Lotus Europa Community

Hi guys,

this time in Zolder my weekend went completely trouble-free. At least from a technical point of view. From a regulation stand point, I got screwed. The winner of my class used Slick tyres illegally, as his car was built before 1972, as my Europa. I made the technical scrutineer aware of that before the race and complained to the race organizers after the race. Until now, I'm still waiting for the result of my complaint. That's simply unfair and I can't accept being screwed like that.

As long as that process is going on, I will wait with my detailed race review. For the time being, here is a YouTube video of my best lap of this weekend: https://youtu.be/WgStfaQNrS8?feature=shared
My driving is finally starting to look like racing.

John is the S1 expert on here, has gathered an impressive amount of data on the S1 so he's the most likely to be able to answer this one.

As for those calipers, they look the same as those fitted to my '68 Elan when I got it and replaced with the later top entry calipers early in my ownership. The '63 Elan S1s apparently had type 12 calipers and it's rumoured the first S2s also had type 12's, changing to side entry 14s before the S3 came out around '66. I was told by a local specialist that the side entry calipers weren't as rigid as the top entry, 4 bolt affairs hence I changed them rather than overhaul the originals. 

Given the first Europa was announced in late '66 making it in development around '65 and sold as a light, cheaper car to replace the 7, they could easily have been using old stock type 12 calipers. Against that, several road tests of the period mention "heavy duty brakes off the latest GT6/Vitesse" which doesn't sound right, but who really knows what went on 50-odd yrs ago ?

I'd suggest you replace both of those steel pipes given the fact it's been standing for so long. I had to replace mine a year or so ago due to a pinhole at the opposite end and although it's not horrendous, it's a fiddle to do with everything in place. You can get stainless tubes or as I did, use copper tubing with plumbing olives soldered on to either end to replicate the swaged portion.

Brian

For the longest time I assumed that my Europa had Girling type 12 calipers, as peering behind/under the wheel revealed only one clamping bolt on the bottom, like a type 12. Little did I know, there's something between the 2 bolt type 12s and the 4 bolt type 14s: three bolt type 14 (14p?) They have 48mm pistons, like a 14 would.

I went to remove the front calipers so I can bug my rebuilder, and found these. Googling the casting number got me to an FVP rebuilt caliper that's listed as fitting all Series 1 and 2 Europas (67-71). It also lists a 48mm piston, so some parts directory definitely has type 14 listed as fitting early Europas.

I'm trying to ascertain if my car left the factory like this, because it seems that it did. They looked a little tight around the dust shield (probably designed for 12 and the same part as a Mk1 or 2 Spitfire), but fit just fine. I don't see any evidence of mucking with the brakes or plumbing or etc.
The only place I've seen it mentioned that the early Europas used type 12 calipers are on forums including this one. That finally took me to the obvious solution of pulling up the parts book, which shows type 14s as being for a Series 1 (and 2) car. The pistons listed, 36J6000, are 48mm type 14 pistons.

Given all that, I'm fairly certain that not all (any?) early cars rolled out of the factory with type 12 calipers.  My concerns of overbraking the fronts by installed 14s are also likely unfounded in that case.

Willwood reply:

Troy,

I see no issue with you installing the proportioning valve backwards to reduce front lockup. A better option would be to use a balance bar with two different size single master cylinders, but you probably don’t have room for that either.

Just for my own information, what are the specs on the original Girling calipers used on these cars? Piston size? Mounting bolt spacing? Rotor thickness?

Wilwood has our own copies of several Girling calipers, but I do not know how close they are to the one Lotus uses.

Having popped a rubber brake line in traffic on a single circuit master cylinder car once, I hope you are at least upgrading to braided stainless flexlines.

Bryan