Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Rainer on Sunday,July 21, 2019, 06:30:08 AM
-
I promised i start a thread when i start working on the car.
So here we are.
My last full restoration took about 9 Month, but the timeframe for the Lotus is roughly 2 years from the point i move it into my workshop. Hopefully in early September.
Until then there will only be slow progression, but something has already been done.
The plastic windows were pretty much opaque and had internal cracks.
So i started experimenting, i tried Lexan and Plexiglas in 4mm thickness.
The process was pretty simple, i made a frame for the plastic sheet which fit in the kitchen oven, the slowly heated the sheet until it gets soft and start to bend.
Heated it for another few minutes the got it out quickly and pressed it against the old windows until it cooled down.
This was a lot easier than expected.
First i tried Lexan i, needed 210 Degrees Celsius (410F) to get it soft enough to take the shape from the old windows but around 200 Degrees steam bubbles started to appear in the sheet from moisture, pre drying did not resolve this completely.
So the next try was Plexiglass, which is acrylic. The magic temperature was 145 Celsius (293F), testpieces from 150C on showed distortions in the glass.
What i learned here, work clean even the slightest dust particle will give you a small dent in the new window, which need to be sanded and polished out. When cutting Plexiglas speed is the key, i used a circular saw mounted upside down, not the safest way i know.
Next step was cutting of excess material and sanding to final shape using a belt sander, if i needed slight adjustments to the shape, i could do the with a heatgun.
Finally i sanded with 500 1200 2000 2500 grid, then polished with 3M polish white cap.
The blower motor was the next candidate.
Mice ate my fanblade, the motor was rusty all over and it did not work.
Created and 3D printed a new fanwheel, testprint came out OK but is PLA and finall thing will be in ABS or PETG and smaller layerheight. Even the blades could be tweaked a bit.
After disassembly i found a piece of isolation lacquer which came loose and cut the coils two times, i soldered them back together and isolated with lacquer.
After reassembly the motor is working fine.
Don't mind the old screws all nuts and bolts, the will be re galvanised later. I had this done my last restoration and every nut, bolt and bracket from a 65 ford Taunus came as new, for slightly over 100€.
Next steps are:
Order the seat vinyl from the UK.
Find a solution for the quarter window plastic chrome, seems unobtainable, does someone have a source?
Rainer
-
That looks like a promising start! Would it make sense to put a film on the outside of the plexiglass to guard against scratching?
I have a TC so I might be asking out of ignorance but what are you referring to with "quarter window plastic chrome?" I'm not aware of any plastic around the quarter window. The window frames are aluminum and I can bet they are hard to find!
-
Richard Banks at Europa Engineering would be the one to talk to about S1 only stuff. I wouldn't get my hopes up that much will be available though. But, if it is, he'll know.
-
I thought of putting a scratch resistant film onto the Plexiglass, but Plexiglass XT is already pretty scratch resistant by itself and scratches can be polished out very easy if it should happen, so i decided against it.
S1 and maybe early S2 had window surround in plastic, its pretty much an aluminum foil between 2 sheets of thin plastic.
I will call Richard Banks, but before i still need to compile a list with questions, do not want to call him over and over everytime something comes to my mind.
Rainer
-
That’s a major project you got yourself Rainer! I would think 2 years is a achievable time frame to restore the car in its current condition. I’m always amazed at the commitment people have to do these type of restorations, especially when they do everything themselves.
Post lots of photos as we like following these projects and there are a number of people on this forum that provide sage advice.
-
I will call Richard Banks,
Richard Banks at Europa Engineering would be the one to talk to
I am sure Richard will not mind, but his name is Richard Winter. The business started as Banks Service Station before becoming Europa Engineering. Also, note that the phone number on the website is for Lotus Supplies in Solihull near Birmingham who have taken over the spares part of the business. The number for the actual Europa Engineering location in Banks is +44 (0)1704 227059
-
:Welcome:
JohnMcL
I remember reading your first post on oil passages and now an in depth outlay of all things Banks.
We all would like to know what dragged you here?
Welcome
Dakazman
-
Hi D'man,
Thanks for the welcome. What dragged me here? Well, a long time ago, before internet and cheap flights, to report on a race a journalist would have to drive there and post his copy or drive back with it. One such journalist was the revered Denis Jenkinson and he went to Sicily from the UK to report on the '69 Targa Florio. 3,645 miles IN A EUROPA on give and take roads and he wrote about it here.
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/search/Europa%20to%20Sicily
Ever since reading that I have promised myself that I would have a Europa. Time passed and life got in the way. Retirement arrived and my wife granted permission for a major car project. Instead of a Europa I was seduced into building one of these:-
https://www.gdcars.com/gd-t70-spyder/
The urge for brute power and massive grip has been slaked so now I turn to some kind of Europa project. I don't want to buy someone elses project / solution and I don't have time to do a Serge Sleurs style effort so I am drawn to persuading Richard W to do a set of parts for building an all-new 47 or 62 with current tech driveline / running gear.
In the meantime I hover on the edge of your wonderful friendly community soaking up the atmosphere.
Apologies to Rainer for the drift.
-
JohnMcl, nice little post that certainly got my attention. I had never heard of GD cars before and went on their website. Very impressive design/build of sports racers for the road. Would you mind sharing a few photos of yours? (Perhaps in a new post so we don’t completely hi-jack Rainer’s post).
I am now reading the Motorsport article for further inspiration as I hope to have my Europa on the road in a couple of weeks.
Welcome to the forum!
-
:Welcome: JohnMcL!
That Motor Sport Mag article made my day! Thanks for the inspiration.
Tom
-
Thanks for the Motorsport article.
I have the mag stored away somewhere with a ton of others but it's been decades since I read it.
This bit was interesting:
"The twin tanks are fitted one on each side of the engine compartment, tucked away in the corners, and a small switch in the cockpit selects the right-hand one or the left-hand one."
Was a switch in the cockpit standard for a twin tank set up?
-
On the stock TC, the two tanks are connected via a plastic/nylon tube that is T'ed to get to the fuel pump and then up to the carbs. The stock TC did not have a switch to select which tank is used.
In a racing Europa might have a switch and that would make some sense for putting the weight on the side of the car that is more often on the inside of the track.
-
The car Denis drove was fitted with twin tanks after production.
-
In a racing Europa might have a switch and that would make some sense for putting the weight on the side of the car that is more often on the inside of the track.
The car Denis was driving in the article was a LHD S2 road car with a second tank fitted which I believe was offered as an option for a while.
-
Rainer, please check your messages.
Klaus
-
Hello Rainer,
you are making me feel guilty as you have made a great start on your restoration!
(I am still building/preparing my garage workshop before I can consider starting my restoration project)
I'm particularly impressed by the new Plexiglass windows and the 3D printed fan...
Mark
-
JohnMcL
I had overlooked Rainer's restoration post somehow (I was away on holiday) then, having found it, found the link to the Motor Sport report.
I had read this report a while ago but I just had to read it again, which had me smiling as soon as I read the 'oh my goodness! this has put the fun back into motoring' and 'this is going to be a riot' comments!
My admiration for the Europa and the intrepid reporters of the past, has just taken a boost.
Apologies to Rainer for going off track..
Mark
-
Sorry for not posting such a long time.
Work in my shop exploded and left nearly to no time for work on the Europa and even less for creating pictures and posts.
The upside on this is the year was pretty good so I could afford, closing down the whole December and spend at least some weeks on this project.
Finally this month I found some time downloading all pictures to my computer.
I decided to split post more in build groups then in chronological order and hope to do updates more frequently.
The chassis:
I decided to remove the chassis from underneath, mainly because there have been some attempts of this method before. I don't think the chassis was removed before but the tunnel have been re laminated from the underside.
Drilled out all rivets, removed the screws. Then cut around the frame and the front section, and the engine bay back to the axles. After the chassis was lowered I could twist it to the side and removed it out the engine bay.
Rust damage was as I expected, the lower 15 centimeters of the chassis from the front section to the middle were pretty much nonexistent.
Before sandblasting I cut out the remaining lower part of the frame, this way the chassis could be blasted from the inside. And found the original badges of the car in a plastic bag.
20 minutes after sandblasting the chassis already was primed in 2K epoxy primer.
Next part was cutting of the fronts section. I decided to weld the backbone first, I had two sections bend from 1.5mm steel, cut out damaged areas and welded the new profiles in.
The frontbox was a bit more complicated, i removed the lower part completely besides the anchoring point for the suspension. The front side is spotwelded and I had to remove a lot of welds.
The frontside have been bend, the rear side just cut from a sheet. Welded everything together, spotwelded in the original locations. The brackets on both sides have been remade and the lower plate had to be recreated from pictures.
Before the front section was welded back to the frame, i primed everything again, to reach all regions of the frame later not accessible.
When re-welding the front section, i used 1.5m long spindles through the upper suspension points, by measuring the distance of the spindles to the frame i could verify the correct angle of the frontbox.
The holes were cut in, everything primed again. The chassis was the painted white on the inside, this should make visibility a lot better when installing the handbrake.
Last thing to do will be a new rear tube for the gearbox mount, but this will have to wait until engine and gearbox is in for a testfit.
-
Good work, Rainer. That looks very professional. The chassis really was in a bad state. The bag with the badges must have been a very pleasant surprise for you. Keep us updated :-)
-
Very nicely done, Rainer! Rebuilding that frame seems pretty ambitious (I might have bought a new one), but it really came out really good! Congratulations!!
-
I'm impressed. It looks like you did enough, but not too much, and I agree that the results looks very professional.
-
Hello Rainer,
it's great to see that you've made progress on your car!
Lovely work repairing the original chassis, I bet that you are pleased to have saved the majority of it?
I hope that you don't have any problems with the 'drop out' method of chassis removal? (there's divided opinion on which method is best!)
(I intend to drop the chassis out through the underside of my S1A car too)
regards,
Mark
-
Rainer,
that was some undertaking and have to say, nice work. a true craftsman you are. I compare that frame to serge’s and JB’s and they both repair their own. So now you are in that club.👏👏👏
Dakazman
-
Thanks,
Finding the emblems was a very happy moment, I never expected them to be in the car.
Indeed I wanted to keep the original frame, and everything above the lower 15 centimeters was in perfect shape.
So far I experienced no problems with the frame removal through the underside. I thought about adding clamping struts in the central part, but i don't think this is necessary.
Just something small for today.
Pedals:
The original ones were rusted solid and the outer tube was rusted through on the underside.
I ordered Steel tube 26x2mm and 20x3,5mm and a bit bronze
Turned the bushings on my lathe and welded the old pedals onto the new tubes. The clutch pedal were made a removable press fit and secured with a roll pin, an idea I borrowed from Serge's very good video on this topic.
The brackets were made from 2,5mm steel i had lying around.
Finally I inserted a grease nipple, to easily grease the inner bushing as bronze is sometimes a bit squeaky when not properly lubricated.
-
Pretty pedals, Rainer! It's a shame nobody will see them. :)
Some have put great fittings in their's. Just a thought.
-
Its time to source engine parts, but before i need to know what i already have.
Engine disassembly:
First was setting the engine up in the stand and remove the valve cover.
Besides some dirt and cloth parts it looked clean as new.
Removed the oil plug and there was a foreshadow of things to come, rusty water.
After removing the head things did not look to promising, all cylinders full of water and the camshaft a rusty mess.
Removed the oil pan and things did not look better.
I decided not to turn the engine, if anything could be rescued, turning through the rust would destroy it for sure.
I removed main and rod caps and to my suprise they looked pretty good, new bearings, no scratches.
After lifting the crankshaft out i measured the journals, all are factory spec, maybe a polish will be enough, worst case would be grinding to first undersize. Even the bearing shells are perfect.
Next step was removing the liners, the pistons are stuck but the rods are free to move. The sealing surface in the block is perfect.
So i decided if i will keep the block the cam have to come out without turning it.
I split the camgear and cam to release the pressure, this way the gear was easy to pull of.
Removed the oilpump drive and sprayed the cam with lots of rust remover, using very carefull heat from the welding torch, the camshaft loosened.
I was able to get it out without scratching the bearing surfaces.
So what looked like a complete writeoff at first, seems to be a decent block.
I filled the liners with rust remover and pressed one piston out with the workshop presspress, lucky me 21mm floating pins in the rods.
Can someone identify the piston its 79mm with just two small slopes?
Decided to check the head, looks pretty good. 42/35 valves 93,5mm head height, and the sealing surface like new. Double valve springs i do not know if these are stock. Followers only show minimal wear but will get refurbished anyway.
The engine was rebuild and never run, i guess the assembly lube on all parts rescued it, it was still in the bearing shells and followers.
After i know what i have i need to source the right parts, so i need your help.
The goal is 140HP street driveable
- Pistons, i would like to get the compression ratio to 10.5 do anyone know a supplier (what compression did the A310 4 cylinder use i can't find data on this subject?)
- Liners are available
- Camshaft profile, i do not have an idea, i have a second cam for a regrind, but billet ones are also available.
- Intake 40 Dellortos
- Exhaust i will do my own
Any suggestions are very welcome.
Regards Rainer
-
That is a mess! Hopefully some of the rust will not be too deep to buff out.
Good luck!
-
Salv Sacco out of the UK is a noted Renault crossflow engine builder/parts supplier. I had him regrind my cam to a "fat" street grind (emphasis on torque) as I wanted an engine that was pleasurably street-able. I'm very happy with the results. He also steered me to pistons and supplied intake manifolds.
Mecaparts is the gold standard for all things performance Renault Alpine. They can supply the pistons you're after and also offer options up to 1800cc.
I'm running 40 Dells and can share my set-up. Bear in mind that the Renault Alpines ran 45s.
You can find Alpine engine specs here;
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1429.msg12764#msg12764
-
The last year did not developed as planed, i became a house owner and had to build an extension and renovate one floor completely.
But the disaster struck, two discs slipped in my spine, probably due to work i am not used too and i was not able to even sit for more than 10 minutes in front of a computer and it took 9 months until could work again as before.
This delayed any progress on the Europa.
in this time i was only able to order parts from Salv Sacco which i can highly recommend, a real pleasure to deal with, he supplied cam, lifters, pistons and manifolds.
In October i was able to complete a few smaller projects, instruments are done and i printed new speedo gears.
The car came without keys, so i picked the doorlocks, created a 3d model from a blank, disassembled the locks measured the height of the discs and was able to recreate a key from this data. Which then could be copied to a blank again.
The 3d model for the speedo gear are available at thingiverse, more things will soon
https://www.thingiverse.com/capri2600/designs
Regards
-
Glad you are well enough to work on it again!
-
Sorry to hear about your misfortune but glad you’re able to finally get back at it!
-
Rats, cannot get this link to work.
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/search/Europa%20to%20Sicily
-
Fuel tank was sandblasted and a new bottom was welded in.
I decided to rebuild the koni shocks, but was not able to source the bushings, so i decided to cast my own.
The mold were 3D printed, the bushings were cast in polyurethane, stainless crush tubes were turned on my lathe. This worked so well i decided to cast bushings for the lower links also, the bigger crush tube will allow an adjustable link, by using BMW camber screws.
Radiator have been upgraded with an enhanced core, i opted for the original look even if it was more expensive than an aluminum radiator.
New radiator mesh done from stainless as well.
-
Things are looking good! :beerchug:
When I had my tanks made (with aluminum), the fabricator poured some sort of sealer in the tanks (I have a TCS). I don't know if that sealant is more appropriate for aluminum tanks or would be useful for steel tanks too, but you might want to investigate.
-
I have sealed the tank already, mainly to prevent rust and as double safety if i made a welding mistake somewhere.
I used this set and i am very happy with the result so far.
https://tankrestauration.de/
I build new aluminum coolant pipes, i thought about using stainless, but i want to add some lightness.
I was surprised how easy aluminum bends if you heat it to the right temperature, much easier than stainless.
Another thing i tried the first time is soda blasting, i used glass beads a lot but did not want to use these on engine parts, as it is really hard to clean them 100 percent.
Soda is a good alternative i think, not as fast but safe.
-
Adding lightness, eh? Looks good! :beerchug:
-
Final pictures of the frame.
The previous owner cut out the transaxle hoop and opted for an solution to mount the 395 gearbox hanging from above.
I have bend a new hoop, which were slightly shifted to the right to make room for the shifter rod. The mounting plate was constructed in cad and 3D printed. The second prototype fitted really well and could be used as template to cut the plate from 4mm steel.
At this stage i bend all brakelines and converted the system to a dual circuit master cylinder, its a spitfire one same diameter as the original. The reservoir had to be removed and it uses metric fittings but it fits the original bolt pattern.
After everything was welded in the frame got its final black coat. After drying i made the frame installation ready by adding the padding, brakelines, wiring harness and cooling pipes.
A bit of lathe work had been done, i made new door hinges from 27mm hexagonal brass, new door pins have been made from 13mm thick wall stainless tubing, i drilled everything 12.7mm and used an adjustable reamer to bring bushings and bobbins to size.
-
Sounds like a lot of creative stuff going on! I’m anxious to see how it turns out!
I am envious of your shop!
-
Lots of good work, there. It's coming along nicely.
-
Earlyer these year i worked on the body parts, i had to close speaker and cable holes in the doors, nothing to serious. The gelcoat was sanded down and all parts were covered in 2 layers of veil.
The engine cover was broken in two parts, after adjusting the position i clamped the parts together with wood blocks and laminated in several steps, starting from the inside. After each layer i checked the part position with a straightedge.
Last step was sanding down the gelcoat again, and covering the engine cover in two layers of veil.
-
It looks like it all came together very well! :beerchug:
Another way you can do that is with short strips of aluminum. Once the pieces are aligned, you pop rivet the aluminum across the break or use sheet metal screws. Thicker or thinner aluminum depending on the alignment you need. Thicker for flat pieces that you don't need to adjust. Thinner for pieces you might want to adjust their orientation or that you need to bend to follow a contour.
-
Nice work!
-
Nice save!
-
Hello
I discover all this restoration work.
Congratulations. You have good ideas.
It is a pleasure to follow your work
:beerchug:
-
Thanks for the kind words everyone.
There should be some stability in the body before reuniting it with the chassis. I decided to repair at least the biggest holes beforehand.
The wheelarches were destroyed, the rear ones were cut out ans substituted by a metal sheet, riveted to the body. The left front looks like eaten by a rodent.
For the front wheelarch i used a contour gauge to trace the shape from the right side and transferred it to cardboard templates one each 10cm.
I cut polyurethane foam block to the basic shape and fixed them with log screws to the wheelarch. By the way an electric kitchen knife is the perfect tool to cut foam, just don't tell the wife.
For the final shape i used an angle grinder with very coarse flapper discs.
The rears were done basically the same way but i had to trace the shape from a friends s2.
After 2 layers glass, i ripped out the foam without big problems, the few leftovers sanded away easily.
From here on it was simple laminate, sand away, again and again until the shape looked right.
-
Excellent work! You've done a great job recreating all those missing pieces! :beerchug:
-
My compliments to the chef, Rainer. You're doing a bang up job.
Your repairs are a testament to how forgiving fibreglass is and how a daunting task is actually quite doable with a little ingenuity and forethought.
Good onya.
-
The next big step was closing the hole in the front.
But before i had to chisel away a lot of earlyer repairs, luckily these have been done very bad, the fibreglass was not even cleaned before they layup was made and most broke away easily.
Still took me two days.
Most of the broken parts were still present, i just needed to puzzle them together. Woodblocks, screws with big washers, and some quality tape did the trick.
I used the headlight gasket as template and printed a ring to fixate the headlight part. I used PETG for printing, as resin does not stick well to this material.
Starting with the big parts i worked from the inside towards the left corner, only fixing a maximum of 2 parts at once, checking alignment after each layup.
On the right side there was a repair just with body filler, after cutting out the filler i used tape as backing material, which worked very good for such small areas.
In the end this repair was allot easier than expected and finally it starts to look like an Europa.
-
Wow! Amazing work! You are performing a great resurrection!
-
Nice work!
Is the Mk1 Capri yours too?
-
Great progress Rainer! :trophy:
-
Wow! Amazing save. Excellent work.
-
Excellent work!!
-
:trophy:
Nicely done Rainer!
Dakazman
-
as BDA said,
that really is a resurrection, so good to see it has a new face! :D
-
Nice work!
Is the Mk1 Capri yours too?
Yes and its actually my first car and first restoration, took about 4 years.
After getting the front back together, the body was stable enough, to reunite with the frame.
I had help from friends to get it back in on a Saturday but it was not possible to get it the last centimeter to the front, the rivet holes just did not line up.
We decided to stop before braking anything and continue on Monday.
But this bothered me so much i asked my wife for help me on sunday, after 15 minutes she discovered that the choke cable slipped between frame and body.
Half an hour after getting the cable back on top of the frame the body was bolted and riveted, to the chassis.
The next, step Lotus on a stick.
I used a few steel tubes i had around, they go straight through the frame. In the rear i strapped the tube left and right to the chassis and to the crossmember, this way the tube could not move in any direction.
For the Front i printed an adapter plate which fitted onto the tube and into the big hole of the front section.
Two modified exhaust clamps locked the tube to the frame and one clamp on the front of the tube could be used to lock the rotaion of the tube, sadly i forgot to take pictures of this mechanism.
The whole assembly was rotated a bit more than 90 degrees, the i used screws and big washers to line everything up and laminated the cut out pieces back in.
Finally some sanding for the better look.
-
Nice! I had a 1971 Capri with a mildly modified 2.0, wheels off a Capri II. One of my favorite cars I wish I had kept!
-
I had a 74 Capri with the Cologne 2.8 V6. Great car, except the US crash bumpers, which were like railroad tracks.
Nice job Rainer.
-
If I could have found one to restore there might not be a Europa in the garage :confused:
I have a 2.3 Turbo drivetrain that would be great in one 8)
But there is a Europa in the garage and I am excited about it!!!
-
I finished the most time consuming body part, the rear section.
Everything was out of shape, filler blobs everywhere and parts missing.
I started with cutting the lower part and bending it to shape, fixing it with pliers and tape. A few layups later the grille section had at least the rectangular shape.
The left corner was crooked, i had to cut it again to pull the section backwards, which made the lower corner to wide.
To get my rear light mounting flange back, i printed templates from PETG, this material does not stick to well to polyester and broke away easily.
The whole process took several weeks and sometimes i decided to work on different parts of the car, mainly sanding away the paint.
-
Nice progress!
-
Good job! :beerchug:
-
I bet you feel itchy at night. :FUNNY:
It looks fantastic, Keep on going
dakazman
-
Fantastic work. You deserve a medal for taking on such a project. Each update simply amazes.
-
Christmas came early this year.
Already started the reassembly.
-
Nice !
-
Nice !
Very nice!
I do like the clean lines of the S1 front.
-
Looking good, and in a Christmas color! :beerchug:
-
Excellent work!
-
Rainer,
WOW, Beautiful color choice.
What products did you use?
Dakazman
-
Thanks,
PPG products were used and i opted for a Single Stage Coat.
The car was primed three times before paint.
Of course i could not resist to fit the first parts.
3D printed defrost ducts are in place , the left side needed a bit of bending, the right side was a perfect fit.
I upload all tested designs on thingiverse.
https://www.thingiverse.com/capri2600/designs
I wanted 3-point retractor seat belts, after a bit of fiddling they now fit onto the original bracket into the sill.
I will attach mustang buckles to the belts for an authentic look.
The next days i will need to compile a list for the last missing parts.
-
Just a caution on using retractable belts in an S1. The chassis is attached solidly to the body so engine vibrations are readily transmitted. Retractable seatbelts have a weight that swings and locks a ratchet mechanism. There's a bit of play and this can lead to VERY annoying noises as you go through the rev range.
-
Long time no update, i never felt like there was a big step done in the last months.
But one my last time of vacation i finally found time to check the progress and found out two things.
I have done a lot in the last months and i take way to less photos of the process.
First, thanks JB, i checked a spare Belt i have laying around. The belts do have at least a rubberized ball for rollover protection but the ratchet mechanism definitely could be a source of problems, never thought about this.
I found out why there was a dent in my rights headlight bowl, the radiator is in the way. So i had to put the dent back in after perfectly hammered out the dent a year ago.
The front compartment was completed, the master cylinder is a spitfire dual circuit.
I used ATE 03.3390-0055.1 to connect the fluid reservoir, pressure bleed the system and there is no leakage.
The Gates 3323 hose was used to connect the radiator to the cooling pipes.
Vinyl on dashboard and headliner had been done.
Suspension, Gearbox and my spare engine block is in.
The car sits too high at the front, i had installed new type46 front springs from SJS, so its probably the koni shocks which cause the problem.
So i decided to order an complete set of protech shocks, these are beautiful can't wait to install them.
Build new front and rear grill from stainless.
Windshield was polished.
Getting the windshied in was a real pain. I used Phoenix trim IRS 1724, the rubber itself is good quality and looks very good when installed but it is very stiff and always curled up again.
I printed angled templates to cut the corners and glue the rubber together, which worked pretty good.
Until i was happy with the windshield fit it took 10 tries and 3 days, the windshield always sat to tight and i had to remove it altogether to trim the frame in several spots.
The new dashboard panels are in place and i fitted a mini electronic adjustable voltage regulator in the housing of the original one.
Thanks to the ones who uploaded pictures of their sunvisors i was able to build a frame for my missing one.
Most of the carpets are installed and i build a new glovebox.
The crank and flywheel came back from balancing, i balanced the rods myself and installed them along with new liners and wössner high compression pistons.
Along this i created several 3D printable parts, mainly gaskets. Most of them are now available here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/capri2600/designs
Sorry for the bad previews but thingiverse do not let me choose an other preview angle.
Rainer
-
It sure looks like you've done a lot and done very nicely! Congratulations! :beerchug:
I love your shop!
-
Undercoat inside the wheel wells as this helps protect the wings from getting star cracks from rocks flung up by the tires. Use the thick rubberized stuff.
-
And thanks for all the printable unobtainium!
-
Hello Rainer,
your car is really looking good!
(and thank you for the 3D printing link!) :pirate:
Mark
-
Nice work!
-
Hello.
Very nice build! Love to see this; love to see the progress on this and frankly any Europa as I see so many that are just basket cases, like mine was.
Anyway, I see the link for https://www.thingiverse.com/capri2600/designs but I did not see the designs for the windshield rubber cutting dies for lack of a better description. Are they there? Can I order, buy, get, one? Not familiar with this as you can tell.
Back story. So I bought from Rdent the windshield rubber and locking strip, many years ago. No problem until you try to cut it. I did the best I could but I am not satisfied at all. The die would be just what is needed!!
Side note: The die could/should have an angle for the top RH corner (as currently designed) and the other end of the die for the top LH corner. I think an additional die would be needed for the bottom RH corner and the bottom LH corner as the top and bottom angles are NOT the same. Thoughts??
BTW, this is being discussed at the LotusEuropa@groups.io which I suspect most here are dual members like me.
Tim
54/1278
-
I noticed this is your first post so...
:Welcome: tmschulte11!!!
I think I speak for all of us when I say we'd love to see your baby and how you and she are getting along!
-
Tim, one thing that really helps with cutting rubber in general is coating the knife blade with glycerin. It keeps the rubber from grabbing the blade and makes a much smoother cut. You can even shave off small amounts if you didn't get the angle quite right.
-
Welcome, Tim.
One thing to note with the top corners of the windscreen in particular is not only the bisecting angle, but the cut also needs a little 'draft'. These corners need to conform to the compound curve.
I found cutting with a knife very difficult – even with a sharp knife and lubrication.
I've had better luck with a junior hacksaw, packing the channels with sized wood strips and wrapping with masking tape to hold it all together . . . then cut through the whole thing.
The aim here is to make the rubber into a stiff mass . . well, stiffer.
Rainer's brilliant dies take this further by also controlling the vertical and horizontal orientation of the rubber, so hats off to him.
-
Congratulations Rainer, nice work.
I also fitted the same high compression pistons wössner.
You have cut the cylinder head to drive out gases well?
It's quite difficult to get the right volumetric ratio
-
Hello and thank you.
Yes I forgot about the compound cutting of the upper corner. The said die could also incorporate this upper compound die. I really think this is the way to go.
I bought a razor scissors?? that I used to cut the corners. Practiced on the old seal and thought I had it just right. No I didn't. The old seal was hardened. The new seal even with freezing, inserting balsa wood pieces into the openings of the seal and the razor scissors, well it just wasn't good enough.
-
I figured out how to post more than one pic. I am trainable.
-
Nice work! Really pretty car!!! :beerchug:
-
Thank you. It's a hoot to drive!
-
What are the wing mirrors off? They look big enough to be useable!
-
Wing Mirrors.
Well when I was building the auto I thought what would look good and usable. I thought let's look at similar modern small cars Of course the Miata came up, I liked the style, the size and thought they looked appropriate on the Miata so I found a set on eBay and purchased them.
In addition they are powered mirrors and one day (no really I will) wire them up to a switch to allow me to adjust the mirrors by myself. I wish I did this when I have the mirrors on the bench. I need to purchase the switch yet. I did receive the special connectors for the mirror wiring which will make it nice and neat.
-
I uploaded the dies today.
Keep in mind these were created for IRS 1724 type rubber
https://coh-baines.co.uk/collections/glazing-sections/products/weatherstrip-irs1724w-s
There are two dies for the upper and lower corners
For the right and lefthand dies these need to be mirrored in the slicer software for the printer.
A very sharp knife and dishwater solution makes the cutting pretty easy.
Print these with minimal infill and only two walls so you can easily break the off after you have glued everything together.
Congratulations Rainer, nice work.
I also fitted the same high compression pistons wössner.
You have cut the cylinder head to drive out gases well?
It's quite difficult to get the right volumetric ratio
I will need to modify the combustion chambers, the pistons interfering with the head in the squish area.
I checked all volumes today to calculate the compression ratio, but i do have the data in my shop.
I think the combustion chambers have 43cc unmodified.
Which chamber volume did you use?
-
My cylinder head is a real 807-20. I measured before 43.5 ml. I cut to have 48ml. My volumetric ratio is 11.66.
I may have cut more. Because I have a compression pressure of 15 to 16 bar. That's a lot, but the engine works very well. here there are photos of the work:
https://forum-auto.caradisiac.com/topic/374864-lotus-europe-%C3%A0-moteur-renault-et-sa-petite-soeur-%C3%A0-moteur-fordlotus/?do=findComment&comment=44623355
-
Thank you for uploading the dies!
I would like to suggest: Make more work for you; ) It would greatly help and make the dies sooooo much more usable for all if you could modify them slightly. Pls see my sketch. I would like the die to have a cutting angle on each side for use on the top RH and top LH seal. If you could also incorporate the compound angle of ???? I don't know; say 10 degrees, that would be just fricken AUSOME!
The same for the bottom; cutting angle on each side for use on the BOTTOM RH and BOTTOM LH seal. Also the compound angle of again guess of 10 degrees.
Thank you very much.
-
Sorry for replying this late, but i am pretty busy within the week.
Creating a die with cutting surfaces on both sides, would lead to problems.
First the dies need to be printed standing, this gives the best accuracy and you need a good contact surface to the buildplate of the printer.
Second you need two dies anyway, as these can be used as guide when you glue the corners together.
I print two dies this moment and if nothing goes wrong theses should be finished this evening.
I will do a small tutorial with pictures how to use them this weekend.
I am not sure what you mean by compound angle, Google translate does not help me either.
Or sou you mean the outside of the rubber should be longer than the inside?
-
Hello.
There are actually 8 cuts needed for the rubber windshield seal. Two cuts per corner.
Currently if I understand this correctly, 4 cutting dies will be needed.
I think we can reduce this to two cutting dies; the top rubber seal die would have the correct cutting angle on the RH and LH side of the die for the top RH and top LH cuts.
The Bottom rubber seal die would have the correct cutting angle on the RH and LH side of the die for the Bottom RH and Bottom LH cuts.
I tried to show this in my hand sketch. Apparently not too clear.
-
Some picture of the dies.
These need to be printed in this orientation and this is one reason i can not combine two in one.
In the last picture you see the advantage of having two dies for one corner. You can also use them as guide tool when gluing corners together.
Of course you need to destroy them after gluing the second corner, but they print pretty fast and cheap.
Hachille
That's a very nice tool you build. Your pictures are a big help.
My head i an 843 and completely flat in the squish area.
I discovered a damaged valve seat and a damaged valve guide, so i had them redone last week.
I decided to buy new valves from mecaparts which are lighter than stock parts, but will increase chamber volume a bit.
So far i measured
1cc valve cutouts
dome volume 12.4cc
dome height 8.65mm over deck
I still need to recheck the chamber volume, lapped the valves today but had no time left.
Started a quick mock up on the exhaust header this week.
Version 1-3 in the pictures
-
Small update,
Soda blasted the steering wheel, the spokes look like new now.
Had a bit professional help with the leather, wetting the leather and getting a tight fit on the wheel was a trick i had not known.
When the leather has dried after two days it wrapped around the wheel by itself.
Did the stitching myself which was time consuming but easy.
-
Nice job!
-
Does wetting the leather shrink it? Or?
-
Well done! :beerchug:
-
I think it does JB
-
Wetting the leather expands it, but when it dries it shrinks again where possible.
It has to be a tight fit when wet, when it dries on the wheel, the leather can't shrink on the outside diameter but contract on the sides. It really wraps around the wheel by itself.
The exhaust Manifold is done.
I 3D printed the Flange and added adapters to it, these fit on tubing and these green water tubes. I also added adapters to fit straight and bend parts together.
I started with a complete mock up of water pipes. Then exchanged the first runner for stainless tubing only one part after another, and tackwelded these together.
After completing all four runners i welded them completely and backpurged with a second argon bottle.
Final step was welding collector and flange to the runners.
-
Nice! :beerchug:
-
Nice fab work!
-
Very nice layout and fabrication. :welder:
Dakazman
-
Small update on the heads, they have been modified to accept the domed pistons.
The tool looks a bit crude but did the job surprisingly well.
The tool rotates around an old timing belt idler.
The cutter is fixed in the block with two roller bearings and has no play, the air tool acts just as a drive.
i made various blocks of different degrees cutting angle, to adjust the compression ratio.
After each cut i had to measure again, and testfit the clearance to the head with clay.
-
Cheer. Very clever cutting tools.
There is a very interesting camshaft with these pistons
SAVOYE S11. ;)
It can be cut on an R16TX camshaft.
http://a110a.free.fr/SPIP172/article.php3?id_article=143
-
Looks interesting , with pretty much lift.
I had my cam send to Salv Sacco for a regrind, of i remember correct the specs are 296 degrees but 9.8 mm lift.
My goal was not maximum power but more drivability and keep the valvetrain alive.
Sorry I was to lazy to do a cam diagram, when installing it.
I have an adjustable cam gear from CatCams, which i can only recommend. Probably would gone mad if i had to do this with offset dowels.