54/1451 2GR swap

[Clifton]

Nicely done! I'm not a fan of turbos so I'd go without it. There seems to be plenty of power anyway but your choice.

I'd be interested in pictures of how the A/C is integrated. But then I'd be interested in just about any pictures of your car!

 The a/c hardlines run through the tunnel. You can see the charge ports in the radiator pic above and the unit on the first page. At the back, they stop at the firewall and then go rubber to the compressor. I ran hardlines around the passenger side where the factory radiator was and followed the wiring. I used an a/c bulkhead to go back into the car and connected the Vinatge air unitl with rubber lines to the bulkhead on the inside. I bought a hose crimper to make the lines then sold it when I was done. The a/c wasn't that bad to install. The unit under the dash weighed the same as the stock heater. My radiator and condenser on the mounting brackets weighed less than the factory brass/copper radiator so I only gained weight with the lines and compressor. The a/c unit has heat so it just replaced the stock heat unit. It fit right in. I drilled through the front luggage area to attach it with jacknuts mounted in the unit.

[Certified Lotus]

Nice work! Looks great. I was also considering pulling fresh air from the front of the engine bay for the intake manifold versus the rear where the exhaust is.

[Clifton]

The a/c bulkhead and going to the unit. I mistakenly bough blue silicne hose for the heater and painted it black, that is the cracking seen.














Wheel side

[klork]

Very nice car.  I am interested in what vintage air setup you used along with your bracket for your brake and clutch master cylinders.  Is that something you made or something that wildwood sells?

[Clifton]

The a/c is a mini gen II without defrost due to height. If you need defrost it would be easiest to run a single vent out the top that shuts flat when not needed.

I made the dual master bracket with the Wilwood balance bar assembly (340-1757), it's on the second page. I wish it was something I could have bought, I looked hard trying to find something I could make work.  The clutch master is mounted straight the the frame. You can see them is the first part of this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoFdaCyktG0

[Clifton]

This is the first autocross in it. I had 700 miles on it and it's been 13 years since I have seen the sea of cones. 1st run DNF, this is the second run and the third was almost another DNF. It had slight understeer around 25mph in my testing but a little faster on the coarse and it's loose. I'll shift that before the next one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gyai_O_ijA

[Certified Lotus]

Make sure you read your insurance policy before posting Autocross or track events with you car. Most will void your policy and not pay if you have an accident at an event and having a history doesn’t help. The investigators know to look at these sites. 

[Clifton]

I've retired from road racing or any track days and a Europa isn't the safest thing track. I can only get severe cone damage at autocross , nothing will ever be claimed.

[Clifton]

I did another AX last week. I put a TC sway bar on the front but it is still just a little loose but better. I'll drop the rear rate by 50 lbs before the next event or try the 3/4" Addco bar.

This was my fastest and last run. I didn't feel as lost in cones this time. I dropped 6 seconds in 4 runs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jag9LqXj4RI

[Clifton]

I ended up making a front sway bar. I had an S2 one that was on the soft side. I tried a TC one that was better but I needed a little more. Rather than buy a 3/4" Addco I decided to buy 6' of 7/8" 4130 and make an adjustable on. I wanted to make one using a hollow splined bar but it would cost a lot more and I wasn't sure if the weight saving were worth.

I made a jig using a stock bar but pulled the ends in a little more so I could use a solid end. I had my helper(wife) heat the bar with the torch while I used a tube on the ends to bend it. I shaved of about 1/16" on both sides of the rod ends so it works on the bottom shock pin like the factory bar.  I don't have the numbers in front of me but the S2 bar was around 120lbs, TC bar was around 150lbs. My bar has 3  setting 220, 300, 390. First time autocrossing with it I set it to full stiff, 390 and it had way to much understeer. It felt like a regular street car plowing through every turn. I ended up with it set on 220 and it is pretty close to perfect.

[Clifton]

 It was very hard to control the transition of corner exit to throttle without too much throttle too soon. On wheel dyno's these engines make around 220 ft/lbs torque by 1500 rpms to about 260 peak. I was having to catch it at least one run every event and the last time it spun very fast.  So I searched and found a used, NLA  Racelogic traction control system and spent some time installing that. It made the car so much more driveable at the limit without fear of instant spin. Street driving will be safer too. Not much to show for pics. I made some brackets to attach some universal wheel speed sensors that pick up the end of the 8 rotor attaching bolts. Cut the injector wires on the harness, put connectors there for easy engine removal and ran the wires to the unit, picked up a ignitor signal for rpm. I also used Deustch connectors with solid crimps on everything. I will never use Weather Pack stuff again. If anyone has to use a wire connectors in there build, look into them with the solid barrel terminals.

[BDA]

Traction control!!! Pretty interesting, Clifton! We carbureted guys are just going to have to be envious!

Your front roll bar is nice, too. One of many future projects is to make a new front anti roll bar that would be mounted higher. Thanks for the details of how you made yours!

[dakazman]

  Keep posting Clifton,
I love reading about all your mods. You are a true artist.
Dakazman

[Clifton]

Unfortunately my sway bar on the softest setting hangs lower than stock. Somewhere I scraped the forward mount.

This is the previous event. I forgot my Gopro last weekend. You can hear it miss/cut when the traction control is working hard. It cut 3 noticeable times. If it's a light cut I don't feel it but it shows on the graph.  This was at 6% slip. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8dWK7liuD4


This is from last weekend. It almost looks parked. Not the best pic but it was the best they got of it.

[Clifton]

They cancelled loaner helmets for the last autocross due to covid paranoia so I used the time to finally put the turbo on. I built it with the turbo but I have been running without until I got used to it. The internal wastegate hole wasn't large enough so I opened up the hole until it was almost to the flapper and radiused its inlet from the turbo inlet. Spring is 4 psi but it creeps to 6 psi at rev limiter. It's about all I can safely run with the compression. It was going to 7 psi at part throttle before the porting. I used a pressure switch to a resistor on the MAF temp sensor. It pulls 2.5 degrees of timing at 1 psi. The best I can do on a stock ecu. It doesn't knock and AFR is perfect on my wideband and Torque Pro. I have been doing a lot of logging with Torque Pro. I have two Spal fans on the intercooler triggered by temp and boost with a timer relay.