Lotus Europa Community

Didn't know that about US lenses being sold here - hopefully meeting up with the previous but one owner tomorrow who had the car from 1980 to 2004  he lives 5 miles down the road from me! Hopefully may shed a bit of light on some of the features.

Speaking of which, the key for the fuel tanks is either the wrong one or the lock is gummed/rusted up. Worth a go for a couple of quid.  On a happier note, the demister vents which looked very unhappy due to exposure sans windscreen for years cleaned up with the help of a stripping disc and then got a few coats of wrinkle finish paint, which when baked for half an hour at 200F in the oven, gave a similar finish to those being sold now by suppliers, and hopefully look vaguely original?

Sadly my oven is just too tight to fit the cam cover, but the gas bbq should do the job when I get that far...
 

Sorry to hear about your collar bone! I understand that's a really painful one to break!

Glad to hear you're pretty much all healed up and got your tranny back together. I envy you for your trip to Merry Ole and especially going to Goodwood Festival of Speed! I'm sure you'll see LOTS of Loti there! A trip to Lotus HQ would be a cherry on top! 

Good luck and keep us updated on your progress! 

  Congratulations on your purchase.
 I enjoyed the pics, keep posting your journey.
Dakazman

I like the idea of remote reservoirs; only question is the fittings on the MC end to accept the hose from the reservoir in place of the attached piece.  Don't necessarily want to get into fabrication of hose fittings and such...any guidance there, sir?  That it has a low level indicator is a plus...take the place of the removed PDWV.  Always thinking, right?

It's not that difficult to fit a remote with the Spitfire m/cyl. The wedge reservoir pushes into 2 rubber grommets in the body so it just pulls off. You can buy plastic or metal fittings in 45,90 & 180 deg angles and all you need is to match the OD on what you buy to the OD of the reservoir. I bought mine from Ebay when I did my conversions and I picked 90deg and although it's no longer on the Europa, it is on the Elan. 

The remote reservoir is debatable on the Europa but a real plus on the Elan because it's hidden away beneath the carbs and a PITA to monitor/fill when bleeding. The second image gives you an idea of the fittings & why it's a good idea.

What is handy is the remote level switch. I wired the Europa up to a warning light I fitted in the place of a blanking plug in the centre of the dash. It's a simple circuit and doesn't do a self test when you switch on as modern cars do, if you want to know if it's working you just press down on the switch  .   For the Elan, with no spare lamps, I wired it into the handbrake warning light. If the handbrake is on, the lamp is on. Release the brake and it goes off but if the level is low the lamp still gets a ground so stays on. A more elegant solution with no visible mods to the car other than wiring.

The question of travel is one to consider.  In looking again at the S2 MC, it's well rusted...and thinking it may be past freeing up the piston and returning it to service.  Additionally, the top attach fitting is a captured nut...so wondering if that will be a problem...but probably not, because IIRC, both of the studs are the same size/pitch.

I'm guessing if you're going to recommission an old m/cyl you'd end up getting it sleeved, which may or may not end up losing the stepped bore. Personally I don't think the stepped bore is a big deal so it wouldn't worry me, but then again there's loads of modern options if you decide a single bore diameter is ok.

Being a geek I actually calculated the pedal travel and can tell you that mine, with rear discs, came in at 3.8cm and I measured between 3.5 & 4cm, the differences all down to me and grovelling down that footwell. Now part of that calc is down to the leverage ratios on the pedal, something that you can modify on the Europa but is limited by the angle of the actuating rod and being so cramped down there. The Elan, even with bigger dia. front pistons, had less travel - down to the leverage ratios - and it feels "better".

But when I fitted larger bore rear calipers to the Europa,  it made the difference between the cars more noticable. The calcs said "don't worry", but we humans can be funny creatures and I didn't like it.  Anyway, the 0.75 m/cyl I have now gives only a 6mm reduction in travel but for some reason it feels more secure. I wouldn't have thought it based on the numbers but apparently my foot and self-preservation instincts can tell the difference !

Brian