Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Members Cars => Topic started by: 61Elite on Thursday,May 31, 2018, 02:08:22 PM
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I have recently finished work on a car I call a Lotus 62 ISH. I have been working on it for about 2 1/2 years. Started out with a 1984 Esprit Turbo. Frame was shortened 2 inches and narrowed 5 inches. I picked up a derelict Europa body that a friend had hanging in his garage, and it all took off from there. After about 90 yards of glass mat and 50 gallons of resin; a little thought and a lot of sanding, here is what I came up with. The original 62 (2 were built) was raced in 1968, and was the test vehicle for the 900 series engines, used in the Jensen Healey and the Esprit. One car is in California and the other in Japan. Fortunately, Alex Bollinger was gracious enough to send photos of his car, and with those in hand plus internet photos, I was able to work out the general shape of the car. Of course compromises had to be made, since the original 62 was on a space frame and my car was on the Esprit frame. Also the 62 shared very few parts with the Europa. The plan right now is to make it to the LOG this year. Actually, my car has very little Europa content. Basically, some of the fiberglass and doors. The rest is Esprit, but it is almost all Lotus. It really drives well, with the 2.2 liter engine and 5 speed gearbox. I just thought the group might like to see it.
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Wow, what an accomplishment! Nice job merging an Espirit and a Europa, but definitely a 62 look.
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Wow is right!! That's exquisite! I'd certainly like to see more pictures of it!
I'm curious why you didn't convert one of Richard's 62 bodies. Did you think it was going to be too expensive to ship it across the pond or just as much work or was it because you don't have enough to do or you like a challenge? Did you do all the fabrication work on it?
Also, did you use the All Bright molding for your windshield trim?
You will definitely cause a stir at the LOG! Your car is amazing and you should be really proud of it!
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Wow again!!
You've done a fantastic job of capturing the original 62 body shape there, that's the best 62 replica I've ever seen.
Also love that you've used the Esprit running gear, inspired and what a great link to the original 2!
I agree with BDA, more pics would be great.
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Triple WOW, the mods you accomplished are beyond belief. Well done.
Going back to the pictures again to just take them in.
Dakazman
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Just fabulous. (there's a word that doesn't get used enough these days)
Is that a fuel filler in the bonnet?
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Superb!
what a creation, blending parts from two different Lotus models!
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Fantastic! There are some awesome builds going on in this forum, and yours is a benchmark for us all. Would love to hear more details on the build process if you’re willing to write them up. Great job!
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Thanks to all for the kind comments. It is a really enjoyable project, but a little frustrating at times. In answer to a few questions: 1) the Banks 62 doesn’t really “look” like a 62 to me, and to use it as a basis for my car would have entailed cutting most of it away. Also, the shell I found was priced right, as in free. 2)The windshield trim was purchased from R D Enterprises. He supplied most of the Europa odds and ends I needed. It’s a lot of fiddly work to install, but my wife and I managed to get it done, 3) I fabricated a new fuel tank and located it in the front boot area. The filler cap is from my parts bin (Elan) and had it rechromed.
I don’t have a lot of pictures. I got so wrapped up in the build, I neglected to take as many as I should have. Besides, my shop is not that photogenic. However, here are a few as the project got underway. No pictures of the frame mods. I cut off the front Tee section and shortened the width by 5 inches. I just cut the 5 inches out of the center and welded it back together. The frame was shortened 2 inches by trimming the front of the forward box section. Then welded it all back together. Basically the same way it was originally built. This left the engine mounts and shift linkage as stock Esprit. At the rear, I relocated the rear diagonal brace inward on each side and relocated the upper control arm mount inward 2 ½ inches on each side. That is really the only frame mods that were done.
The Europa body had been seriously cut up by the PO (he was going to make a roadster). The top had been cut off and the tail had been chopped off. The rear firewall was completely gone. Not for the faint of heart. The up side was, that I could drop the shell on the frame wherever I wanted and make it fit the frame, and install bobbins just about anywhere to get a good fit frame to body. I really don’t fit in a stock Europa. I am just too tall. My new cars’ wheelbase is about 4 inches longer than a Europa. This would give me a little more room for my legs and size 13 shoes. It’s still tight.
To form the new body, I went to the woodshop and made mirror image templates of the shape I wanted. I had superimposed life-size images on the wall of an S2 Europa and an original 62 to see the differences and make the needed changes. These templates were screwed and glued to the existing Europa body. I then glued thin strips of ¼” plywood to the frame/body to give a rough form of the “new” bodywork. Next step was to sculpt the form of the 62 over this structure. I used drywall compound. 1) it’s cheap 2)it can be sanded easily, 3) very thin layers can be added or removed.4) downside is that it takes forever to dry. I had used expanding foam on previous projects, but it is more difficult to modify if you make a mistake. The last picture is the "drywall" car. That’s enough for now.
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Very interesting! You did an amazing job! Thanks for the details of how you built it. If I understand you, you made molds from the drywall car, made new body parts and grafted them to the remains of the Europa shell. Just a brilliant job!
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Outstanding craftsmanship!! A simply fantastic Type 62 replica.
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After the car was shaped to its’ final form, and completely dry, it was sealed with cheap paint, waxed thoroughly, and a couple layers of fiberglass laid over to form a mold. Originally I planned to make a multiple piece mold for the front, but finally went with a one piece mold. That meant I would have to make several cuts in the mold to get the finished part back out of the mold. Getting the headlight buckets out was the most difficult part. The rear mold consisted of the flared rear wings, which would be bonded to the original Europa glass.
After the molds were cured and removed from the car, they were cleaned up and the “new” body was laid up in the molds. As I said, the front mold had to be cut up a bit to get the finished piece out, but then I only needed to make one part. Next step was remove all the drywall compound and framing, before fitting the new parts to the car. What followed was a lot of fitting trimming, and smoothing out the new body. I re-contoured the lower rocker panels to eliminate the flange at the bottom, and bonded the engine cover to the rear deck to make it a one piece part. I put three coats of Featherfill on the body to level it. I used alternating colors so I could see the high and low spots. At this point, the body was fully functional, with hinge locations, and panel gaps where I wanted them.
When I was satisfied with it, I took the body off the frame and to my paint guy. He did some final prep work and paint. Then the body was stored in my trailer until I was ready for it.
Then it was time to clean up the frame. Frame was sandblasted and painted body color. It was really nasty . When I bought the car, it had been sitting for twenty years. The box sections were full of acorns and mouse nests. Fortunately when I shortened the frame, it exposed the open ends and I was able to really clean the inside of the box sections.
Engine was rebuilt with 10.5:1 Carrillo pistons. Other than that, it was pretty much stock. Transmission needed new output seals and input shaft. The center section of the body was dropped on and bolted to the frame. I made a new wiring harness, and Esprit gauges were rebuilt by Nisongers. The rest of the assembly was pretty much straightforward, and the front and rear clamshells were the last to be installed.
As of now, I have about 200 miles on the car. I am still sorting out spring rates and shock settings, but am very happy with the cars’ performance.
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Very interesting and clever! Did you use Esprit suspension bits such as the rear uprights, shocks, etc. or did you get them elsewhere? I assume the front is stock Esprit. Did you keep the Esprit geometry or did you try to replicate the 62 geometry?
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Amazing work. Very nice!
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Really like how you have retained the majority of the stock Esprit components - moving the mounting points in to alter the track to suit your shell is inspired, fairly simple but effective way of retaining the original suspension geometry. I assume it handles just like an Esprit?!
I see you have the Citroen Gearbox and inboard rear discs - i bet the clam makes getting to everything even easier again?!
Totally agree that the Banks 62 doesn't look like the original, yours on the other hand really does.
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Here are a couple extra pix of the 62, as well as a group photo. I managed to corral them together and sit still for a family portrait. Elan is my normal summer daily driver.
Went to the Log with the Elite and 62Ish. My wife drove the Elite and I drove the 62ISH. Log was well attended and the Cleveland group did a great job. Very nice weekend.
Suspension geometry on the 62ISH is stock Esprit, with the exception of the front lower A Arm. Originally the Esprit of that era used the sway bar to locate the lower a A Arm. I changed that to a true lower A Arm as in the later Esprits. Shocks are Pro shocks with adjustable perches. The car is much lighter than an Esprit, so I had to use adjustable perches to be able to adjust the ride height. Spring rates were by trial and error.
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That's where you store your Loti!? Beautiful collection and great garage (I assume your tools are off camera which implies a very large place). Will you be filling it up with more Loti?
Did you enter the casual concours? What category did you choose for the 62ish.
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Didn’t realize you owned both cars when I saw them at LOG38. Very nice! Your 62 makes an appearance in my video “LOG38 Road Trip”.
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Beautiful collection! I'm digging the Elite.
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I thought I had done quite a satisfactory job, but your car looks to surpass mine - fantastic job and well done. Only wish you were in the UK so I could come and see it. More photos please. :beerchug:
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Due to the current social and travel restrictions in place because of the C19 problem, I seem to have more time for the internet (as most of you, I am sure). Anyway, I would solicit any opinions about whether I should add the wings to my 62 ISH. I just do not know which way to go. Installation requires drilling holes in the body, so is pretty much irreversible.
The 62 was initially designed to resemble the, then new Europa. And after testing showed a lack of downforce, so it started to sprout wings. There were various wing configurations tried, but the "iconic" 62 look is the high mounted canards on the front, and split "boards" on the rear. Of course adding the wings gave downforce, but the trade-off was lower straight line speed.
Currently, I do not have the wings on the car, but I have constructed a set to see how it would look and if I liked the end result. I still do not know. The car really looks clean and uncluttered without them. Especially at the front. With the wings on, it breaks up the flow of the body line, and I really like the way it looks. The templates for the wings were given to me by Alex Bollinger, owner of one of the original cars.
Anyway, here is what I have come up with. Opinions are welcome???????????:).
Also, there was a question a while back about the storage area for the cars. The barn is 40' X 80'. It is split in half. 40 X40 for the cars and 40 X 40 for trailers and equipment. The workshop is a separate building 36' X 24'. I am running out of room, and I had to decide whether to sell something, add on, or go vertical. I chose the latter. I built a set of ramps to sit at 90 degrees to the long ramps of my old 4 post lift.
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Personally, I prefer it without the wings. It's stunning. I'd also love to see more pictures of the Elite.... please. I know it's a Europa forum, but I doubt anybody would object!
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Well, now I'm envious not only of your LOTI but your barn and workshop! Congratulations on keeping it very tidy!
I wish someone bade a kit car that looks like a Chaparral 2F (without the wing) and even though I wouldn't have have that wing on a street car, I think I would probably use the conards and the rear boards, especially with the Gold Leaf livery. But it sounds like you like a less "cluttered" look so you should make yourself happy!
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I would vote for the wingless 62ish. The simpler outline is more classy somehow.
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What an awesome build that is! Stunning looking car. I especially like the wheels with 5 hole PCD, because no other Europa has it.
Every piece of the car looks great. From my point of view, the "wings" (which more look like pieces of sawn timber BTW) would stall (is this a correct use for this word?) the beautiful lines and shapes of this unique car.
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Unless you were going to use the car on a track, I would leave the wings off. The car is aesthetically perfect and a show stopper just like it is. I am glad you went vertical and didn't break up your collection.
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Thanks for the comments. It actually confirms my wifes' attitude about the wings, and the way I have been leaning. I just haven't been able to bring myself to mounting them, and then regretting the decision. The wings have been "roughed out", but I think I will just leave them that way, put them on the shelf, and if/when I ever sell the car, they can go along with it and let the next guy install them if he wishes. I think it really looks god the way it is.
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I think she's gorgeous with or without them. You have to do what's right for you.
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I don't know if it is an option in you mind but I like the lower chin spoiler you have installed over the original. If it was me and it was primarily a street car, I would probably put the rear wing on but leave the front with your lower lip only.
Ross