Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Lotusteve on Friday,March 28, 2025, 04:38:12 PM
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So in early 2022 I bought a very tired but complete Uk S2 Europa as a rebuild project. Around that time there were either fully restored examples or complete wrecks. This one was somewhere in between, though looked better than it was - it had been stored outside under a cover since 1992, so thirty years since its engine had cried enough. Was it the burnt valve, worn bearings or detonated piston? (or all 3).
PO had messed with the car in his youth, so odd paint, ugly wheels, sunroof, and disordered switches and wiring.
I assumed the chassis would be shot, but body looked ok.
As a recent member to the forum I thought I'd post some catchups on the project, as work progressed a few mornings a week until April 2023,
when house rebuild took priority. Naturally this took twice the supposed timescale, but its now finished so attention will go next to the S2.
As this is my first post then photos might be present or not, upside down or not.
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:Welcome: Lotusteve!!
Your pictures came out great! I know we'd all like to see more!
So tell us more about your baby! How doe she run? Are you planning on keeping her stock or are you planning any mods?
Once my car sat under a tarp for six months and it ended up looking a lot worse than yours so I'd say you're pretty lucky!
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:Welcome:
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Hi Steve (?) and another :Welcome:
For 30-odd years outside it's not done too badly and despite the paint the body looks straight with doors fitting nicely, etc. Panel fit in the 70s was never a big thing with Lotus so that's a plus.
And some typical period "improvements" with the glass sunroof and wolfrace (?) alloys. Very 1970s.... I'd guess it came with steel wheels and the first or second owner fitted the alloys, at least that's what happened with my TC.
I can see in the last shot you've got it jacked up, so here's to the next installment !
cheers
Brian
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Is that a black decal on the forward section of the bonnet or are they cut aways? If so has the P.O. installed an alternative radiator set up?
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:Welcome:
Lotusteve.
We look forward to your progress with the old girl. Post often, you’ll be sure to enjoy your journey as you look back at it here in the future.
Dakazman
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Thanks for your kind welcome to the forum. So this catchup is a sort of time lapse part one, bringing it up to the present. Here are a few more pics of its 'as found' condition. As you may have guessed the main question in '22 was whether to rebuild to original as left the factory condition or to modify to echo the Type 47 cars. Well as trackdays, maybe hillclimbs, are intended then I chose the latter.
Seems (in the uk at least) that originality is key to good resale value and ooh factor. I'm resigned to missing both of those targets but I did want a lighter more powerful car than my Elan Plus 2 (ST170).
On top of the early decision to take the body off the S2, then the question was - could the original chassis be repaired and strengthened or start again with a Spyder chassis like my previous car.
Whatever happens then the body was to be lifted off - future warning I do not recommend how I did this!
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So the body removal started in Spring '22 and the plan was to try and wedge a twincam Spyder chassis under the S2. It soon became clear by talking to people and looking at this forum's threads that this wasn't as simple as it looked, there were real differences between the bodyshell mountings and grp internal structures, particularly in the mid section by the rear bulkhead. I thought I would have to raise the body high enough to get a chassis in and work with angle grinder etc underneath the whole lot.
So I got some cheapo pulleys and rope at each corner and a friend helped me winch it slowly up - apart from a professional four post car lift (which I didn't have, strangely enough), I'm not sure how else to do this.....do the whole lot upside down? Any ideas for future use?
Here are a few pics - I've resized them to fewer pixels as the last batch went large when clicked on, I'm sure annoying for members!
Let me know if this lot are better.
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I think your setup is well within the usual method of dealing with a body separated from the frame. I don't have a high ceiling in my garage so I can't have a lift and I couldn't hang the body from the ceiling either. I used a pair of saw horses and had the frame under it until I mated them together. Your setup is way preferable!
Your pictures are a bit big. but I'm not complaining. If you would like to try another method of resizing your photos, I display the picture and then using a "snipping tool" to copy the picture reduces the resolution enough so I can post them. So far nobody's complained. Here's a video about using the snipping tool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_55eg00H-w). This is for Windows but Macs have a similar functionality. People have posted tutorials on it in youtube too.
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Very similar to what I did, I left mine suspended rom my garage ceiling to keep it out of the way while worked on the chassis etc.
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Good news (I suppose!) from members that there wasn't an easier way to get the body off. I wanted it to keep its shape so still had doors and windows, and along with dash ,petrol tank etc was actually quite heavy.
Sean at Spydercars (about 40mins from me) was really helpful with advice on what chassis to use when thinking of an engine conversion. Saw their S2 and Twincam bare frames and twincam rear 'Y' section was splayed out more, presumably because the Twincam block is chunkier than the Renault?
However I wasn't convinced by the Spyder rear upper wishbones - very short, so camber changes?
Talked to Richard at Banks Europa as I liked the look of their frame, using a 4 trailing arm setup, like the Type 47 maybe.
Anyway he said he didn't make them anymore, so a bit of a dead end. Had a quick look at the Banks Europa 'Marketplace' on their website, and there actually was a used Spyder chassis for sale. Rang up, knowing a new one was nearly £4k ...seller said he wanted 200 (200 what I thought!)
Amazingly it was £ and it was hardly used - turning his Twincam into a historic racer he couldn't use the Spyder chassis so wanted it gone!!
Having this meant I could repair and paint my old chassis (which actually wasn't very rusty but had quite a few cracks) and sell a whole S2 'kit',
Chassis, trailing arms, rear wishbones, driveshafts, uprights, engine, gearbox.
Here are a few pics (of the old chassis and the new one I viewed at Spydercars), which I now can resize to 800x 600 pixels, hoping that this at last gets them to a viewable size (I use a Macbook)
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Brief catchup of the Twincam chassis acquired in Spring '22. All seemed very good with this frame until I looked at the mountings for the rear lower wishbone mountings.....or rather I didn't see them because they weren't there!
As original trailing arms were used the PO had cut off the 'ears' of the rear crossbar, and cut out the front crossbar completely, presumably so a sump could be lowered. Adding to this the rear crossmember maybe had a different shape and gearbox mounting.
Spydercars helpfully came to the rescue and made the rear 'ears' and the front complete bar with its lugs for the wishbones. After some measuring and using the new wishbones to fix the location, I welded all this up, and then could respray the frame with 2 pack grey.
Pics of the frame are not brilliant so apologies there.
The other problem was the car had tubular wishbones, made years before by Spydercars apparantly. However the S2 upper wishbone mounting is different from the Twincam, as the upper front ones are inboard and nearly straight, whereas the Twincam mounts each side of the chassis and are curved - the pic describes this better.
After some heat, bashing and welding two wishbones were tortured into their new shape/length, with the addition of reinforcing plates, as usually I would not recommend cutting wishbones!
Next post will be the new engine (Spoiler alert! Lightweight aluminium four cylinder twincam 2.5 litres, 7.5krpm redline as standard .... any guesses what it is??)
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Huh, I was fairly certain the upper wishbones stayed the same from the S2 to the Twincam, with only the S1s having the trailing wishbone tucked between the front and rear faces of the front box section, as illustrated here (http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/s2parts/c/index.htm). Some googling around seems to confirm that. Ultimately the shape of the fiberglass in that area will confirm where the wishbone ought to be. If there's space for the trailing upper A-arm to be outside of the chassis, that's probably where it's supposed to be.
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Shouldn’t the straight upper wishbone be to the rear to get the correct caster?
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IIRC, the straight upper wishbone was common to the S1 (Type 46) and the S2 (Type 54) and located inside the chassis box section.
This changed with the Federal S2 (Type 65) and continued with the later TC/TCS where the trailing upper wishbone was located outside (behind) the chassis box section.
As such, the welded in tube for the upper locating pin/bolt has different dimensions within the chassis box section so as to re-establish the position of the damper.
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Yes I think Gavin T is right about the S1&2 wishbones, now being in the Twincam chassis makes it look confusing, but it seems the wishbone spindle mountings are angled back in relation to the frame, so giving the castor, the pic shows this, Curving the straight wishbone makes them all symmetrical. Wonder why they were changed to these in late eighties? Were the originals pressed steel like the Elan?
As for the second part of the 'catchup' I thought I'd open up a new thread , covering the completed install of the chassis and the Duratec engine mated to the gearbox, which I believe is a less common conversion than the Zetec or Vauxhall Red top route.
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Were the originals pressed steel like the Elan?
Yes. They are intentionally thin so that in the event of a hard "brush" with a curb or similar, the suspension pieces absorb the energy rather than the frame.
In a similar way, Chunky designed the car so that the frame is protected in the event of an accident by the driver and passenger!
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The Duratec bolts up to the Renault sourced transaxle?
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Were the originals pressed steel like the Elan?
Yes. They are intentionally thin so that in the event of a hard "brush" with a curb or similar, the suspension pieces absorb the energy rather than the frame.
This is has become an internet tale. These cars had no crash bumpers that others of the same year did. Lotus gave Zero F's about saving the frame or body. Lotus cars to this day get salvaged easier than most.
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As for the Duratec to Renault transaxle, I've started another topic on that part of the conversion. I think for the Vauxhall and Zetec motors Banks/Spydercars had bellhousings made? Anyway for the Duratec that wasn't an option so I used a Duratec/Mazda RX8 adapter plate (for the first time, so a learning curve!). Thought the sensible thing was getting the Duratec fitting to the plate then modding it to fit the Renault box. Mazda RX8 box bolt patterns were not right so redrilled to fit the NG3.
I also had to trim off parts of the ali plate to clear various gearbox lumps.
Main disadvantage is that one bolt is hidden by the ali sump, which in turn is trapped by a chassis cross tube, so gearbox out means engine out!
Used a NG3 clutch friction plate so input shaft spline fits that, then a Pinto clutch cover fits on the Duratec flywheel. Starter bolts to the engine block so that's no problem. NG3 bellhousing is very short so just enough freeplay for the hybrid clutch release bearing.
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Thanks for the info! Any pics of the different pieces etc.?
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Hi Turboforce, I'm afraid I didn't take pics of the parts as I went which I now regret. However I'm taking the engine out to fit stainless coolant tubes and looks as though the clutch release is not working as it should, so everything is coming apart and I will take pics.
From memory I bought a solid (lighter) flywheel from Burtons UK to replace the dual mass thing that was fitted. The new one was made to fit a Ford Pinto clutch (Same as Sierra Cos maybe?) Friction area diameter is same as Renault NG3/9 clutch disc, so also fits on Renault input shaft splines.
Other mashup is Ford Pinto release bearing fits into Renault/Peugeot bearing carrier, so fits onto release arm ok.
NG3/9 bellhousing is short so this lot just about fits with 8mm freeplay. You would get more if the 20mm adapter plate was thicker. Input shaft length seemed ok but has also to be measured carefully. If its a bit too long then bearing carnage ensues (been there before).
I decided on a NG3 box, but is a UNI box used by the GT40 guys stronger? Maybe its too long....
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Pics would be great Steve! I have an NG3 in the garage that I am considering sticking a Duratec on it for a non Lotus mid engine project …. If I ever finish TCST
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To start fitting a Duratec to the S2 I first sourced a US Ford Fusion 2.5litre HE14, so basically the same as a 2 litre, but 2.3 having a longer stroke and the 2.5 longer again. Its fitted with a lump of iron/geared weights in the sump that acts as a balancer. Performance car people take it out so engine has less work to do and it saves 10kg!
Vibration is ok on the 2.3, but unknown quantity on the 2.5. - Danst Engineering the engine importer say its not an issue. Bear in mind that exhaust is on other side to Ford's Zetec/Crossflow/Cosworth/Pinto etc as its actually a Mazda engine.
From my experience Duratecs don't respond well to carbs so ITB's is the way to go, either Jenveys or bike ones. Engine mounts are easy to modify and fit - advantage of the Europa is that the engine bay is quite tall so suits the 2.5. Giving enough clearance for a front mounted alternator lulled the engine position back a bit but the engine being similar length to the Twincam and NG3 box meant the driveshafts ended up in line with the rear hubs. Shortened Sierra 4x4 Cosworth driveshafts bolt to the Spyder Sierra rear hubs.
Here are some pics of the final install before paintwork in early 2023, and then a couple with paintwork etc. done and exhaust installed in Spring '23. Then there's been a 2 year house rebuild gap (needs must etc)
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This just keeps getting more interesting!
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Awesome!
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Some really good information there Lotus Steve .
We need to find more power plants for these beauties, that way we can keep them in the public eye.
Many “kids” at car shows remarked about electric powered units, sorry not for me, not in these cars.
Dakazman
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My Mazda5 has a 2.5 in it. I have thought it would be great in a Europa!
It has 198,000 miles on it and still runs great!