Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Members Cars => Topic started by: Taimoshan on Thursday,February 16, 2023, 08:53:09 AM
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Hi All,
For those interested, I bought a basket case 69 S1 about 6mths ago from an Englishman living near LeMans in France, with the intention of doing a restoration, but when I dug into the some of the older frame restoration work done there was a huge amount of rust and poor repair under the paint mainly the front cross section requiring the front suspension to be cut off and rebuilt. This is where things got a little out of hand and the chassis morphed into a full blown race car project.
6mths on I now have fully adjustable front suspension, camber, caster, toe, anti-dive, with cantilever monoshocks and the rear is a 1960's Lotus F1 car inspired suspension design, again with fully adjustable camber, caster, toe and cantilever monoshocks and finally I have a K24a mounted to an Audi 01E 6 speed transaxle and heavily modified chassis.
I also significantly modified the chassis with a narrowed and boxed the rear section to fit the Honda K Series and to make room for some significant defuser aero between the frame and the 12" wide rear wheels
I have 2 turbos at the moment and have not yet decided which to run, a GT35 clone and a GT45 clone, the 35 can flow for 600hp and the 45 can flow 800ish. I am aiming around 700kg wet with driver and 700 whp, so should be "fun"
I will start adding a series of photos of progress.
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Very cool and nicely done!! Please continue to post about your progress. Driving a Europa with the power to weight ratio of an F1 car should be very interesting!
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That's a lot of progress for 6 months work. I'm impressed by that.
I have a lot of questions though. Why does the front cross section appear to now be higher than the backbone? Where did the front and rear uprights come from? The Honda engine looks very tall in that chassis - will it fit under the bodywork? Where will the body mount at the back? You have the rear suspension lowers mounted to the transaxle - are you sure that's the best plan? How close were you able to get the rear wheels relative to the bodywork?
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Very Impressive! Please keep us posted.
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:Welcome: wow!
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Oh my giddy aunt! Can’t wait to see this completed and in action
:Welcome: :beerchug:
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That's a lot of progress for 6 months work. I'm impressed by that.
I have a lot of questions though. Why does the front cross section appear to now be higher than the backbone? Where did the front and rear uprights come from? The Honda engine looks very tall in that chassis - will it fit under the bodywork? Where will the body mount at the back? You have the rear suspension lowers mounted to the transaxle - are you sure that's the best plan? How close were you able to get the rear wheels relative to the bodywork?
Hey, lots of questions there. The front cross section was 40mm raised when I rebuilt that front. The reason was to lift the body 40mm so the chassis backbone was flush with the flat floor in order to improve aero and to give me extra height under the rear engine cover to fit the taller Honda motor ( which you rightly spotted is significantly taller than the Renault engine.
The front uprights are alloy Cortina uprights as used on the Ford GT40 replicas, the rear are fabricated uprights as used in a number of Lotus 7 / caterham clones with independent rear ends. The suspension arms I designed and built myself, with geometry designed using suspension software.
Rear wheels could fit under the std bodywork, but thats not what I am after as a race car and under body aero defuser would be radically reduced.
Re lower rear suspension mounts, what is your concern ?
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Thought I better add some pics of the front and rear suspension.
The aero profiled and round tube is BST45 motorsport steel, similar to Chromoly, but without the post weld heat treatment requirements.
I went a bit OTT with the tube dia's but for almost no weight penalty with this thin wall tube, I think it was worth it.
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Re lower rear suspension mounts, what is your concern ?
Just the problems of connecting the suspension to engine & transaxle movement. As it's a race car you might have the engine and transaxle rigidly mounted. In which case that concern goes away.
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Re lower rear suspension mounts, what is your concern ?
Just the problems of connecting the suspension to engine & transaxle movement. As it's a race car you might have the engine and transaxle rigidly mounted. In which case that concern goes away.
Yes the engine and gearbox are rigid mounted to the frame, you are correct :-)
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Thought I would try and post some pics in a sort of timeline order.
This group is the evolution of the rear chassis section, engine mounts and lover rear gearbox mount for suspension
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This next group are the front cross member rust repairs and modifications
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This group of pics are rear suspension related
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Where I am up to now is I have tacked up the front cantilever suspension ready for full welding.
I have cut some of the fibreglass sections to clearance the front linkages, but will need to rebuild the fibreglass around this area to minimise water ingress
I also need to make the bottom brackets for the front push rods and need to solve for the new body to chassis fixtures needed to accommodate the cantilever suspension.
I need to mark up the rear bulkhead brackets as the originals are about an inch too low now with the body raised, then the body comes off again and I can finish off the final bits of chassis work and welding
The other task for this weekend is to test fit the Wilwood calipers and discs for the final measurements so I can order the 10x15" front and 12x15" rear wheels.
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Wow! I will definitely be looking for your updates on this!
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Very interesting!! Very nicely done!! :beerchug:
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Well, not the most productive day, lots of fiddly little things to fix, however I did get the body off again and machined up some Ali grommets to bond into the fibreglass in where the body bolts to the front cross member and will support the Cantilever suspension unit. The front cantilever with bolt down via 2x 10mm high tensile Rivnuts set in each side of the cross member
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Finally a use for those “ears” on the head.
I like those wood L brackets you use to mock up where the hubs go; simple and gets the job done. Thanks for detailing all of this. I’ll never get to your level of automotive engineering. So it’s great to ride along on your process.
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:Welcome:
I too, what gearbox are you using?
What part of Jersey is more important, I am being a native to her.
I'm still going over your pics, and I need to digest it all. Good work
Dakazman
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:Welcome:
I too, what gearbox are you using?
What part of Jersey is more important, I am being a native to her.
I'm still going over your pics, and I need to digest it all. Good work
Dakazman
Gearbox is a 6 speed Audi 01E transaxle with a Kennedy Engineering K24 for 01E adapter kit, custom flywheel and 750 ftlb race clutch. Still needs to be rebuilt and WaveTrack LSD added.
For clarity, I am in Jersey (the Chanel Islands just off the Normady coast of France)
Thanks
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Had a more productive day in the garage today.
Tasks completed:
1) Rear body brackets, removed and new ones bent and welded in about an inch further forward, which raises the rear section of the body the 40mm I need.
2) Studs for front hubs pressed out of the hub as they were sitting about 0.5mm proud of the back surface which the brake disc hats need to seat against. I bought some replacement studs and then ground the heads down 1mm to they sit just below the face, then drilled out the holes to 12.5mm and press them in with the shop press.
3) Re assemble the front hubs and temp mounted the Wilwood discs and took the final measurements needed for ordering the wheels.
4) Rear brake disc hats are a universal item, that is un drilled and had to be machined to fit. The biggest challenge was my lathe is too small and so had the tedious task of boring the centre hole from both sides, meeting in the middle. It worked, still need to find someone local to drill the 112mm PCD wheel stud holes or buy a divider or milling turn table to drill them myself. But it did get to far enough to get the rear wheel measurements for the brake caliper clearance
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Hi All,
sorry its been a few weeks since the last update, but have been traveling for work and waiting on parts.
Anyway, more recently I have been working on building an alternative to the 4-1 "sidewinder" exhaust I purchased.
Looking at the sidewinder and the size of the GT45 turbo, I felt I was going get a bit of turbo lag, especially when using the larger turbo. The sidewinder manifold also placed the GT45 too high in the engine bay and so give me clearance issues under the rear engine cover.
The solution was so to design and build my own stainless shorty manifold to get both turbos (GT35 and GT45, depending which one I am running at the time) as close to the engine exhaust ports as possible while still having a free flowing manifold.
Some other design specs I had to consider.
1) I needed a T4 flange and to accommodate the GT45 T4 Turbo and exhaust flow.
2) I also wanted to be able to interchange the GT35 (T3) and GT45 (T4) using only a T4-T3 adaptor and without changing manifold .
There were a few log manifold I found on the internet, but decided that the flow characteristics of the log style manifold, where the pulse collide head on at the collector was going to limit my exhaust flow and therefore power output, so I designed my own "shorty" full flow manifold that transitioned from the small dia primary tubes to a large dia mini collector. In its first version, it put the turbos 6" from the head.
I think that if I can keep the charge pipes via the intercooler short as possible and dia the charge tube dia and intercooler port dia to each of the turbos I can minimise the potential for lag.
So here are the pics of the process for the first version 1.0, which unfortunately once fitted the turbos were too far out into the engine bay causing interference with the inter guard and too close to the fuel tank.
Version 2.0 to come
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Now on to version 2.0 as 6" long was too much, new target 4"
Basically, I cut off the exhaust flange at the head + 1/2" and cut the T4 turbo flange off +1" off the mini collector, then tilted the new T4 flange back toward the head on the top side at the same angle as the motor is laid over to the exhaust side, that gave me the extra 1/2", so shortened the manifold the target 2", getting both turbos within the engine bay "envelope" i need albeit still a squeeze.
You can see from the pics that the inside of the manifold in ported to blend the transitions to the the flanges as the mini collector when cut down and at an angle increase the cross sectional area to significantly larger than the T4 std port. Also I use a T4 to T3 adaptor flange to sit between the T4 manifold flange and the T3 turbo housing to keep the overall length as short as possible. I seems to work/fit pretty well and will allow a very quick swap between turbos if needed.
This solution has not created another problem to solve ie where to place the 44mm waste gate port as it was going to T off the Mini collector section, but now that is too short.
I have some ideas, but will show you the placement when done.
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Nice work!
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I am trying to keep my intake side as short as possible as I am keeping it old Skool draw through turbo in the spirit of it's original 1975 build.
I am only shooting for 200hp though.
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I am trying to keep my intake side as short as possible as I am keeping it old Skool draw through turbo in the spirit of it's original 1975 build.
I am only shooting for 200hp though.
Interesting approach to the same problem of turbo lag. The fuel load in the charge air through the turbo, might have a cooling effect and keep IAT down a little. What boost are you planning to run and what size is the turbo?
I have a 2.5" inlet/outlet intercooler on order, which is also a smaller core than the 3" In/out monster in the pics, the small one will support 5-600hp and the large one 1200hp, over kill probably, but better having cool charge air than hot in my view. I will also be running a complex fuel system of 2 tanks, 2 pumps, 2 fuel rails etc , one will run pump gas through smallish injectors 500-550cc and E85 from the second tank via a separate fuel system and 1400cc injectors , the 2nd rail will come on only when boost get above about 5psi. The E85 and water to air intercooler should keep detonation away under even moderate boost of 25-30psi. 20psi should get me to around 650+ hp
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It’s a 60 trim T3 with .48 exhaust housing (I have a billet compressor wheel etc. that will go in it when I rebuild it) Going to start at around 7 lbs till it’s well sorted out then start bumping up the boost…will run a modem methanol/alcohol injection vs the setup from 1975 and programmable ignition….the original owner was running 10 lbs with spikes in boost higher than that
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Wow! There's a lot going on there. This is going to be a wicked machine. Nice looking work.
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Super cool. I know how much research, thought and work goes into something so far from stock.
I know you probably want to work that external WG in somewhere but for what it's worth, the 4.0 Ford Barra's use a GT3582 with internal gate. I'm running a GTX3584 with a Barra style internal wastegate housing to keep the plumbing simple. The 3584mm is worth a few more HP over the 82. The Barra housing won't work with the larger GTX turbine though, have to use the standard GT35.
Is it going to be road legal too?
What EFI? I know some have TC, are you planning on running it?
You said measured to order wheels. That diameter and width and tires?
Looking forward to any pics you post.
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Super cool. I know how much research, thought and work goes into something so far from stock.
I know you probably want to work that external WG in somewhere but for what it's worth, the 4.0 Ford Barra's use a GT3582 with internal gate. I'm running a GTX3584 with a Barra style internal wastegate housing to keep the plumbing simple. The 3584mm is worth a few more HP over the 82. The Barra housing won't work with the larger GTX turbine though, have to use the standard GT35.
Is it going to be road legal too?
What EFI? I know some have TC, are you planning on running it?
You said measured to order wheels. That diameter and width and tires?
Looking forward to any pics you post.
I love the Barra, I am an Aussie :beerchug: Actually the solution to WG problem is an Aussie one, a number of the Barra boys are welding the WG tube into the scroll of the hot side, this is a good option as it provides a better flow path into the WG pipe, only problem is finding a turbo blanket to fit around the WG pipe. I am probably going to run the turbosmart straight through electronic wastegate for ultimate control.
Yes the car will be road "legal"ish as I have the UK reg papers for the car and should be able to get it registered under the classic reg that does not require and MOT now in the UK. If I get that before taking to Jersey should be ok.
EFI is the Megasquirt Pro unit, I used these units on many applications over the last 15 years, so its what I know well and they are damn capable and super cheap v their functionality
https://www.diyautotune.com/product/ms3pro-ultimate-standalone-engine-management-system/
My rear hubs and CV are Audi to match the 01E transaxle and have a trigger wheel on the them so if I fit a hall effect sensor I could run TC, but probably not going to. The solution (and I might be dreaming) is lots of rubber and light vehicle weight and the trick wavetrack LSD.
Wheels are 12 x 15" rear and 10 x 15" fronts which will let me run some series rubber. Front Avons are 255 and rear 325 tread width. https://www.imagewheels.co.uk/p917-alloy-wheel/. These are the biggest I could fit while maintaining space between the frame and wheel for the underbody aero.
(Thought I would add some example pics of hot side housings with external WG ports , so show what I plan to do )
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Hi All,
Twin Cam ali fuel tanks arrived with the custom mods of fuel sender in each tank (one for pump gas and one for E85) and -AN return lines for the high pressure fuel pump return lines.
Will need to make some mods to the fibreglass to get them to fit, but they are nice looking tanks
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Also forgot to add, the new fibreglass vented bonnet and curved arches also arrived in the delivery from Lotus Supplies.
There is going to be a lot of fibreglass work to be done on the body.
1) Fit new bonnet
2) fit front and rear round arches + widen the rear arches but an addition 100mm and the fronts by 50mm as the front and rear track width has been increased to fit the wide wheels
3) the rerouting of the rad airflow inside the spare tyre well
4) Modifying both foot wells to fit the new suspension arrangements and the pedal box
5) cut and reshape the floor in the driver and passenger to assist airflow into the rear defuser and aero mods
6) cut and replace the firewall
7) reshape the engine bay panels and rear inner arches
8) remove the front indicator lights and relocate
9) fit some brake duct and NACA ducts for cooling
10) general repairs the the brittle or previously repaired sections
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Will be looking forward to updates on this!!
Any pics of rear arches?
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I love the Barra, I am an Aussie :beerchug: Actually the solution to WG problem is an Aussie one, a number of the Barra boys are welding the WG tube into the scroll of the hot side, this is a good option as it provides a better flow path into the WG pipe, only problem is finding a turbo blanket to fit around the WG pipe. I am probably going to run the turbosmart straight through electronic wastegate for ultimate control.
Yes the car will be road "legal"ish as I have the UK reg papers for the car and should be able to get it registered under the classic reg that does not require and MOT now in the UK. If I get that before taking to Jersey should be ok.
EFI is the Megasquirt Pro unit, I used these units on many applications over the last 15 years, so its what I know well and they are damn capable and super cheap v their functionality
https://www.diyautotune.com/product/ms3pro-ultimate-standalone-engine-management-system/
My rear hubs and CV are Audi to match the 01E transaxle and have a trigger wheel on the them so if I fit a hall effect sensor I could run TC, but probably not going to. The solution (and I might be dreaming) is lots of rubber and light vehicle weight and the trick wavetrack LSD.
Wheels are 12 x 15" rear and 10 x 15" fronts which will let me run some series rubber. Front Avons are 255 and rear 325 tread width. https://www.imagewheels.co.uk/p917-alloy-wheel/. These are the biggest I could fit while maintaining space between the frame and wheel for the underbody aero.
(Thought I would add some example pics of hot side housings with external WG ports , so show what I plan to do )
Makes me feel old but Grand National guys would weld WG flanges to them. I think Turbonetics even cast a GN housing with a two bolt flange.
10's and 12's, that is some width. Looking forward to seeing more. Avons aren't too common in the US, most here run Hoosiers if rules and pocket book allow.
FWIW, I have less power and tire but very soft 245mm RT660 tires + LSD and still added traction control. Short wheelbase+ mid engine+ LSD and a lot of power made it not as fun/catch-able as a front engine rwd car. When it steps out in a turn under power, it happens fast. I used the Wilwood rotor bolt heads for the trigger.
Cool you are keeping it streetable.
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I love the Barra, I am an Aussie :beerchug: Actually the solution to WG problem is an Aussie one, a number of the Barra boys are welding the WG tube into the scroll of the hot side, this is a good option as it provides a better flow path into the WG pipe, only problem is finding a turbo blanket to fit around the WG pipe. I am probably going to run the turbosmart straight through electronic wastegate for ultimate control.
Yes the car will be road "legal"ish as I have the UK reg papers for the car and should be able to get it registered under the classic reg that does not require and MOT now in the UK. If I get that before taking to Jersey should be ok.
EFI is the Megasquirt Pro unit, I used these units on many applications over the last 15 years, so its what I know well and they are damn capable and super cheap v their functionality
https://www.diyautotune.com/product/ms3pro-ultimate-standalone-engine-management-system/
My rear hubs and CV are Audi to match the 01E transaxle and have a trigger wheel on the them so if I fit a hall effect sensor I could run TC, but probably not going to. The solution (and I might be dreaming) is lots of rubber and light vehicle weight and the trick wavetrack LSD.
Wheels are 12 x 15" rear and 10 x 15" fronts which will let me run some series rubber. Front Avons are 255 and rear 325 tread width. https://www.imagewheels.co.uk/p917-alloy-wheel/. These are the biggest I could fit while maintaining space between the frame and wheel for the underbody aero.
(Thought I would add some example pics of hot side housings with external WG ports , so show what I plan to do )
Makes me feel old but Grand National guys would weld WG flanges to them. I think Turbonetics even cast a GN housing with a two bolt flange.
10's and 12's, that is some width. Looking forward to seeing more. Avons aren't too common in the US, most here run Hoosiers if rules and pocket book allow.
FWIW, I have less power and tire but very soft 245mm RT660 tires + LSD and still added traction control. Short wheelbase+ mid engine+ LSD and a lot of power made it not as fun/catch-able as a front engine rwd car. When it steps out in a turn under power, it happens fast. I used the Wilwood rotor bolt heads for the trigger.
Cool you are keeping it streetable.
Yes, probably not a surprise that its been done before. I mean the internal WG setup from factory OEM turbo set ups are basically the same thing. There is not much new in motor racing, even the rocket unit that Subaru used in world rally champ a few years was patented back in 1900 or 1910. :-)
Actually you make a good point re the Traction Control, I had not considered the rotor bolts as the trigger for the front wheel speed sensor, that's easier that trying to fit another trigger wheel. Thx
The car will be road registered. The Honda K series with the right cams is very tractable, as the small cam lobe set is std road spec, with only the VVT big cam lobes provide the high RPM and power, VVT comes in at around 4500rpm, so if you turn the boost down on the electronic waste gate to a minimal 2-3 lbs then you are running a 300ish whp engine with regular road manner, if you want more a push of the button gives more boost and more power.
The short wheel base will be interesting, and suspect very sensitive to throttle / brake balance , similar to the 1969 S3 Lotus 7 i owned a few years ago, you needed to be really smooth in the corners or ended up pointing the wrong way.
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The short wheel base will be interesting, and suspect very sensitive to throttle / brake balance , similar to the 1969 S3 Lotus 7 i owned a few years ago, you needed to be really smooth in the corners or ended up pointing the wrong way.
:I-agree: so true.
If you haven't checked these Youtube channels. Garage 4age just did a dyno on a K24, tunning Vtec angles. He has one of the best informative tuning with dyno channels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX6rAjI-VW0
Richard Holdener does a lot of turbo comparisons too with dyno, mostly LS but a bit of K24 too.
https://www.youtube.com/@richardholdener1727/search?query=k24
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The short wheel base will be interesting, and suspect very sensitive to throttle / brake balance , similar to the 1969 S3 Lotus 7 i owned a few years ago, you needed to be really smooth in the corners or ended up pointing the wrong way.
:I-agree: so true.
If you haven't checked these Youtube channels. Garage 4age just did a dyno on a K24, tunning Vtec angles. He has one of the best informative tuning with dyno channels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX6rAjI-VW0
Richard Holdener does a lot of turbo comparisons too with dyno, mostly LS but a bit of K24 too.
https://www.youtube.com/@richardholdener1727/search?query=k24
I don't know Garage 4age, but i have been following Richard Holdner and also Tuning by Nick on the the K Series Vtec tuning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx-n-Jnl0_8.
What's interesting in the above video is that you pick up power by tapering the VTEC off as you ramp rpm. For me the interesting thing is that you also need to taper ignition timing on 2-strokes to maximise power, suspect that tapering of ignition and tapering of valve timing are as a result of the same inlet/exhaust port scavenging & resonance effect. Its a fascinating subject.
My other favourite is good old David Vizard , by far the most scientific insight into making power.. https://www.youtube.com/@DavidVizard/videos
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Hi All,
I am back working on the Europa, finally got the wheels and tyres back from the wheel builder, long delay in production.
Any way here are some pics of the wheel and the round arch kit (not fitted yet).
For those interested I maxed out the offset of the rims on the both front and rear wheels to get the scrub radius on the front down to 50mm and the rear to give clearance for the suspension arms. This caused part of the production delays.
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Ok time for tyres.....
Fronts are 290x15
Rears are 345x15
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Thought I also better show some pics of the wheels and tyres on the cars and the start of building the arches.
Hope there is enough rubber to deliver the power?
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She’s going to be a monster, Taimoshan!
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really breathtaking Taimoshan, keep them pics coming!!
What chargecooler is seen at the pictures??
Thanks Cor
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Hi,
The intercooler in the pictures is a 1200hp rated air to water intercooler, 3in inlet and 3in outlet. I also have a much smaller 600hp rated barrel shape air to water intercooler that I might start with, which has a much shorter path from turbo to inlet distance to reduce turbo lag, as I progressively raise the boost and HP. Air to Water intercoolers are pretty efficient. I will also be running a duel fuel system , off boost and low boost will run on pump gas and as boost rises , there is a second fuel tank, fuel rail and set of injectors delivering E85, this should substantially aid charge cooling and minimise detonation.
J
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That is totally bananas. I love it!
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Hi All,
today I have a few pics of some of the body mods I have been working on.
First group of pics are the front trunk mods, where I am re-routing the radiator airflow down under the car to improve the aero and ground effects downforce. So I have cut out and blocked off the OEM Rad outlet and in the process (hard to notice) moved the inner wheel arch to fit the 15in wheel and tyres. Also have a large 3 core rad for a GT40 with 2 spal fans + a 2 core air to water intercooler rad to fit + the appropriate ducting from the front grill. Need to cut out and shape the under car outlet next once the rads arrive.
Second group is the work on the wide arches , started on the RH Rear, quite some work and fiddling around to get the shape and position close, still not 100%, but heading in the right direction .
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There's a low pressure area on the front hood area, it's why every one with a choice vents the radiator out there. Same reason you see vents on top of wheel wells of prototype cars. GRM had a few airflow/drag/lift/downforce articles testing spliters, wings, hood vents, etc with CFD.
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There's a low pressure area on the front hood area, it's why every one with a choice vents the radiator out there. Same reason you see vents on top of wheel wells of prototype cars. GRM had a few airflow/drag/lift/downforce articles testing spliters, wings, hood vents, etc with CFD.
Not sure i entirely agree, however agree exiting into the low pressure through the top of the bonnet may draw air through the rads nicely , but it will also add air vol to the high speed air travelling over the car which adds lift, not what I am looking for.
Exiting air under the car into the low pressure in the transition under the front cross member is also effective for rad cooling and also adds to the high velocity air moving under the car's flat floor and therefore adds downforce (providing you don't use a front splitter to block the airflow, which I won't be. )
What you can't easily see is that the body is raised 40mm on the chassis to create a completely flat floor and a 3-4deg incline of that floor from front to back + a large rear defuser , in principle generating some downforce without running a wing
This same config is also used successfully on the many Porsches and Ferrari road cars. My car will be road registered and not a dedicated track car and so extreme front splitter and rear wings and ultra low ground clearance are not options.
The principles I have followed are nicely explained in this video if interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHuTDc2cVCY
This article also explains the principles with some CFD on a Europa. http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/aero/Europa%20Aerodynamics.htm
Thanks :-)
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I am curious to see how your floor pan takes shape. I am putting some thought towards doing mine in a similar manner. I have a few S1 cars that have the factory flat floor. I think one could fabricate a removable floor panel for later cars, possibly with honeycomb to add some rigidity (and peace of mind) to the structure. At a bare minimum sealing off the holes for the fuel tank and the engine compartment would help to promote flow and some ducts could be used to route air through the engine bay in a way that would increase downforce and promote cooler air in the engine compartment. I would think that would be more effective than the 47 style NACA ducts on the sides...even though they look way cool.
The bonnet definitely has a higher pressure under it which is lifting it off the car... I am not sure if I understand how directing that air under the car would promote downforce though. In my mind the path it would have to take would still disrupt the flow and add more pressure under the car. I am not an aerodynamicist and I don't pretend to be one! I would love to learn more and get some software one of these days.
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Have you selected a radiator?
I'm following a similar path and have found that a Jeep XJ radiator will fill in the front when slightly tilted.
Ron
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Have you selected a radiator?
I'm following a similar path and have found that a Jeep XJ radiator will fill in the front when slightly tilted.
Ron
Hi Ron , have you got a link to the project you are building, one that you can also share?
Re my rad decision, I ended up buying a radiator with dual spal fans, for a Ford GT40 , it is the right shape and size to fill the front section of the car, with the inlets and outlets in a convenient location, this unit is also able to support around 1000hp of cooling, I will have 700hp max I think.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153282221482
I also bought an air to water intercooler rad for the turbo heat exchanger.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264852818177.
These 2 rads will sit stacked with the turbo heat exchanger core in front of the main engine rad.
The rads are much larger in frontal area than the opening of the Europa grill (double the area) , this is really important in order to slow the airstream as it flows through the rad core, as it gives more time for the heat transfer, once the air is through the rads you need to speed the air up again towards the outlet, so that it can rejoin the main under car airstream at a speed as close to the main air flow speed, so that you minimise the turbulence of the merging air streams. You are trying to keep the airflow as laminar or "attached" the to underside of the car's flat floor as possible.
To slow the air then speed it up again you need to go from a small x sectional area of the std lotus grill to the larger x section area of the rad and then back to a small x sectional area of the outlet again.
Being specific, the outlet x sectional area should also be slightly larger than the x sectional area of the grill inlet, so you ensure a pressure drop across the system internal system, to encourage airflow through the system. This setup will also minimise the Cd (drag) of the radiator cooling system which in effect minimised the stagnation zone in the front of the car and therefore minimises that Cd of the whole car. As you can imagine, the coeficient of drag (Cd) in fluid dynamics is a square function of fluid velocity . So by reducing the air velocity across the rad core even a small amount can significantly reduced the drag caused by the radiator in the airflow. While significantly improving the cooling efficiency.
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Managed to do a little more glassing on the first rear arch.
There was a lot of grinding and trimming to get to universal wide arches to take the shape of the Europa. Its ok, but the second one will be much better, as I can take the measurements from the first one.
Anyway I got the width and the taper I was after, now its a bunch of glassing and filling to get the final shape.
Also the fibreglass front brake ducts arrived today, I'll post some pics in the next few days, now got to work out the exact location and fit them with out interfering with the rad cooling ducting
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Love your build!
You need to resize your pics as they are too large to see the whole pic at once....
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(firstly Thanks to TurboFource for the advice on resizing the images. :-) )
Had a few hours on the arches again today. Made the width extension for the LH Arch and also did a few tweaks to the RHS, I think I am honing in on the shape I am after.
I also did a bunch of patch filling of the cracks in the old glass. Still need to grind/sand the new glass flat, but its get more stable.
Also if you notice I trimmed the lower rear joining lip that used to hang down in the air stream, so I am starting to clean up the airflow for the underside.
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;)
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After a couple of weeks away for work, I got some time in the garage today to do some more work in the rear wheel arches etc.
I trimmed the LH Arch and then did some filling and also started rebuild the license plate section that had been modified to take a square plate vs the UK rear long single row plate.
Lots of filling and sanding today.