Project Igor- Europa Content

Turns out 85 degrees isn't the same as 75 degrees! Whoops!  I quick surgery and I'm back on my way.

Don't you hate it when that happens

Have you seen this drawing? Not sure how accurate it is, but it calls for a 3deg tilt back (87deg the way you measured it) of the front section, which probably equates to the original intended caster angle, otherwise there is not much adjustment in the alignment. So 85 degrees is actually adding a bit of caster, which is likely a good thing. 75 would have been nuts unless the rear was lifted way up (backbone not level)

http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/Lotus%20europa%20chassis%20drawing.pdf

In reply to maschinenbau :

I did check the drawing before I zapped in the pedal flange originally but it looks like I read the print wrong.  In hindsight, I assumed the bulkhead was vertical when I re-zapped in the flange, so I'm probably off by 3 degrees now since the vertical face of the bulkhead probably isn't parallel to that of the body.  It fits pretty well though (also, this car is LOW).

With the body mounted, it was time to start cleaning Igor.  Only 1 dead mouse and a ton of poop - it could have been worse.

These cars have a couple, err.... a lot of quirks.  The backbone chassis, load bearing transaxle, fiberglass coffin, oh and a cardboard firewall.

I noticed the firewall behind the drivers seat was a little soft, so I decided that now's the right time to pull off the carpet on the engine bay side of the firewall and assess the damage.  Welp, I know what the next order of business is going to be.  

I wanted to poke a hole in the fireboardwall for the roll bar anyways, so this isn't unexpected scope creep.  Time to figure out where the coardboard ends and fiberglass begins.  From there - I'm leaning towards bonding in an aluminum flange and then a removable aluminum firewall since I have several sheets of .090" leaning against the wall.  The biggest downsides would be the heat transfer and noise.

In reply to Brotus7 :

I am liking this build because I get to learn from your mistakes before I make them myself. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

Haha, there are plenty of mistakes. I hope this isn't one of them.

Doing Lotus things.

Looks like it will be easier to change the timing belt now.

Not much to update. It's a bit cold to do fiberglasss work and the garage is a mess.  Somehow I have 16' of bench space and 0" of clear bench - shelves and purging is in progress.

I spent a little time removing the sunroof last week in preparation to patch the hole. Hopefully this will make it quite a bit easier, it's a roof from a TC that looks to fit perfectly, just needs to be trimmed down quite a bit.  I'm itching for spring and some fiberglass work outside!

Take heart, you are still getting more done than I am. 

Brotus7 said:

​​​​​I'm itching for spring and some fiberglass work outside!

Can't tell if accidental pun or just factual statement.  

Why wet sanding is better when possible.

Back at it, hanging out in the garage!

I'm notorious for not finishing things, getting 75% done and moving on.  This week has been an exercise on actually finishing crap. 

Engine: replaced the oil pickup o ring, rear main seal, installed oil pan, clutch, transmission. I'm going to replace the oil-coolant heat exchanger, and need to fabricate a turbo oil drain.

Engine and transmission mounts: cleaned em up and finished welding. Stupid little things like not running the beads to the ends of the plates, or skipping joints. Anyways, it's done. Hit em with some primer and hopefully paint over the weekend between gatherings. Even cleaned up the shop before heading inside!

I have next week off, so hopefully I'll be able to bang out the oil drain and get the drivetrain installed. From there, I think I need to give Igor a good, long stare and decide where to mount the relay panel and Megasquirt.

All cleaned up, and car turned around.

Super cool project!

Engine is back in for now... It'll have to come out when I get to fiberglassing the "firewall" in the spring, but I got a chance to stare at the turbo oil drain.

I had hoped to snake the oil drain around th inside of the frame, but 2x about 90 degree bends right up near the turbo seems like a bad idea and something I'll have to fix in short order once/if this thing ever runs.  So, I guess I'll run a -10 AN hose down from the turbo and right into the oil pan. I may machine or weld up a new fitting for the oil pan since the current one will have a little bit of an oil pool since it's pointing down, away from the pan.

This week didn't quite go to plan. Unbeknownst to me, I got covid for Xmas. Thankfully it was a relatively mild case and nobody else in the family popped a fever, but that means the kids (2 and 4) are home so no shop time.

Oil drain: I got a 45 deg -10 fitting, but it hits the chassis, so I'll need to make a new flange for the oil pan. At the turbo end, I got a bolt on flange but it clashes with the compressor bolts, I may be able to just clock the cold section or center for clearance.  I wish things just bolted together these days, I'm getting tired of absolutely everything requiring tinkering.

Wiring: never got around to pulling out he dash, but I did move all the harness supplies to the garage to socialize Igor with his new heart!

I intended on building up my own relay board, so I got one that would offer all the capacity I may ever need, but it's huge!  Struggling to find someone with the bare small panel in stock, I pulled the trigger on a prebuilt unit on ebay. Much better form factor. No idea what I'll do with the big panel, anyone need it?

Those small panels really seem to be big enough to support most any (relatively) simple EFI build. 

The big panel would be nice in a more modern car where you were incorporating all the body electrical in. But even that...so many fuses! 

Right! The ideal size for this project would be something in between these two. The small panel will be sufficient for the EFI, but I think I'll need 2-3 more relays for the body stuff.

No real update except a revelation... My mountain bike is as tall as Igor!

In reply to Brotus7 :

Wow!

A friend of mine had a Europa sitting around the last shop I was renting space in.  You could just about use one for a coffee table.

Anyone that hasn't been near a Europa in person has no idea how short they are. They're just shockingly tiny.

I posted a side-by-side of my Europa next to my ND Miata in my build thread. Makes the Miata look tall!