Lotus Europa Community

If the car is stored in an enclosed space, I would check it regularly for condensation.

Left outside, Europas seem to leak, some quite badly through the doors, and one I have left for about a year had 5 litres of water in the petrol tanks. Plus on some TCs, water gets into #1&2 spark plug recesses and sits there rusting the spark plugs.

Dry storage is the way to go, but condensation, particularly in sub zero winters, would be my concern.

Disconnect the battery, and when you take it out of storage, drain the petrol to check for any contamination. It is very easy to do with brass drain plugs at the bottom of each tank, a 5/8" ring spanner soon releases them.

Brian, you are absolutely spot on. Cut and remove will be the order of the day.  I'm not set on originality at all cost, particularly on the blower set up which appears bizarre, and presumably loses effectiveness if you should use the plenum chamber for storage on a trip?  I'll be combing through the site looking for alternatives. One version I saw on a car currently for sale intrigued me - looks very tidy but presumably very little air would make its way to the vents at either end of the dash... Plenty of time to consider options though.

Looking at those photos, I can see what you're going to be doing this Bank Holiday.      I think my tools of choice there would be angle grinder, dremel and nut splitters....   

Depending on whether you want an original restoration or a car which looks outwardly original but has more modern components, you could consider newer alternatives for some of those rusty bits.  If you scan around this forum you'll see that a lot of owners modify their Europa, probably more so than the 60s Elan owners, and even then most changes are reversible should these cars ever get to Ferrari prices.

Some things are worth doing anyway, for example the fans in the front for the radiator and blower for the front plenum chamber were never that wonderful and you could fit modern replacements making them more efficient as well as saving time/money on restoring the old ones. Another example, I replaced the rusty steel grille in the wheel arch with a polypropylene one and it's still there 30+ yrs later !   

Brian

Fakebook can be difficult to place ads on as they have no heading for many makes.
No heading for Jensen or Jensen Healey, but they do know Lotus.
So Lotus engine is close enough to advertise as a "Lotus", um yea.
The more clever sellers will follow the misapplication with the correct description.
This seller is not that clever.

  A welcome break from working under the facia getting the instrument lighting correct. With my head buried under the steering wheel my wife announces that my son in law is coming over….
No reason but will be there soon .
  I knew something was up and guessed correctly.
 
  My son in law’s grandfather came over with his new toy, waiting forever for it he received a foundation issue Tesla x pickup.
 It is an amazing vehicle..  I did get to drive it also and now I’ll try to get my wife on board.
He also got a chance to sit in my Lotus, at complete ends of some spectrum he loved the feel the Europa gave him. Barely up to the Tesla’s  tire height.
  It won me over. Buy it!
Dakazman