Lotus Europa Bastard from Germany

[ralf]

Down at the front I removed the area where the inner body was glued to the outer body.

[ralf]

The front of my old body was cut away.

[ralf]

The front and rear was positioned in the CEVETTE bench and glued together.

[ralf]

To make work at the body more easy I build a frame on which the body can turned in any position.

[ralf]

At the rear I also removed the area where the inner body was glued to the outer body.

[ralf]

A friend of mine removed the paint and sprayed filler to the body.

[ralf]

The lower area of the Spyder chassis is open. To get a flat floor I made a cover of carbon fiber. In this cover I integrated the oilcooler pipes.

[GavinT]

yes it was dipped in a solution of hot 'lye' (again a word I googled but don't know if it is right). With acid it is hard not bring away the coating, therefor lye can not bring away rust. But the chassis did not have any rust.

Oh, OK - 'lye'

'lye' is commonly known as 'caustic soda' or sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and often the main active ingredient in drain cleaner . . and also used to remove paint.

[ralf]

Hello GavinT,
yes I guess it was a NaOH solution.

[ralf]

Long time I was not sure what engine I should put into the Europa when I build it up again. In the 90th I used a modified 1643ccm Renault20 engine (843).
I used standard piston and camshaft. The compression was slightly increased and cylinderhead was little ported. It was modified to Bosch K-Jetronic anf get a aluminium valve cover. After I made the accident I sold the engine, but it would have been the easiest/cheap way to build again a Renault crossflow engine. However I don't like longstroke engines in light sports cars.

[ralf]

I want a 1600ccm engine, therefor the Zetec was no option.
The other option is the Lotus TC. I still have a Stromberg head and a front cover. And with a TC bellhousing it is easy to fit to the transmission. I drove the TC in a Elan S2 and in an Elan+2 S 130/5 and it is a good engine. But in Germany it is expensive to assemble it and bring it to 150-160hp.
A Renault Fuego Turbo engine would also be a option. It is a 1600ccm and with modifications the power is almost unlimited. But throttle response of a Turbo is not for the roads in south Germany.
My favorit option would be the Ford BDA1600. You can find some in Germany, but the price are astronomic.

Then I found the webside of Bill Sherwood. The has a TOYOTA 4AGE page and descripes this engine:
'The Toyota 4AGE engine started life in 1983 as a logical progression from the 2A and 3A single cam engines. There was also the single cam 4A-C engine, which initially shared an identical block & very similar internals as the twin cam version. The 4AGE soon progressed to having stronger internals, and so they diverged from there.
The twin cam 4AGE is basically a road going, mass produced version of the Ford Cosworth BDA twin cam racing engine. They share the same bore and stroke (81mm x 77mm), the same size valves (29.5mm & 25.5mm), and in some versions of the 4AGE very similar port shapes & sizes. When fully prepared for racing, they both produce similar hp figures at similar revs, so it would seem that Toyota has done an excellent job with them.'
I found some information that a naturaly aspirated 4AGE makes 240+hp in the formula atlantic. And their are still plenty of racing parts availible for this engine. I found a Celica with this engine ready for registration for only €700.- which I bought.

[BDA]

As you are surely aware, the 4AGE will require more fabrication than a Zetec, TC, or BDA to install into a Europa, but from what I’ve seen of your capabilities, you are certainly up to the task!

Many years ago, a fellow in the US by the name of John Pels, produced a kit to aid the 4AGE conversion. He or one of his customers might be a source of information.

I’m anxious to see how your project comes along!

[ralf]

Hello BDA,
I bought the kit of Mr. Pels on EBAY, but I only use the adapter plate. The adapter plate is a good quality.

[ralf]

Few weeks after I bought the Celica I found a MR2 engine which was removed from the car at the early 90th with less than 25.000km on the clock.
This was a perfect base for a tuned 4AGE engine. The disasembled block shows no wear. The cylinder bore was inside the tolerance of a new block.
I replaced the pistons by SUPERTECH pistons with 10.7/1 compression ratio.

[ralf]

The engine get a BigPort head. The 4AGE scene belives that the Smallport head is better if you make modifications up to 160-180hp.
So I bought a Smallport head and replaced the valveguides by SUPERTECH ones. The almost new valves of the MR2 engine was used in this head, but the valveseat was cut to a smaler contact area and bigger inner diameter of the contact area.