Lotus Europa Forums > Members Cars
Another 46 to 47 project!
DreamsOfA47:
I finally did it! I've acquired a lotus Europa project! Grumblebuns was kind enough to allow me to purchase his 1967 S1A, 460433 and now I can begin building me dream car: a Lotus 47 potentially powered by a Mazda Rotary engine!
Plans are made to be changed, but as it stands now my plan is to complete the car in 2 main stages. Stage 1 will be to get the car running and driving and usable as reliable as a Renault-powered mid-60s Lotus can be! Stage one will also (ideally) involve the addition of a full roll cage and twin gas tanks with Le Mans style gas caps above NACA ducts a la the Type 47GTs. Stage 2 (if ever possible) will be a true Type 47 conversion. The current thinking (dreaming rather) is to get a Type 47 frame and full suspension from a company such as Kelvedon Lotus Ltd. to make as accurate a Type 47 as possible. If that could be accomplished then a FG200 transaxle would need to be acquired and then mated to a Mazda rotary engine. If a rotary swap won't work I'd gladly settle for a Twin Cam. If stage 2 is ever viable it will be many years and many thousands of dollars down the road. So with all that established, it's time to begin stage 1.
The car is actually in really good shape. By not making sure the car was out of gear as we tried to push it along we know the engine turns well. The body appears straight and complete, though the original boot and bonnet locks have been replaced with quite crappy locks of a different type. Ideally those will be replaced by straps or Oddie fasteners but they're secure enough for now. The driver's side door lock button works well, but the passenger side button isn't correct in the slightest and doesn't even have a lock or keyhole. The door glass has had the hinge system removed and the windows have been bonded in. Overall though the car is in great shape! I'm very fortunate the car has been so well looked after, but like any 55 y/o project it has some issues...
Firstly I'm going to tackle the brakes. The left rear forward brake shoe had the brake pad delaminate from the backing so that had to be removed to allow the car to roll. More pressing than a bad shoe is the need to have the master cylinder rebuilt. In removing the master cylinder I had to cut the hard line that ran from the MC to the T-block on the frame as someone had completely rounded the fitting and I had no way to get it off otherwise. The line was also far too rusty for me to trust so that'll likely have to be custom made to bend around the steering rack.
Aside form the brakes the biggest issues are the wiring. Suffice it to say I was told when Joji tried to drive the car 10 years ago or so, the tach began to smoke due to some issue with the ignition portion of the harness. I'd like to just replace that with a new OEM style reproduction. Lastly the frame has some rot it seems. I looked over it the best I could and it seemed to be solid all the way around, except at the forward face of the front T. It appears that the body has delaminated from the bottom of the forward face of the T and allowed moisture to pool there. Nasty, flaky rust can be seen all along the bottom edge...
Well y'all, its time to get to work! My goal is to at least have the thing driving well enough to attend the Motorcars On Main Street car show in Coronado, CA in April of 2023. Here goes!!!
DreamsOfA47:
These are the pics I've taken of the delimitation and rust on the frame and by the master cylinder mounting point.
DreamsOfA47:
Lastly to complete my introduction my biggest 47GT inspiration are the chassis 47GT-09, 47GT-77 and this video of Don Hogue kicking some serious butt at Sonoma in 47GT-75! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6VFzh9b4yE
TurboFource:
Good luck!
The more I do on TCST the more I find to do….
BDA:
That sounds pretty ambitious! I would point you to three people here.
First is jbcollier resto-modded his S1 and that coupled with his encyclopedic knowledge of cars should make him a great source of information.
Second is Serge who I think is busy with a new business and family but he did some videos of what he did with his S1. They should be very useful (https://www.youtube.com/user/sleursmotorsport/videos). I think you can get in touch with him using a PM or email (click on the envelope in his profile).
Lastly is RoddyMac who did his own conversion from a type 54 to his interpretation of a 47 including fabricating the frame and suspension. The thread where the shows what he did starts here: http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=497.msg3241#msg3241
Good luck with your project! :welder:
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