Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Classifieds Forums => FS / WTB: Cars and Rollers => Topic started by: surypap3 on Wednesday,February 15, 2023, 08:49:30 AM
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Looking for a Banks chassis for additional strength. Does anyone have a project car/ roller/ Banks chassis/ running gear for sale. Jack 703-474-6490
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Is a Spyder frame not strong enough for you? I'm just curious.
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That's a good question. First the spider frame .... is that what they call the OEM Europa frame? Secondly, I just assumed if you were to put say 250 hp back there that it may be too much for the OEM frame. Totally willing to be educated on this. What are your thoughts? Thank you!
Jack
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Spider (Spyder?) is a separate company that makes a much better frame than OEM.
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That's a good question. First the spider frame .... is that what they call the OEM Europa frame? Secondly, I just assumed if you were to put say 250 hp back there that it may be too much for the OEM frame. Totally willing to be educated on this. What are your thoughts? Thank you!
Jack
From the rear firewall forward on mine is stock frame. 450hp and at least 350 tq. I beat on it and autocross it with wide soft tires. No problems yet. I know the Tee area in the front can crack and I'm sure mine will.
It's not the HP but torque that kills things.
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https://www.spydercars.co.uk/lotus-europa-chassis-wheels/
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So what did you do to the frame from the firewall back and can you tell me about your drivetrain mods ..... engine, transaxle and out to the wheels. Thx
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It is something that I would not do again so it isn't a I did it to make it better. To do again, I would leave the frame as is and I would use an Audi or Boxster trans and run it longitudinally and not cut the frame. What I did took wayyy too long to do and then I had to design the suspension to work with the short arm length I was stuck with using.
250 hp isn't too much. A turbo 4 age could do it and fit in the frame. Ford Zetecs fit and a few psi would easily do 250+ too. There are lighter engines though. If you have a frame I would use what you have.
Engine is a Toyota 2GR 3.5 V6 Turbo GT3584 8 psi
Trans is an E153 trans with taller FD and LSD.
Camry ouiter/MR2 T inner axles
AW11 MR2 rear hubs with SLA rear suspension
Custom brakes
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A few more
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Looks nicely done, and like you said, a fair amount of engineering went into it. I like the notion of a zetec. I know there are many examples of this. Would the Audi or Boxter transaxles boly up/fit easily? What other lighter engines were you thinking about? Thx
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Kennedy Engineering makes adapters for both.
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Thank you
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I believe the Zetec bolts to the twin cam 5 speed as well. There are a few on this forum. PM them and ask details. Check the facebook group too.
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The Zetec does indeed bolt to the Twin Cam bellhousing, which means you can fit an NG3 5 speed with a little bit of modification.
(https://i.ibb.co/GsXhDL1/Chassis-Complete.jpg)
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Very nicely done! Now is that a Zetec with an NG3? I don't suppose you can slip an AC compressor in there somewhere? The front half of the frame is the stock chassis with reinforcement? How much HP can a Zetec put out? 250+ naturally aspirated?
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Yes, Zetec bolted to a TC bellhousing which is bolted to an NG3. You might be able to squeeze a compressor on the exhaust side but how you would do that would be up to you. As for the chassis, it's all fabricated, there's no stock chassis in it at all.
In regards to Zetec HP, I would guess that anything over 190ish NA HP requires a lot of work and wouldn't be very "peaky" (been there done that with warmed up 4AG in a Seven, tons of fun at WOT but around town it was bit much). I'm sure you could get something close to 250 with a turbo. IMHO you dont need much more than 180 HP in a Europa, they're a fairly light car so don't need a lot of power.
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I am running about 145 hp with my TC. I am told you can possible get about 180 hp from that motor. But if I spend the money, I would like to go 250 ish. Can the NG3 tolerate 250 hp or am I into the Porsche gearbox. Does 250 HP tear up the OEM frame?
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I am running about 145 hp with my TC. I am told you can possible get about 180 hp from that motor. But if I spend the money, I would like to go 250 ish. Can the NG3 tolerate 250 hp or am I into the Porsche gearbox. Does 250 HP tear up the OEM frame?
Torque, not HP is the limiting factor on parts. I don't know the weak link on Renault gear boxes but on Toyota's S series take more power with LSD's, then the gears (4th and 5th) become the weak.
There's a guy on youtube that sepecializes in 4age's. https://www.youtube.com/@Garage4age Lot's of dyno stuff on eveything he does. He seems to get pretty good power out of those, 250 ish but at 9500 RPM. I don't know if a 2 valve TC can do it without a turbo. If you already have the engine, turbo would be easy and make more torque too. Torque = fun ;D Most engines can easily take 5-7 psi.