Lotus Europa Community

Cracked on with the strip down today - not *entirely* plain sailing tbh. With the car having sat for 20 years, every metal part in the front end was rusted, and not much looks to be salvageable. The bumper bolts were a particular pain, but luckily there was just room to get a junior hacksaw in the gap between bumper and bolt dome, and cut them off without damaging the bumper, which will need rechroming, but at least it's straight and undamaged.

Thanks for all the encouragement and info - this is a fantastic knowledge source and I'm finding out so much that's of help in this restoration.

WTF is a '74 Elise

That's the joke!! 

Maybe you weren't able to see the attached picture. The picture was of an ad where a guy is selling what he calls a "'74 Lotus Elise" but he shows a picture of what is probably a '74 Jensen Healey (I know of no way to tell the year of a Jensen Healey)! So the guy is a bit confused.

I finally got around to performing a leak test on the TC motor and the results Don't look good. The test was performed using an OTC leak down tester with compressor air pressure at 85#. Obviously, disappointed with the results but they are what they are. The results shows that the engine will obviously require a full rebuild. It should be a good candidate for a rebuild since it had been stored indoors most if not all of it life and turns over freely.

Cylinder #1 - 85/11 (supply pressure over cylinder pressure), gross leakage from intake vales and crankcase.

Cylinder #2 - 85/25, leakage from intake valves, crankcase, a bit from exhaust valves

Cylinder #3 - 85/72, tightest cylinder but still greater than minimum allowed. Leakage from intake and crankcase

Cylinder # 4 - 85/19, leakage from intake

Nope! You got that right but the seller has somehow mistaken a '74 Jensen Healey for a '74 Elise. But I can understand that. The '74 Elise did bear a striking resemblance to the '74 Jensen Healey! 

I suppose the next step is to try replacing the needles/seats with a service kit just in case they aren't sealing even if they are free to move.

They are about £8 each from QED.

I will phone them on Tuesday. (Monday is a public holiday here).