What I've been up to with 3826R (AKA Rip Van Winkle)

[FourLoti]

Hi everyone: Those of you who visit the eBay section of our Classified Forums, may recall I introduced myself back in May the night I was trying to decide whether to make a last minute bid on a sight-unseen TCS in Connecticut. I got some great advice,  but ignored it and put in a bid "just for fun" - and damned if I didn't win it. In case it needs to be said again, bidding on cars while sitting at a bar is not a clever thing to do.

Anyway after I dragged this thing from CT to OH, I started popping up here in the Garage and have been getting super amounts of help. I've also been working hard to revive this car that sat for more than 25 years, while removing a ton of surface rust from the Long Island Sound moist air. (True to the seller's claims, it indeed was all surface rust - except for the rust-welded pedal assy. which is another whole story.) In addition, I did enough wet sanding and polishing to confirm that the paint is going to come back just fine.

I also spent a ton of time on electrical, window and door latch issues before trying to bring the engine back to life. I'll spare you the details, but here is a video of the 2nd time I tried to fire it up after all that time. (The first attempt was rather interesting as I'll explain in a subsequent thread   https://youtube.com/shorts/mSOBWdsFIoc?feature=share

I'm not trying to do a show quality restoration (been there done that too many times) but I find it impossible to put dirty parts back in place, so, once I knew I had a good engine, I ended up spiffing up the whole compartment as shown below. (Again, not a show car, so please no comments about incorrect colors or finishes etc

Now on to the brakes so someday I might actually be able to drive the thing!

Cheers,

Ron

[Bainford]

Nice work, Ron. That is quite the transformation. You are on your way to owning a fine Europa.

[BDA]

What a difference!! Very well done! 

I would lose the crossover pipes and the catch tank but that's a personal choice. When I bought mine at the Lotus distributor in New Orleans, they deleted the crossover pipes without my asking. I think that a person would have to be pretty picky to demand they be retained on the car.

[Bryan Boyle]

***DELETIA***

I'm not trying to do a show quality restoration (been there done that too many times) but I find it impossible to put dirty parts back in place, so, once I knew I had a good engine, I ended up spiffing up the whole compartment as shown below. (Again, not a show car, so please no comments about incorrect colors or finishes etc

Now on to the brakes so someday I might actually be able to drive the thing!

Cheers,

Ron

Congrats on getting this far.  (Love the story of muffler nuts. Guessing the car had some tennants along the way.  Found the same stash once in a rubbermaid tub (they ate a hole through the damn thing) and left about 10 lbs of shells in the tub...).

As for restoration, BTDT, and really really didn't want to go down that road...though I may freshen up the paint on the rear deck since it's really bad.  Rest of the car is presentable...if checked paint.  Still won 1st place at a show back in June (people's choice against some tasty restos, too..); the overriding comment is that "it's only original once"  I can live with that...some sympathetic repairs around the edges: new upholstery (with original appearance vinyl) and floor carpet, front suspension refreshed, reasonably mechanically sorted, new dash pad, refreshed clutch and head gasket, resealed windshield...but for the most part going to leave it as it is, and tend to the issues as they arise...even with a laundry list of things to still do...it brings a smile to my face when I'm cruising down the motorway (even with the odd rattle from the disconnected, yet still installed gas tank). 

I didn't keep the PDW valve when I deleted the servos; don't know whether you're going to re-install them (I've not found that I need them; went to greenstuf pads in the front, stainless pistons, and the rears had been refreshed about 3 years ago, so just checked them and readjusted as per the book and the car has decent pedal travel and feel) and it eliminates an extra device which, for the type of driving we do, I question whether it's needed.  Guess it could get into a religious discussion, but, at some point I'm going to completely replumb the system to be analogous to the federal S2 dual system and get rid of a bunch of bundy tubing and simplify the system.  IMHO, simple is good, especially if it works.

I'll reiterate my suggestion to source the Gunson EZ-Bleed system for doing the brakes.  It turned a 2-person job into a one-person job that was done and hard pedal in less than 20 minutes even after having the whole system open...and let me flush it all out, front and rear, with new fluid.  You'll thank me later...

Good going, sir!