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[Pfreen]

I would just say that these are FAA certified and they are not the same technology as used in electric vehicles.
Other than that, read the website, which has a lot of info, and decide for yourself.

[gideon]

The EarthX batteries are lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4 or LFP) batteries, which are inherently safer than other lithium ion battery chemistries. Plus they have an integrated battery management system that is designed to protect against over-charge and over-discharge situations.  If you really screw up you might fry the battery management system, but it should still fail safely.

In general, of all of the lithium-ion cells that were tested, LiFePO4 would be considered the
safest cathode material because of the relatively low temperature rise and the resulting low
likelihood for thermal runaway to propagate.

https://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/pdf/TC-16-17.pdf

[garyp]

The car finally arrived - very late at night.  The driver declined to drive down my dead-end street in the dark, so he delivered the car to the parking lot of a local supermarket.  I left my everyday car there for the night and drove the Lotus the 5 miles home.  It runs well, but the clutch disengages only at the last 1/8" of pedal travel.  I am hopeful that this is an adjustment issue.  If anyone has a suggestion, let me know.  The shifter is so vague the I only located 3rd gear once.  The brakes seem to stop the car well but there is a lot of pedal travel before you can feel any stopping power.  I'm hoping that this is just some air in the system - I had the wheels off (22-year old tires had to go) and most of the brake parts looked brand new.  Any thoughts on what to try first?

I am looking forward to getting help as I get the car to be a reliable daily transport.

Cheers,

Gary

[TurboFource]

Nice looking Europa!

[SilverBeast]

Looks good.

My TCS has long spongy pedal travel but brakes still do their job. I've replaced the fluid and bled them but still the same, so no advice there. Mines UK so has single circuit brakes and a single servo, yours is probably dual circuit and twin serves.

Gear change. (I'm assuming a 5 speed 365 gearbox because that's what I have. I believe the later 4 speed used the same gear linkage with a shorter rear section, and the earlier 4 speeds on the TC used something significantly different)
First check holding the gear knob can you rotate it on it's axis at all? If you can it more than likely has worn "top hat" bushes at the base of the gear lever. These were originally plastic and disintegrate. Replace with brass or oilite equivalent. Details are on this site but it involves working in the centre tunnel through the oval access hole under the armrest. Prepare to bleed and use expletives!
Second (because this is next easiest) check the universal joint at the rear of the gear linkage where it joins to the selector shaft at the back if the gearbox is not worn, and that the split pin holding it to the selector shaft is tight - there should be no play.
Finally check that the joint between the front and rear sections of the gear linkage (attached to the left hand side of the clutch bell housing). This should have no axial rotation between the two sections and the bushing in the bracket mounted to the bell housing should also only allow for rotation on its axis (if its worn) you'll be able to move the joint between the front and rear linkage sections up and down vertically.

That'll do for now. There is a reverse and 5th detent mechanism on the rear of the gearbox whisk should be under a plastic cover that might need checking too. Its within the chassis hoop the rear of the gearbox mounts into. If you post a picture of the back of the gearbox from the back of the car below the rear bodywork then we should have a good idea if all looks correct.

Edit: OK re-read first post and see it is a 365 5 speed so all above is relevant

[Kendo]

I haven't dealt with the clutch yet. Someone else will chime in on that.

You probably have to rebuild the shifter linkage. It was one of my first projects when I got my '73 30 years ago.

Sounds like you need to bleed the brakes, which can be pretty hard to do on this car. I ended up with a system that pressurizes the master reservoir, then go around bleeding each corner. Do you still have brake boosters? They tend to fail and get removed from the system.

[garyp]

The car is a 5-speednd still has its brake boosters.  I ordered a supply of shifter repair parts from RD Enterprises today - they should arrive early next week and I can get to work on the linkage.  I am assuming that I can pull the whole thing out the back of the car and work on most of at my workbench.  Is that reasonable?

For pressurizing the brake system, any advice about how to go about it.  I have a hand-pump pressure bleeder left over from a Volvo that I drove many years back, but the fittings are peculiar to the Volvo.  I also have a Mighty-Vac pump that I can use to apply a vacuum to the bleeders and pull fluid out that way, I've just never tried it.

I'll report on progress.  Thanks for the help.

[Sandyman]

Gary, sweet ride! Love the colour. Looks like you don't have a lot of work to do to enjoy.

[jbcollier]

It looks like a Special.  They had "automatic" adjustors in the rear brakes that didn't work very well.  Check there first.

[Bryan Boyle]

The car is a 5-speednd still has its brake boosters.  I ordered a supply of shifter repair parts from RD Enterprises today - they should arrive early next week and I can get to work on the linkage.  I am assuming that I can pull the whole thing out the back of the car and work on most of at my workbench.  Is that reasonable?

For pressurizing the brake system, any advice about how to go about it.  I have a hand-pump pressure bleeder left over from a Volvo that I drove many years back, but the fittings are peculiar to the Volvo.  I also have a Mighty-Vac pump that I can use to apply a vacuum to the bleeders and pull fluid out that way, I've just never tried it.

I'll report on progress.  Thanks for the help.

My sugestion...look up the Gunson Pressure Bleeder kit.  fill the bottle with fluid, screw one hose with adapter on the top of the master, other hose gets connected to a spare tire set for about 20 lbs.  Never had good luck with mitivacs...the Gunson (you can get it at Moss) made a PITA job take about 20 minutes once I had the car on jacks and the wheels off. 

If you're handy, you may want to investigate a bunch of threads on eliminating the boosters; it's only a 1500 lb car and the brakes, when adjusted properly, work just fine unboosted.  Lots of posts here about how to do it.  If you do eliminate the boosters...you may want to get a smaller dual master (.75 seems to be the ticket).  Word of advice...when bleeding, you go from the furthest to the closest...eliminating the boosters...the furthest ends up being front driver, then front passenger, then rear passenger, then rear driver.  Seems strange...but if you follow the piping (which goes from the master in front to the rear then back forward...so the longest run is the wheel next to the master!) you'll get it.  Just one of those "Lotus things"...lol.

+1 on going through the shift; best bang for the buck are the oilite tophat bushings at the bottom of the shift lever.  It IS a frustrating job; easiest way is to pull the rear universal, release the intermediate pivot, and pull back to where you can get to the lever through the oval hole under the center tunnel arm pad.  If you're going to pull and rebuild the entire setup...then just pull the whole frightful mechanism out the back and work on the bench.  Luckily mine only needed the shift bushings done; there is a little wear in the intermediate heim joint, but not enough for me to worry about right now, and the universals are tight...so I didn't bother with them.

Congrats on the new addition; it's nice to see another one turning a wheel.

[Lou Drozdowski]

Gary,

 The Europa looks in good shape, and a rare find in Mint Green (L29).

 My first thought would be to address the brakes. If the boosters are suspect, I would get rid of them all together. Change all the fluids then tackle the sloppy shifter.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.   

[SilverBeast]

I use a gunsons eezibleed from my mini days in the 80's. This uses a wheel with the pressure dropped to 10psi to pressure the master cylinder so you just need to crack open the bleed screws.

You can't get gear linkage out with the engine in (well I couldn't). I didn't need to seperate the front and rear sections (they are loctite and roll pinned together). If you disconnect the linkage from selector shaft at the back of the gearbox - extract a roll pin (I had to make a tool because of access issues
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=4631.0. Then disconnect from the bell housing (the vertical bolt that passes through the bush). Finally remove centre console (as the Haynes manual would say!) and the four nuts holding the gearshift mount (after removing the gear knob) and you can lower the gear lever into the centre tunnel. You can then manipulate the gear lever back and replace the bolt/top hats at the base of the lever through the access hole where the armrest was. I suggest you tape the gear lever at the start as it can be "interesting" getting it into a position you can work on it (and getting it back).

Typing this while you got the replies, including another Eezibleed recommendation!

[dakazman]

The car finally arrived - very late at night.  The driver declined to drive down my dead-end street in the dark, so he delivered the car to the parking lot of a local supermarket.  I left my everyday car there for the night and drove the Lotus the 5 miles home.  It runs well, but the clutch disengages only at the last 1/8" of pedal travel.  I am hopeful that this is an adjustment issue.  If anyone has a suggestion, let me know.  The shifter is so vague the I only located 3rd gear once.  The brakes seem to stop the car well but there is a lot of pedal travel before you can feel any stopping power.  I'm hoping that this is just some air in the system - I had the wheels off (22-year old tires had to go) and most of the brake parts looked brand new.  Any thoughts on what to try first?

I am looking forward to getting help as I get the car to be a reliable daily transport.

Cheers,

  f

Gary

 
 

   Gary , you had me laughing at 22 year old tires .  as Lou says mint Green is rare but am going to put my foot down before BDA says, WHERE IS THE ASHTRAY?  you'll get the pun in a few years. wait, I think that is someone else but since I can't remember shit because I'm retired and like to joke around.
Good find.
Dakazman
 
\   

[BDA]

Ok, Gary, did you get a good ashtray?! 

I’m glad you finally got your baby! She looks good from your pictures.

Clutch adjustment is very simple. The end of the cable has two nuts. Loosen the last one, get the clutch adjusted, and then tighten the two nuts together so they don’t loosen.

I agree with Lou, unless you have reason to believe they’re ok, the boosters are suspect. Very suspect if they are the original Girling units and haven’t been rebuilt. A bit less suspect if they are rebuilt original Girling units, and could very well be good if they were replaced with Lockheed units. It’s common to delete them and replace the master cylinder with a smaller one. Just to be counted, I have a standard replacement M/C with Lockheed boosters and I’m very happy with my brakes. When bleeding brakes, remember to start at the wheel furthest from the M/C. On a US Europa, that is the passenger front wheel.

The Gunson pressure bleeder looks like a good unit and one of the things that makes it good is that from the pictures I’ve seen, it looks like they have the proper cap for the standard brake reservoir. I have a Motive Products pressure bleeder. They offer a huge selection of adapters to fit most M/Cs but it wasn’t huge enough from my M/C. I didn’t think there was anything at all unique about the original reservoir cap! I happened to have a M/C reservoir cap from the original M/C and I was able to make an adapter with it.

I have nothing to add about the tranny linkage.

Keep us informed of your progress and don’t be shy about asking for help!

[Bainford]

Very nice looking Europa, Gary. LOVE the colour. All around seems quite tidy. A few niggling issues is par for the course. Good luck getting things sorted, and getting out on the road. Cheers.