[derekfc]

well ive had this car for maybe two weeks but been so busy that i havent had time to do much work.

anyway, i thought id share what i had and what my plans are.

i want to get it running well, restore the interior, clean up the engine bay and finish off the exterior by replacing the missing pieces and detailing it.


quick question. what size tires were standard on this car? i pulled these tires off and they were 215 60s. an absolute impossible to find size. big o tire said factory tire was a 185 70 and they just so happen to have that size in stock. can anybody confirm or deny this? thanks

 

[Loki250]

There is a ton of info on the Lotus Europa Central knowledgebase on tire size for the TCS. I believe stock the TCS came with 175/70/13 front and 185/70/13rears. Personally on my Europa, I've fitted 185/60/13 on the front and 205/60/13 on the rear. The problem is finding performance 13"tires nowadays.

JT

 

[derekfc]

i rearranged my photobucket so all the links broke

 

[derekfc]

good thing is that parts are starting to show up.

had time to replace the ignition parts. new points, cap, rotor, plugs and wires. in the process, one of my carb couplers broke but thanks to my other thread, i had already purchased new ones.

also time to take care of the interior. ordered my fabric to redo all the vinyl. ditching the cloth seat inserts to go with vinyl and redoing everything that needs it..

new dash showed up too


and in middle of refurbishing the wheels and some engine bay bits

 

[BDA]

It looks like you're making a good start.

I believe the tire sizes were front: 165/70-13 and rear: 185/70-13, but don't trust me, trust the knowledge base. Parts and workshop manuals are available there. As Loki250 says, the availability of 13 inch tires seems to be getting thin. I think Yokohama still makes good 13 in tires but some investigation is probably in order (I went to 15 inch wheels).

Parts are generally available from Dave Bean, rd enterprises, and Europa Engineering (Richard probably knows more about Europas than anyone on the planet). Sports Car World used to have a very large supply of hard to find parts. JAE is supposed to be good, too, but I've never used them.

In addition to those Lotus centered places I've already mentioned, sometimes places like Moss Motors and Victoria British can be helpful. Of course a lot depends on how "original" you want to keep your car.

If you haven't already, you should join the lotuseuropa Yahoo group. It is pretty active and there are a lot of people who are VERY knowledgeable.

Don't be shy about asking questions or asking for advice.

Good luck!!! :shift:

 

[4380r]

When you redid the ignition system, did you go with electronic like Pertronix?

Recently did the tire search for my TCS. Original sizes were 175/60/13 up front, 185/70/13 rear. Very tough to find anything sporting in those sizes. Options open up if you go with larger wheels.

Went with Kumho Solus. Good touring street tire.

 

[BDA]

I was mistaken. The stock tire sizes were 175/70 -13 and 185/70-13.

My engine was built with an Allison ignition which used a light to trigger the plug. I think it was old enough that it was not an LED and it failed so I replaced it with a Pertronix. My stock tach would bounce a lot with the Allison ignition but it settled down nicely with the Pertronix. I've heard almost nothing but good about them. I also used the Pertronix coil.

 

[derekfc]

parts starting to come out of the oven

 

[derekfc]

finally finished the wheels and shod them with the correct 175 70 and 185 70 tires


and engine bay clean up is coming along well


few more for good measure



fuel leaks galore and im finding split plastic lines.. who in their right mind thought that plastic was an acceptable material for fuel line?

 

[derekfc]

today we made great progress on the interior but it came with a twist of lime.

we started off with the pad that goes under the thighs, not the butt pad but the bigger one in front of that. stripped the old vinyl and replaced it. i didnt get any photos but anyway

moving on to the seat bottom, we started to unpick the staples and hog rings and noticed that there was material under it.. turns out, someone just glued this nasty faded, cheap and dirty fabric over the factory seat vinyl. decided to unpick the rest of the pieces and found it to be true for the other seat too. so after about an hour of scrubbing, we have fresh good looking and more important, stock seats. totally completely stoked. just saved a week of work with better finish than we could probably do. unfortunately, will still have to do the door panels and the center console and i have to still make another thigh piece for the second seat.

 

[derekfc]

first time running in probably 20 years

Lotus Europa first start - YouTube

 

[4380r]

first time running in probably 20 years

Lotus Europa first start - YouTube

:clap:

 

[BDA]

:coolnana::nanner::shift:

 

[Swic]

Restored in a month, you should do this for a living! Or perhaps you already do?

 

[Lotus23S10]

ditto JT on tire sizes: originals were 175/70-13 & 185/70-13.

A "+1" gets you t0 185/60-13 & 205/60-13.

I've run the "+1" successfully after "trimming" the inner "lip" on rear wheel wells for clearance - the stock 5.5" wheels work well, but 6" Panasports are better.

Good luck with it!

 

[XHILR8N!]

Nice! Thanks for sharing the joy. I'm super familiar with the sound of a twin cam looking to fire.

 

[derekfc]

did the door panels.




have to work with the wrinkles a bit more. hoping i can figure out how to tighten it up

 

[derekfc]

ive kind of gone quiet.
still working but not really posting as its just boring not much to show for it grunt work that doesnt photograph well

besides the dash replacement

need to find a tach and my radio blanking plate. should be finishing up the center console upholstery this weekend.

 

[BDA]

Looking good! If you have trouble finding a tach you can get a similar one at APT Instruments.

 

[derekfc]

been a little quiet around here. had a lot going on at the shop and with work but finally finally finished the interior. had my buddy do the center console because it took more skill than i had; he did a fantastic job.