Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => The Paddock => Topic started by: Mecky on Saturday,March 14, 2020, 12:40:34 PM
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Hi guys,
I just wanted to tell you a little bit about my future plans for racing in 2020 and beyond.
FIA Appendix K can kiss my ass. I am going to race in Belcar Historic Cup. The regulations offer much more space for modifications and the Europa can race against matching competitors. GT cars with 1600 cc. I am really looking forward to it. First of all I will start with the old FIA config, but then upgrade the car step by step. The holy grale would be to fit a 16V Gordini head to the engine, like on this Alpine A110. https://www.renault-alpine-a110.de/autos/renault-alpine-a110-1800-16v-gruppe-5/ (https://www.renault-alpine-a110.de/autos/renault-alpine-a110-1800-16v-gruppe-5/)
But before that, there are many other issues to solve. Cooling is the first one. I am planning on installing a new aluminium radiator and an electric water pump. The stock Renault 16 pump is just a bad joke. Later I would like to upgrade the brakes, gearbox and engine. I will keep you posted. :ttiwwp:
Regards
Stefan
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Is that head available?
Gulp, how much?
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I don't know about the availability. I already read that original 16V heads from Gordini made in the 70s are very rare. But maybe there is some kind of replica of the original gordini heads manufactured in a higher quantity. I don't want to have an original head, but one with 16 valves fitting the 807 block.
This Renault Gordini engine, developed by the engineers at Viry-Châtillon (whereas Gordini, a brilliant preparer of race cars, was not a trained engineer) was also based on the 807 block from the R16 TS which had already taken Alpine to victory in the 1973 World Rally Championship. It had a dummy lateral cam and chain-driven twin overhead cams. The engine had a capacity of 1774cc, with an 82mm bore and 84mm stroke. It weighed just 100kg and peak power of 200bhp at 8000rpm was claimed, with maximum torque of 19.5 at 6500 rpm and a high compression ratio of 11.8:1.
Only four works 4-cylinder A310s and a single A110 (no. 20503) were originally fitted with the engine. Although reference is made to a hundred or so heads produced for homologation, it is certain that very few complete engines were assembled, perhaps 20 at most. Alpine only had 7 engines for its competition department!
But the engine issue is something for the years after 2021. I think the very first new part for the Lotus will be a (probably) Europa Special-type front spoiler to get a little bit more grip on the front tyres, especially under braking. The spoiler from the Jensen competition manual would also be practical, but it's f***ing ugly.
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Hey Mecky! I haven't heard from you in a while! I hope you can find a 16 valve head for your car. I'd love to see how your plans come together!
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The 16V head is a plan for 2022, if it's available somewhere for a reasonable price. Before that, we have to get the car back on track. The good thing about corona-panic: I will have much more time and can start the preparation of the race car earlier in the year. Maybe it will start in March already :pirate:
For 2020 the focus is on preparing the car to be reliable and test it. If I am going to race in 2020, I'm not sure. But there will definetely be track time soon. Circuit Zolder offers good possibilities for testing on track.
The old FIA spec with 160 HP and 700 kg is a nice basis for the start of an evolution to a real race car :deadhorse:
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I am going to race in Belcar Historic Cup. The regulations offer much more space for modifications and the Europa can race against matching competitors.
That sounds like more fun, closer competition among more equal cars hopefully.
But before that, there are many other issues to solve. Cooling is the first one. I am planning on installing a new aluminium radiator and an electric water pump.
Interested how you go with improved cooling Stefan and with the electric pump conversion.
My old engine never had cooling issues (once I learn't how to bleed the system properly) with the aluminium radiator in the original position and ducted, but the rebuilt engine (making a bit more power) struggles in warmer weather on track.
Recently we were running a sprint event in full sun and about 35-37degC, towards the end of the last couple of sessions (each of 20 minutes) I had to drop the RPM as the water and cylinder head temperatures started rising higher than I like to see. Oil temperature was also increasing but I haven't any ducting on the oil cooler so that was expected.
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First of all: the stock water pump is rubbish. I have learned a lot about the design of fluid pumps in university and the impeller shows almost none of the beneficial design features, we learned about. It's completely rudimental and doen't show any intention of reaching a sophisticated level of performance. It was intended for 55 or 65 HP in road use. Three times the power output (or more) in racing environment requires a much higher cooling performance, of course.
In my case, an additional issue is that we had a small leak in the radiator at the last race. We used liquid sealant, because we didn't want to miss the race. But that means that water channels inside the engine and radiator can get pluged by the sealant. This reduced the cooling performance in addition. The consequence at my latest drive to an oldtimer meeting in 2018: Water Temp. higher than 95°C and oil temp below 50°C, because of the very low reving driving on the road. Even at the last race, we had to drop the RPM and "lift and coast" into many corners to keep the temperature below 100°C. As far as I know, the max. pressure (before blowing off) inside the cooling circuit allows water temperatures up to 110-115°C (before boiling), but the car had to survive four hours, thus we didn't risk too much.
All this is too much of a compromise and has nothing to do with racing. This is just carrying my fuel around a circuit. I don't want to waste any more money for that.
That's why I'm going to replace the crucial parts of the cooling circuit as the first important upgrade before the car goes on a track for the next time.
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The pump is otherwise sound in design, I wonder if there is an alternate impeller that would fit.
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Couldn't a new impeller be designed and be machined on a CNC mill?
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If you cannot improve the pump, can you improve the cooling so the water returns to the pump cooler?
I was thinking of a bigger radiator, a more efficient radiator, increased airflow from the cooling fan, or even an additional radiator fitted in the left side wheel well with an additional opening made into the wheel well.
Make sure there are no restrictions to air entering the front grill.
There must be more ways to cool your engine if you cannot improve the pump.
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I am going to replace the radiator, of course. The old one didn't perform well, even while beeing mounted on the very front just behind the grill. You can see it in the pictures of our green car. I also use a sucking fan on the back side of the radiator, to avoid covering any part of the radiator's frontal area.
What I am planning on doing is what you can see on the orange car, which was built by Sauber Motorsport (a sister company of Sauber F1 team, hence they know how to build a race car) for a Swiss man, who I got to know a few years ago. Sauber built the car to a very high spec (Renault Gordini 8V engine, 1900 cc, 200 HP) and upgraded it with electric water pump and a huge cut in the front bonnet to guide the hot air out of the car directly after flowing through the radiator. As you can see, they also use sucking fans and a new aluminium radiator. That is exactly what I will do before the car goes to any track for racing or even testing. Cooling is an issue, which has been compromised too much in the past. We had to lift and coast at 3 of the last 5 races. And the impact of this was much higher than in F1. It costed several seconds every lap... :deadhorse:
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Lotus Supplies have a ducted bonnet on their parts list. It makes a lot of sense for a race car - there should some aerodynamic benefits too in terms of drag reduction and some downforce at the front. It might affect the aero balance, so that's something to be aware of.
https://www.lotus-supplies.com/parts/bodywork/panels-bodywork/bonnet-ducted-isophthalic-47r-62s/
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Thank you for that tip. That will save me many hours of work. It may be even lighter than the original front bonnet. I have also added the TC front spoiler to my wishlist there. I hope Brexit will not affect that relationship negatively.
I am planning on bringing the car to the workshop on saturday, thus there will be fresh (to)pics very soon. At least, I hope so. Corona could maybe stop me from working on the lovely little car in the next weeks :(
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If you can see it, I have a "cow catcher" front spoiler which should give a lot more front down force as well as brake ducts. I got it from Dave Bean many years ago. I don't know if they still sell them, though I would think they do, and I don't know if or how well it fits on an S2. It might be worth a call at least.
Lotus Supplies also has a front spoiler for racing but they don't show a pictures. You might ask them about it.
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The front air dam I bought from Spyder chassis when I got my new chassis looks like it will fit my 1970 type 54 with minimal fiddling.
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If you can see it, I have a "cow catcher" front spoiler which should give a lot more front down force as well as brake ducts. I got it from Dave Bean many years ago. I don't know if they still sell them, though I would think they do, and I don't know if or how well it fits on an S2. It might be worth a call at least.
Lotus Supplies also has a front spoiler for racing but they don't show a pictures. You might ask them about it.
I already contacted them on the spoiler issue. The racing spoiler is the very modern looking one, which they are using on their race cars with modern technical equipment. It would have to be integrated into the front panel. I'm looking to a solution, which looks a little bit more like period-style and it should be no completely new paint job required after installation of the spoiler. For that the TC spoiler should be sufficient at the beginning.
I went on studying my old documents about the car and found out one very nice aspect. The fuel tank on the left hand side (just behind the driver) can be removed completely, because the races in Belcar Historic Cup will be sprints and no endurance races. That will make the balance of the car much better, because I won't have to carry the 40 kg just behind me on board. :pirate:
You can see the disbalance in the attached pic. That was measured at the last race in October 2016 with a heavy (90 kg+) driver.
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The project started yesterday. The target is to race at the NASCAR Finals Zolder on October 3rd & 4th. But before that there is a lot of work to do. I started with pulling the engine and gearbox. The engine will be revised and all water channels flushed and cleaned.
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The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!
I look forward to seeing your progress. Good luck!
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After much work yesterday, it was a lazy Sunday afternoon for me. I removed the old head lamps with both glasses broken and installed new lamps, which I got as Christmas gifts. Now I need only one outer chrome ring, which I just ordered from GB today.
Chilling in the workshop is fun. Lazy, but productive. It helps on the way to my new target. Get the car ready in October with at least one full day of track test before :pirate:
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While waiting for my new engine stand, my next project is the upgrade of the stock engine mounts. I ordered universal polyurethane bushes and started working on the original engine mounts. Tomorrow I will weld the new sleeves into the old mounts. Hopefully the bushes will arrive early next week.
The engine stand should also be there tomorrow, thus I have something to work on this weekend. Society is locked down, but the race car stays with me :pirate:
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As there is always some waiting time, while parts are being delivered from the UK (or somewhere else), I started working on all four corners of the car.
At the moment, I am trying to figure out, where to find the fitting chrome trim ring for my second headlamp. The one, which I ordered recently, is too big in the biggest outside diameter. The inne diameter is ok, though.
I am also waiting for the PU bushes from Powerflex for the upgraded engine mounts, which I have to shorten, before installation.
The third work site is the engine, which I started to pull and its complete cooling system apart. I have to clean all the water channels in order to improve the bad cooling situation, which I got before. I also ordered the ducted front bonnet, which @gideon talked about, as well as the TC spoiler to get the front wheels grip a little bit better under heavy braking. When I received the ducted bonnet from the UK, I will figure out, which radiator to use. Maybe I will also move the oil cooler to the front of the car (just behind the radiator).
The fourth corner, I want to start working on is the radius arm mounts, which are rubber right now. Similar to the solution Serge Sleurs shows on his project website, I am going to upgrade them. Maybe I will combine it with the solution of the Jensen Competition Manual, which recommends to install uniball joints at the end of the radius arms for better adjustment and some additional reinforcements.
Still much work to do and the Covid-19 situation gives me the time. I hope, the normal life will start up again soon, nontheless...
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Either Serge's or Jensen's upgrade for the radius arm pivot would be a great improvement. I had a discussion with JR73 a while back and he told It was important to get the rubber out of the radius arm pivot because it allows toe changes under braking. I think Jensen's is more appropriate for full race because it put the pivot bolt in double shear.
I think the front is the best place for the oil cooler.
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Either Serge's or Jensen's upgrade for the radius arm pivot would be a great improvement. I had a discussion with JR73 a while back and he told It was important to get the rubber out of the radius arm pivot because it allows toe changes under braking. I think Jensen's is more appropriate for full race because it put the pivot bolt in double shear.
I think the front is the best place for the oil cooler.
That's correct. The rubber bushing messes with the rear suspension geometry under load changes. You can see it quite clear on the two photos, which are taken on the same day. One photo shows the car while accelerating out of a corner and the other one under heavy braking for a hairpin. That's the reason, why I want to remove this rubber radius arm mount.
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Thank you for that tip. That will save me many hours of work. It may be even lighter than the original front bonnet. I have also added the TC front spoiler to my wishlist there. I hope Brexit will not affect that relationship negatively.
Bit late in reading this thread so apologies if you have already ordered the parts etc but if you order the vented front bonnet (Banks, as fitted to the orange car you pictured) it is worth asking for it to be made as light as possible - standard weight is a little robust for racing as they are made to be lifted on and off regularly and generally abused on road cars etc. They are usually made to order so can be made with a lighter layup (save you hours of grinding!).
It is possible to mount a considerably larger radiator than original and the duct out of the bonnet is quite deceiving in size.
Also, they produce a ‘racing’ front spoiler option that has ducts that can be used to direct air towards the front brakes etc.... it is more effective than the original type twin cam front spoiler, Generates a fair amount of useful front end downforce and it does indeed fit an S2 - I’m pretty sure its shape and design originates (from memory?!) off a Chevron race car of similar vintage to the Europa.
Sounds like you are heading in the right direction regarding your rear suspension mods, as BDA has mentioned, i did a fair bit of investigation into that for another build for racing - I’m home atm due to the Covid-19 so PM me if you want any further info relating to any of the above?
Jon
I have both the Bonnet and Spoiler fitted to my own car, pic for reference;
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Thank you for that tip. That will save me many hours of work. It may be even lighter than the original front bonnet. I have also added the TC front spoiler to my wishlist there. I hope Brexit will not affect that relationship negatively.
Bit late in reading this thread so apologies if you have already ordered the parts etc but if you order the vented front bonnet (Banks, as fitted to the orange car you pictured) it is worth asking for it to be made as light as possible - standard weight is a little robust for racing as they are made to be lifted on and off regularly and generally abused on road cars etc. They are usually made to order so can be made with a lighter layup (save you hours of grinding!).
It is possible to mount a considerably larger radiator than original and the duct out of the bonnet is quite deceiving in size.
Also, they produce a ‘racing’ front spoiler option that has ducts that can be used to direct air towards the front brakes etc.... it is more effective than the original type twin cam front spoiler, Generates a fair amount of useful front end downforce and it does indeed fit an S2 - I’m pretty sure its shape and design originates (from memory?!) off a Chevron race car of similar vintage to the Europa.
Sounds like you are heading in the right direction regarding your rear suspension mods, as BDA has mentioned, i did a fair bit of investigation into that for another build for racing - I’m home atm due to the Covid-19 so PM me if you want any further info relating to any of the above?
Jon
I have both the Bonnet and Spoiler fitted to my own car, pic for reference;
Thank you for your explainations, Jon. Your car looks very neat and tidy! I also like to look of your co-driver in that picture. Seems like you are taking that corner quite fast.
For the big eyes that he or she makes, the body roll of your car looks very tame. Are you using a hard suspension set-up?
Regarding your advice on the parts, which I ordered at Banks/Lotus Supplies: I asked Richard and he recommended the TC spoiler as best fitting for my needs. I also thought about the spoiler that you are using, because it looks like it generates more front end downforce. But I don't like its looks so much and I'm already using air ducts for the brakes on the sides next to the radiator grill, thus I sticked with Richard's recommendation. Regarding the weight issue of the bonnet, I'm not afraid about the bonnet being too heavy, because my car is already something like 50 kg lighter than the minimum weight of the class, which is 740 kg. Because of that, I prefer the bonnet, which is a little bit more robust. I guess, it will be lighter than the stock one, anyway.
Regarding the rear suspension issue, I will come back to you soon, I'm sure. I'm going to take some measurements today on my car to be able to design the right solution for me with CAD. I already thought about using Jensen's idea, but I think I will modify it a bit. I will keep you posted.
Regards
Stefan
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The eyes are quite amusing in that pic, if only photos recorded noise too (screaming that was audible over the engine and all the other noises!!) so that you could hear my Mrs...
That particular corner was indeed fairly quick, in the region of 100mph and I’m pretty sure I was running 400lbs front and 250lbs rear springs that day - as you can see it was a track day so two up for most of it. Tbh it would be unfair to compare what I was running to your car as I have the tubular Banks chassis with double wishbone rear suspension, adjustable high level anti roll bar on the front (couldn’t tell you what size I had on that day) etc etc. From the way I liked it set up it never did roll very much and was very neutral but adjustable in its handling. There’s a fair bit about it in my members cars thread if you want to look it up, it also weighed 640kgs with fluids and fuel in the tank (min class limit).
I noticed on the pic of the orange bonnet that they haven’t trimmed the bottom of the duct to match the angle that the radiator is mounted - this is possible to do and worth the effort in further controlling the flow of air to where you wish it to go, we used to use the radiator mounts to also form the ducting from behind the front grill to direct the air through the rad, the bonnet duct effectively met up on the top side of the rad so that air didn’t escape into the front plenum if that makes sense? Again, i have pics if you want for reference - just ask?!
I’d be surprised if its lighter than your original bonnet but it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more weight up front anyway and if you are under the class limit then it will help a little.
Any front spoiler would be better than none, on track at least - nothing wrong with picking something that you like the look of!
As for the rear suspension, whilst you have a bit of time to investigate, it may be worth removing the spring and observing the movement as the wheel is lifted up and down through the suspension travel. Pay attention to the various joints and bushes also as they can experience a fair amount of ‘twist’ as the suspension is raised and lowered - again, something that ordinarily is of no great concern on the road but can cause issues on track. Swapping the front radius arm pivot i would recommend, especially with higher HP and stickier tyres etc as the original rubber bushes can be pulled and pushed quite a considerable amount under serious load which will be causing the rear wheels to change toe by more than you may imagine... All interesting stuff and well worth the time and effort in both improved handling and faster lap times.
I look forward to seeing your developments.
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I took a look at your member cars thread. I very much like the arrangement of your radiator in the front bonnet. I'd love to see some more details of it in picures. Is it also possible that you tell me, which radiator you are using? It looks like it perfectly uses the available cross-section of the flow path for the cooling air.
I'd also love to see pictures of your rear suspension upgrade. Please feel free to post them in this thread or I'd also be happy, if you'd send them via PN to me.
Thanks for your help!
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I can’t remember what vehicle the radiator originates from (20 years since it was built!!), it was sourced from a radiator supplier/refurbisher using the general dimensions as a guide whilst ensuring that he knew what it was going to be used for... they did the calcs to ensure it would be suitable and I have to say that I never had any issues, only since putting it back on the road have I added a cooling fan - just in case I get stuck in traffic. It also has a bleed screw on the top corner.
Pics below will hopefully be self explanatory, I put a tape measure across the core to give a general idea of size, difficult to get a pic to show the actual angle that it’s sitting at but the side shot of the duct on the bonnet should help you get an idea as it sits snug against the radiator.
The bit I can’t get a pic of atm is unfortunately the key bit - the ducting that forms the cradle that the rad sits on/in as my number plate grill is a PITA to remove/refit and I can’t get a decent pic through it. Basically it is aluminium sheet cut to shape to fit inside the nose and mounted through the floor forming two side dams with pieces running across the top and bottom to further support the rad and seal the area and channel the air through the rad... it’s not overly complex and the rad just sits onto the cradle on some foam rubber type material to further help seal the area. The pipe work and bonnet duct prevent it from moving... it has very much been tried and tested without issue!
Also worth mentioning that the original rad position has been blanked off.
Hope the above makes sense along with the pics...?
The rear suspension is as per the Banks tubular chassis that they offer (47R on the Banks website to get an idea) - it has a double wishbone setup that is very different to the original and is not even similar to the Spyder version that is available. It can’t be retro fitted to an original chassis. If you are competing in a ‘historic’ type championship then I doubt that chassis and suspension would be eligible?
The suspension that I developed using spherical joints etc with the original trailing arms where on another car that I also competed with.
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I have some progress to report on. Starting with the Polyurethan bushings for the new engine mounts, which are finally ready.
The second improvement should be the TC style front spoiler, which I installed. I like the discreet look and hope that it still will improve front-end grip slightly.
What should be a significant upgrade is the new durcted front bonnet. Both these parts came from Lotus supplies in reasonable delivery time. It seems like the duct is very well proportioned, as you can see on the picture taken from above the roof. The cross-section of the duct fits the cross-section of the front grill nicely. The customized radiator for this duct is ordered already :welder:
The last thing, which goes on right now, is the engine rebuild, which seems to come just at the right time. It was a good decision to tear the engine apart completely and check every detail. The bearing doesn't look too nice. Replacement from France is coming soon. Together with new piston rings, and all gaskets, of course. I'm really looking forward to re-assemble that engine with the liquid gold Castrol 10-W60. :pirate:
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Don't you love it when a plan starts to come together? :beerchug:
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:I-agree: Yes, I do. Unfurtunately, right now everything is still "falling" apart. But the dismantling and inventory analysis is the most important part of my whole job, I guess.
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Looking good Mecky!!!
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Hi Guys,
just a short update:
I wanted to do a quick ( :FUNNY: ) check-up on the gear box. I only intended to open the rear cover, check the shifting mechanism, the overall condition and make an oil change.
Unfortunately that escalated completely and it had to be a full gearbox revision, because the synchro sliding gear of gears 1 and 2 was jammed. I looked around for a matching used gearbox, which is the Renault 395 five speed in my case. But it was not so easy to find the right one, thus I took a bit of a gamble with buying a used NG3 gearbox. I hoped that I could use the whole thing, in case I could not fit my customized shifting mechanism to it.
End of this story: The gearboxes look very similar from the outside and even the gear ratios are the same, but the housing doesn't allow the to fit the old suspension mounts and on the inside the gearboxes are almost completely different. I realized this while dismantling the NG3 and was already looking like this: :blowup:
But then I found out that the only broken parts on my 395 (one little spring and the sliding gear) are exactly the same on the NG3, which I just dismantled. :pirate: :pirate: :pirate:
So now, I was able to convert a broken 395 and a running NG3 into a (hopefully) running 395 and many parts of an NG3 :trophy:
That meant that it's not too much of a proplem that I'm still waiting for feedback from france for the engine gaskets, bearings and piston rings. The company may suffer from some covid-lock-down- issues, I guess. Hence, I had something to work on, while waiting. And I still have...
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I am looking forward to see the Holy Graal. The 16V head!!!
Nice project Mecky!!
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Hi Guys,
I have some updates regarding my race car upgrade. It was harder than expected to build a fully airtight ducting into the nose of my Lotus Europa, but with many trial & error iterations I finally managed it. It was especially difficult, because the car has quite an eventful history with an accident caused by myself in 2014 and at least one more (I guess in the mid-nineties). The repairs have made the nose a bit asymmetrical. But it worked out nicely with the use of edge protective rubber seals, which I got from random cars at the local scrap yard. The rubber strips help to close the gaps between duct structure and the inner nose smoothly.
Now the new bonnet is painted green, which makes a huge difference in the feeling, when you come into the workshop and see the car. Next step is to assemble the engine. I received the new gaskets, bearings and piston rings. I'm looking forward to cover the parts in liquid gold 10W-60. But first, I have to disassembly the rest of the engine to clean everything in depth.
I have also bought the electrical water pump capable of a flow rate of 80 litres per minute together with an adjustable electronic monitoring system to be completely secure. It's this system: https://daviescraig.com.au/product/ewp80-combo-12v-80lpm21gpm-remote-electric-water-pump-controller-combo-8907/ewp80-lcd-controller-combo-12v-8907 (https://daviescraig.com.au/product/ewp80-combo-12v-80lpm21gpm-remote-electric-water-pump-controller-combo-8907/ewp80-lcd-controller-combo-12v-8907)
This is the current status. I'll try to make progress over the weekend.
Regards
Stefan
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Nice work, Mecky! She's coming along nicely! :beerchug:
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:pirate: My (still 8V) Gordini crossflow (Hemi) engine is finally ready after its overhaul. :pirate:
I have disassembled every part, cleaned everything and replaced the following parts:
- all gaskets
- main bearings
- rod bearings
- piston rings
- oil pump
- timing chain
It's the first engine built all by myself, thus I hope that it will run as good as it looks :deadhorse:
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Looks great!
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If it does run as good as it looks, it will run very well indeed! Congratulations on your first engine build! :beerchug:
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Hi guys,
good news: engine and gearbox are back in :pirate:
Only thing I wondered about: the tiny amount of space between the intake funnels and the tank, espacially of cylinder no. 4. :huh:
But I checked the photos and it's the same as before. Nontheless, I will try and upgrade the air supply through a feeder snorkle or something like that fitted to the engine bonnet :welder:
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That really is close!! That doesn't look like a good thing. Is there anything you can do about it?
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Give the tank a smack with a rubber hammer?
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That's pretty close.
After you've smacked it with a rubber hammer :)) . . . perhaps a longer term idea would be to move the tank to the other side.
That way, you've got room to install a cold air intake of some sort.
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This is the exact reason why I´m running twin tanks with 25 liter each. That way I can even run a proper airbox.
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If you can fabricate a 47 style snorkel airbox you will be amazed at the added power. I did one on my Zetec engine (twin 45's) S1 and I get 500 rpm more at top speed on long straights. i'll try to locate some pictures.
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Attached are photos of the snorkel. It bolts to the rear deck over one of the vent holes. A fiberglass airbox was molded that bolts to the Webers and has a foam seal that touches the underside of the rear deck. The photo of the airbox is only the plaster mold, not the airbox itself.
By the way Mecky I see you have CV halfshafts. What did you use for stub axles and hub carriers?
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That's pretty close.
After you've smacked it with a rubber hammer :)) . . . perhaps a longer term idea would be to move the tank to the other side.
That way, you've got room to install a cold air intake of some sort.
Hi Gavin,
I used to have two tanks for the 3h and 4h races of the past. But in the future, I'm going to race only for 30 mins and that's why I just removed the left-hand tank to improve the car's balance.
But I guess, a lower tank would be a very good thing. For a sprint race, I won't need more than 20 litres and this one can take about 40. Maybe a little smack with the rubber hammer will help a bit. But the car used to have power in the past, even with the tank so close to the intake funnels.
But this snorkel idea seems to fit my car very well. Nice execution, @SwiftDB4 :beerchug: But may I ask: Why is it that the snorkels, only go down to one of the holes in the engine cover? I have seen this also at the Type 47 snorkel car. It's because of the air box, right? I guess, as long as this tank stays in place, I will not built an air box, just the snorkel for the start. When I install a smaller tank, I will try and install a nice air box. Thus, without air box, I will try and feed both holes in the engine cover by the snorkel.
Unfortunately the air intakes on the side of my car are just dummies, which a previous owner placed completely wrong (to far at the back) just for looks :blowup:
At ther Type 47 they start right behind the door and go up after the fuel filler cap.
I have changed almost the complete rear suspension. The stub axles, bearing carriers (just the tube, which carries the bearings) and rear drum brakes are from a BMW 2002 ti. Around the BMW hub carriers, we welded a custom-built hub carrier according to the original suspension mounting points of the Europa. The half shafts are taken from a VW, I guess from a beetle.
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Hi Mecky,
If you are only using the snorkel to cool the engine bay more than one vent hole could be used. Some 47's ran 2 snorkels. You will only get a power increase with a sealed airbox to snorkel. It's the air ram effect that gives me 500 rpm more on long straights. I tried the same thing with a side NACA duct instead of the snorkel and it didn't work.
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Hi Gavin,
I used to have two tanks for the 3h and 4h races of the past. But in the future, I'm going to race only for 30 mins and that's why I just removed the left-hand tank to improve the car's balance.
But I guess, a lower tank would be a very good thing. For a sprint race, I won't need more than 20 litres and this one can take about 40. Maybe a little smack with the rubber hammer will help a bit. But the car used to have power in the past, even with the tank so close to the intake funnels.
Hi Stefan,
Whoa . . 3 and 4 hour races are very long, so can understand the need for a larger tank/s . . and I forgot your's is left hand drive regarding balance.
Of course, in an ideal world, we'd have a bladder tank in the chassis central box section.
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This is the exact reason why I´m running twin tanks with 25 liter each. That way I can even run a proper airbox.
Yes, for a road car, I've often thought 2 x 5 gallon tanks would overall be better than one or two 7 gallon tanks.
As you say, the advantage of smaller tanks is they can be installed lower down and leave enough room for a cold air box above.
Do you have a pic of your 2 x 25 litre tanks, Nero?
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Hi Mecky,
If you are only using the snorkel to cool the engine bay more than one vent hole could be used. Some 47's ran 2 snorkels. You will only get a power increase with a sealed airbox to snorkel. It's the air ram effect that gives me 500 rpm more on long straights. I tried the same thing with a side NACA duct instead of the snorkel and it didn't work.
Yes, I understand what you are saying. A well-designed air box with snorkel works a little bit like a turbo-charger, because the air can flow into the combustion chamber with higher speed and pressure, while the valve opens. With more air, it may be possible to slightly incease the amount of fuel to be burned and with that the power output of the engine at high revs. But just cooling the engine bay is not what I'm intending to do. Thus, I will have to replace the tank first, before I will install a snorkel.
Here are some pics of my finally complete cooling upgrade:
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Looks great Mecky!
How is your search for the 16v engine going?
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I would appreciate updates on how the electric water pump works out.
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Looks great Mecky!
How is your search for the 16v engine going?
Hi Chuck,
in the moment my focus is on getting the car going again with a reasonable performance (around 160 HP). Once I have sorted out all the technical gremlins of the car, made it reliable and improved some it at more areas (brakes, rear suspension etc.), I will try and search for a 16V power house to reach the 200+ HP.
@jb
I think I will not get the engine running before mid/end of August, because I have to make a new smaller alternator wheel for the V-belt in order to keep the speed of the alternator at the same level as before.
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Hi Mecky, As I said before, clean install.
I really don't see the need for a smaller pulley just add the water pump pulley as a adjustable idler. Just a thought, fabricating a smaller pulley would only increase the alternator speed. the cam set the speed.
Dakazman
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If this can help.
I have installed this type of air intake.
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Did you make your own up? Or source them from an Alfa? I have made them up on occasion.
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No Alfa. This comes from the original Alpine A110 1600S group4 setup.
Weber 45 DCOE 62/63
I had the chance to buy one few kilometres from my place.
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Very nice.
The only thing Alpine close to me are meadows three hours away.
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No Alfa. This comes from the original Alpine A110 1600S group4 setup.
Weber 45 DCOE 62/63
I had the chance to buy one few kilometres from my place.
If you find any others a few kilometers further let me know.
Dakazman
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A small update from the first test drive with rebuilt engine and gearbox:
I was able to borrow a red number plate for the purpose of a transfer of the car and I have done 85 km without any problems. I am almost overwhelmed by the extent of the success of my modification :pirate: .
The new cooling system with custom-made aluminium radiator, hot air outlet and electric water pump works so well that the water temperature never rose above 68°C while driving on the motorway, even at full load. When the car was stationary with the engine running, the two fans were able to keep the water temp at 78°C permanently, even while fine-tuning the ignition and synchronising the carburettor. The car does not have a thermostat, but with the electronic control unit that regulates the water pump speed, this is not necessary either. I will adjust the control unit a little bit differently, so that the temperature will settle down at 80°C and then this job is done.
For comparison: before the upgrade I had a water temperature of 95°C when I drove to an oldtimer meeting at low revs on public roads.
Next on the agenda is the dyno run to optimise the carburettor settings and check the power-output of the engine. Afterwards the next way leads to the Belgian town of Zolder
P.S.: here is a small video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEPYnCACjOW/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/CEPYnCACjOW/)
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Congratulations Mecky! You've obviously made a vast improvement over what you had before! I would have liked a longer video but she sounds really good! I'm looking forward to seeing the results from the dyno!
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The car does not have a thermostat, but with the electronic control unit that regulates the water pump speed, this is not necessary either.
Personally I would leave the thermostat installed, but I know many people with electric pumps don't have any issues.
On my old racing bike I fitted an electric pump and initially left the thermostat out, but found the engine still took too long to reach operating temperature even with the pump turned off.
Also had significant water temperature variation with pump on/off, but a variable pump would be better.
With thermostat and electric pump I think it was the best combo.
The engine sounds great Mecky, hopefully I'll get over again one day and see it in action, rather than parked in the old lockup :)
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Well done, Mecky - engine sounds strong.
Someone please correct me but I thought the design running temp for these engines was 90° C.
I reckon these EWP's are brilliant but there does seem to be some debate about how to arrive & maintain the desired running temp.
For instance, with the stock thermostat in place, does the EWP controller work properly or do the dual 'control' methods conflict?
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Tomorrow is dyno-day :pirate:
I'm a bit nervous and can't really concentrate on anything else in the moment, thus I have transferred my old dyno curves from the year 2013 into Excel and compared them with the dyno curve from Valerios wedge head engine (see attached). I must say that Valerios engine has a much better balanced torque curve. But at the higher revs, the hemi head gains advantage. I don't really know, why my torque was so badly waving back then.
The characteristic of my torque curve is also defined by my camshaft, which is set to deliver high torque with quite low revs. That's why, my engine will not have highest possible power output. But I hope, it will have a broad rev-band with high torque. The camshaft is originally intended for Rallye, but for my 5 speed gearbox with 236 kph top speed, it's good to have a broad usable rev-band.
The cylindre head was refurbished by a Renault Alpine specialist in Germany in 2014 and it felt much better. But I don't have a dyno sheet from this configuration. I will show the new sheet tomorrow or on saturday. Looking forward to it :blowup:
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I went to the dyno today and it was great. My little engine is able to deliver a power output of 162 HP and 186 Nm of torque. That's magnificent for an 1.6 litre 8V OHV engine, I think. :pirate:
:ttiwwp:
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Very good metric HP & Torque, 160.67 imperial HP & 137.3lbs ft, was that on a Sun with roll down to convert from wheel HP to flywheel HP, what is the gearing in mph/kph per 1000 rpm on those wheels / tyres
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i'll rephrase that - what is the max rpm / speed expected on an open road, I used to regularly see 126 / 127 mph going home in the middle of the night / very early morning
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Very good metric HP & Torque, 160.67 imperial HP & 137.3lbs ft, was that on a Sun with roll down to convert from wheel HP to flywheel HP, what is the gearing in mph/kph per 1000 rpm on those wheels / tyres
From the original dimensions and ratios the theoretical speed should be 236 kph (147 mph) in 5th gear at 7500 RPM and 220 kph (137 mph) at 7000. Google maps told me that I was doing 204 kph (127 mph) at ~7000 RPM on the German Autobahn. GPS data is more reliable, I think.
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Very good metric HP & Torque, 160.67 imperial HP & 137.3lbs ft, was that on a Sun with roll down to convert from wheel HP to flywheel HP, what is the gearing in mph/kph per 1000 rpm on those wheels / tyres
From the original dimensions and ratios the theoretical speed should be 236 kph (147 mph) in 5th gear at 7500 RPM and 220 kph (137 mph) at 7000. Google maps told me that I was doing 204 kph (127 mph) at ~7000 RPM on the German Autobahn. GPS data is more reliable, I think.
you have a 5 speed fitted, my S2 had the 336 box with std final drive on 185/60 xc 13" rims / tyres
your kph per 1000 is 30.82264 or 19.1523 according to the rolling road dyno.
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Hi guys,
I just wanted to let you know that due to obvious reasons, I was not able to race the Europa in 2020. The BELCAR Historic Cup was only able to hold one race event on October 3rd, when my car was not ready. The race on November 7th was cancelled, unfortunately. But nontheless I reached my goal of getting the car back on the race track in 2020:
I went to an international test day at the former F1 circuit Zolder in Belgium. It was a wet day, thus no hunt for the lap record. But I could figure out that the car works quite well. Especially the brakes were surprisingly good. The BMW 2002 ti rear drums seem to work nicely. But also steering, gearbox and engine ran trouble-free. The cooling is almost a little bit too good. I had to tape the air inlet of the front, because water temperature never reached more than 72°C, while oil temp went up to 95°C. I will try to adjust this by re-positioning the oil cooler in front of the radiator. Right now, it's installed in the back of the car, thus not getting too much cooling air flow.
The other minor issue is the adjustment of suspension. With tyre pressure above the sweet spot, the car began to float a bit under braking. That was not a nice feeling. And of course, the 5 years old semi-slicks need to be replaced. They were not great in the wet, either. Before that, I will not go back on a race track.
I also wanted to let you know that I created a new website for my project, which takes special care of our family's racing history since 1970: https://www.yart-racing.com (https://www.yart-racing.com)
I love to research on these old races. But in 2021 the latest news from my BELCAR Historic Cup races will also be published there. :pirate:
EDIT: :ttiwwp:
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It is too bad your races were canceled. If she half as fast as she is beautiful, she will be a screamer! Now you can continue your pre-race development (a race car is never finished) for next season. I hope and expect that we will be hearing great stuff from you then!
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Excellent news!
95°C for oil temperature is fine. Do you have a fan on it?
What controller are you using for the electric water pump?
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Congratulations on getting to the track.
My suggestion for your cooling issues is to replace the oil cooler with an oil to water heat exchanger. That way you won't need to run long oil lines to the front of the car, and the main radiator can handle the additional cooling load. Something like this
https://www.cantonracingproducts.com/categories/oil-cooling-heat-exchanging/water-to-oil-heat-exchangers.html
or this
https://www.crracing.com/product/lightweight-oil-to-water-heat-exchanger-13-plate-w-1-1-2-inlet-outlet
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Hi guys,
nice to read your feedback. I am not using a fan for the oil cooler so far. The controller is from the same manufacturer as the electric pump: Craig Davies Auto Cooling from Australia. It's sold as a set. The controller activates the pump in intervals (10s on, 10s off), until reaching 5°C less than target temp, which is 85°C as standard. But I have not reached that point, yet. The controller should be able to switch the fans on, if target temp is exceeded. But I installed the fans with a manual switch only.
The idea of a water/oil heat exchanger sounds promising to me. It would combine exactly, what I want: higher water temp and lower oil temp. But I'm not sure, if I should combine it or replace the oil cooler. I think, I'd test the combination and remove the oil cooler only, if the temps are too low. My aim is 80-90°C for both.
I was also thinking about a kind of mechanism, which allows to reduce the effective area of the huge aluminium radiator. When it's hot outside, it would allow the air to flow through the whole area and when the engine and/or the weather is cold, it could be closed up to a certain extend. The mechanism could be similar to a flat slider gate or a butterfly flap. Maybe even executed in a way, which allows to adjust the effective area while driving via bowden cable (wire rope).
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That's a really big radiator! Are you using a thermostat? If not, you might want to consider one. Of course, a smaller radiator is always an (expensive) option.
Good luck!
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Congratulations Mecky,
Nice figures at the dyno. Maybe now you’ll take center position on the podium. Your car is amazing inside and out.
Dakazman
Dave Kaczmarek 😉
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Thanks for your nice feedback, boys. I'm using no thermostat, but an electronic temperture controller. It's switches the water pump off in intervals, until water temp reaches target temp minus 5 degrees. But the radiator is still too big for that in this configuration. But next year, I'll make it will work.
This is what I do in the moment: getting rid of the old useless ducts and install type 47 NACA ducts to deliver air into the engine bay.
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Nice work Mecky :beerchug:
when and if I get my crossflow assembled this may be my first mod.
dakazman
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They "work" but they don't let in that much air. For example, one alone won't supply enough air for the engine air intake.
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I bought a pair of the 47 style ducts from a mate some time ago.
I believe they're the Banks ones.
I've calculated the area where the duct empties into the interior at ~ 5785 sq MM.
For reference, the area of a 3 inch (internal) trunking system is 4560 sq MM.
My objective was to essentially isolate the engine intake from the hot engine compartment so I reckon that should work. The left side duct would just be to help ventilate the engine bay . . hopefully.
There's probably also some proviso's.
The last time I researched submerged ducts, the theory calls for flat surrounds for the ducts and the internal walls of the ducts are supposed to be sharp and at right angles to the duct base. The Banks ducts don't conform to these specifics and I have no idea how much difference that makes.
Perhaps that's only important for an aircraft travelling at 600 MPH where some engineer has specified minimum air flow parameter?
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One lister ducted his carbs to a 47 type NACA duct. When driving his carbs were starving for air and he had to disconnect it. Be nice if it worked. Heck, I'd cheerfully put in a pair. But it doesn't, at least, not that much. By all means put them in. Just keep your expectations low.
Modern mid-engined vehicles have air "scoops" that really push the air in. I've been scratching my head on this one for a while. No easy, aesthetically pleasing solutions so far. Currently I'm thinking of a scoop/snorkle up right behind the driver so it doesn't affect the rear view. Not sure yet.
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Yeah, that maybe, JB.
Can you recall who the lister was?
Mecky's duct looks to be the same as mine. It appears he's removed the panel section which incorporates the fuel filler because he already has that sorted.
Perhaps it's difficult to see in the matt grey primer of Mecky's duct, but the upper long wall rises above the surrounds slightly. The lower long wall isn't at right angles to the submerged 'base' of the duct.
It seems to me there's many variations of these ducts. As we know, not all 47's had ducts. Some 47's have two vertical sides and some have rounded corners on the rear edge. Perplexing.
If I recall, Roddy's ducts are different again and have the slightly proud ridge continuing around the rear edge of the duct, but with both sides at right angles to the base. My initial speculation was that these differences in ducts are perhaps to aid water shedding on a road car, but that doesn't really make sense, either.
But I agree it's best to keep expectations in check.
I have no way of testing any of this so my reasoning has come down to the basics. If we ignore any 'ducting' ability and merely concentrate on the available intake area, they should be adequate, right? That presumes 3 inch diameter trunking is adequate.
I like the snorkel idea but I don't see any way to get the aesthetics right . . at least for me.
I'd also expect a snorkel would have lots of throughput and effectively pressurise the air box at speed if intimately connected. That could play havoc with the tune and I never figured out how to counter that.
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To add to the conversation, take a look at what Lou D just posted in the Random Sighting section.
Just so happens to be another Type 47 with Engine bay scoops. Not NACA, I think but adding to the conversation.
Dan
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Exactly Gavin, I can't see any snorkel being aesthetically pleasing either. Right now I have my air intake ducted down to pick up cool air from low down in the engine compartment.
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Yeah, that maybe, JB.
Can you recall who the lister was?
That was me. I hooked up 3" hose from my Banks NACA duct to my sealed carb box (twin 45DCOE's feeding a Zetec). Tested on a track day power was down drastically from no ducting and individual air horns with foam socks.
NACA ducts are only effective if they're in the airstream. That far back on the body they actually get less airflow at speed.
Installed 47 style snorkel with sealed connection to air box. 500 rpm more in top gear on track day.
I agree snorkels are not aesthetically pleasing. I only use my snorkel for track days.
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I thought this was a pleasing implementation of air scoops for a Europa. The photos are from the Facebook group.
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They will function great.
Aesthetically pleasing? Eye of the beholder I guess. Doesn't work for my eye. YMMV
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Many thanks for chiming in, Swift.
More data is always good.
Reckon some of these ducts are bigger than others, too.
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They "work" but they don't let in that much air. For example, one alone won't supply enough air for the engine air intake.
I think everything will be a step up from where I started. The old ducts just guided air into a the bodywork above the wheel arches. Thus, they were air brakes and did not deliver air into the engine bay.
I think the type 47 NACA ducts will improve fresh air situation in my engine bay. They will not bring any power improvement. But it may get rid of some heat from the exhaust, thus maybe the air sucked in by the carbs is a little bit cooler.
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If I recall, Roddy's ducts are different again and have the slightly proud ridge continuing around the rear edge of the duct, but with both sides at right angles to the base. My initial speculation was that these differences in ducts are perhaps to aid water shedding on a road car, but that doesn't really make sense, either.
Gavin,
I made mine along the lines of GT/09: https://www.fantasyjunction.com/sold/1966-lotus-47/photos (https://www.fantasyjunction.com/sold/1966-lotus-47/photos) and another 47, but I can't recall the serial number. A decent quality photo of the "other car" was brought into Autocad, scaled up and the ducts were traced. Though I did make an error with having the lower edge flat or 90 degrees to the side of the car, the ducts collect water.
As for whether they work or not, can't say. They both just open into the engine bay.
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Thanks, Roddy . . that explains it.
I hadn't seen those excellent pictures of GT/09 previously.
Interestingly, the GT/09 ducts don't seem to go anywhere in particular, either.
This pic from Fantasy junction shows (presumably) OEM components.
The ducts appear to have much less curve than some.
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Pics of GT/09 are interesting to see...
The shell that they have used in the fantasy junction pics is a Banks 47R shell which they have modified - in the bare unpainted pics you can see the extended rear valance option (I forget what exact model but it originated from the lower front bumper off an Alfa Romeo*) along with the later rear lights mouldings (S2/TC) and the ducts in the sides have no protruding lips around them. You can also see the flat vertical moulding along the bottom of the sill where the inner and outer body mouldings join. - S2/TC style.
I’m surprised they’ve rebuilt with that body tbh as Banks did have complete moulds taken from an original 47.
Their 47R body is slightly wider than the original 47, explains why the rear wheels look more inboard of the arches than on most 47’s you see.
The upturned front spoiler with ducts is also of Banks origin.
They did used to offer the fuel filler/duct panel as an option to buy to graft in.
Just for info in case anyone is interested...?!
*edited - was an Alfa Romeo 33 Cloverleaf/Amica from around 1989
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Always interested!
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Pics of GT/09 are interesting to see...
The shell that they have used in the fantasy junction pics is a Banks 47R shell which they have modified - in the bare unpainted pics you can see the extended rear valance option (I forget what exact model but it originated from the lower front bumper off an Alfa Romeo) along with the later rear lights mouldings (S2/TC) and the ducts in the sides have no protruding lips around them. You can also see the flat vertical moulding along the bottom of the sill where the inner and outer body mouldings join. - S2/TC style.
I’m surprised they’ve rebuilt with that body tbh as Banks did have complete moulds taken from an original 47.
Their 47R body is slightly wider than the original 47, explains why the rear wheels look more inboard of the arches than on most 47’s you see.
The upturned front spoiler with ducts is also of Banks origin.
They did used to offer the fuel filler/duct panel as an option to buy to graft in.
Just for info in case anyone is interested...?!
Always interested!
x2!
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I must say, the installation of the 47 style NACA ducts is not as easy as I thought. But it's coming together. I must say that the advantage of this style against the standard NACA duct is that the 47 style duct is a bit elevated against the body panel, which means that it "catches" some air while driving.
On the picture below you can see it a bit. Just below the fuel filler, the duct starts to raise itself.
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Does anybody know, if the Type 47/S1 fuel tank does fit into a Type 54 S2 body? I'm just looking for a new low fuel tank, which allows air flow through the new 47-style NACA ducts to the carbs. My old selfmade fuel tank contained 40 litres and was higher than the intake funnels. I used two of these tanks for endurace races up to 4 hours. Now I will only race 30 minutes, which means a single 20 - 30 litre fuel tank will suffice. Of course I would prefer a tank, which is not as tall as the intake funnels. The Type 47/S1 tank from Banks seem to be very low. For the S2 tank I'm not sure, if it's low enough.
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Speak to Richard @ Banks and explain what you want - he used to make the tanks himself so I’m sure he can sort you with something suitable.
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You can direct air from the NACA ducts at the air intake but do not plump a NACA duct directly to the carb air intake. They do not pass enough air at speed.
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Period photo showing probably the best solution for getting air into the engine compartment:
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-dH4Vvx8/0/5244c833/O/LotusEuropeTAgdnal72.jpg.97787b81c91ac03284ab477fb7f69844.jpg)
If you are flaring the wheel arches, you could make it all flow together.
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My original S1 Tank is out of the car, if you want to take measurements or testfit it to your Europa you can pick it up anytime.
Rainer
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S1 tanks attach to the under tray, not the side like the S2 and up.
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I had the possibility to test it today.
A custom bracket won't be a problem but there is no room, the inner bodywork is closer to frame and firewall.
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Hi guys,
I have had a little bit of a disappointment yesterday, as I read that only two 16 valve Gordini head have survived from the period and the engine has never been fully developed (https://www.classicdriver.com/de/car/renault/alpine/1974/729645 (https://www.classicdriver.com/de/car/renault/alpine/1974/729645)). I guess, it will remain an unreachable dream. Maybe some day there will be replica heads, like with all the Cosworth engines (BDA, BDG, FVA...).
I learned about this, while searching for pictures of 1975 spec Formula Renault cars (as attached). They seem to have a very interesting exhaust manifold. And as far as I know, they were already very powerful with 1596 cc and around 160 HP. Thus, an exhause like this could be great for my Europa. But I have no idea, where to source it :confused:
But nontheless, I'm looking forward to to the start of the racing season 2021. The car is getting a bit of fresh paint in the moment, after I installed the new NACA ducts. The fuel tank is ordered and should arrive in March. Then the car is back together and I can make the final adjustments for the season.
If the pandemic situation will allow it, the first race is on May 8th & 9th at Circuit Zolder. I hope to be able to complete a test session in April to set the car up in dry conditions and get to grips after a long break. I definetely need track time.
I'll show you the finished NACA ducts ASAP.
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Sorry that head is made of unobtanium. Knowing a bit about BDAs, I can tell you that new heads are pretty expensive and I would imagine that trick Renault heads would probably be even more expensive. On the other hand, I am familiar with the rule “whatever <insert name of race car here> wants, she gets.”
Keep us informed about your progress!
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Hi Stefan . . that's disappointing.
Weren't the normal Gordini engines used in Formula Renault in France?
Did they ever use the 807-G4 in Formula Renault?
We used to have Formula 2 here in Oz - similar to your pics but not limited to Renault engines. I once managed to buy a Gordini spec. engine from a racer in Sydney.
Many years ago I was on holiday in Tahiti. Went over to Papeete for a look around and ended up talking to a French guy. Apparently he raced an Alpine A110 on the island and had recently landed an 807-G4 in a crate from France.
If you read up on the G4's history, it apparently had a number of issues. Probably nothing that couldn't be ironed out but there was very little actual development done at the time. Such a pity.
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That's right. The Formula Renault only used the normal Gordini engine, as shown on the pics in my last post. It's the same engine as I have in my car. That's why I'm interested in the Formula Renault exhaust.
The DOHC cylinder head has nothing to do with Formula Renault. It was developed to win the World Rallye Championship. The junior Formula racing series mostly use mass-produced engines with easy-to-get tuning parts in order to keep the cars cheap and the competition close.
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The Banks crossflow header is similar:
https://www.lotus-supplies.com/part-category/exhaust/renault/
The primaries are not as long but that is easily adjusted.
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The Banks crossflow header is similar:
https://www.lotus-supplies.com/part-category/exhaust/renault/
The primaries are not as long but that is easily adjusted.
Looks nice. Does anybody here use this manifold? I'm curious how big the ports at the flange are. My head has quite big outlet ports.
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Yes, I use it. I have a “large port/valve 807 engine and it matched up perfectly. The flange is extra thick so you could easily do some match porting.
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Looks nice. Does anybody here use this manifold? I'm curious how big the ports at the flange are. My head has quite big outlet ports.
I have the Banks headers on my car and I'm sure they would work fairly well on your car (probably with some modifications).
Depending on camshaft and how you want torque delivered you could shorten/lengthen the primary length fairly easily (as the collector is removable).
I recall your current exhaust runs fairly high in the engine bay?
The Banks headers are designed to go into road cars so run below the level of the storage box, or in my car below the spare wheel.
Can't recall if your rear suspension takes up any of the space that the Banks exhaust might use - too many years since we met in Germany :)
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Yes, correct. My manifold runs high, almost directly underneath the engine cover.
Your experiences with the Banks manifold sound promising. I guess, I'll try it. Maybe as an upgrade during the season or for 2022. Right now I'm a little bit financially limited. I had to pay back my study loan all at once at the end of last year. Slowly recovering in the moment :-D
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The Banks headers have a lot longer primary length (about 770-780mm with about 40mm diameter) than what you have now.
Maybe the best way forward is to custom fabricate a set more like you have now, but close to the formula car example.... start practicing welding? :)
The Banks run fairly close to the starter motor and might need shielding around your CV boot, you are racing so more heat for longer to be considered.
I look at the length of your primary pipes and keep thinking someone was chasing very high RPM.
I don't have a dyno sheet for my car as I was only chasing mixture safety, not really caring about the numbers.
Power was still building beyond 7500rpm with good torque above 3500rpm.
Not sure what camshaft you are running, but compared to the typical '160HP' build used on Alpine A110 here in Australia mine is different.
Based on 'seat of pants' and hillclimb/sprint results mine makes more torque and still outruns the (1600cc version) A110s in a straight line.
This is based on 2 cars that have competed together many times and both have similar spec engines (other than camshaft and exhaust) that were built by the same person.
I have attached details of the camshaft in mine for reference.
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Funny enough, the stainless steel manifold, which I still use today was freshly built in 1994, when the car was converted from white/red to british racing green with flares. But the exhaust was intended for road use, thus not for high-rev application. You can see the photos below.
I'm running a 310° camshaft and it has maximum power output at 6625 RPM.
I have now got the car back from the painter. He had to finish the modelling of the type 47 NACA ducts and I quite like the result. I also attached a few pics taken yesterday. Thus, almost 27 years between the pictures. Almost unbelievable that they show the same car :ttiwwp:
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The car is now as good as ready for the first race weekend on 8/9 May and my entry has been conditionally accepted. Now I have to hope that the quarantine regulations of Germany and/or Belgium won't destroy my plans. Before the race, I'll install the connector for easy jump-starting and have a new set of semislicks fitted. If my participation on the race weekend should still fail due to a formality, I'll switch to a test day on Thursday, 6 May (if stays in Belgium of less than 24 hours are allowed), so that I can at least get some track time.
I have bolted ballast firmly to the floor panel in the footwell on the passenger side in front of the fire extinguisher. I hope that I will reach the minimum weight of 740 kg with that. Otherwise I'll have to screw more steel into the car. :headbanger:
To fill the circuit to the new oil cooler, I filled in one litre more than I had drained after the oil change. As a result, the level in the oil pan was well above maximum, but after about a minute of running the starter without fuel and ignition, the level on the dipstick remained exactly constant at max. Accordingly, I could assume that the liquid gold (10W60) had completely perfused the circuit. Unfortunately, the small racing battery is not designed for minute-long starting, so I had to jump-start with my daily driver, but then the Europa started immediately and the oil pressure was right there.
Since the engine originally (in the R16) only holds 3.5 litres of oil and in my current configuration contains 6 litres (enlarged oil pan and larger oil cooler), the large amount of oil does not get warm at all at low revs (after 30 minutes at 90 km/h in 3rd/4th gear on dyno: approx. 55 °C). Only at revs above 5000 does the oil temperature rise rapidly, but that is of course quite difficult when the car is stationary. So it's probably more useful for me to warm up the engine carefully on the track than to let it run for ages at a standstill.
Due to the current situation, I'm refraining from a test drive before the race. The schedule is too tight because of my job and the risk of quarantine. Since the entry fee for the first race has been paid, I will classify this as a test under competition conditions and approach it very cautiously. If my participation in the race weekend should still fail due to some formality, I'll switch to a test day on Thursday 6 May (if stays in Belgium of less than 24 hours are allowed) so that I can at least finally get track time.
To celebrate the first start-up in 2021 and because of the nice weather, I took the opportunity to take some photos outside. I really like the new air intakes on the side. And now the season can finally start for all I care. I'm looking forward to it AF. :pirate:
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If she goes as fast as she looks, you'll do great this year!
Congratulations on a lot of fine work! :beerchug:
Good luck with the quarantine situation!
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Looks great, well done!
Depending on how your oil system is plumbed, you have to be careful about the first start up when there is a long run to the oil cooler. With a dry sump, it is usually not an an issue as the oil cooler feed is separate from the pressure feed. With a wet sump though, it goes from the oil pump to the cooler/filter and then back before it gets to the bearings. I have seen brand new engines sustain significant damage before the oil reached the bearings(!). And this with the spark plugs out and spinning up on the starter.
On my set up, I have access ports T-ed into the feed lines to the front mounted oil cooler. This allows me to pressurize the system with an electric oil pump. It allows so allows me to blow out the remanning old oil from the cooler during an oil change. I then close one port and pump fresh oil in the other until oil pressure registers on the gauge.
To facilitate oil warm-up, fit an oil thermostat in the feed to the oil cooler. I use one built into my take-off plate. High rpm on cold oil, especially long runs, could easily lead to spun bearings.
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Looks great, well done!
Depending on how your oil system is plumbed, you have to be careful about the first start up when there is a long run to the oil cooler. With a dry sump, it is usually not an an issue as the oil cooler feed is separate from the pressure feed. With a wet sump though, it goes from the oil pump to the cooler/filter and then back before it gets to the bearings. I have seen brand new engines sustain significant damage before the oil reached the bearings(!). And this with the spark plugs out and spinning up on the starter.
On my set up, I have access ports T-ed into the feed lines to the front mounted oil cooler. This allows me to pressurize the system with an electric oil pump. It allows so allows me to blow out the remanning old oil from the cooler during an oil change. I then close one port and pump fresh oil in the other until oil pressure registers on the gauge.
To facilitate oil warm-up, fit an oil thermostat in the feed to the oil cooler. I use one built into my take-off plate. High rpm on cold oil, especially long runs, could easily lead to spun bearings.
Good thinking John, hadn't really thought about that but the oil would have to be pumped 16/17ft before it returned to the engine, we used to pump up the oil pressure with a spare belt & cordless drill on the dry sump pump of Manta 400s that we worked on.
So you use an electric oil pump if the car has been standing for any length of time & an oilstat (which I would use)
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Looks great, well done!
Depending on how your oil system is plumbed, you have to be careful about the first start up when there is a long run to the oil cooler. With a dry sump, it is usually not an an issue as the oil cooler feed is separate from the pressure feed. With a wet sump though, it goes from the oil pump to the cooler/filter and then back before it gets to the bearings. I have seen brand new engines sustain significant damage before the oil reached the bearings(!). And this with the spark plugs out and spinning up on the starter.
On my set up, I have access ports T-ed into the feed lines to the front mounted oil cooler. This allows me to pressurize the system with an electric oil pump. It allows so allows me to blow out the remanning old oil from the cooler during an oil change. I then close one port and pump fresh oil in the other until oil pressure registers on the gauge.
To facilitate oil warm-up, fit an oil thermostat in the feed to the oil cooler. I use one built into my take-off plate. High rpm on cold oil, especially long runs, could easily lead to spun bearings.
That sounds like a very good solution, thank you jb. I'll bear that in mind. The other possibility would be to upgrade the system with a dry sump. I'll keep my eye on the oil issue and be very careful with heating up the engine.
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The race weekend in Zolder was difficult. Unfortunately, the cause of the problem only became clear to me afterwards whith analysis. But first things first:
There were a total of 3 x 30 minutes of track time on the 4 km long race track of Zolder. In qualifying I blamed my weak lap time of 2:08 min (in 2014 I drove 2:00 min at the same place) on lack of practice and the heavy traffic. After all, there were over 50 cars on the track at the same time - and almost all of them were faster than me. The fastest race cars were from the BTCC, the former European Touring Car Championship Group A (Volvo 240, Ford Mustang 5 litre), as well as the old DTM (BMW M3 E30, Mercedes 190). In addition, cars up to the year 2000 are allowed, which have usually much bigger displacement than a Lotus Europa from 1969. Accordingly, I almost looked more into the mirrors during practice than through the windshield. Of course, I'm a bit more afraid of collisions than a BMW E36 driver who can buy a new fender for 50 €.
What was very positive, however, were the temperatures of water and oil, which were always between 70 and 90°C, depending on the condition and load. The water was always a bit cooler than the oil.
In the race I had a few free laps, but unfortunately I noticed that I didn't get significantly faster. 2:06 min was the best I managed. Unfortunately, I couldn't really determine the cause yet, but in the course of the race, the brakes deteriorated a lot. After about 25 minutes, the brake performance was suddenly almost completely gone. Fortunately, this happened on the way to the hairpin, which has an emergency exit straight ahead. The next bend was directly before the pit entry and I had to go straight again, so I parked the car in the pits to be on the safe side. I was in a 'far end' position nontheless, so the risk of continuing would have been too big.
When I checked the car between races, it was obvious that the rear brake shoes (drum brakes) were completely gone. Luckily I had another set of shoes with me and replaced them. As the new Pirelli tyres were mistakenly delivered to me in hard compound (my work colleague took delivery, so I couldn't complain), I wanted to use my soft Kumhos tyres for the second race to try something different. As it turned out, these tyres were significantly worse (probably due to age). I was about 4 seconds slower than in the first race. Even during the safety car phase (a Mini shot itself out) I held up other cars in the corners. And with a light car with wide tyres and a widened track, at least cornering should go better than with touring cars that may weigh more than a ton. Of course they have slicks on them and I don't, but that alone can't be the reason. The old semis were the worse choice. Unfortunately, despite being behind the safety car for about 3-4 laps, I had the same problem with the rear brake as in race 1, so that I had to retire again shortly before the chequered flag in order not to risk a total loss of the car.
The only positive thing is that the measured top speed was even higher in every session than in 2014 at the same place. So engine performance should not be the problem.
What I noticed afterwards: the brake pads on the front axle were completely glazed and hardly produced any friction. There was hardly any dust in the front rim after the sessions, while the rear rims were black inside. Accordingly, it must have been the case that the drum brake had to do the bulk of the work, while not much happened at the front. Of course, this could now be fixed with new brake pads. After all, I also drove the 2:00 min with the same brake back in the day. But now that the regulations are much freer than before, I'm going to make an improvement. The ventilated brake for the front has already been ordered. Disc brakes will also be fitted at the rear. As these modifications will of course consume time and money, I already know that I will miss the next two BELCAR Historic Cup races. I'm now focusing everything on the race in Spa-Francorchamps at the end of September. The track is 7 km long, so I won't be lapped that often.
Now a few photos:
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Your brake situation must have been harrowing! Thankfully you were able to keep from hitting anything. The car looks great and it sounds like you found the problem and the better news is that it was going to be fixed anyway! Your new brakes should make a big difference in your braking and your lap times. Sorry you'll miss two races but you should have a much better car and you should have that much more fun!
Good luck at Spa!!
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The brake rebuild is underway. The front axle is ready with new wheel bearings, aluminum wheel hubs and ventilated brake discs. The rear axle already has new brake discs, calipers and pads. Only the adapter plates for the calipers are in manufacturing right now and then hopefully it will work.
I have already calculated a set-up for the new master cylinder configuration as both front and rear calipers have the same cross-sectional area of pistons. But my plan is to test the new brake configuration on track before my next race. The race is end of September at Spa-Francorchamps. The test should take place at Circuit Zolder, where I had the very disappointing race in May.
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That’s an interesting front suspension, Mecky! Can you tell us about it?
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Mecky, hope you dont mind me poking my nose is but the brake cooling vent pipe should be pointed toward to centre of a vented disc, the disc then centrifuges the cool air to the outside of the disc, I'll post a photo tomorrow of a 3d printed vent from work
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Mecky, hope you dont mind me poking my nose is but the brake cooling vent pipe should be pointed toward to centre of a vented disc, the disc then centrifuges the cool air to the outside of the disc, I'll post a photo tomorrow of a 3d printed vent from work
Good point. Of course I know the principle a ventilated brake disc. It's the same as a centrifugal pump. But as the air hose has been mounted in that place to cool the old solid discs, I haven't thought about changing the pointing direction. Now I will check, if it's possible to do so.
The front suspension is not so special. For example, Spyder cars and Banks offer better solutions. The dampers are made by Protech and the higher wishbones are connected by a steel sheet welded to the top of both of them. The top bushes have been replaced by Uniball joints to provide adjustment possibility of camber. The bushes of the lower wishbones are replaced by Polyurethane, of course.
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I guess I should have been more specific. The front upper A-arm pivots inside the frame 'T' section rather than the outside on the stock car. Why do you choose to make your upper A-arm more narrow? Does that help you get more caster? Do you use the stock trunnion? It appears that your pivot pins are smaller than the 1/2" stock pivots or is that an illusion?
I'd be interested in seeing any pictures you might have of the A-arms by themselves if it is possible without taking it off your car (i.e. if you have any other pictures you've taken).
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S1 and early S2 use straight rear upper-arms that mount inside the T-section.
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Ahhhh... I obviously had no idea! Thanks for the education!
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Mecky, hope you dont mind me poking my nose is but the brake cooling vent pipe should be pointed toward to centre of a vented disc, the disc then centrifuges the cool air to the outside of the disc, I'll post a photo tomorrow of a 3d printed vent from work
Here is a 3d printed copy of a duct from a Works BMW 635
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Hello all,
my 2021 racing season is over. On 25 September, the fourth round of the 2021 BELCAR Historic Cup took place in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. As I didn't want to drive the full championship this year anyway, this was planned as my second and equally last race event of the season. However, it was such a terrible disappointment that I needed a few weeks off before I can report on it here. But first things first:
As written above, I had renewed the brakes all around. I also had to get a new seat. The homologation of the old one was no longer valid and the model is no longer produced. So I had to look for an alternative. I found a suitable seat at Tillett Racing Seats. Unfortunately, the seating position is less optimal than before. I sit more upright and a little higher overall.
In addition, it was not possible to test the seat on the race track before the race. A short shake down on the road had to be enough. So I only knew that the brakes basically worked front and rear and that I could drive okay in the new seating position.
During the practice session in Spa, I quickly noticed that my new seating position meant that I could hardly see the other cars in the interior mirror. This made me feel very insecure and didn't let me really get into a flow. At least the brakes worked well. The balance was set a bit too much to the front, but that could easily be changed after the session. In the 6th lap I could at least drive a little bit faster. Then, unfortunately, the qualifying was already over. However, there was nothing like fast driving or even racing speed. Here you can see a clip from lap 2 or 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcNA1aPKFxE . In order to solve the problem with the inside mirror, we taped an outside mirror for the caravan to the roll cage tube in the evening. This provisionally improved the view to the rear.
The first race run was scheduled for Saturday morning at 9 AM. Due to persistent fog, the start was behind the safety car, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Already in the first lap I felt an enormous vibration on the right rear wheel at the end of the Kemmel straight, which got out of hand after a few seconds into a real roller coaster. Fortunately, in about 200 m there was an emergency exit where I could park the car. Since I had actually lost a rear wheel with the Europa once before and almost lost it once again at another occasion, the feeling was very familiar. I had hoped that the wheel nuts had come loose. But unfortunately all the nuts were tight, so the cause quickly became clear: Wheel bearing damage. The central nut of the stub axle was also tight. And that was the crux of the matter...
In 2011, I lost the left rear wheel while driving slowly on the road after the central nut had come loose. Fortunately, the wheel came off for good at walking speed, so nothing significant was damaged. At the Hockenheim race in 2015, the central nut also came loose, but could be reattached before it actually fell off.
Due to these two incisive experiences, the rear axle was converted to BMW 2002 wheel bearings and stub axles. Two wheel carriers were constructed around the BMW wheel bearing carriers as a welded steel construction. After my conversion of the rear brake, I unfortunately gave too much tightening torque to the central nuts. I let myself be guided by my fear of losing the wheel again and tightened it with the big ratchet with all my strength. The outer right wheel bearing did not survive. The balls of the groove ball bearing were more or less pulverised. In the attachment you can see a few pictures.
Of course, I didn't have any spare wheel bearings in Spa, nor did I have the big tools for the rebuild. I will change that in the future. Although it would have been very tight in the short time (2 hours until the second start), but at least I would have liked to try. Fortunately, the hub carrier and stub axle were not seriously damaged, so I could now simply install new bearings and tighten them with the prescribed torque. This was accompanied by generous additions of Loctite and shaft-hub glue.
Now that this damage has been repaired, I can start planning for the 2022 season. I would like to compete in all the BHC heats next season. To do that, of course, I need a significant increase in reliability. Fortunately, all the problems so far have been caused by myself, so I've been able to fix them. But at the latest when I'm finally on the road at racing speed, the next weaknesses will be revealed.
Next I have to seal the housing of my 5-speed gearbox and replace the clutch disc. As part of that, I plan to get a lighter flywheel as an improvement. My current flywheel is a little bit twisted, but still very close to the standard weight of about 8 kg. I would like to aim for about half that. Hopefully there will be something suitable from or for Renault Alpine. An extra-large NASCAR interior mirror will definitely be added. Apart from that, track time is the priority for now, to get the car stable as soon as possible. I hope my schedule will allow for a detailed test before the first race of the new season.
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I’m really sorry your season didn’t go better. I know how frustrating that sort of thing. Just continue to focus on next season
I’m not sure I understand your bearing problem but I think all the compression forces by the nut should go through the inner race and it appears that at least some were going through the outer race. If I have that right, I think that’s where I’d look for a solution.
You seem to be running under some curious rules. Your seat has to be homoligated but you can use a custom rear upright!
Best of luck with preparations for next season! We’re all rooting for you!
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I’m really sorry your season didn’t go better. I know how frustrating that sort of thing. Just continue to focus on next season
I’m not sure I understand your bearing problem but I think all the compression forces by the nut should go through the inner race and it appears that at least some were going through the outer race. If I have that right, I think that’s where I’d look for a solution.
You seem to be running under some curious rules. Your seat has to be homoligated but you can use a custom rear upright!
Best of luck with preparations for next season! We’re all rooting for you!
There is a solid spacer between the inner racers of the inner and outer bearing. The nominal Torque of the central nut is between 294 Nm (30 mkp) and 367 Nm (37,5 mkp). That means, you tighten it with ~300 Nm and then turn the nut a little bit further until the split pin fits through the hole. This time I needed 350 Nm to fit the pin. But last time, I gave it everything I've got. I took the biggest ratchet available and stood, stamped and jumped on it. As the lever of the ratchet is 0,5 metres long and I whey about 85 kg, it was at least between 400 and 500 Nm.
The regulations in my racing series are very free (Group H). That means that a lot of stuff, which can make a car go faster (cylinder head, brakes, cooling, suspension and more) are free up to a certain extend. But for the driver's safety, they are very strict. My roll cage with Ø38 mm tubes is only allowed, because the car was homologated before 1971. A 1972 car needs minimum Ø42 tubes, for example. And there are several competitors, who had to change their roll cages recently due to stricter rules. I guess, my cage will also be outdated in a few years time. And it's the same with seat and harness. They must be homologated and after five years of use, you have to throw them away. I can understand that, as they should keep the driver in place in case of an accident. And the historic racing had already some problems because of fatal accidents in recent years. The series, which I used to take part in, once shared an event with the DTM. As the crowd liked the variety of oldtimers from their youth much better over the carbon fibre DTM cars (only 2 different types in that time), the president of DTM decided to never share an event with them again and pretended that he was concerned about the safety of the old cars. But from my opinion, it was just down to image protection.
But we need to bear in mind that historic racing is mainly done by gentleman drivers with limited experience and ability in their spare time. And it's the same with the preparation of the cars. Thus, it's just fair to make the safety an important point in the regulations.
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Thanks for the explanation, Mecky. It’s been a really long time since I raced and I don’t remember if anything was said about seats back then. If there was, it was probably only something like the seat had to be firmly attached to the floor of the car. I see the sense in being more specific for safety!
I forgot to mention how good your car looks! That’s a very pretty car!
Good luck with your preparations for next year and your racing next year!
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If you are using the standard europa clutch disc and pressure plate, look at TTV-racing in the UK. I supplied them with a standard flywheel to measure and they designed a CNC lightened steel flywheel to fit our standard clutch/pressure plate combo.
http://ttvracing.com/products/?manufacturers=lotus&engine=europa-type-46&type=flywheels
Very high quality item!
I will have to try and visit a BHC round in 2022, I live very close to Zolder and Spa is only an hour away.
Serge
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Can anybody say whether the 1470 and 1565 Renault engines use an identical flywheel, or are there differences?
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The very earliest engines (first 66) used a five bolt flywheel/crank. After that they used a seven bolt flywheel/crank.
So, basically, yes, same flywheel on the 1470 and 1565 except for the very first few engines.
Though, of course, the 1470 and 1565 have different crank strokes, so it would be a good idea to check the balance factor.
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Mecky,
Can you tell me where you sourced the rear rotors? Can you tell me the make and model? Thanks.
Tom
74 TCS - 4605R
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If you are using the standard europa clutch disc and pressure plate, look at TTV-racing in the UK. I supplied them with a standard flywheel to measure and they designed a CNC lightened steel flywheel to fit our standard clutch/pressure plate combo.
http://ttvracing.com/products/?manufacturers=lotus&engine=europa-type-46&type=flywheels
Very high quality item!
I will have to try and visit a BHC round in 2022, I live very close to Zolder and Spa is only an hour away.
Serge
Hi Serge, it's funny that I just contacted TTV half an hour ago and I even mentioned that you have purchased a very similar flywheel a few years ago. I guess they will prepare a quote for me very soon. Your flywheel looks great and 3.4 kg is exactly what I want. Is it for the Ø200 mm clutch? I'm still using the diameter 200 with reinforced clutch (up to 475 Nm) and a ceramic disc. My sporty-road clutch wasn't able to transfer the torque from my engine. :pirate:
@Tom: I use Opel Kadett E 1.6 litre front brake discs for my rear brakes. But you need to bear in mind that my whole rear axle is converted to BMW bearings, stub axles and flanges. The Opel discs will not fit a stock Europa.
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Mecky,
Thanks for the reply.
Tom
74TCS - 4605R
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That is a very, very nice flywheel. Wish it could take the 215mm clutch.
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Tom,
As to your question on rear rotors I used Fiat X1/9 ones when I had sliding single pot calipers. Offset was appropriate, but hub ears had to be ground just a little to fit inside rotors.
Since then I went to 4 pot calipers with custom rotors.
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Hi Serge, it's funny that I just contacted TTV half an hour ago and I even mentioned that you have purchased a very similar flywheel a few years ago. I guess they will prepare a quote for me very soon. Your flywheel looks great and 3.4 kg is exactly what I want. Is it for the Ø200 mm clutch? I'm still using the diameter 200 with reinforced clutch (up to 475 Nm) and a ceramic disc. My sporty-road clutch wasn't able to transfer the torque from my engine. :pirate:
It was designed for the standard Europa pressure plate, so shpuld just fit!
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I just ordered the flywheel from TTV. They had one in stock. It seems they produced two, when you ordered yours. I'm looking forward to receiving it. Hopefully, the Brexit-Tax is not too high :headbanger:
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I just ordered the flywheel from TTV. They had one in stock. It seems they produced two, when you ordered yours. I'm looking forward to receiving it. Hopefully, the Brexit-Tax is not too high :headbanger:
They made at least 4 then! Because we did a small group buy with 3 of us (and getting a small discount).
Serge
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Oh interesting. Back in the day, when you made the group buy, I was still studying, thus had no money to participate. How much did you pay?
Now, I paid 500 € incl. 86 € brexit tax for the flywheel. But I'm still looking forward to receiving it this week. For the racing project, I like spending my money. But it's a completely different story with spending money for my flat :deadhorse:
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I received the flywheel today, and I find it freakin' sexy. It's really well-made and I especially love the hollowed-out back side of it. Together with the ceramic clutch disc, that looks like real racing components. I love it :pirate:
The car is slowly evolving. Of course, it's far away from a 16V Gordini, but this was an illusion from day one. The next planned bigger upgrade is to have a racing exhaust custom made for the car. But I'm not sure, if it will be in 2022. I guess, maybe after the 2022 season.
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8)
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Those look really racy! Great addition!
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There is a French company (MesPiecesAuto), that sell cylinder liners etc for our 'Cleon' engines, and they are designing a 16V head. You can check their facebook page for more information. I don't think they have one running yet, but they are in the prototype stage.
https://www.facebook.com/Mespiecesauto/
Serge
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Very cool link, thanks Serge.
How do you find the ceramic clutch disc works? I have one on the shelf. Much wear on the flywheel or pressure plate?
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That was a very interesting read, thanks for sharing.
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Serge, thank you very much for the hint. I had a look at the 3D model of the 16V head. It's completely different to the original Gordini 16V head, but I'm very interested nonetheless. Back then, the Gordini 16 valve head was a DOHC concept. The MesPiecesAuto concept is still a pushrod engine. I have the feeling, that this could cause some trouble with the many newly constructed moving parts. But I'm very much looking forward to see their progress.
I'm planning to build a second engine sooner or later, when I have the teething problems of the car sorted out. For this second engine, I'd like to go a little bit less conservative, for example maybe with a 318° camshaft and a compression ratio of 12:1. Maybe the 16V head is ready until this time.
@jbcollier: The wear of pressure plate and flywheel was not excessive from my opinion. You can see it below. The surface looks a little bit strange, but I could not feel a rough surface or something.
I actually quite like the feel that the ceramic clutch gives me. As it's spring-damped the get-away of the car from a stand still is still quite smooth.
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Mecky,
The one pic makes it look like the disc is not contacting the pressure plate towards the center,
have you put a straight edge across it (might just be the pic)?
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@TurboFource: No, I haven't. As it's now put back together, I hope it's just the pic. :deadhorse:
On this nice and quiet weekend I completed the car again and started the winter engine maintenance. I was able to install the gearbox on my own without help with a rolling board (even without swearing). Fortunately, there is plenty of room in the engine compartment. I cleaned up the gearbox and suspension parts and gave them a splash of paint. I gave the valve cover and camshaft sprocket the same treatment. These little things do the look of the engine compartment a lot of good, in my opinion.
As for maintenance, I started by adjusting the rocker arm clearance. After the major overhaul in 2020, I don't plan to open up the engine any further. According to my notes, it has only run about 354 km since reassembly. Bearings, piston rings and head gasket should still be in good condition. But what I will definitely do is change the oil and spark plugs.
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Are you using a 200mm or 215mm clutch?
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I use the standard 200 mm clutch diameter.
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Serge, thank you very much for the hint. I had a look at the 3D model of the 16V head. It's completely different to the original Gordini 16V head, but I'm very interested nonetheless. Back then, the Gordini 16 valve head was a DOHC concept. The MesPiecesAuto concept is still a pushrod engine. I have the feeling, that this could cause some trouble with the many newly constructed moving parts. But I'm very much looking forward to see their progress.
I am certainly no Renault or Gordini historian, but does the design he is making have precedent in that world? I would think for all the trouble he went through to simulate light weight rockers, flow characteristics, etc that he would have decided to go with an aluminum head and twin cam set up for the obvious benefits. Still a very interesting read indeed.
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I assume the head is aluminium otherwise the weight of a CI head would be prohibitive, the only problem with one cam is you can't change the LCA without changing the cam which on a Renault means lifting the head unless you can find a way of holding up the followers assuming they made a bolt on front cover over the top of the cam sprocket or supply a new design of front cover.
Much prefer the Renault engine over a TC as a superb head / bottom end combo is let down by various odd things.
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Looks like the head is of a composite construction, all the parts bolt or screw together to form the complete head, as one of the comments says like a VM diesel of the 80s, 'Separate cylinders, hmmm, this makes me think of the VM engine fiasco', this could work or not, love to see it run the 1st time on the dyno, it will have to be good to produce the same or better results as a full race crossflow motor
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There's a fairly detailed description of the MesPiecesAuto.com 16v head project, translated into English, here
https://www.mespiecesauto.com/en/culasse-cleon-fonte-16-soupapes-le-projet-fou/
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There is a French company (MesPiecesAuto), that sell cylinder liners etc for our 'Cleon' engines, and they are designing a 16V head.
That 16V head appears to be for the Sierra engine as found in the Renault 8 etc., so not compatible with the 697/821/807/843 et al engines.
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There is a French company (MesPiecesAuto), that sell cylinder liners etc for our 'Cleon' engines, and they are designing a 16V head.
That 16V head appears to be for the Sierra engine as found in the Renault 8 etc., so not compatible with the 697/821/807/843 et al engines.
After reading it I realized that it was for the smaller engine which I think has a cast iron block ?
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Yes, cast iron.
The French word "fonte" apparently translates to either 'cast iron' or 'melting'.
One give away is the dizzy placement in the middle of the block whereas the R16 derived engines have the dizzy between No.1 and No.2.
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There is a French company (MesPiecesAuto), that sell cylinder liners etc for our 'Cleon' engines, and they are designing a 16V head.
That 16V head appears to be for the Sierra engine as found in the Renault 8 etc., so not compatible with the 697/821/807/843 et al engines.
That's a pity. In this case I have to continue hoping for somebody to replicate the Gordini DOHC 16V cylindre head from Renault Alpine's WRC campaign in the mid-seventies. As far as I know, there are only three left in existence.
The engines shown below have around 230 HP, but with 1800 cc. I guess, with this head you will have no choise but use a bigger bore and change to the 2,0 litre class. Only problem is that the competitors in this class use the full capacity of 2000 cc. Also in my racing series, I'd have to put even more ballast into the car up to 810 kg. The forces induced by cornering and braking with that kind of weight could kill the Europa completely. The Spyder Cars space frame and suspension could maybe solve that issue.
I'd prefer to use a 16V head with 1600 cc instead. But that is not even possible with a Renault 697 crank shaft (81 mm stroke). Thus, I'd need a special cylinder head for Ø77,8 mm bore. Very difficult indeed.
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We need a modern 16v head (in the breakers) that was sold in europe for a 1400cc or even 1.3 / 1.2 ltr or thereabouts as all engines built nowadays are short stroke large bore, if it can be done with an A series by fitting a BMW motorbike head it may be able to be done on our engines.
Need to put a different dizzy drive on it.
Will put a tape on one of my blocks & a few engines on our sales forecourt, K series springs to mind from memory.
it needs similar bore spacing aswell as fitting the 4 valves within the bore of 77.8mm although you could make it work with slightly larger bore.
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A K series has an 80mm bore & one is on its way to me to borrow
MX5 or Miata's are plentiful in the breakers, available in 78mm bore as a 1600 cc and one is in the Mrs's Miata's so time to put a tape measure on them
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I recall Richard Hill did a K series conversion . . using the whole engine.
Probably a good start is to offer up the head gasket of the potential donor head. It's often found that head bolts and water jackets aren't far out because the same engineering determinations for similar engine sizes apply across the board.
Toyota 4A-GE cylinder spacing is 89mm (same as the Renault) and has an 81mm bore.
Head capacity is 36cc
(pics below)
Most of the later 4A-GE's come with TVIS (Toyota's variable valve timing) and there's also plenty of aftermarket stuff available for these things.
Need to figure out the ignition, BDA and oil delivery/return - perhaps a dry sump.
Not a weekend project or for the faint hearted but people do this stuff all the time.
Lots of grist for this mill.
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I recall Richard Hill did a K series conversion . . using the whole engine.
Probably a good start is to offer up the head gasket of the potential donor head. It's often found that head bolts and water jackets aren't far out because the same engineering determinations for similar engine sizes apply across the board.
Toyota 4A-GE cylinder spacing is 89mm (same as the Renault) and has an 81mm bore.
Head capacity is 36cc
(pics below)
Most of the later 4A-GE's come with TVIS (Toyota's variable valve timing) and there's also plenty of aftermarket stuff available for these things.
Need to figure out the ignition, BDA and oil delivery/return - perhaps a dry sump.
Not a weekend project or for the faint hearted but people do this stuff all the time.
Lots of grist for this mill.
The K series is a jewel of an engine once built properly & there are still so many parts available for them, 1.4 through to 2 ltr, 230 bhp is easily acheivable.
The KV6 is presumably as tunable, QED have built some
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The final test for my modifications and improvements to the car took place last Thursday in Zolder, Belgium, and what can I say? I finally have a racing car. The car now accelerates, steers and brakes for the first time to an extent that does justice to the premises of 162 hp, 740 kg and 225 mm wide semi-slicks.
Accordingly, I was able to break the 2-minute barrier for the first time on the brake-killing track in Zolder. I am relatively sure that there is still some room for improvement for me. A pro could certainly get more out of it, but I also see room for improvement on my side. Maybe even a whole second. I have the feeling that I'm still braking too early and too much in some places.
The only downer was a very abrupt spin right on the braking for the first corner, which I couldn't avoid. Before I knew what was happening to me, I was only a passenger. Just as I was thinking about turning in, the inside rear wheel apparently locked up and I immediately lost control. Here is a video of this spin: https://youtu.be/V-YlW0TTYUc (https://youtu.be/V-YlW0TTYUc)
At first, brake balance came to mind as a possible cause. But if you look at the wear of the brake pads, it's clear that the front brake is working much more than the rear. I don't want to adjust the bias more towards the front axle, if I can havoidelp it. The front pads are about 3/4 worn after 34 laps in Zolder. The rear ones, on the other hand, just about 1/4.
Two further approaches to combat this unpredictable danger of spinning under braking:
1.) Change the damper setting so that the car dives less drastically at the front. To do this, the front axle in particular would have to be set up harder. If necessary, I will also soften the rear a little.
2.) A limited slip differential, which prevents the rear wheels from having too great a difference in rotation speed.
I will first adjust the suspension and then - if necessary - also the brake balance. A limited slip differential is still a far away at the moment.
Here are a few pictures:
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Today I investigated the brakes. I had mistakenly thought that the front and rear brake pads had the same compound. However, at the front I had the brake pads supplied by Banks from England (manufacturer Juratek). These are about 80% worn, whereas the Ferodo DS3000 on the rear axle are only about 30% worn. The Banks pads are much cheaper than the Ferodo pads, so I assume they are of lower quality. I'm optimistic that the Ferodos will last longer.
My conclusion (in the last post) about the brake balance was based on the assumption that I'd have had the same pads on the front and rear. If the same pad compound wore much more at the front, that would be evidence that the brake was doing more work at the front. But the pads were not the same compound, so I guess it does make sense to adjust the balance. Now I have adjusted the brake bias slightly forward after all. I'm also going to adjust the suspension to make the dive of the car a little bit less drastic when braking.
Regarding the spin: I analysed the video frame by frame and my first steering movement on the way to the left-hand bend was to the right. So you can say that I wanted to correct the spin even before I turned in. In other words, the left rear wheel locked, although it was not yet unloaded by the turn-in. A very dangerous situation. In the race, I probably would have wiped out three other cars. Fortunately, it went well this time. So now I'm going to work on it by adjusting the brake bias and the damper settings.
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Even with the same compound, you will not get the equal amounts of pad wear front to rear. The front brakes do most of the work due to weight transfer. The rears do very little.
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Which kind of rear brake set up do you have?
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Agree with JB - I wouldn't expect pad wear rates to indicate anything much.
Looking at the video, the rear right seems to have lost traction on the ripple strip of the two right handers prior to the spin. And by that, I mean lost traction for longer than I would have expected.
I reckon moving the brake bias forward is worthwhile from what you say.
If this was my sons 1/10 scale RC car I'd also be looking to harden up the front or soften the rear . . but one thing at a time.
Brilliant video, though - well done. 8)
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Hi guys,
of course you are right. The front brakes should do the main work. As the Europa is quite light at the front, I aimed for a 60:40 ratio between front and rear, when I designed the rear brake. This is round about the dynamic axle load ratio, which I estimated under braking. With front engined cars, it would be more in the direction of 70:30 or maybe even 80:20.
After checking the brake pads thoroughly, I found that the wear is really as follows:
- Front pads (Juratek / Banks): 70 % - 80 % worn
- Rear pads (Ferodo): 10 - 20 % worn
I have now gone through my braking system design calculations from last year and I found that I have not taken the brake pad area into account. I have just assumed that the front pads would have a bigger friction area compared to the rears. Of course my front discs have a bigger effective radius (5 % bigger), but the pad area of the rears is bigger (about 10 %). That means that the bigger pad area at the rear overrides the bigger radius at the front. Nonetheless, I have given the fronts the smaller master cylinder (0,625 "), which makes the hydraulic pressure higher than in the rear master cylinder (0,7") (slave cylinders are same dimensions). Bottom line, the fronts should still work more compared to the rears. But as the spin has shown, the bias needs to bet set even more to the front. Maybe, I'll also have to go for a bigger rear master cylinder (0,75"), in order to decrease hydraulic pressure inside that one. This would shift the bias even more to the front brakes. Before the next race, I'll definitely purchase a 0,75" master cylinder to play it safe. And I will also adjust the shocks. The fronts are very soft right now.
@jb: You are right. But I was thinking, the compounds were the same. That made it even more useless to try and evaluate brake bias based on wear of pads.
@Gavin: That's right. I lost traction, because I don't have a limited slip diff.
@cazman: I use an Opel Kadett front brake for my rear. You can see it on the photo below.
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I have now gone through my braking system design calculations from last year and I found that I have not taken the brake pad area into account. I have just assumed that the front pads would have a bigger friction area compared to the rears. Of course my front discs have a bigger effective radius (5 % bigger), but the pad area of the rears is bigger (about 10 %). That means that the bigger pad area at the rear overrides the bigger radius at the front.
Hi Stefan,
Brake pad area doesn't matter; it's the piston area that determines braking force (among other things).
Richard H, a member here, who has brake system design experience put together a spreadsheet for calculating this stuff.
You may be interested to see how it compares with your existing calculations.
Here's a link to the thread where you can download his spreadsheet at Reply #4.
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?PHPSESSID=1hqntqdies05g3mo4d8eobio00&topic=2437.0
I wonder if a proportioning valve might not be a consideration even with a tandem MC set up.
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Brake pad area may not matter with regards to braking force but larger pads will take a greater heat load than smaller pads.
Racing set-ups with two master cylinders should have adjustable balance.
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You are both right guys, I had just found a formula in a book and interprated it wrong. The pad area is not important for the braking force directly. It's important for heat transfer, which determins the friction coefficient.
I have now gone through the theory one more time and calculated the set-up how it should be. I have just done a rough estimation, when I did the rear disc conversion, with a target braking force distribution of 60:40, so that it can be fine-tuned with the balance bar. I calculated now, that my result in reality was 57:43, which was enough to let me spin heavily. In a race, I'd maybe have crashed into several other cars. So, the test day brought me a lot of important information and may have saved me a lot of money.
Now I have calculated a braking set-up, which should be exactly equivalent to the (estimated) dynamic load distribution of the car under braking (63,5:36,5). This time, I'll give it a bit of safety margin in favour of the fronts, in order to avoid such a spin in the future. If the rear is still unstable under braking, I have two more alternatives, which I'll bring to the race track: a bigger master cylinder for the rear circle and a pad compound with lower friction coefficient for the rears.
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Stefan,
Does your balance bar have a cable system allowing adjustment on the fly?
Also, just curious but are you able to induce understeer when exiting a slower corner?
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Unfortunately, the balance bar has no adjustment cable. Under the regulations, which I used to race, it was not allowed. Today it is allowed, but I don't have the resources to change it right now. The balance will have to be replaced for this. I guess, I'll do this, when I go for a top mounted racing pedal box from AP Racing or Wilwood.
Understeer was almost never an issue with this car. The only time, the car tend to understeer, was after my crash at the Nürburgring, when the lower wishbones were slightly deformed. With proper wheel alignment, the car steers very neutral with a very slight tendency towards oversteer.
I'm not saying that it's impossible to induce understeer out of slow corners, but I have not experienced it recently.
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I was in Zolder last weekend for the first round of the BELCAR Historic Cup 2022, and what can I say? The car may have been on the race track since 2011, but it became a serious race car this year. It's still far from perfect, but finally the basics are right: engine, cooling and brakes are consistently powerful and reliable, even under heavy stress.
After the test on 21 April on the same track, I knew that lap times below the 2-minute barrier are repeatedly possible. In both qualifying sessions I only achieved 1:59 times, although the sector times were sometimes good for more. Unfortunately, I didn't get the lap together. So I qualified for grid positions 36 (race 1) and 34 (race 2) out of 47 participants. For the fact that the Lotus Europa starts in the smallest displacement class and is one of the oldest cars, I thought that was OK.
The first race was started on Sunday morning at 10:15 AM with already bright sunshine and almost 20°C. It went well from the start. I was able to fight my way up the order out of a group of four against much more modern cars and pull away from this group. Then the race went on for a while until a Mercedes 190E went off the track in turn 1 and the safety car came out. This brought the field back together and suddenly I was within striking distance of the class leader, who had started the race from 27th position. After the end of the safety car phase we drove right behind each other, but both had to fight with lapping cars from behind, so there was no real fight for the class win. But at least I was able to finish the race within striking distance in second place in class. In the overall classification, I moved up to 22nd place. I even managed to leave the two Ford GT40s behind me. I only overtook one of them in the third last corner of the race. My best lap times were 1:58.1 min, which is eight seconds faster than my fastest lap in 2021.
The second race took place in 27°C and blazing midday sun. Unfortunately, I completely missed the start and immediately lost connection to the field. I also quickly noticed that the cars that I had been able to overtake in the morning were getting away from me this time. My best lap time was 2:00.8 minutes, almost three seconds slower than in the first race. The reason for this is not yet clear to me. On the one hand, I was worse myself, on the other hand, the tyres were perhaps not in the optimal window. So I came to terms with the situation and went on with my race. The Porsche 911, which I only saw briefly in the rear-view mirror on lap 1 of the first race, was now my opponent, but I couldn't get past. After about 8 or 10 laps of fighting, however, he made a mistake and spun in front of me in the small chicane. From now on I tried to just nurse the car to the finish, but it turned out differently. On the last lap I got slight vibrations under full load on the back straight and before the last corner the engine lost power completely. The temperatures had been stable until the end. So there was no severe engine damage to worry about. Only the fuel pump stopped working. So I stranded in the last chicane in 29th place, within sight of the finish line. Hence, I was completely eliminated from the classification, even though the 30 minutes of racing time had already gone past. C'est la vie. At least no serious damage and I still have a fuel pump in stock.
I'm already registered for the next race on June 26th in Spa-Francorchamps (Spa Summer Classic). After this race, the car will probably get a limited slip differential to be faster on tight courses like Zolder in the near future.
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Great write up and great pictures! You did very well in the first race! Sorry your second race didn’t go as well as the first.
I don’t know if your budget ca handle it, but those straight cut gear sets with the non synchro dog engagement would make a big difference.
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Congratulations on the improvement! And, “Whew!” that it was just a fuel pump.
Is it a specified tire series?
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Congratulations! The car looks awesome. I am totally jealous of the fun you must be having. Great to see that all of your hard work in race preparations have improved the Europa.
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On the road to success!
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Great write up and great pictures! You did very well in the first race! Sorry your second race didn’t go as well as the first.
I don’t know if your budget ca handle it, but those straight cut gear sets with the non synchro dog engagement would make a big difference.
Yes, I have already requested a quote from a Renault Alpine tuner in Germany for such a straight cut gearbox. But they only do the rear engined stuff, which would mean 5 reverse gears for me. That's why I'm looking for a second gearbox (with shorter ratios) or a donor to improve my existing one. Right now, the 365 seems to be my best bet. But hard to find and expensive. Propably, I will have to go with only the Quaife diff now and hope to be able to source a 365 gearbox later.
The tires in BELCAR Historic Cup are not closely specified. Cars from 1971 and older need to use semi-slicks and everybody else is allowed to use slicks. That's a little bit unfair, as the period in my class goes from the year of Christ's birth until 1981. So it's possible that my direct oppenents are allowed to use slicks and I am not. Maybe there could be a loop hole for me to re-categorize my car to a 1972-ish configuration in order to use slicks. But all cars from January 1st 1972 onwards need to have roll cages with at least Ø42 mm tube diameter. Mine is Ø38 mm. Thus, a high price to pay. I guess, I'll try that, when I have to re-new the cage anyway.
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Cars within the same class have different tires specified!?!? How can that be fair?
I’m now VERY impressed with how well you have been doing!
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Cars within the same class have different tires specified!?!? How can that be fair?
I’m now VERY impressed with how well you have been doing!
Yeah, that's a bit strange. But it's really the case. The rule that cars younger than year 1971 are allowed to use slicks is written in the FIA Appendix K. BELCAR Historic Cup used to allow slicks only from 1982 onwards, but that was changed for the 2022 season to comply with FIA App. K regulations. Now there is a significant difference in conditions between cars in the same class. I hope that will be changed soon. Maybe even through a gentlemen's agreement to use the same type of tyre in this class, if the official way is not possible.
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My plans are shaping for the seasons 2022 and 2023. As it got clear during the first race event at Zolder, I'm still 2 or 3 seconds off the pace. The Toyota Celica GT Twin Cam, which won my class is able to lap Zolder in 1:55,288 min (not under all circumstances, in Q2 he did 1:58 min), while I managed a fastest lap of 1:58,155 min. The Toyota driver has its own Toyota dealership in Belgium, his father bought that very car in 1971 brand new and his family races it since. Thus, they know every detail of the car and had enough time to develop solutions for its weaknesses. That's why it's quite unlikely that he will have serious reliablility issues in the future. Circuit Zolder is soil for two more race events this season. That combined means that chances are high that I'll finish behind that Toyota over and over agian, when I race the whole season with the car in its present condition.
Of course, I still have a lot of room for improvement in my driving, especially when it comes to being consistent in lap times. My estimation is that I may be able to improve my personal best lap time by around 0.5 seconds, not much more. Even if I'd be able to lap in the region between 1:57.5 and 1:58.0 consistently every lap, I'd still be behind the Toyota. He is able to reproduce 1:56 on a regular basis with some 1:55s in between. That's why I'm planning to sacrifice the upcoming races at Zolder in order to save money and improve the car.
First step should be a Quaife limited slip diff (if feasible, after the next race at Spa) and the second step would be a new set of straight cut gears (during next winter). I guess that a good gearbox with useable (hence shorter) 3rd, 4th & 5th gear (top speed not higher than 200 kph) and limited slip diff could gain me around 2 seconds per lap in Zolder. I only use there 3rd and 4th in the moment. But there are at least three corners, in which my revs fell below 4500 RPM (which is where my torque starts to build massively), but it didn't make sense to shift down, because the steps between the gears are too big RN. I'd have to shift back up, when I'm still on the outside curb just after I got back on the throttle. And of course the advantage in straight line acceleration would gain me a lot of time. I hope that this improvement together with my (hopefully) continueosly improving driving will bring me in the position to beat the Toyota next year.
But as I'm of course also very keen to continue racing in 2022, I want to race at Spa-Francorchamps (June 22) and the Nürburgring (October 22) with my existing gearbox anyway. The data from Zolder shows that I'm slower during the lap, but faster on the long straights. I guess that my biggest disadvantage is acceleration out of slow corners. But the faster we get, the more I'm catching up and at some point get faster than the Toyota. Zolder has only quite short straights (max. 760 m) and three acceleration zones after very slow corners. With Spa, it's different: Spa has two straight-ish stretches (only one lift or slight braking event inbetween), which are double the length of the longest straight at Zolder. The long uphill Kemmel straight alone is 1300 m. In addition, Spa has only one point to accelerate out of a very slow corner and not the high frequency of heavy braking events such as Zolder. That's why I hope to have a chance at Spa. The Nürburgring is also a bit faster than Zolder, but not to the same extend. At least, I can use 5th gear there, too.
I'm going to do a free practice session at Spa on the Thursday before the race weekend. I want to get my driving up to a level, where I can set a competitive lap time during the very limited Qualifying session of 30 minutes. That way, I'm trying to avoid being already several places behind the class-leader at the start of the race (like it happened in Zolder). Only if I manage to reach that target, I can have the slightest chance to score at least one class win this year. And that is my only goal for the season 2022.
Maybe - only if the Quaife diff is feasible to be fitted before - I'll race in August at Zolder. I don't think that the diff alone will close the gap, but you will never win a race, which you don't attend to. If it's not feasible to add the Quaife diff, I'd propably save the registration fee for the straight cut gearbox modification. That will be quite expensive.
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Hi Stephan,
I have the Quaife 336 diff in my gearbox (untested). Be careful when you order it, you can get two variants! Measure the distance from the hole for the pin in the axle to the end of the output shaft. I had to send mine back to change it (free of cost, so good service!).
Let me know when you are in Spa or Zolder again, I would love to come and visit. Last time I couldn't get there because, but if I know far enough in advance, I can plan around it.
Serge
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Hi Serge,
I'll be at Spa on June 24th - 26th for the Summer Classic. I'd like to meet you there.
The french company seems to be able to supply a real limited slip diff. When they confirm that their gearbox doen't have 5 reverse gears in my application, I'll order ASAP. Unfortunately, that will not be before early 2023. Expensive stuff.
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Let us know if they also do helical-cut gears!
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This is simply sublime.
You sir, are inspirational.
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After a very pleasant race weekend in Zolder, I had a big setback in Spa. With free practice, qualifying and two races, there was actually enough time for me to reach the limit in terms of driving. Unfortunately, things didn't go well right from the start.
In free practice the brake pedal felt really bad. I had previously installed new brake calipers on the front axle. By bleeding them several times, it was a bit better in qualifying, but the pedal could still be pumped up. Finally, I removed the calipers for bleeding and oriented the valve upwards as good as possible. Then the air finally went out. But the starting position was already ruined. I was in 45th position out of 60 starters and 2nd in the class 2B up to 1600 cm³. My lap time of 3:15 min was about 5-10 seconds below what I had hoped for. 3:10 min is the sum of my best sector times, but even there should be a lot of room for improvement. There was also a very fast Europa TC this weekend at Spa (English race series) that lapped 2:59 min. I don't think I can do that time myself. The Twin Cam has 180 hp and weighs 620 kg, but I think the 3:05 min range is realistic.
In the first race there was a serious eaccident in front of me shortly after turn 1. It happened to the leader of my class. Someone hit him on the right rear wheel and he spun to the right into the wall. Fortunately, everyone involved is in good health. Of course, the safety car came out, because the accident site on the straight down to the Eau Rogue had to be cleared. After the safety car period, I decided to just manage the race and bring home the full number of points for the class classification without taking any risks. But that was not as easy as expected. About two laps after the end of the safety car, I felt that the engine didn't rev up as good as normal and another lap later the monitor of the electric water pump showed 36°C. That was the temperature of the air in the system. This was the temperature of the air in the system, but not of water. Luckily I was at the end of the lap and was able to save myself to the pits with the rear end of the car steaming. I jumped out and took the bonnet off. The water hose that carries the hot water out of the engine to the radiator had slipped. Probably the clamp had come loose. I quickly put the hose back on, screwed the clamp on as tight as possible and my crew brought buckets of water from the box and filled it in. Fortunately, the electric pump can bleed the system without the engine running. After three buckets of water I jumped back in and got back on track just in time. It was just enough to finish 43rd overall and 1st in class in the classification.
I was lucky in disguise, because the oil was able to maintain some residual cooling due to its sheer volume (about 7 litres) and the good oil cooler. It was heated up to 120°C (normal in racing conditions is 95 - 100 °C). The large water radiator also helped, of course. Depending on the weather, I drive at 75 - 85 °C in racing mode. Before the water poured out of the car, it flowed through the engine at least one last time. I was terribly lucky.
Between the two race heats, I bled the car with new coolant and installed a new silicone hose with new clamps. The subsequent test run of the engine went well. That's why I was able to start the second race, which took place on Sunday in changeable weather. The monoposto drivers, who drove shortly before, told me about streams of water crossing the track. And since the forecast according to my app announced rather more rain, I decided to use rain tyres. Because you have to be at the pre-start 30 minutes in advance, the decision has to be made early. Unfortunately, mine was completely wrong. Already on the parade lap, the track was 80% dry. So I just wanted to drive through steadily without changing tyres. But unfortunately, at 8000 rpm, the impeller of the alternator broke and cut the cable between ignition coil and distributor. That was the end. DNF in race 2.
Because so much went wrong this weekend, I'm going to take a break to check and fix everything. The starter motor had also broken in the meantime, although I had just replaced it at the end of May. I will only drive the last race of the season at the Nürburgring in October. Until then, I will check up the whole engine. I have already ordered new rod and main bearings, as well as a gasket set. Now I'm still looking for a good quality starter and alternator. The entry fee for the missed races will be saved for upgrading the gearbox.
Enough letters, here are photos:
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Sorry to hear about your "challenges"! Trophy is always nice 8)
How did the Twin cam do in it's class?
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I think you can “under-drive” the alternator and get it turning much slower by fitting a larger alt pulley. Don’t really need that much charging.
Silicone hoses are slippery. Rubber holds on better. Does your connection have a retaining bead?
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I think you can “under-drive” the alternator and get it turning much slower by fitting a larger alt pulley. Don’t really need that much charging.
Silicone hoses are slippery. Rubber holds on better. Does your connection have a retaining bead?
I have 13.9 V without light, fan, wipers and that stuff. With every consumer, the voltage goes down by 0.2 or 0.3 V. That's why I tried to keep the alternator revs at the original level. Most important consumer of electricity in my car is the electric water pump. But maybe it's not a bad idea to lower the revs a bit.
Regarding the retaining bead, it used to have one, but I had to cut it, because it came too close to the camshaft pulley. Now, I will add one again on the shortenend tube, that's for sure.
The Europa Twin Cam came 2nd in his class behind an Elan, which is another 6 seconds per lap faster. That's almost insane. But both these Twin Cam powered cars are running bigger bore (or stroke?) engines with 1700 cc.
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Here are some photos of the three Lotus Europas in the Spa Summer Classic paddock. It was the first time for me to meet other Europa racers. The yellow TC is freakin fast and does 2:59 min lap times. The owner Malcom Johnson told me that his car has 180 HP and around 620 kg of weight. He uses four piston front brakes and two piston rear brake calipers, both from AP racing. The windshield was made from lexan. Thus, series mods going on there.
The light green Europa TC seem to have been a little bit unlucky this weekend and was only able to do a 3:19 min. But I'm sure, this car is capable of lapping significantly faster.
My Renault powered Europa is forced to whey a minimum of 740 kg by the regulations and the engine puts out 162 HP. My weekend was troubled by several problems with brake, cooling and wrong choice of tyres, just to name a few. Thus, my best time of 3:15 min was also far away from good. The sum of my all-time best sector times at Spa add up to 3:10 min, but I'm optimistic that I'm able to get in the 3:05 min range, if I'd be able to run trouble-free and with enough practice. I have never run trouble-free at Spa in the past, thus my sector records have still a lot of room for improvement.
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The regs in your series are bat-crap crazy. A Europa TC can weigh less than a Renault powered one? Later cars get stickier tires? Find a different series!!!
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Hi jb,
sorry for confusing you. The other two Europas race in different racing series', but at the same event. The yellow one races in the British Classic Sports Car Club, the green one in the Dutch NK GT & Touring Car Cup and I am racing in the BELCAR Historic Cup. I'm not familiar with the regulations of the other competitions, but these three cars have to comply to three different sets of rules.
That's why the yellow Europa is allowed to be lighter than my car. I guess, a British series embraces light British sports cars a bit more than a continental racing series does. In continental Europe they want to even out the field for the mostly steel-bodied cars, so that the British do not come over the channel and humiliate the competition. If he'd join my series, he'd have to increase his weight up to 810 kg, because he has 1700 cc and that's the minimum weight of the 2 litre class. The light green Europa is allowed in my series, too. But he'd have to increase his weight up to 740 kg, just like me.
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In May, I competed again in the BELCAR Historic Cup in Zolder, Belgium. On Thursday, I did a test session in the afternoon, where little issues were sorted out (e.g. adjusting the clutch). Friday was the day for technical scrutineering and a thorough check-up of the car. :welder:
On Saturday, I qualified for 26th place on the grid out of a total of 40 starters and 2nd place in class. Unfortunately, my lap time of 1:59.947 min was 1.8 seconds behind my personal best time of the previous year. This is especially annoying because the new Quaife limited slip differential was supposed to improve the lap time. But analysis of the sector times clearly shows that the Quaife works fine. The problem was the engine. It did not produce the same power as last year. The top speed was about 4 km/h worse and the revs reached before the braking points also indicate a engine power deficit. I lost the lion's share of the 1.8 seconds (1.6 seconds) in the first two sectors of Circuit Zolder. These are the sectors without particularly tight corners. The tightest corners are both in the third sector. There, the inside rear wheel lost traction when accelerating out with the differential open. With the Quaife, this problem is solved. My iteration showed that the limited slip diff alone brings a benefit about 5 - 6 tenths of a second per lap.
In the first race on Sunday, there was a crash in turn 1 right after the start, which some drivers had to avoid. The leader in my class had to brake and I was able to take the lead. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold on to this lead for long and ended up driving a lonely race. Opponents, I drove circles around in 2022, left me behind this time. The power deficit of the engine seemed to have gotten worse after qualifying. I finished the race 25th overall and 2nd in class.
In the second race, I noticed after a few laps that something was wrong with the water temperature and stopped the car in the pits. The findings are now clear: loss of coolant through a damaged cylinder head gasket. The cylinder head got damaged, as well. :deadhorse:
So I am now having a new engine built-up by an Alpine specialist in Germany. Unfortunately, the 2023 season is now over for me. The engine won't be ready in time for the last race of this year. To take advantage of the long break, I'm also having a shorter ring and bevel gear specially made for my 395 five speed gearbox. Then I finally have shorter gearing. Right now, my top speed (5th @ 7500 RPM) is 232 km/h. On the German Autobahn, where you can go straight for 5 km, that may be OK. But on race tracks, which have straights of not more than 900 m, that's just rediculous. At least when you only have 160 horsepwer. With my new ring and bevel gear, the top speed will come down to 212 km/h. This change to the gearbox is not the best possible solution, but in relation to a completely new straight-cut gearbox, I get about 90% of the benefit for about 50% of the costs.
Hopefully, by 2024, I will finally be able to drive a full season and regularly compete for class wins. :pirate:
:ttiwwp:
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Racing is 110% effort for 90% discouragement and 10% elation. I hope your new engine does them job.
I would love to hear about your new pinion shaft and ring gear! Who? What? Where? How much? !!!
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What a bummer to lose your engine like that. Hopefully next year you’ll be set up for a long successful season!
Thanks for the great pictures BTW! The car looks great!
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Racing is 110% effort for 90% discouragement and 10% elation. I hope your new engine does them job.
I would love to hear about your new pinion shaft and ring gear! Who? What? Where? How much? !!!
You are right JB. I'm really into this project since the beginning of 2020 and it has cost me around 30k € since then. The planned upgrades for 2024 will add another 10k on top of that. The results so far: Many disappointments, less than 10 hours of net driving time on track, one great weekend and one class win. It roughly translates into the 90:10 ratio, which you mentioned.
Regarding the gearbox upgrade, I found out about a company in Bremen, Germany, called Tandler Racing Drives. It's a gear wheel factory, which expanded their business to manufacturing of special gears and gearboxes for historic (racing) cars in small numbers or even one-offs. That's a smart move, as historic car guys often have a lot of money and are willing to throw it at people, who can deliver what they request.
Right now, I'm waiting for a quotation. The ballpark figure is around 4500 € without tax. I had to send them parts of my gearbox, so that they can take measurements from the samples. Then, they will convert that information into new parts. The ratio, I'm aiming for, is 8:33, instead of my old 9:34. That will reduce my top speed by 20 km/h and should bring a big leap forward in acceleration terms.
The other upgrade, I'm planning in the moment is about aerodynamics. The engine and gearbox stuff will consume most of my spare money with ease. Thus, my only available resource left is time. And in the aero area should be some room for improvement, which only requires a few things from the local hardware store, a fair amount of research and some manual labour.
My racing series allows a front spoiler for every car and rear aerodynamic divices only, if homologated. Thus, at the rear is nothing for me to gain, as the Europa has no homologated aero equipment. But at the front, I want to add a splitter, in order to reduce lift and maybe get some more load in the front wheels, especially under braking. The splitter should look like a mix of the two Europas, which are shown below. The aero will not be as sophisticated as the grey & yellow Europa. I'm not allowed to use side skirts and a snorkel like this car has. But hopefully, my solution will look a bit nicer than the splitter on the black Europa. I used to have the TC front spoiler on my car, but after it was removed by accident, I didn't notice any difference, thus now I want to go a step further with the front end aero.
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Your mention of Tandler Racing Drives makes me think of the 365 transmission fifth gear, and whether a group buy would bring the price down much. I'd buy a spare gear for one tenth the price you mentioned, if Tandler could make, say 10 of them for 1/10th the price. Dreaming, I know.
One of the Richards made a very nice looking front splitter. I don't have a link to his post, but have the pictures if that post can't be found.
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I have been contemplating completion of the air dam a PO began on my car.
Then taking a mold from it.
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Please keep us updated on how the ring/pinion works out. I just spent a $1K getting a 4spd 352 pinion shaft converted to 5spd. A new pinion would be stronger, I'm sure.
Regarding 365 5th gear spares, Hewland has all the specs and is willing to make another batch. Unfortunately, a batch is something like 200 units and no one has deep enough pockets for that, so far. It is possible, or at least it has been done, to fit a 395 5th, rear cover and shift linkage to a 365. Those parts are available used but not so common these days either.
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Hi jb,
i received the price for bevel- and ring gear. 5195 € for one set and 3320 € for two sets.
That leads to my question: Is there anybody out there, who wishes a shorter gearing for their Renault 395 gearbox? We could do a collective purchase order.
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Sounds about right for that kind of one-off machining. Sadly, I can’t join you in this endeavour as I’m going the other way to a taller ratio.
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Sounds about right for that kind of one-off machining. Sadly, I can’t join you in this endeavour as I’m going the other way to a taller ratio.
Hi JB, which ratio are you aiming for? I could try and ask, if they would be able to make two different ratios from the same raw / half-finished materials. Maybe that could also reduce the price per piece by a significant margin.
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Thanks but I have already had a 352 shaft modified to take the 5 spd extension.
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New engine, new luck. For the 2024 season, I have had a completely new Renault Alpine 807 engine built up by a German Renault Alpine specialist company. The target is 150+ hp. Commissioning on the dyno will follow in March. The roll-out is scheduled for April 4th in Zolder, Belgium. The first race will be the Spa Summer Classic from April 25th to 28th.
To complement the new engine, I have ordered a new differential with a shorter gear ratio, which should be delivered at the end of February. Together with the Quaife locking diff, the Renault 395 five-speed gearbox should finally be race-ready, then. I also have a few other new parts made or in the pipeline:
1. new exhaust manifold from Banks to replace the old ugly monstrosity (if the new one is no worse on the dyno)
2. CNC-machined aluminum pulley for the camshaft from Kelvedon
3. CNC-machined aluminum alternator bracket engineered by myself
As soon as the gearbox with the new differential is completed and installed again, I will show a few photos here. I believe that the new exhaust will significantly enhance the optical impression of the engine compartment. But for now, we'll have to make do with the sight of the engine in the stand. The differential has unfortunately caused a delay in my work due to the production time of 6 months. I've been very impatient for weeks now and can hardly wait any longer.
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Sounds like you have good reason to be optimistic this year! I’m looking forward to your race reports!
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Can't wait!
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The first race event of 2024 is in the books. New engine and gearbox configurations work nicely. I finished 2nd in class in both races against competition of four younger cars, the newest built in 1998. That's a solid start and brings a bunch of championship points. :beerchug:
As a first sneak peak, here is some onboard footage from my 2nd race at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend. I tried to bring the fight to a Ford GT40, but lost due to a driving error: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXdSovqKufM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXdSovqKufM)
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That's great, Mecky!! Congratulations! The car seems to be running really well! It's too bad about that spin. I was really hoping you'd make a pass on the GT-40 stick.
:trophy:
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Way to go Mecky !!
Very impressive considering that 40 has 3 times the hp and displacement of your Europa.
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Very impressive considering that 40 has 3 times the hp and displacement of your Europa.
My GT40 has 5.6L v 1.55L so about 3.61 times, and 459 v 125 so about 3.67 times the power.
They are similar to drive but the gear change on the GT40 is far easier to use.
Both get dazzled by headlights, the rear vision is very similar, but the clutch on the Europa is easier to use than the GT40.
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Awesome!
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So very cool. Your Europa sounds amazing and looks incredible to drive, awesome video Mecky.
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After almost two weeks, I've finally got round to reporting in detail on my experiences at the Spa Summer Classic 2024:
The first thing to note is that summer and April in the Ardennes don't really go together. In the night from Thursday to Friday, the temperature dropped to around 3°C. Fortunately, the feared rain didn't materialise for most part of the event.
My weekend began with a short test session after the usual administrational and technical scrutineering. I was on the Spa circuit for the first time in two years and was able to see for myself that Gran Turismo 5 is only of limited use as a simulator. In the weeks before, I had driven a Lotus Europa S2 on the Playstation with the same power and the same gear ratio over and over again on this track. This is good for practising the cornering sequence, but it's better not to derive braking points from it.
Unfortunately, the test session was riddled with red flags, so I couldn't get into a flow. At least I now knew the basic braking points and the gears for the corners for qualifying. I had only tested the new gearing in Zolder up until then. Qualifying was scheduled for Friday and again there were several interruptions due to red flags. The green flag came out about ten minutes before the end of the session and very few of the participants had even completed a timed lap. Now a light drizzle set in in the start/finish area. The bus stop chicane and La Source were slippery AF. Due to the general hustle and bustle in the field, I only managed one reasonably clear lap and finished 41st out of 53 participants in the overall classification with a time of 3:15.2 minutes. In the 1600 cc group, I was third out of five starters.
Overall, I had the impression that the Belcar Historic Cup field at this race was above average. I've rarely been so far back in the overall field, although of course it's clear that a 160-hp car from the 60s can't keep up with former DRM, DTM and Super Touring Cars. However, the high-calibre cars were clearly over-represented at Spa. Even BMW M3 E30s and Mercedes 190s had a hard time making it into the top 10. Spa, with its long (uphill) straights, is naturally a circuit where engine power is the trump card. At the next race in Zolder, I hope I won't have to look in the rear-view mirrors quite so much.
The first race started at 11 o'clock on Saturday morning. The first safety car of the season came out on the second lap of the race. A car went off at Blanchimont. Towards the end of the clean-up work, another car left a considerable oil slick in the same corner, meaning that the safety car phase had to be extended. When half of the race time had elapsed, the green flag finally came out again. In fifth gear, I now noticed the clutch slipping occasionally. Unfortunately, I couldn't establish a pattern because it didn't occur regularly at the same point on the course. At least I quickly realised that the problem was not affecting the other gears and especially the gear changes, so I decided to continue. About three laps before the end of the race, I noticed that the engine noise had become much louder. I therefore drove very carefully to the finish and didn't push any lap times - 3:17.1 minutes was my best time. I was always worried that the problem with the exhaust could cause a fire.
The rear silencer had come loose and fallen onto the run-off. This was possible after I changed the suspension of the silencer on the advice of the engine builder. Previously, the exhaust had always been additionally bolted to the gearbox with a rubber mounting. During the dyno run, I was advised to replace the rubber mounting with a rigid screw connection. The rigid screw connection so much that it broke the weld seams. This taught me something I already knew: never change a running system. Fortunately, attentive track marshals found the silencer and we were able to fit it again for race 2. With a rubber mounting, of course.
At the end of this mixed race, I was in 40th place overall and in second place in the 1600cc group. This was also the starting position for the second race on Sunday. The clutch problem was easily solved by adjusting the cable. The new clutch is slightly different in its design, so the old setting was not exactly right. In the second race I was able to drive without any technical problems. This time I had a duel with a GT40, in which unfortunately I first ran out of talent and then the road. You've already seen the video in my last post. The spin cost me about 12 seconds, but I managed to catch up with the Porsche 911 and the Ford GT40 thanks to another safety car period. Unfortunately, a queue of very fast cars had built up behind me, because of the safety car. In the final phase of the race, I was therefore more concerned with avoiding traffic than battling with the two aforementioned opponents. But as neither of them were in my class, that's not so much of a big deal.
In the end, I finished 36th overall and second in class again. Considering that the Europa was the oldest car in the class, I think that's OK. The cars behind me were built between 1988 and 1998. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to improve on my best lap time of the weekend. This was partly due to the fact that the GT40 was holding me up in all curvy sections of the track. I had my best times in sectors 3 and 1 directly after the spin, when I had a clear run. On the other hand, I drove too inconsistently overall. My best sector times together would have been 3:13 minutes. But it wouldn't be over here either. I think that I could have achieved a time of around 3:10 min with more free laps in a row. The momentum I lost in Eau Rouge / Raidillon alone cost me at least one or two seconds up to the braking point before Les Combes.
Unfortunately, the gap to the class-winning Toyota Celica is hugely demoralising. The driver has known his car for decades and drives much better than me at Spa. Of the 16-second difference (fastest lap), I take a third or maybe half of it on my head as the driver. But the Toyota also has a clear performance advantage. As far as I know, it is a two-valve engine with two overhead camshafts. According to the driver, it produces around 200 - 220 hp from a displacement of 1.6 litres. With 160 hp, of course, I lose a lot - despite my weight advantage. When comparing the measured speeds on the long uphill straight, I clearly lose out with 183.4 km/h compared to 195.7 km/h. The Toyota's speed is as high as that of the fastest 2-litre Alfa GTAM and outperforms the 16V Escorts in our starting field. Even the super-fast and light Alpine A110 from the 2-litre class is not significantly faster. That's quite something.
Nevertheless, I had a good weekend in Spa and was able to put in some kilometres with the new engine and the heavily modified gearbox. There were also quite a lot of championship points thanks to the 2nd places. I'm really looking forward to the next race in Zolder, which takes place on the Whitsun weekend.
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Great pictures, Mecky! And great report on your race at SPA!
Regarding your competition, it appears the classification system over there is as hostile towards Lotus as it was over here when I was racing in the late ‘70s (Europa TCs competed against Datsun, now Nissan, 240Zs, 260Zs, and 280Zs).
You got two very honorable seconds. I think you did well and much better than in the past! Congratulations on big improvements all around! :beerchug: