The Addiction is Real #3450R

[Rosco5000]

Well the bug has hit again.  My dad and I managed to pick up another Lotus this last weekend.  My S2 is now joined by a survivor Black Europa Special.  I've had my eye on this car for probably 12 years since the previous owners bought it.  The car is fairly low miles, the second owners bought it with 8,500 miles and it now has 35,000 miles.  What a sweet car, this was my first drive in a Europa as my S2 is a resto mod project.  This one will stay completely stock.

From what we have been told by the previous owners this car was sold here in Vancouver BC by my dad's shop back in the day and it some how made it through the cracks as a special order with a webber head on the thing from new!  I will have to contact the Lotus archives and find out if this is true.  Needs a paint job and some TLC and it will be an awesome survivor.  I am so excited if you can't tell.!! 

[BDA]

Pretty car and nice story! Congratulations on your purchase! 

Now, let's see more pictures!

[RoddyMac]

Ross,
Does this mean you'll have two cars at the show in May?

Rod

[Certified Lotus]

Very cool story! I like those headers! They aren’t stock......

[Rosco5000]

Hey Rod,
The goal is to have my Dad's plus 2 done and then I think I will clean this one up as best I can before then and enter it as well.  My S2 is a slow project but these 2 should be there.
Ross

[surfguitar58]

Great car! Webber’s, headers and a 5 speed! Only thing I see is sorting out that brake line snake’s wedding. Consider a careful resto of the original paint. You and I can make that journey together, I’m about to dive into that and I’ll let you know how it works out.
Tom

[Rosco5000]

The paint on the back of the car is pretty bad. Had the front and back been similar I think I definitely would have left it as a survivor. But there are lots of projects in the pipeline line so it will be left this way for awhile. My dad and I aren’t sure if we should put new boosters in or get a new master cylinder. I know there is a lot of debat out there on that. Personally I think I might try new boosters first.

[jbcollier]

I would say new boosters and a new master cylinder.

[Rosco5000]

The brakes work fine other than having to stand on them to stop because of the lack of boosters.  So we will probably just add boosters back into the system.

[Bainford]

Nice score! Looks like a very nice car with honest wear & tear. Congrats on the purchase.

[jbcollier]

The master cylinder is old, very old.  Sure it "works" right now but it's not safe.  It could fail anytime.  At the very least disassemble, inspect and fit new rubbers.

[Rosco5000]

We have checked it out, I should mention the previous owner daily drove this car.  He lived in downtown Vancouver and did a small commute.  So many things have been done.  He has gone through all the brakes, all the rubber suspension components have been done, head has been rebuillt in the last 5 years, carbs have been rebuilt, new stainless coolant pipes have been installed.  The list really goes on and on, they just didn't take care of it cosmetically, so some TLC and this is going to be a fine little car.
R

[Rosco5000]

So the jobs a adding up on this old girl but today was a productive day. My dad and I managed to pull the drive line. Motor is smoking more than I like and second gear is grinding so it needs some TLC. See if we can get this done this summer.

[dakazman]

Rocco,
Congrats on your purchase. I see you started with some light tear down.
Happy Father’s Day!
Dakazman

[Rosco5000]

So things aren't looking so good for this motor.     More and more things are going from bad to worse.  I pulled the motor because it was smoking and using oil more than I was comfortable with.  Well we know why now.  2 of the pistons lost the extra tang on the circlip holding the wrist pin in place and made an absolute mess of the number 3 & 4 cylinder walls.  With the bore gauge we estimate that it is a 0.020" gouge out of the one side, at least it is a virgin block.  However the troubles didn't end there, whoever freshened the block up managed to install the thrust bearings backwards so now the crank has a big groove in it... and some lazy SOB decided to leave a timing chain guide in the bottom of the oil pan and then proceed to only install 1 of the 2 retain screws in it.  I have to say I am glad the smoking started now because I could have blown this motor up.  I have also included some pics of the rod bearings were the rod cap shells were really bad.  Oh well we will get it all fixed up and the previous owner is surprised as he claims to have had spent good money on the rebuild, he did offer up another block and crank if we needed it.  I think we will take him up on the offer as there won't be another rebuild on this block after this time if we have to go 0.060" over to clean up the mess. 
Rosco