Lotus Europa Forums > Garage
4397's Zetec conversion update
Rosco5000:
This is very cool Andy! Great work. I am looking at solving a CV axle conversion on my Duratec car. With the research I have done I have found out that the Beetle guys convert their rear brakes to 944 rear discs quite frequently because the parts are very interchangeable. My thought is to do this 944 conversion front and rear and get the Porsche 5 bolt PCD to open up a larger amount of staggered wheel options. Just food for thought, maybe a 944 rear disc hub will be easier to modify then the old VW drum.
andy harwood:
Thanks for the compliment. When I originally started this endeavor, I followed paths already blazed as I thought it would be the easiest route. So, seeing the mazada caliper/honda disk conversion, seemed like a good match for the braking power of the front discs. After deciding on the VW bits for the axles, I did look a bit at the 944 conversion. With out having parts to see if everything would "fit" (The 944 has 16 inch wheels? I don't know how deep the rotor hat is, but the VW one is 'deep') the 944 rotor is almost 12 in/diameter, and 1 inch thick the honda rotor needed to be turned down to about 9 1/4 (for the 13 inch wheels, still, not much free space with 15 inch wheels and is only about maybe 3/8" thick disk, top hat less than 2 inches?, and seeing that most VW's do the front conversion at the same time (as you suggest), I decided to stay with the mazada conversion. Seems there is only so much room before the backside of the rotor contacts the trailing arm. The fact that didn't want to change my wheels, and already have all the bits, and have made some caliper brackets influenced the decision too :)). I do have a large chunk of steel that I may make some '1 piece' brackets from. I ended up with some original beetle rear hubs, after market hubs, and I bought some undrilled rear disk hubs(cut the disk/top hat off). I have all three type hubs turned to fit, but have not drill for the lug bolts yet. The original lug size seems to not be so popular anymore, I thought go with a larger size. NAPA has a bewildering selection of lug studs, and I've narrowed it down to some potential candidates, but not purchased yet.
The VW axle conversion seemed about as "drop in" as you could get for such a project. The axles appear to be able to handle lots more hp than I'll ever throw at them too. Plus, the VW bits are cheap, and original VW parts available.
You've probably seen them, but Abom79, and Duckmancycles have some videos on youtube on the 944/VW conversions, and mods needed.
Skywalker:
Really appreciate all the info Andy, I hadn't had time to look up Trimandarin before you had it all there for me! I will certainly have the VW axles and hubs first on my list but you wouldn't believe how the breaker's yards are now disappearing in the UK and the ones that are left seem to have very little more than 10 years old.
I must take the wheel off my Europa next and check the height of the drive flange so I have the measurements available when looking for a replacement, however Trimanderan seems to find the standard one adequate with mods. I won't be going to disc rears, during the 25K miles I drove with my original (from new) S2, I found the braking more than adequate - although I never had it on the track, I was racing Karts at a national level and still found the Europa had pretty similar handling. I also remember an article by one of the Lotus factory test drivers saying that the original Europa S2 was the best handling machine he had driven on the Hethel track.
I am hoping to up the engine hp a little but not more than 110/120, as I want it to be flexible on the road - Richard Mann indicates that he has had 200K kms on his Alfa driveshafts with more power, so I think they will see me out!
Good luck with your travelling, having lived in Cyprus 3 years and Canada 10 years after, I have stuck to Europe, with family from the Aegean islands we rebuilt a village house and get there regularly for some heat. I would have loved to get to Thailand etc but health insurance is the limiting factor nowadays!
andy harwood:
I ordered some of my VW bits off of "The Samba" VW forum. Lots of info there too. Aftermarket VW bits are reasonable too. The photo is a VW beetle stub axle with bearings and spacers, and cut down beetle hub in place (a la Trimandarin information).
Cyprus? We were looking at going to Cyprus and Malta. Appears like a nice area. With all the migration through the area, don't know if those locations have been impacted. It sounds like a great part of the world to live! Understand about the medical ins. will be on medicare in a few yrs. That will probably impact our plans. Although, care here is inexpensive.
Very nice plane! I've heard of those, never seen one. Impressive! A former co worker owns a Pitts.
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