introduction

[ron parola]

Just joined the group, so I'm introducing myself; I've been a brit car mechanic for 40 years now, even had to do warrenty work ON the Europa's when new. Sold my last Jag about 10 years ago and a few years ago felt the NEED for another british car. SOMEHOW talked myself into buying an Ebay 72 Europa. I bought a runner  to be sure I still liked them AND could still fit, yes on both counts. However I didn't recall them being THAT slow, yes faster than the B's and Sprigets about the same as a Jenson Healy, but couldn't keep up with a new Beetle... oh the shame. So after some pondering settled on a transplant; 2.2l Ecotec mated to a Surbaru transaxle. Didn't feel too badly about that for two reasons 1) a kit car to begin with and 2) Ecotec were design in Hethal, Hah; a tenuous Lotus link. That's my story, car continues development and will attend to paint when fall arrives. Cheers Ronp

[Valerio Leone]

Hey Ron! Welcome!!
You might want to know that the original twincam is now able to get up to180hp.
Maybe it's less expensive than swapping to an Ecotec.
More, You will preserve the value of the car when original...

Ciao
Valerio

[Valerio Leone]

Anyway enjoy your Europa!!!!

[cal44]

Well Ron,
love having a professional wrench on sight here.   I'm a simple sort, I like pictures.  Got some?   Was your car a '71 registered in '72 or is/was it a twin cam.   I am intrigued by the transplant.

mike

[Bainford]

  Welcome to the forum, Ron. Sounds like an interesting project. Cheers.

[Grumblebuns]

Welcome to our small group. Having owned my TCS since 1978, I've been occasionally let down by its quickness but never its handling, so I do feel your pain. However,  I'm not sure if I'm willing to irreparably modify a running stock Europa for an engine transplant. I have two engine transplants in progress on an S2 and another TCS so I have nothing against transplants. The S2 will be reversible if needed, the TCS is permanently modified (I bought it that way from the PO).

Love to see some pictures.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca

[ron parola]

IF I can get my WIFE to be able to upload pix I'll try to this weekend....I'm NOT to good with confusers. The car is a 72 twink but a four speed, I did try for close to a year to get a good five speed but no one was breaking loose with one, and to think of the Fuegos we used to throw away! Ecotec a good fit and very easy to connect to a Subie trans. Yes I realize you could get almost 200 hp out of the twincam, and the NEW Kent block allows for an even bigger motor, but the water pump and oil leak issues sealed the deal for me. Gad, did too many pumps at the dealership. So I went modern....and then got greedy, ie turbo. I think it's fast enough for NOW, lets see if it stays together! Cheers ronp

[Grumblebuns]

Wow, a former Lotus mechanic. Got ask how the how the pros replaced the TC water pump. Did you have to drop the engine and remove the head for the replacement or did you figure out a way to do the job with the engine in place to save time?

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca 

[ron parola]

No good way, not so terrible on a lift, I recall undoing the motor mounts to sag the engine to gain some space but we didn't remove the head. Tried not to hurt the gasket at the head if possible OR cut a new piece out of a new gasket and used Hylomar to seal it up. Silicone sealers were still in their infancy, if Hylomar could seal up the 907 cam boxes on Jensen Healy's (WAY to many recalls there) it was good enough for me Cheers ronp 

[3929R]

 

[ron parola]

Thanks to my LONG suffering wife, here are some pix; 2.2l Ecotec mated to a Subie fwd trans, turboed, alcohol injected, and intercooled. Foto of rear of car shows rear end cut out of body to allow air through heat exchanger and that's the reason for the heat shields at crossmember and above muffler, TRYING to get cooler air through heat exchanger. I didn't want to run more plumbing to front of car, and no good place to put exchanger in front cuz that would block airflow to AC condenser (Hey it's hot up here). Didn't weigh car when stock but without driver and with half tanks of fuel it weighs 1710lbs and that's split 56% rearwards, better with driver on board I would think. Whenever I had to make or modify something, if possible, I made it out of aluminum or at least made it lighter, trying to add  lightness as it were.  Well, tried to send pix BUT they are too large limit, seems to be 1000k these are 2.5meg I'll try in the photo section otherwise how do we cut pixels out of an I phone pic Cheers ronp 

[cal44]

Ron,
the pix thing isn't working..........I see nothing

mike

[ron parola]

OK, this time for SURE, maybe, had to find out how to size pix for site, hard than you'd think IF you don't know what yer doing ron p

[Bainford]

That's quite a tidy conversion, and one that I don't think I've heard of before. That thing must move along quite smartly.

[EuropaTC]

Hi and welcome.....

Is that "Subie" as in Subaru ?  If so, I'm intrigued by the use of a different gearbox to the usual Renault ones. Is it a difficult job ?  If you've got a website showing the build I'd be interested in seeing how it's done.

Cheers

Brian