My Europa story and what I have done to the car:

[Jess Larsen]

Hello to you all on this very good forum

My name is Jess, I live in Denmark, I am the happy owner of a Europa Special from 73. My interest for the Lotus Europa started way back in the seventies where I saw a black JPS car very often parked in front of a building I was passing by, on my way to school. I remember going home from school I often sat on my bicycle and just starring at this fantastic car. Since then the Europa has always been my favourite car.

My Europa was imported to Denmark from Missouri in USA. I am doing a total restoration on the car that I have been working on for some years now, but at the moment the chassis is done with rebuild motor and gearbox which are mounted in the chassis.
The body have been a big big job. I have used a lot of time on the body, to get it ready for the paint job. The front of the body had a lot of cracks that I had to repair and when I had removed the old paint I discovered  some places had been repaired with plastic padding, so I had to cut these parts out and build it up again with fiberglass mats.  The body is now in good shape and sent away to the paint shop and I hope to get it back in the near future.

I have started to look at the interior parts, I have re veneered the dashboard and have purchased new seat trim from Banks UK, which I will work on, in the coming winter, so it´s all getting in the right direction, I hope.

Here are some pictures of the car, before I took it apart, and some other pictures during the process.
Besides the Europa I have a Spitfire 1500 as you can see on the foto. I do hope they will meet again soon, for another fotosession.

Jess

[BDA]

Hi Jess!!

 

Your car looks like it's well on its way. It seems you are wanting to keep it "original". Based on what you've done so far, she'll be a beauty! Good luck and keep those pictures coming!

[EuropaTC]

Hi Jess, and 

Wow, I don't know what's more impressive, the work you've done on the car or how clean you keep that workshop !   

The detail work you've done looks concours/show standard to me and I can see you're going to have a very nice car at the end of it all.  Are you going for a restoration to standard 1970's specifications or are there any updating or other improvements in the plan ?

Looking forward to more progress photos as it goes along..... 

Brian

[cal44]

Your attention to detail requires patience and it shows..............nice work. 
I'm lovin' the Spitfire as well.

mike

[Jess Larsen]

Thank you very much for your replies.

The car is not being brought back to it´s original color and trim, that was regent red and black interior. I am having it painted black and interior will be changed to oatmeal trim, that´s the way I like it to be.

Something else I will do, is to update the water pump to the Burton removable water pump, because sadly the pump is leaking, and I don´t want to mess with the water pump again, so I have taken the step and purchased a new front cover, once and for all.

I will post some fotos when I get further.

Jess

[BDA]

That water pump is called a "cassette" water pump. Dave Bean, in California was the first I heard of selling them - I assumed that he invented it but maybe not. In any case, they are a really great modification!

Good luck with your restoration!

[EuropaTC]

Interesting comment about the water pump. Do the Burton/AN other cassette units work with the Europa front cover ? The reason I ask is that I've also done the water pump renewal and it's very tight between the front cover and bulkhead so my thoughts are around if there is enough room to remove the cassette without the cover as you can with the Elan.

One comment I do recall from my Club Lotus days is that the factory claimed never to have a problem with the Europa water pumps, or at least not on the scale they did with the Elan. The reason they gave was that the drive belt was a fixed thing and the owner couldn't over-tighten as you can with the Elan, so they ran as designed.

When mine failed at circa 55,000 miles it wasn't the pump at fault, it was me.  The drive belt snapped and the first I knew was when the engine over-heated. Because the car was so reliable back then (yes, really) I just thought the gauge/sender was wrong.  By the time it dawned on me it really was hot and I'd stopped, the mechanical seal had been damaged and that's why it needed replacement.  The design was fine, the driver not so much   

Brian

ps - black and oatmeal trim - excellent choice. I loved that oatmeal interior they did back then.

[Nuk]

Welcome Jess,
That's a great reason to buy a car!! I am glad that you can have such a great car you always like since you were young, good story.
Seeing what you have done here, I am sure your Europa must be very nice when finished 

[Grumblebuns]

Interesting comment about the water pump. Do the Burton/AN other cassette units work with the Europa front cover ? The reason I ask is that I've also done the water pump renewal and it's very tight between the front cover and bulkhead so my thoughts are around if there is enough room to remove the cassette without the cover as you can with the Elan.

One comment I do recall from my Club Lotus days is that the factory claimed never to have a problem with the Europa water pumps, or at least not on the scale they did with the Elan. The reason they gave was that the drive belt was a fixed thing and the owner couldn't over-tighten as you can with the Elan, so they ran as designed.

When mine failed at circa 55,000 miles it wasn't the pump at fault, it was me.  The drive belt snapped and the first I knew was when the engine over-heated. Because the car was so reliable back then (yes, really) I just thought the gauge/sender was wrong.  By the time it dawned on me it really was hot and I'd stopped, the mechanical seal had been damaged and that's why it needed replacement.  The design was fine, the driver not so much   

Brian

Brian, I agree that the water pump design for the Europa is adequate. The belt has to drive only the water pump pulley and is non adjustable as opposed to the Elan which has to drive the alternator and a fan mounted water pump pulley putting additional stresses on the WP bearing and seal.

I've done a couple of OEM WP replacements, one on a TC Europa and the other on an Elan Plus 2. The Elan was fairly easy, pull the radiator, head , oil pan, then the front cover for the WP. With the Europa, pull the engine/tranny out then same as the Elan without the radiator.

The cassette WP is manna from heaven for the Elan. I could probably do a cassette WP replacement in half a day (I work slow) instead of a week end for the Elan.

For the Europa, a cassette WP will definitely shorted the time considerably if the engine can be left in place. I've looked under the front of the engine where the WP is located and there is approximately three inches of room to pull out the cassette assembly. I don't have any practical experience to say if it's possible but it looks like there may be enough clearance. It would definitely help to put the Europa on a lift to access the WP from the bottom. Another possibility that I've heard other owners doing is to cut an access hole in the rear bulkhead to access the front of the engine from the cabin..

Jess, you're doing a beautiful restoration job on the Europa. Looking at what you've done so far, the finished job should look fantastic.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca     

[BDA]

One thing you might consider is putting a door from the engine compartment to the inside of the cabin. It doesn't have to be pretty since it is covered with the carpet on the firewall. If the engine is out, it's a good time to install a nicer firewall (that would now accommodate the door). If the engine is still in the car, that may be more difficult. I put one in my car for when the cam belt or water pump needs to be replaced. I've seen several other cars with similar (and nicer) arrangements.

[Jess Larsen]

Thank´s again for the replies.

Yes, it is the cassette water pump. The Burton water pump cover is not made exactly to the Europa, it´s made to the Cortina and the Elans (surely because there is more of these models) with the tube connection going sideway out from the motor. It then have to be modified to be used inside the tight Europa chassis. So it´s not a strait forward job to make the exchange from the original water pump cover.

My old front cover was corroded inside, I gave it a change but it seems not to work out. I do not have the body on chassis at the moment. I know it´s tight in front of the motor, as far as I can see, when body is on the chassis it can be removed from underneath with the car on a lift. The original Heat shield is of several layers and very thick and heavy, this can be done with some modern and thinner materials, I think maybe this should gain a little more space.

Grumblebuns and BDA, you are right the access hole in the firewall can be the final solution, I´ll see when I get the body on the chassis.

Jess

[Bainford]

Jess, welcome to the forum, and let me say that I am very impressed with your restoration. Your Europa is going to be gorgeous, I'm sure every bit as nice as you envisioned when you used to ride your bike to admire the car from your childhood. I can't wait to see more of your project. Cheers

[3929R]

Jess, Your car is looking amazing! I look forward to following your progress.

BDA, Do you happen to have or know of any photos of your or other's access doors?

[BDA]

Well, I know I've seen some on the lotuseuropa yahoo group so  I skimmed some pictures there but didn't see any (or I was so bleary eyed I missed them! ). It's very common for people who install Zetec engines or an engine with a cam belt (like the BDA). It's a pretty simple thing to do. The firewall is a sort of fiber board (IIRC like a very heavy jute panel). You can cut a rectangle in the center say 16" square. I jammed an aluminum channel from Lowes or a hardware store to finish the hole. I put rivet-nuts (sort of like pop-rivets with internal threads) in the channel so a door could be bolted on. It's harder to describe than do.

Here are some pictures. I attached some mylar coated foam rubber insulation that I got from JC Whitney on the engine side of the firewall and also on the door.

Let me know if I have any questions.

[3929R]

Thank you. I had not thought of an access panel for the water pump. I hope my pump holds up but I worry because my car sat idle for so long. When I first flushed the coolant system it looked like unfortunately brown and sludgy. At first start up it threw the pump belt (toothed). I needed to free the pump pulley by turning by hand. After I got it moving it seemed to rotate freely and pump fine but.... It is on my long term list.