Restoration of 2358R

[Certified Lotus]

I moved my '72 Europa Twin Cam into my workshop today and started the evaluation of what it will take to restore it. When I bought the car several weeks ago (posted under "New Owner") I knew I would be doing a frame off restoration. The Europa had been sitting in storage for too long and that means surface rust and anything rubber has probably disintegrated.  Although I am a long time Lotus owner, I have never owned a Europa. Looking forward to the adventure of rebuilding one of these cars and getting guidance and sage advice from forum members.

[Certified Lotus]

The under carriage inspection had no major surprises. A couple of bent items and everything needs to be stripped, media blasted and painted. I'll need to do a bit of reading and make sure I am doing the frame off removal correctly. Then will spend the day separating the body from the chassis. After that, its easy ;-)

[Certified Lotus]

The interior is in decent shape. I have ordered a new dash (and received it from CG Autowood) and a new windscreen. I know to stock up on the parts I need because that is what slows a project down to a crawl. Made a run to RD Enterprises (Luckily I live in driving distance to Ray & George) with my long list. They had everything!

[Certified Lotus]

The wheels need complete refinishing. I got a strong recommendation of a place in Indianapolis called Alloy Wheel Repair Service.  But I live in NJ. I wonder if there is someplace closer to where I live?

[LotusJoe]

The interior is in decent shape. I have ordered a new dash (and received it from CG Autowood) and a new windscreen. I know to stock up on the parts I need because that is what slows a project down to a crawl. Made a run to RD Enterprises (Luckily I live in driving distance to Ray & George) with my long list. They had everything!

Where did you get your windscreen?

[Certified Lotus]

This car has very low miles, so I am hoping the trans is in good shape and the engine has already gone thru a rebuild (due to long term storage) and starts right up and doesn't smoke. Carbs have also been rebuilt. Interesting thing about this car that demonstrates it wasn't on the road very long is all the little metal tags on the carbs and trans are still on the components.

[Certified Lotus]

This car has very low miles, so I am hoping the trans is in good shape and the engine has already gone thru a rebuild (due to long term storage) and starts right up and doesn't smoke. Carbs have also been rebuilt. Interesting thing about this car that demonstrates it wasn't on the road very long is all the little metal tags on the carbs and trans are still on the components.

ProSource Glass In MA.  I was promised it was not a Chinese knock off.

[BDA]

What a nice shop! I'm really envious!

It looks like you have a good starting point. Keep us informed of your progress and don't be afraid to ask questions. There are some really sharp guys here.

[EuropaTC]

Great workshop there, you'd never guess you liked Lotus !   

The car looks in very good shape for something that has been sitting around for a few years, the front suspension looks almost as if a quick wire brush and it'll be done.  I think you've bought well there.

Brian

[Roger]

Looks familiar. I did mine, 2345R, a few years ago, in similar condition though bad interior.
Good Luck!

[buzzer]

Definately workshop envy .  !!!!


Good luck with it. Looks like a good base.

Dave

[Grumblebuns]

Appears to be a fairly straight forward restoration ahead of you. A lot of hours of rust removal with a wire wheel and a lot of aluminum polishing. A real nice car.

When I was pricing out wheel refurbishment locally here in San Diego, the average price was $125 per wheel. Any repairs were extra. Your wheels appear to be undamaged just the clear coat flaking off.

[Certified Lotus]

Thanks for the comments on my shop. I used to own a Lotus Exige S that was primarily a track car and a number of racing karts. Did a fair amount of my own work. When I "retired" from the track I needed to use my shop for something useful. Restoration of older Lotus cars seemed ideal :-)

I found a local wheel refurbisher and had a good conversation with him after sending photos of my wheels. He told me the black on these wheels is not painted on, its a process done with a machine. I'm meeting him today to understand more, but the complete refurbishment of these wheels to new spec is $140 wheel including taking off the old tires, and installing the new ones, balanced and ready to go.

Once I had the wheels off I decided to start the disassembly of the brakes as everything need to be removed, media blasted and all hydraulics rebuilt. Started with the left rear axle.  Found some interesting things. I was able to unscrew the hub retaining nut with my fingers. No capture washer on it.  The studs where replaced on the hub with a larger thread than OEM (all the rest of the hubs have OEM size) along with the capture nuts.  That got me wondering if the hub stud holes were bored out larger so I brought out my micrometer to check. The holes are the same size, just the stud thread is larger. For some reason the studs have JB Weld on them. Will take a torch to them and see if I can press off the studs while hot. Need to replace with the proper size studs.

While I was starting the disassembly of the brake shoes I noticed some metal at the bottom of the shoes. Got a flash light out and found two of the old original studs sitting in the bottom of the shoe. Who does work like that? How does that even happen?  Well, that put me on notice that every single part of this car getting a thorough going over.

While working on the rear axle I re-committed to pull the body off and strip the entire chassis to have it soda blasted and painted. Will wait until my new windscreen shows up so I can replace it and let it cure before taking the chassis off. I think the windscreen add some structural rigidity to the body. Is that a correct assumption?

Spent the afternoon cleaning and media blasting all the parts and putting everything in a box for painting later. 

[BDA]

I've heard so many stories about what the PO did, but this may be the best. If he made hash of easy stuff like that, he probably made hash of something else and probably the most popular thing to screw up is wiring so pay close attention to that.

The bolt holes in the wheels tend to wallow out a bit over time so you might look into fitting beveled nuts (I think you know what I mean, I'm having a senior moment trying to come up with the proper ter).

The windscreen does provide rigidity but it's mostly to the roof and A pillar so it's not necessary for taking the body off.

Good luck and keep those pictures coming!

[jbcollier]

Please read the workshop manual carefully.  It looks like your left rear hub just pulled off, not good.  It is supposed to be mounted with special loctite for splines (635) and be quite difficult to remove.