Lotus Europa Community

In another week I will know if I am going to have the funding to buy a smallish very low hours VMC.
That is a computer driven vertical mill for anyone not familiar.
I have owned these before, I used to make a lot of firearms parts and accessories.
It is being a real stretch to make the purchase and I know from experience that tooling up will be expensive too.
Need to find some products to make that folk will actually want to buy ASAP to begin the recoup.
Not sure what those might be, looking for suggestions.
For myself I am unhappy with the available air boxes and despise plastic.
Thinking aluminum base and fiberglass cover.
The machine can carve aluminum very well, steel runs too, just slower.
Not large enough to do a dashboard and wood is not good for the machine.
Once I get back in the groove roller rockers become a possibility, if I can find raw material to work with.
A lot of things can be done as billet, so long as the material does not cost too much.
Material cost and availability are now major issues for small time guys who did not pre-order in bulk some time ago.
No fourth axis on this machine and I am not competent to program 4D anyway.
4D and even 5D could be added but the tools for that cost much more than this machine.

There are virtually no decent jobs locally, and it seems what few there are practice age discrimination.
So the goal is to build up a side income and provide items no one else are doing.
Does not have to be Lotus bits, just not interested in going toe to toe with the Ford/Chevy/China companies.
Not intending to go back to eighty hour weeks, only need to about double my income.   

You can get new upholstery covers from Lotus Supplies in the UK.  I bought them about a year ago...  took a couple of months to get them, as they have several options and they're not in stock.  They have to be made.  153 GBP each.  They look well fabricated, but I haven't installed them yet.

Hi Berni, I'm not sure if my seats have had work or not. I found another K reg Twin Cam that an auctioneer was selling as having original seats (pinch of salt and all that) which also has a 2 piece rear cushion, with the same pattern, when I was looking for seat covers. Factory variant? Same aftermarket repairer? Could be either, tbf. 

There's a local upholsterer to me who does motorbike seats etc - if I can't find suitable covers I think I'll get some of the basketweave vinyl and see if he fancies a go.

Cheers,

Jeff

https://hofmanns.co.uk/sold-car/lotus-europa-twin-cam/

Hi

That seat looks really rather good. I wonder if it has had some work done to it in the past? I'm no expert, but the backrest section is one piece, and it looks like the top section may have had work. I wish mine were in such good condition. I am looking for someone in the South East to do mine so if anyone knows someone reasonable please chip in. I know people sometimes go to sofa makers for this type of work, but I'm not sure that would be a great idea.

All the best

Berni

Stripping out of the interior continues, but it was too hot to work in the garage today, so spent some time cleaning up the passenger seat to see how it would come up. Still needs another clean or two, and the foam and backing boards on the seat bases and possibly the back need replacing, but I think the cover is savable.

The problem I have is that the driver's seat has some damage to the bolster, and the seat back cushion. And although Martrim in the UK seem to sell the basketweave vinyl, it doesn't have the "ribs" which seem to be melted in, which gives me a dilemma. Do I try and replicate the ribs using heat application, or does anyone know if the right material is available elsewhere? Or do I recover both seats, which would be a shame - I'm assuming that the vinyl is original? I really want to get the seats "right" if I can, they're as 70's as an orange Spangle!