Lotus Europa Community

Now, Brian, THAT's a tight install on your photo.

You can say that again, I could never get a tight enough bend on the outlet pipe such that it didn't rest on the steering rack gaiter. I was always expecting the mechanic doing the annual roadworthy test to pick up on it and give me a fail, but it seemed to go through. I suppose the fact that where it is the rubber doesn't actually move across either the body or pipe, it's static there and never seemed to show any abrasion marks.

But it looks awful.....  bodge job #1.

Hi Alex,

I have a vague memory of the modern mechanical pumps pushing more than the old glass bowl ones but I can't remember where I saw it at the moment. 

When I fitted an electric pump to the Elan I also fitted a regulator even though the pump was supposed to be low pressure for carb engines.  That was because Des Hamill quotes 1.5 to 2.5 psi in his book and says both weber & dellorto need high volume but low pressure. Hence I didn't want to chance the supposedly 4psi of the pump overrunning the float valves.  It's set at 2psi but whether it is 1, 2 or 3 I honestly have no idea, it's just what it says on the body.     You shouldn't need one with a mechanical pump but if you had a regulator kicking about I think I'd drop that in the feed line and see if it makes any difference.

I see you've cleaned everything, confirmed float levels and that they do float.  I suppose the next step is to try replacing the needles/seats with a service kit just in case they aren't sealing even if they are free to move.

High pressure fuel delivery would apply to both webers, less likely that both webers have identical needle valve seat problems but it's something to bear in mind because something is allowing the pump to override the normal cut off and cause the flooding

Brian

You can get inexpensive vacuum/pressure gauges from most automotive parts suppliers.

Drain the oil and fill it up with an oil with a strong colour like Royal Purple.  Then you will be able to tell where it is leaking from.

My daughter knows I'm into Lotus cars, so she keeps an eye out in Seattle and this popped up in her feed. Not sure if was FB or something else, but it would be entertaining to read the ad text.

Ron