Another 46 to 47 project!

[DreamsOfA47]

I finally did it! I've acquired a lotus Europa project! Grumblebuns was kind enough to allow me to purchase his 1967 S1A, 460433 and now I can begin building me dream car: a Lotus 47 potentially powered by a Mazda Rotary engine!

Plans are made to be changed, but as it stands now my plan is to complete the car in 2 main stages. Stage 1 will be to get the car running and driving and usable as reliable as a Renault-powered mid-60s Lotus can be! Stage one will also (ideally) involve the addition of a full roll cage and twin gas tanks with Le Mans style gas caps above NACA ducts a la the Type 47GTs. Stage 2 (if ever possible) will be a true Type 47 conversion. The current thinking (dreaming rather) is to get a Type 47 frame and full suspension from a company such as Kelvedon Lotus Ltd. to make as accurate a Type 47 as possible. If that could be accomplished then a FG200 transaxle would need to be acquired and then mated to a Mazda rotary engine. If a rotary swap won't work I'd gladly settle for a Twin Cam. If stage 2 is ever viable it will be many years and many thousands of dollars down the road. So with all that established, it's time to begin stage 1.

The car is actually in really good shape. By not making sure the car was out of gear as we tried to push it along we know the engine turns well. The body appears straight and complete, though the original boot and bonnet locks have been replaced with quite crappy locks of a different type. Ideally those will be replaced by straps or Oddie fasteners but they're secure enough for now. The driver's side door lock button works well, but the passenger side button isn't correct in the slightest and doesn't even have a lock or keyhole. The door glass has had the hinge system removed and the windows have been bonded in. Overall though the car is in great shape! I'm very fortunate the car has been so well looked after, but like any 55 y/o project it has some issues...

Firstly I'm going to tackle the brakes. The left rear forward brake shoe had the brake pad delaminate from the backing so that had to be removed to allow the car to roll. More pressing than a bad shoe is the need to have the master cylinder rebuilt. In removing the master cylinder I had to cut the hard line that ran from the MC to the T-block on the frame as someone had completely rounded the fitting and I had no way to get it off otherwise. The line was also far too rusty for me to trust so that'll likely have to be custom made to bend around the steering rack.

Aside form the brakes the biggest issues are the wiring. Suffice it to say I was told when Joji tried to drive the car 10 years ago or so, the tach began to smoke due to some issue with the ignition portion of the harness. I'd like to just replace that with a new OEM style reproduction. Lastly the frame has some rot it seems. I looked over it the best I could and it seemed to be solid all the way around, except at the forward face of the front T. It appears that the body has delaminated from the bottom of the forward face of the T and allowed moisture to pool there. Nasty, flaky rust can be seen all along the bottom edge...

Well y'all, its time to get to work! My goal is to at least have the thing driving well enough to attend the Motorcars On Main Street car show in Coronado, CA in April of 2023. Here goes!!!

[DreamsOfA47]

These are the pics I've taken of the delimitation and rust on the frame and by the master cylinder mounting point.

[DreamsOfA47]

Lastly to complete my introduction my biggest 47GT inspiration are the chassis 47GT-09, 47GT-77 and this video of Don Hogue kicking some serious butt at Sonoma in 47GT-75! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6VFzh9b4yE

[TurboFource]

Good luck!

The more I do on TCST the more I find to do….

[BDA]

That sounds pretty ambitious! I would point you to three people here.

First is jbcollier resto-modded his S1 and that coupled with his encyclopedic knowledge of cars should make him a great source of information.

Second is Serge who I think is busy with a new business and family but he did some videos of what he did with his S1. They should be very useful (https://www.youtube.com/user/sleursmotorsport/videos). I think you can get in touch with him using a PM or email (click on the envelope in his profile).

Lastly is RoddyMac who did his own conversion from a type 54 to his interpretation of a 47 including fabricating the frame and suspension. The thread where the shows what he did starts here: http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=497.msg3241#msg3241

Good luck with your project! 

[Clifton]

Congradulations! I had a similar plan, get it running if possible, maybe turbo it and be happy. Engine was seized and I went all out. These are big projects that consume a lot of time. Have fun and stay on it.

[jbcollier]

My 46 was literally scrap so I had no qualms about doing my own thing.  However, I knew that by going that way I was going to spend more money, and end up with a car worth less, than a stock build.  Just something to keep in mind.  If you are interested in having your cake and eating it as well, either a stock restoration or a 47 conversion would be the way to go.  Either would give you a fun car to drive and reasonable resale value.  No, you won’t recover your costs unless you count all your labour as donated.

If you go the 47 route, please do not fit a Mazda rotary.  They generate enormous amounts of heat, a problem in a Europa, and, frankly, nothing says slap-dash more than a Mazda rotary conversion.  I’m sure there are many good ones out there but they have a reputation in the business.

Finally, you have corrosion in your chassis, very normal in a 46.  You are going to have to remove the chassis in order to deal with it properly.  There are three ways to go: cut it out the bottom, cut out the firewall and console and take it out the back, or separate the two chassis halves (bottom and top) which was how they put it together at the factory.  It will be a lot of work and you would have to do it again if you subsequently decide to convert it to a 47.  I would decide on that and only change the chassis once.

Anyway, nice car, good project, and all the best.  I absolutely adore my 46.

[DreamsOfA47]

Y'all are awesome with all the encouragement! Just to clarify some things so y'all know from what thought process I'm approaching this: My car knowledge come from spendingh the better part of 7 years or so working for a man heavily involved in vintage racing. He's a regular racing with HSCC, SVRA and HMSA as well as an almost yearly participant in the Monterey and Sonoma Historics. I've had the chance to work on some real vintage Trans-AM mustangs and Camaros as well as a McLaren M8D and a coupe real Greenwood corvettes. The shop specialized in race-prepping vintage cars and restoring classics, in particular old (mostly C2 and C3) Corvettes. I know how much of a nightmare disassembly and restoration can be! :'( Thankfully I've also learned many MANY things to avoid. Also being so involved in vintage racing has had me dreaming of participating and a proper Type 47 replica is definitely a dream of mine and that's the direction I want to head.

I fully understand all the warnings about doing it right the first time. I've been reading all I can about chassis removal from S1s and I've decided for what I'd like to do, a bottom removal would be best, as well as a conversion to an S2 style of chassis-to-body mounting (like 47GT-09 has undergone) so repairs and service can be done much more easily. There's nothing worse than a race car that's hard to work on! 

I know some people may be upset that I'm taking a pretty clean and together S1 and hoping to turn it into a racer, but I'd like to sell any parts that I take off and are salvageable to those restoring another S1. This forum has showed me how badly S1 frames can rot out and I know replacements are difficult to come by stateside or expensive to get from the UK!

Stage 2 of the plan is definitely far off if its ever feasible so Stage 1 is definitely the focus. I'm not yet too worried about the rot the frame seems to have, but its location on the T is concerning as the T takes the front suspension loads and the fact that the rot will only ever get worse means I may be in for some serious structural problems. I'll have to begin to asses it more to see what I'm really up against, but I don't want to replace the frame with another S1 frame if my goal is a Type 47 frame some day. I may not have any other option though. 

[SwiftDB4]

Best of luck with your Series 1. You're obviously aware of the chassis rust problem and are facing a replacement in the future. I would concur with JB that a rotary engine doesn't fit the 47 image. Consider a twin cam or Ford Zetec. If vintage racing is in your future check what engine rules you need to follow. I went the Zetec route with my Series 1, have 180hp, and a 47 looking body.

[jbcollier]

Looking at your photos, I would suspect that your chassis would be repairable.  It is the bottoms that rust.  As long as there is no sign of accident damage, it’s all just straight forward sheet metal work.  Come the worst, you can modify an S2 frame.  That’s what I did.

[DreamsOfA47]

Swift that car is beautiful! What kind of wheels are those? and what size?

Vintage racing specs are very restrictive and I'df almost certainly have to run a twin cam to be legal. Some organizations like the SVRA are more lenient than others and they allow either the Renault or Twin Cam engines with any period chassis and suspension mods. They'd also allow a Spyder frame actually with a weight penalty.

It's a bummer that a rotary conversion carries so much negative connotation. I actually daily drive a 1983 RX7 with an NA rotary and it seems like a great engine swap! The excess heat I know to be a concern but the small size and light weight seem like a great fit for a Europa. I do understand that many previous builds have been lacking quality but an NA 250hp rotary engine in the 47 frame with that formula-car style rear suspension sounds amazing to me. But I'm totally loving the idea of a period correct 47 build as well. I guess I have plenty of time to decode on a power plant! 

Its great to hear that the repairs may be straightforward! Modifying an S2 chassis also seems like a reasonable option. Those of you who have S1s, have you modified them to make the chassis easily removable? Or have y'all decided to stay with the glassed-in chassis for the idiosyncrasy and originality of it? Perhaps a longer term solution for my current rot situation would be to modify the body to fit the chassis S2 style and repair the original chassis. Considering I'm years way from a affording a frame swap that may be a good idea. Any opinions on that, y'alll?

[jbcollier]

S1s are stiffer overall than the later cars.  This is a combination of thicker fibreglass and the fact the chassis is more thoroughly attached to the body.  I stayed with the stock set-up.  That said, converting to the out-the-bottom style means a potential future 47 chassis is a much less daunting project.

Sorry to rain on your parade but I just have seen so many poorly-done, never-finished, or never-developed rotary transplants.  Just want you going in with your eyes wide open.

[BDA]

You mentioned putting in a roll cage. I thought I’d remind you to look at Serge’s videos. He had a video where he builds a cage for his car.

[DreamsOfA47]

JB, I understand that the bonded chassis made the cars notably stiffer and though that does wonderful form a handling perspective, the extra work required if the chassis ever needs to come out perhaps makes it less than ideal. While at Joji's I did notice that the fiberglass was thicker on the S1 than the S2 or TCs and that inspires a little more confidence in its strength, however weak it may be objectively.

I wouldn't call it raining on my parade, but I thank you for opening my eyes to that potential pitfall! It makes sense to me why a rotary engine would be a great swap into a Europa, but it also makes sense how many half-baked attempts have been made at it! An all-aluminum Duratec 2L engine also sounds like an attractive option for a swap...

I love all the Sleurs Motorsports videos! He documents his progress so well and I know I'm going to keep heading back to his channel for tutorials and tips. A roll cage is defiantly on the priority to-do list, both due to its necessity in racing and its added safety for driving in general. A fiberglass tub may be light, but its surely not a safety cell!!

[DreamsOfA47]

Here's a pic of the underside of chassis 47GT-09 showing its open-bottom conversion and I have to say in concept I'm definitely a fan. The more I think about it, though the need for body-off work seems few and far between if the chassis is solid and the car hasn't been wrecked. Frankly if a Europa has been wrecked badly enough cutting the frame out is the least of concerns!

This is the link to Fantasy Junction's ad for the car and the pics are amazing and cover all of the car. Its been both my biggest inspiration and my biggest source of info for the rear powertrain and suspension packaging!
https://www.fantasyjunction.com/sold/1966-lotus-47/photos

Does anyone know of a real 47GT in SoCal I may be able to go see some day? Or someone who owns one and is willing to provide help if needed with the little details?