Author Topic: new owner '74 TCS misc ?  (Read 12161 times)

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Offline Fotog

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #180 on: Friday,September 15, 2023, 12:54:05 PM »
Excellent lighting in your photos, Lumbes :-)  (What's Lumbes mean?)

And nice to see what you're doing.  I think I should do this.  It doesn't look overly difficult.  Thanks for the info!
-Vince

FWIW, "Fotog" is short for fotogelegenheit, the name of my former boat.  That's "photo opportunity" auf deutsch.

Offline Lumbes

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #181 on: Friday,September 15, 2023, 01:14:31 PM »
Hmm wow yeah I really like that setup.  Great work BDA that has to really clean up the engine bay and like you said with the trunk in they are hidden. 

Lumbes is just as bastardization of two names that I came up with when thinking of a username to use so no significant meaning.


Offline TurboFource

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #182 on: Saturday,September 16, 2023, 04:34:48 AM »
I eliminated the boosters and still running dual circuit, it greatly simplified the brake lines!!! Of course I haven't driven it yet .......soon hopefully :)
The more I do the more I find I need to do....

Offline Bryan Boyle

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #183 on: Saturday,September 16, 2023, 04:57:51 AM »
I eliminated the boosters and still running dual circuit, it greatly simplified the brake lines!!! Of course I haven't driven it yet .......soon hopefully :)

The change I noticed more was after rebuilding the calipers (3 of the 4 pistons were well and truly stuck...which leads me to ask what WAS I stopping with in the 7 months between getting it on the road and refreshing the front end???) was that the pedal travel moved in about a half an inch (I went with greenstuff pads on the basis of recommendations when removing the boosters...) and there was actual 'pedal' versus the somewhat hard that it was before.

Still have to get under there and pull out the old front-to-back-to-front piping for the calipers and simplify the bundy tubing runs in 3291R.  Would be easier, I guess, if I just bit the bullet and pulled the body, but not convinced myself yet that I want to do that. 
Bryan Boyle
Fall River MA
Morrisville PA
Commercial Pilot/CFII/FAA Safety Team
Amateur Extra Class Operator & FCC Volunteer Examiner
Currently working on 3291R, ex 444R, 693R, 65/2163, 004R, 65/2678
http://www.lotuseuropa.us for mirror of lotus-europa.com manual site.

Offline Lumbes

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #184 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 10:05:48 AM »
The 4 corners of the Europa are finished as of 2 weeks ago and I am thrilled with the progress I've made with the car but I'm still without an engine.  It's really unfortunate that the shop and their machine shop have not been able to be of much help.  They focus on vintage race cars and foreign cars.  Started talking to them about 2 years ago and they said they are familiar with the Europa and would gladly work on it.  Their shop is always packed and getting fit into the schedule took a bit of time but I was able to drop the car off last week of February this year.  Had the car back in my garage March 1st with the transmission and a make shift bracket holding it to the body so the car could be loaded onto a flatbed and transported.  The engine sat in their shop for months while they told me they are so backed up along with their machine shop and that it's been a nightmare.  They insisted that they will still do the work but to be patient.  I gave patience a real honest try, going in every other week to ask about updates the situation never really improved.  The engine did make it to their machine shop but it's just been sitting there for months and now a time of over 7 months has elapsed and my last update was the engine is in good shape but no machine work has begun yet.  At this point I have lost faith and am going to tell them that their services are no longer required and to return the engine and misc parts back to me.  I live roughly 30 minutes north of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and am asking if anyone knows of a machine shop that does work on Lotus Twin Cam engines.  This has been a real let down so if any of you know of any worthwhile contacts I can go after in the area I would be so very thankful.  I'm not opposed to sending it away out of state either.  Last option is for me to take on the work.  The scope of work is to swap out the cams with a kit I ordered from QED.  420 spec was the raciest I could go without needing to spec up the bottom end or do serious machine work to the cylinder head.  I have all associated parts plus adjustable cam sprockets so would need to drive out the old valve guides and install the new ones. Rebuild the water pump, fuel filter, reseal the sump pan after installing the baffle kit and repaint the block to its original Ford blue.  If I'm careful and attentive any chance I could tackle this bit on my own or is that really ill advised for someone who has no prior Lotus Twin Cam engine work under their belt?  I have the Miles Wilkins Twin Cam engine book and have been going over it to familiarize myself with the idea of doing it myself.       

Offline Grumblebuns

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #185 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 10:33:18 AM »
I don't know what previous experience you've had with with aluminum cylinder head work but I would be very cautious with doing the work yourself. If you are installing new valve guides, may as well install new seats and valves as well. I'm in a three year engine rebuilding process on my TC engine and I farmed out the head overhaul work to a Lotus specialist. I'm reassembling the bottom end but never considered tackling the head. I don't remember how much detail Wilkins had in his book on the head but if you have the equipment and the necessary skills, give it a go. but if you have never tacked a head before, screwing up the head due to a novice error can be expensive. Shipping a head by FedEx or UPS is possible.

Offline cazman

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #186 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 12:12:53 PM »
Quicksilver Racing Engines in Frederick, MD is always good - a few hours away from you though.
1973 Europa TCS

Offline Lumbes

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #187 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 12:35:34 PM »
Thank you for some perspective Grumblebuns, I haven't done cylinder headwork before so sending the head out to a specialist is really my only option then.
I'll reach out to Quicksilver Racing Engines and have them determine a quote to do the headwork for me while I take care of the rest.

Offline Lumbes

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #188 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 01:49:44 PM »
Quicksilver Racing Engines have replied and said they will begin working on a quote for me.  Thank you cazman I am already starting to feel a little better now that I am able to work towards a more viable plan.

Offline TurboFource

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #189 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 02:29:57 PM »
The block should be gray. Let us know what Quick Silver says/does for you!
The more I do the more I find I need to do....

Offline Lumbes

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #190 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 03:19:15 PM »
Your right TurboFource, the block should be gray.  Thank you for the correction.  I'll definitely post what happens with Quicksilver as it develops.  I still have to pick up my engine and misc parts from the shop so that will be next week.  Once that is in hand I'm going to get it over to Quicksilver as soon as possible.

Offline EuropaTC

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #191 on: Friday,October 06, 2023, 10:51:28 PM »
As previously posted, changing valve guides isn't a normal DIY job. There's nothing difficult to it but you do need an oven large enough to take the head and raise the temperature to 100/150C, plus a freezer for the guides. So if you're doing that you might as well change the valve seats as well for something more suited to modern fuels and that means you need a valve seat cutter as well, not something you normally keep on the DIY shelf. So like a re-bore, it's a machine shop and in the case of the head, one that knows what it's doing.

But everything else is DIY and not difficult, if you get stuck then just post on here because many of us have done these jobs before.

Changing cams is easy enough but laborious unless you just happen to have a stock of the shims on hand because you're certain to need some new ones. That's the advantage shops have, they'll have a shim bank but even so all I did was measure up and order a new set from Burtons which came in a couple of days. The other aspect is if you need to alter the carburettors, webers/dellortoes are usually easy because so much is known, but if yours is on Strombergs I think you might need a rolling road or at least a wideband sensor + meter.

As an aside, your patience is amazing. I get that good shops have a long waiting time but 7 months is getting silly, it's almost in the "who's that belong to ?" category now. Maybe asking for the parts to be returned will spur them into action but if not then I'd also be looking for alternatives for the head work.

Brian

Offline Lumbes

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #192 on: Saturday,October 07, 2023, 12:49:02 PM »
Currently, the plan is to collect all the Europa parts from the shop next week and once I go through everything I will drive the head down to Quicksilver Racing Engines in MD.  It's just a little over 3 hours from my location.  Quicksilver Racing Engines can rebuild the head with all new parts, valves, seats, guides etc.  I talked to them on Friday and they told me to bring it down any day during the week.  When I purchased the car it had downdraft Webers with a funky saxophone like throttle body.  The set up was horrible with mix matched bolts and a considerable pool of gasoline trapped at the bottom of the throttle body.  The mix had to travel a much longer and arduous distance than originally intended, just couldn't live with that setup.  It would take about 20 cranks of the key after it sat for a while to actually get the mix to the head so I dumped that whole set up and replaced it with 2 Mikuni HSR 42s.  That starting problem disappeared instantly and for good.  They are side draft, easy to work on and bring in more air when compared to the Strombergs.  The Strombergs may actually be great but I haven't experienced them and decided to go with something more modern after JB recommended them on here.  I used an old style Elan secondary throttle body and turned it upside to put the balance pipe up top to keep gasoline from collecting.  Installed an exhaust bung and put in wide band 02 sensor and a digital reader that can record drives.  Spent a good amount of time changing jets and needles to find the right air fuel ratio so once I dialed them in they were a night and day difference when compared to the downdraft Webers that the PO put on.  I bought a whole new exhaust system from rdent and had them ceramic coated and fitted it to the car late last year.  I will be putting a bung in the new exhaust system and will be able to tune the carbs to the new cams once the head is rebuilt.  I really should of grabbed my engine/parts from that shop months ago but oh well, things are starting to look more promising and I can't wait to get started.   

Offline Lumbes

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #193 on: Friday,October 13, 2023, 10:07:06 AM »
Picked everything up today!  Gotta find a place for everything inside then a trip to Maryland on Monday.

Offline EuropaTC

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Re: new owner '74 TCS misc ?
« Reply #194 on: Friday,October 13, 2023, 10:20:54 PM »
Good to see some progress although it's a shame the original shop didn't get their act together and start work on your engine. But if they're not going to move any time soon then finding someone else for the work is what I'd have done as well. 

It looks a neat package as well, let's hope it's reduced to an engine-shaped size very quickly !

Brian