Introduction from Townsville Australia

[Murray210]

Hi just joined,
have purchased a S2 it is being transported from 2500ks from home so could be 10 days until it arrives.
A LITTLE BIT EXCITED to say the least.
This will be my first Europa since seeing my first one in the flesh in 1979, its been a long wait, but worth it.
This is an original Australia delivered car in good everyday usable condition, to be used as an everyday driver.
It is a December 1968 model, first registered 1/2/1969; Vin 54/1187; Engine #: 697-04/1303; Originally Yellow.
Has been red and fitted with a 16TS twin 45 Weber's for many years.
I have restored some 58 cars and sold them to other people to enjoy. Now its time for me to buy a restored car and just enjoy it.
I Look forward to upgrading my knowledge base on this site.

[cal44]

Welcome Murrray210,

did you by it in Oz?  Nice looker.  Look forward to your report upon it's arrival.

mike

[Murray210]

Yeah Mike,
bought it from Sydney, will let do a bit of a report once I have run it up z few twisty roads.
re
Murray

[EuropaTC]

Hi Murray, and 

That's a good looking car you have there, and all the better for being used daily. I see someone has gotten fed up with having the under-dash handbrake and decided to go conventional with it, you've probably got the most effective parking brake on the forum !

58 restorations, wow, I've not even owned that many cars. I bet there are a few good tales in that lot ? 

Brian

[Murray210]

Thanks Brian,
many long nights and weekends in the garage, but I have stopped enjoy "the build" and want to enjoy a car.
In that 58, there is everything from E-Types to TRs and Minis, plus the odd Australian and American Car as well.

[StephenH]

Welcome, I was only looking at that advert a couple of days ago.
I bought mine from Perth earlier this year so understand the waiting for transport factor.
Looks good and has a few upgrades to enjoy.

[Murray210]

Thanks Stephen, I hope you have had the opportunity to sort whatever things you want to on yours and had a chance to enjoy driving it.

[Bainford]

  Welcome to the forum, Murray. That is a fine looking Europa you have. Very clean and tidy. I understand the excitment of waiting for the Europa to arrive. When I bought mine almost four years ago, it took over six weeks to arrive after purchase. The wait was killing me, but so sweet when the big truck showed up in the yard and dropped the rear gate.

[Murray210]

Thanks Bainford, its like being 6 years old on Christmas E :pirate:ve

[Murray210]

Hi All,
I have had the car about 10 days and would really like some advice as requested below.
The car has a 807-01 R16TS motor from an Australian delivered Car.

I ordered a nice alloy rocker cover from Banks Europa, to find out the hard way that Australian delivered cars came with a Bosch Distributor not a French Ducellier.
The Bosch Unit is considerable larger in diameter to the Ducellier and will not fit in the recess of the cast alloy rocker cover.
If anyone can tell me the correct model Ducellier for a crossflow motor I would appreciate it, as the car has Webers a mechanical unit would be preferable if such a unit exists, any advice on where I may obtain a rebuilt unit at a reasonable price would also be appreciated.

As would any information on ignition timing, R16TS has 18 Distributor Degrees (36 Crankshaft) at 2500 rpm, Lotus s2 Manual has
18 Deg at the Distributor (36 crankshaft) at 3000 rpm for the Renault wedge motor. (other than that I could not find much on the internet, perhaps I am looking in the wrong place)

My car has a slightly non standard Australian Waggett 127 Cam, if it matters,
Lift 0.265”
Inlet Opens 23BTDC (standard is 21)
Inlet Closes 55 ABDC (standard is 59)
Exhaust Opens 53 BBDC (standard is 59)
Exhaust closes22 ATDC (standard is 21)

The car has twin 45 side draft Webers a quick look inside reveals 48f idle, f11 emulsion, 180 mains, nothing else marked, have not had the venturis out.
Gave the carbs a clean, set floats, balanced (with a sync) and set idle. Very rich at idle, with mixture screws as lean as reasonably possible, seems fine when it come off the idle circuit.
Also found some water in the carb bowls, traced this back to a damaged neck on the fuel tank where the fuel cap seats, water could get in from a simple wash, so I will have to order a new tank neck.

Tuned it best I could with little information the old way by ear followed by, tune, drive, pull over-adjust, and do it all again. 

I ran a spanner (wrench) over every inch of the car for a few days and did anything required. Then ran it up a local small mountain (1500 ft) that is set up with good tarmac for hill climbing, best I have done after 6 years of practice on my heaver cruiser motorcycle is 70 kph, I hit 140 in a short burst in the lotus, it was/is amazing, lower centre of gravity and 4 paws on the tarmac, truly amazing stuff.

Bought some nice personalised plates (vanity plates in the US) TYP.54

Any help on advice required above would be appreciated.

Re
Murray

[EuropaTC]

Wow, now that you've got the car home it looks even better than in your first photos, the paintwork is stunning.  I would be over the moon with that, it's lovely.

Sadly I can't help with the engine questions, I know nothing about the Renault series. My first call would be the manuals page (http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/index.htm) follwed by a search of the Yahoo list knowledgebase (http://lotus-europa.com/ekb.html) but I suppose you've already been there.  It might be worth contacting Richard at Banks Europa to see if he's got any ideas because he's probably seen more than most.

I've got webers on my elan and over the years I've realized they're quite sensitive to float height. Normally I set them up with a Gunsons Colortune plug and a synchronometer thing which sounds very similar to what you've done ? They're still a touch too rich at idle, nothing serious  just "not right" but I live with it.

Brian


 

[StephenH]

I'll be back in Australia tomorrow and will check the carb and ignition setup on mine and let you know.
It is probably similar in engine spec.

[Murray210]

Hi Brian,
thank you for the positive vibes, I polished the little bugger  within and inch of its life and used some correct white balance in the camera, so it looks the red it is rather than orange. It was painted 15 years ago, it has its share of minor scars, but I'm not afraid to drive it anyplace. I also checked the floats, they were actually spot on which was surprising. I did check both sites you listed, but unless I missed something, I have no further info than previously mentioned.

Stephen,
I would appreciate what you can provide me with, be sure to stop and spend some time with your partner first or your a dead-man  .
re
Murray

[StephenH]

She knows I will need to spend some quality time in the man cave, probably Monday.
Sitting in Sydney now in transit to Melbourne so not far from home.
Wait till Carol hears I spent some of my time while O/S shopping for Europa parts and speaking with Richard Banks, rather than Christmas shopping for her
She can only kill me to death once.

[Murray210]

Enjoy Sydney Airport Stephen, I spent 6 hrs there on the way back from buying the Europa a few weeks ago, I hope you have better luck. I look forward to hearing what you bought, must have been cool meeting Richard Banks.

Good luck with Carol you get home, I think you must work on the same principal as me, IT IS EASIER TO SEEK FORGIVNESS THAN PERMISSION!