Lotus Europa Community

Very timely that this discussion should come up (again) now. I wave waffled all over the map wrt the deleted booster/MC debate. I had settled on a pedal geometry change solution that I was going to get to, one of these days (detailed in another thread somewhere) but, predictably, never got around to it. I actually am pretty used to having to “brake with authority” with the stock .875” MC. (The poor guy who is required by law to drive the car into the inspection bay has a “no brakes” panic attack every year, however.)

However, for the first time in eight years I am treating the car to a “professional” spring tune-up and re-commissioning and the mechanic found corrosion in the MC bore that simple honing won’t clean-up.

So:

-Simply sleeve-the-original MC ($245 quote from Apple Hydraulics), with or wo the pedal geometry change?

-Replace the original MC with a smaller bore MC from another vehicle, with all the inherent pipe-routing, mismatched fittings and funky reservoir mounting problems?

-Or, my dream solution: Sleeve the original MC down to a smaller dia, turn the pistons and seal-ring grooves down to match, source replacement seals, and keep the original MC look and plumbing with a lighter touch on the brakes?

Stepping the original .875” MC down to .750” would give a nice 27% increase in brake pressure (and corresponding increase in panel stroke), while reducing to .705” (stock S2 bore dia, if I’m not mistaken) would be 35%. The .705” solution might also allow swapping S2 MC innards into the reduced-bore TCS MC body. I’m digging into the possibilities with the shop next week and will let everyone know where the chips land.

Tom

alternator is seized, which is understandable, but I can't see a reference to it online - Delco DN460? **EDIT** Have now found the DN460, also fitted to TR6 and some Spitfires, at £300+ will work on freeing mine first.

I can't help on the keys but maybe on the alternator. IIRC some folks have had their originals overhauled so that is one option. I decided not to and when mine failed I simply fitted a Lucas 17ACR instead and modified the wiring. That's a very tight fit but the 16ACR is slightly smaller and in hindsight would have been the better option. The 17ACR lasted for a while until I saw a more modern Lucas A127 for £55 on Ebay so I got one of those to replace the 17ACR. The A127 is a very good fit for the car and comes in several outputs, some of which are probably too great for the car's wiring should you ever achieve the maximum charge rate.

This is how it went together;

http://www.martley.plus.com/lotusland2016/europa/16europa03.html 

(it's a very old and quaint website, but it's about the details not the coding !)

Brian

After a long time coming, my Europa is back on the road. Fully rebuilt motor with new pistons, studs, valves, removable water pump from Dave bean, new exhaust manifold, transmission seals. You name it, it’s been done. Very happy with the result, needed to be done and it’s finally finished. If you are planning on doing the water pump, get the removable one.

Thanks BDA. I've already contacted Andy at Lotus to pass him the car's details for their register, worth asking the question about key numbers, but I'll wait until I get the door locks out as I understand those numbers are possibly on the barrels.

Cheers, Jeff

Congratulations on your first step in you journey!! I'm really glad the wasps (hornets?) left before you took delivery!

Our own My S1 found a place to buy keys in the UK,  https://www.keytrader.co.uk/. I don't know if they know which blanks you need but you can give them a call. The usual suspects in the UK probably sell key blanks too (SJ Sports Cars, Kelvedon Lotus, Lotus Supplies, etc.). The Lotus archivist may be able to find which number keys your car used and Lotus might be able to help with the particular key numbers (to reproduce your original keys). Here's his address: AGraham at lotuscars dot com.

Good luck!