Just another LS Swap...Caution: Lotus content.

In reply to jstein77 :

I’ll certainly take that as a compliment! Thanks!

I have those 2 episodes of Overhaulin’ saved, and have watched them a bunch for inspiration any time I got stuck. I haven’t seen that car in person, but Foose shortened whole car to reduce the front overhang.  I shortened the overhang by moving the wheel wells forward. I like that I didn’t have to change the overall silhouette of the car. I’d have to see the two cars side by side before I decide if I agree with you or not.

i like what he did with the lights, and tried to do something similar with lights from a Jeep Liberty, but the angles were just a little off and I didn’t like the way it was going. 

He also tried to reshape most of the car to make it look more contemporary. It’s sounds funny to say it with all the modifications that I made, but I still tried to keep as much of the original quirkiness as possible.

GTXVette said:

 

 

                                                       B  R  A  V  O  !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

To all the UNfinished Europa's,    What's your Excuse now,  I STILL WANT ONE ,

Even if you have just Trumped all Others

This is the other reason that I waited until it was almost done to post this project.... I wanted to make sure that I didn’t start talking about a project and then discover that I didn’t have the skill or persistence to finish it.

...I still tried to keep as much of the original quirkiness as possible.

That's certainly valid.  Great job!

GameboyRMH said:

NOHOME said:

So....what is it like to drive? I have to think it is at the intersection of  Thrilling Ave and Terrified Blvd?

 

Pete

I imagine like a Kawasaki H2R but less tippy

Had to look up H2R.

Nice compliment.... I think?

Pete

I hope it’s less tippy! But I can’t confirm or deny that!!!

In reply to RossD :

And when I saw that LS6, I was thinking Sofa King Fast.

In reply to Sofa King :

Any idea what your finished curb weight is?  Power to weight ratio?

My weight estimate is between 1700 and 1800 lbs. I will scale it as soon as I can get my hands on scales. Stock horsepower on the LS6 is 405, but I have a slightly hotter cam, so I am expecting 430ish. That would be approximately 4.44 lbs per horse.

Approval is necessary.  You have done important work here.  The LS transplant helps to replace my early double-digits (age) memory of seeing one of these things parked on the street, which was largely of the egg-shaped shifter knob.  Dig the Ford GT (918?) exhaust!

That's really cool! Are you using the stock computer and hptuners to tune it?

In reply to TheV8Kid :

I’m using A stock computer, not THE stock computer. The one I’m using came from a 2004 Suburban that had the drive by wire gas pedal. I didn’t want to have to run a throttle cable 8-10 feet through the tunnel. 

I had had a local shop remove the VATS etc. and will take it back for the final dyno tune. They do use HP tuners.

In reply to rustomatic :

Thanks! The exhaust pretty much designed itself. I found the headers on EBay for about $150. They are designed to be up and forward turbo headers. I just run them backwards. The driver’s side exits in basically the stock location, so I really only added the passenger side hole. 

That was one of those unplanned solutions that worked out better than I originally envisioned!

This is awesome!!

I have a closet full of hats, and I tip them all to you!  I'm a lifelong Lotus fanatic, and this is the most wonderful Europa I've seen, even if there's not a lot of original Lotus left.  It's fabulous.  Serious points to you.  This is amazing.

In reply to Jim Pettengill :

The national Lotus owners gathering was here in Cleveland this August. I was trying to get this done in time to take it. I had it what I thought was ready the night before the event, but unfortunately it wouldn’t stay running for more than 5 seconds at a time. Even though the engine had been running perfectly in the chassis for almost a year. So I made the car show, but the car didn’t. I was really looking forward to how it would be received by the Lotus community. I assumed that half would love it and half would hate it and I planned enjoy both groups!

I’m glad I can put you in the first group! Thanks!

I'm officially blown away by this.  Fantastic!! 

I have a long standing love affair with strange, quirky little cars, and the Europa has always been on that list for me.  I almost got to actually drive one many years ago, but, in typical classic lotus fashion, it refused to start and stay running on that particular day.  

What you have done with this one is simply covered with buckets and buckets of awesome!!!

This page needed a photo! Made it to a car show Monday night. Here is a side shot without the tape around the door.

I didn’t want to have to invent a shift mechanism, so the stock Boxster shifter and stock linkage was used. It shifts like a stock Boxster. Better than my C5 Corvette.

Also, the Miata parking brake was used but mounted inside the tunnel so that it doesn’t press against my leg as it does in a Miata!

A smaller aftermarket steering wheel gives me plenty of knee room, and my printer and a pair of scissors make it officially Lotus!

In reply to Patrick :

The Lotus isn’t going to make it to Quaker Steak tonight! I have been concerned about low oil pressure that I thought was just the gauge. Now I’m pretty sure that it is the oil pickup tube O-ring.  Should be an easy fix but not by tonight!

I will be there with my Ls1 Miata, so if you make it, stop by and introduce yourself. (Goes for all GRMers!)

In reply to Sofa King :

Myself and John Welsh will be there.  I’d assume he has red miata or white q45, we’ll have the blue 2016 charger.  

Look forward to seeing you. 

Ill be in a flat black Miata with LS1.

Interior is still a work in progress, but this is a shot of the seats. Since my head hits the roof of a stock Europa, even if I sit directly on the floor, I lowered my floor about an inch. Sort of like an upside down Gurney Bubble. There still isn’t enough room for a full size seat, so I cut up a pair of Miata seats that I had lying around and stapled the top half of the cover and foam to 1/4” plywood, then used Velcro to stick them directly to the floor and firewall.  They have about 90% of the comfort of the full Miata seat and look better than they look in this photo.

Today I added rubber “diamond plate” mat to the floor. I still might switch to carpet at some point, but my goal for the interior has always been “nice race car”.

I’m low on ambition at the moment, so I’m tackling little projects. Today I filled in the engine cover vent holes with the same perforated aluminum that I used for the area around the exhaust tips. I think it looks better than the screen that was OEM.  This pic also shows the gas cap that I found at Summit.