Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: MRN I J on Wednesday,June 03, 2020, 08:20:24 AM
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Hi all, thanks for allowing me to join.
My name is Chris Adams, I live near Solihull in the West Midlands, I work in Stratford upon Avon as one of the woirlds leading Aston Martin specialists, race engine builder by trade, I do allsorts with the end view of retiring in the next 5 - 8 years.
I've owned my 1970 S2 Federal spec since 1989, we sprinted & hillclimbed the car in 1990 through to 1994 with some success, (it holds the outright marque sports car record for Ocean Village at Southampton - long discontued) the original 1470cc dismantled itself with the the jump leads jumped from a VW Caddy Diesel.
I built a 1647cc crossflow motor with twin 45s & a cast exhaust manifold, hot cam, self ported head, all with the help & advice of Salve Sacco, then parts manager at Aldon Automotive, it made 138bhp on Aldon Auto's rr dyno which always reads low, I then changed the ex manifold for a 4 into 1 which turned the car into a flying machine, i then fitted a Quaife Torsen gleason diff from Ken at QED.
It came off the road as my GF, now my wife, hit a small deer, cracking the left front corner badly.
25 year later I'm looking at rebuilding it after reading about your cars on here, I sell 50s AM parts and have noticed one or 2 parts that are used on S1s that we already make.
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Welcome to the forum, Chris. Very interesting work, you are into. Sounds exciting. Your S2 sounds like an interesting machine. Time to get it back on the road. Cheers. :beerchug:
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Thanks Trevor, I have 3 Astons & a 1964 MkI 1275 Cooper S to rebuild aswell.
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Thanks Trovor, I have 3 Astons & a 1964 MkI 1275 Cooper S to rebuild aswell.
Hi Chris, and another :Welcome:
3 Astons and a Cooper S, I can see you're going to have a busy retirement !
One thing I found after I stopped work was how little time there was in the day. I had grand ideas of restorations, new hobbles and all sorts and yet after a few months I kept thinking "where is my day going to ?"
I've never been into Astons myself although I have a friend who has a modern convertible and it's certainly a looker. Are yours old school or moderns ? ("modern" in my definition is anything under 10yrs old ! )
cheers
Brian
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:Welcome: MRN I J
I hope you'll document your rebuilding and post some pictures!
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:Welcome:
That is a fantastic collection of cars to restore. I have a soft spot for Mini's as well as Loti as I still have my 1978 Mini that I bought when I was 17 as my first restoration project and used to work at one of the local Mini shops here on the west coast of Canada. A good family friend here also has two 1932 Aston Martin SWB MkIIs one with an Ulster body on it. I absolutely love those 2 machines, they are fantastic.
Cheers,
Ross
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Hello Chris!
:Welcome:
you have a very enviable collection of cars including your Europa...
(I'd be interested to know which S1 parts you make?)
Cheers,
Mark
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Hello Brian, all ours are 50s cars, 2 x DB2s & 2 x DB MkIII DHCs, the one DHC has been a rolling restoration & is the the only Classic on the road, all bought for peanuts as was the Cooper S & the Europa.
The Europa was actually 3rd choice, I had always wanted an Elan but never quite had enough money so we looked at +2s & had agreed to buy a one owner car locally in 1988 (not 87), we gave the guy the deposit & took away the History file & I kept asking when he wanted the rest of the money, he kept saying it didn't matter which should have rung alarm bells, then all of a sudden he wanted to give me my deposit back have his History file back, he kept it.
We then saw an Else S2 advertised for £2750 in Feb 89, it was the other side of Norwich which was difficult to get to in those days so my GF, my apprentice and I went down in the apprentices mothers new MG Metro (Rover car as his dad worked there), we looked around the car & I drove it round the block a few times then I argued about the price for 2 or 3 hours and settled on £2650 with its new rear springs/ shocks still fitted, he had owned it exactly a year.
I gave the keys to my GF (as my excuse for buying it was every car she had went rusty, a Lotus couldn't) & came back in the Metro, the Europa was a bag of rubbish, the GF hit a puddle at 70 in the pouring rain & went sideways at about 30/40 degrees to the road, we wondered where she went but she gathered it up & got back behind us quite quickly.
The front suspension had been assembled incorrectly, the gear linkage didn't work, etc.
Lotus Europa S2 was originally Lotus Yellow & was modified by JA Else, it came to me with an Else inlet manifold & 45 dcoe but not the red alloy finned crackle finish rocker cover which I still want to find / make.
6 weeks after buying it the GF rang up saying it wouldn't crank over, I was pretty busy at work so I rushed home in the Caddy, put the huge jump leads on & cranked it, a second or so later it dropped a valve, cracked a piston & split a liner, the reason was a dropped valve seat.
I found out by asking around that my friends at Aldon had a spare parts man called Salve Sacco who specialised in building Renault engines in the evenings & weekends, Salve gave me loads of advice & relieved me of plenty of money for parts building a crossflow motor.
I put 2 clutch cables on before I converted the clutch to hydraulic operation, a speedo cable before realising if you used a angle drive from a Midget the speedo cables lasted forever.
A few months later in August it cracked the chassis under braking whilst racing my brothers new VW Scirocco on local roads, the chassis had cracked by the wishbones so we bought a new chassis from Miles Wilkins near Goodwood circuit & fitted that.
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Hello Chris!
:Welcome:
you have a very enviable collection of cars including your Europa...
(I'd be interested to know which S1 parts you make?)
Cheers,
Mark
The Oddie 1/4 turn screws - I've posted in unobtanium with a picture
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The Elan itch was eventually scratched by buying my GF a Mazda MX5 Mk1 import (Miata), I dont have time for another Lotus or unreliable car, as I have a restoration business that needs to be a parts business, has customers who push very hard, designing & getting parts made consumes a lot of my time as well as finishing off some long standing resto's, engines, gearboxes, back axles, etc.
The MX5 looks nearly as good, handles aswell as an Elan but doesnt have Lotus badge - Loads of trouble usually serious, is bulletproof except for rust, now on a Mk2 which doesnt look as good but is bulletproof except for rust.
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:Welcome:
2 x DB MkIII DHCs
All I can say is wow! A friend used to have a "regular" DB 2/4 Mk III which was quite a neat car, but to have two of a production run of 84 is amazing.
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I see you have done your homework Roddy,
Both DHCs were bought by my GF now my wifes 1st husband costing less than the price I paid for the Europa, one in 1967 + £300 with a swap for a nearly new Elan , the other in 1975 for £950, since then I / we have spent a fortune in money & time on the one in the photo (taken in Killarney in Sept 18)
it is one of 14 RHD built with a special series triple SU engine (now 235bhp, new 180 if lucky).
Its because of your rebuild that I found this forum, fantastic job !
I nearly bought a Lotus Components 47 in bits with a crossflow in it (as originally built to make the numbers up) for £1600 or £1800, another mistake, I kept the S2 as it was running
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:Welcome: Sounds like you are going to be a great addition to the forum! :beerchug:
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Welcome ! Salve Sacco is the man with regard to crossflows. Still at it too!
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Welcome Chris ,
Am building a crossflow 843 for my 1970 S2 , any pointers will be appreciated . Mecaparts has some larger valves in stock which would be a first choice, however should a flow check be done first?
Am a Novice engine builder so how should I proceed?
Dakazman
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Welcome Chris ,
Am building a crossflow 843 for my 1970 S2 , any pointers will be appreciated . Mecaparts has some larger valves in stock which would be a first choice, however should a flow check be done first?
Am a Novice engine builder so how should I proceed?
Dakazman
Hi Dakazman,
originally I bought Renault valves on the advice of Salve (over 30 years ago now), nowadays I would use Ford Pinto (SOHC) race valves as they are cheaper, better quality, come in the right length & a range of diameters, all still 8mm stem.
I would need to look at my notes if its 1600cc or 2ltr ones that fit as the lengths are different.
The springs we use on our Aston race engines are the best ones to use which are US made.
regs Chris
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where and who are Mecaparts, do you have a link to their website
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They are in France. A lot of S1 and S2 folks get engine and tranny parts from them. Here is their website: http://www.mecaparts.com/ Unless you speak French, you should probably view it in Chrome so Google can translate it for you.
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the valve springs I would use now is Iskendarian VWE -005 & SP -006, this gives adequate on seat pressure without excessive pressure (overloading) the cam at full lift on a half race or full race cam.
perhaps we should continue this discussion on Tech Articles
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Sounds like a good idea, Please start it!
Sorry for hijacking
Dakazman
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Hi Chris,
Hello Brian, all ours are 50s cars, 2 x DB2s & 2 x DB MkIII DHCs, the one DHC has been a rolling restoration & is the the only Classic on the road, all bought for peanuts as was the Cooper S & the Europa.
I think we can safely call those "classics" :)
Both DHCs were bought by my GF now my wifes 1st husband costing less than the price I paid for the Europa, one in 1967 + £300 with a swap for a nearly new Elan , the other in 1975 for £950
I don't know about the "peanuts" though, a nearly new Elan+£300 must have been getting on for £1600-£1700 although the £950 in 1975 is pretty close to the £975 I paid for my '68 Elan around the same time.
But you've got some interesting projects there and unlike modern cars everything is going to be "do-able" given enough time and of course, a sprinkling of cash !
Look forward to hearing more some time when you're settled in.
cheers
Brian
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Hi Chris,
Hello Brian, all ours are 50s cars, 2 x DB2s & 2 x DB MkIII DHCs, the one DHC has been a rolling restoration & is the the only Classic on the road, all bought for peanuts as was the Cooper S & the Europa.
I think we can safely call those "classics" :)
Both DHCs were bought by my GF now my wifes 1st husband costing less than the price I paid for the Europa, one in 1967 + £300 with a swap for a nearly new Elan , the other in 1975 for £950
I don't know about the "peanuts" though, a nearly new Elan+£300 must have been getting on for £1600-£1700 although the £950 in 1975 is pretty close to the £975 I paid for my '68 Elan around the same time.
But you've got some interesting projects there and unlike modern cars everything is going to be "do-able" given enough time and of course, a sprinkling of cash !
Look forward to hearing more some time when you're settled in.
cheers
Brian
Hi Brian, I never said 'peanuts', in fact a lot of money for the time as you say, these will take more than a sprinkling of cash to restore & several years.
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Hello Chris,
Just noticed your posts while searching for Else info. Nice to find another owner locally, hope you get started on Europa again soon!
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Broadside, hopefully next year, not sure if I want to race it as a crossflow or just drive it as an Else, I might just build a full blown crossflow just as a little personal project & a non crossflow with an 821 head (round port), not hard to change the engine.
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Welcome Chris ,
Am building a crossflow 843 for my 1970 S2 , any pointers will be appreciated . Mecaparts has some larger valves in stock which would be a first choice, however should a flow check be done first?
Am a Novice engine builder so how should I proceed?
Dakazman
:Welcome: MRN IJ
Dakazman
The 843 is a good engine. How many horses do you want to have? There are some simple things to do, but others very complicated and expensive. Often on this engine, we change the compression ratio but we must cut in the cylinder head. And since we have more pressure at the explosion we change the camshaft and the power supply. Fairly easy up to 130HP
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Hachille,
I’m learning that engine builds take time. JB , Galvin, Mrn and others have guided me . My machinist I think is even learning. I just got my 843 Head back in it’s original configuration save for being shaved .030 back to level. I probably will go with some of Mecca’s larger pistons and liners sets. As Gavin would say a cat skinny level 3? I probably butchered that a bit.
The cam I ordered did not have any specifics so I’ll need to install and place a timing wheel on it.
Dakazman