The Zetec 'Ropacane

[TurboFource]

Nice work "Double Chuck"!

[Chuck Nukem]

Here are some shots of the completed brackets and rear assembly. I made a fixture to support the front bracket which gave a much better finish than my first attempt at it with the hard jaws. Regarding the spacing of everything I had to compromise slightly when it came to the TCS wheel. I had to make the hat act as a wheel spacer which increases the rear track approximately .500 per side. This was the only way I could make the wheel clear this wilwood caliper. The only change required is the use of longer rear studs to accommodate the hat. Spacing of the rotor is tight, but it fits with the non floating hardware. I should be able to shave a touch more off the bracket to accept the floating bobbins.

[BDA]

Really pretty!!! 

[Bainford]

That's a wicked looking set of Europa brakes!

[Chuck Nukem]

Thanks guys!! Wait til you see the fronts!

[TurboFource]

 

[dakazman]

   Holy cow Chuck, 
  I don't know how I missed seeing this thread earilier,  I'm just now seeing your paint job. Looking great.   

  Then the rear brake work is amazing.  Now you really peaked my interest with the fronts being even better . 
 
 Dakazman

[Chuck Nukem]

Thanks Dman! I have been working up to cutting and buffing the car. I started sanding the peel out of it this week. I need to visit your thread and see the progress.

Thermostat is almost done. Just need to drill and mount the takeoffs for the heater and sensor.

I am working on a cable operated shifter mechanism. I think it will certainly be possible to make a new bottom piece to the original shifter which accommodates a pivot on a bearing which will effectively translate the side to side motion in to forward and back. Similar to the Esprit, only with bearings to make it nice and smooth

[BDA]

More beautifulness, Chuck!

You know this build will go a lot faster if buy parts instead of making all of them!   

[Chuck Nukem]

  too true!

[dakazman]

 Oh that’s sweet!
 
    I’ll send you the plans soon on the alternator mount bracket. I just don’t know where time goes.

  When you nib sand start out with the worse parts , wet sand with 1500 to start , just break the high spots, they will be the scratched areas, low will be glossy. With that in mind the lows may be the lower or initial elevation of the paint . Clear or paint, do not go thru. Stop and start compounding and polish up at any point to see your progress. Go slow. Stay off edges and tape until at 3000 .
Work an area that can be resprayed to and edge or seam. Blending a full panel is a little harder to accomplish.
 Now once you get close gradually go to a higher grit 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000.  This will save time when compounding and polishing. No waxing!
  Get aquatinted with the type of foam pads for cutting and ones for polishing.
 
   The good areas start with 3000 and polish.

 Dave

[Chuck Nukem]

I'm working on a way to incorporate a cable shift in to the existing gearstick. Here are my results so far. I am currently printing a new revision of the lever that will capture the spherical bearing inside a groove. I have thought about using two shafts to take up the length of the tunnel to shorten the cables as much as possible. Has anyone who runs cables noticed any stretching problems going that distance? The final product will be milled out of aluminum naturally.

[jbcollier]

Cable off the bottom and cable off the top, nice.

[BDA]

All the cable shifters I’ve seen use industrial push-pull cables. Checking the one posted on Lotus-Europa Central (http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/files/Shifter.PDF), I found it used 5mm ends which translates to about 3/16”. The lightest duty Cablecraft cable will take 120# of pull.

I recommend Cablecraft cables as they are much more flexible than others - especially the more common Morse cables. Here are specs (https://www.cablecraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CMC9008_Push-Pull-Standard-Flyer.pdf). Their main cable page may be useful too (https://www.cablecraft.com/cables/).

[GavinT]

Very neat, Chuck.

I might be seeing this wrongly but if the lower spherical bearing is intended to slide up/down the U shaped cut out, won't the contact points inevitably be subject to sliding wear?

From my cursory look at OEM mechanisms (Corolla, f'rinstance), the ball jointed cross-gate actuating pin always seem to be coincident with the pivot point of the gear stick bearing.
Of course, that means the ball joint has to be lower than the original Europa position.