in more..  its a never ending cycle i tell those of you still reading.

last winter i turned the car over to the local lotus dealer and spent a lot of money for what amounted to very little  the car drove out of the shop and barely made it home. 4 month it was there!

i had it for the summer  but was undrivable due to aftermarket wheels/ tire combo and the now euro spec front end.

my buddies and u spent two months peeling off plasti dip and covering it in vinyl wrap.  while doing this my friend broke the windshield.

this led to a lengthy search for a new one.  while at the same time the removal of the dash.

the car sat with out a windshield through June, July, and august.  it was not till mid September i gave up on putting the dash in myself.  i took it to a new shop(one i found by chance through the yahoo group)

now this shop has it.  their labor rate is 40% of the dealers rate - thank the maker.

now its the end of november and some progress has been made, but feel like things continue to pile on.  this leads to that and that leads to more that's.  the latest, the bodies going to come off the chassis and the chassis will be blasted and painted.  The new shop, the owner, i get the feeling like he cares about the project, or at the very least my continued support of his work on the project, which is much better the feeling the dealership left me with last year.

dont get me wrong, this is good. its 42 years old, and needs the work as i intend to drive it 750 miles a week as my commuter car.  but quite frankly, between you me and the worlds wides web, i just want to drive the damn thing!

ive owned it for 40 months and in the last 30, ive put 90 miles on it.

just want it all to come together and be done.  but still not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel yet.

anyways.  ordered the new steering wheel - which i expect to be the cap stone of the car when finished, and new LED head lights. (open to ideas for the tail lights...)

hope everyone elses projects are smoother then mine has been.

[cal44]

Mr. Ex,
Tony Soprano would say "what'a ya gonna do"?.

Two years ago I bought an Elan with a fresh engine.........it blew something 700 miles later..........what'a ya gonna do?

What this does is teach you, at least that's how I look at it.  You'll know your car better than when you bought it.

Paying for an education can be a good thing..........but painful.  When I get frustrated with repairs I walk away for a couple of days....clears the mind.

On another topic.  If you do Photobucket you can transfer the pics to this website.

mike

[EuropaTC]

i cant talk to my wife about the car

Chin up old chap, that's what internet forums are for !   

I bet most of us don't talk cars with wives/girlfriend/partner/dog/cat/whatever. (although I get a lot of sense out of our dog - he barks, wags a tail and then waits for something to eat)

It's only another owner who has gone through the restoration deal that can appreciate just how slow these things can be, how one solution finds the next problem, etc. Because as you say, it's a 40yr old car and that's without the benefits of 1960s engineering behind it.  All restorations take longer and cost more than you expect and that doesn't matter if you're DIY or professional, it just happens; look at 7UpJohn, he's still waiting for his car to arrive and that's with a team of dedicated professionals working on it ?

As Mike says, we all get frustrated or down at some point.  These days I do the same, just walk away and leave it - or rather I get my bike out and go for a ride. After a bit of space I find ideas popping up and I'm more enthusiastic when I get back to it.

Brian

[Bainford]

At least there IS progress. It's going to be wonderful when finished, and that day is getting closer.

[Mecky]

I think every Europa owner knows these problems and can feel with. Or is there anyone out there, who never had to repair some bigger issues on his Europa?

On twitter you could conclude it with #BritishOldtimer. Unfortunately, this hashtag does not stand for best quality and reliability