1967
Lotus Europa S1 460363
Apr
13, 2003
Wow. It's
been a while since I worked on the Europa. Lots of other stuff going on,
but finally got back into it today. I had to get rid of the old frame,
but had a problem with the recyclers, so decided to cut it into small sections
with my sawzall, toss it in the trunk of my Chrysler, and then take it
to the dump. Also did some sanding and grinding in the wheelwells to remove
excess paint. And of course when I cut open the frame, I find another
souvenir from 20 odd years ago. A dehydrated California mouse. I tell you,
old Europas are always a surprise.
Feb
23, 2003
Removed
from the old S1 frame, the handbrake cables and the sheet metal covers
off the lower a-arm pins at the footwells. Need to duplicate the covers
on the new S2 frame. Now I can take the old S1 frame to the dump. Good.
Stuffed the new frame back inside the Europa for safe keeping while I cleaned
up the garage.
Feb
01, 2003
I couldn't
wait, so I pushed the frame in to see if it fits. Opened up
the front fibreglass a tad with my new dremel and pushed again. Far out,
now it fits.
This piece
of angle is the S2 firewall attachment point. It's too far back for the
S1. It's coming off. Or I might leave it on and use it to brace
the firewall to the frame.
Guess I've
got some fibreglassing to do. But first have to box in the lower pin.
More fibreglassing
required when the frame is installed for the final time.
It fits
!! And I took a look inside the backbone, it's clear all the
way through, so I won't have a problem with the plumbing or wiring.
And more
fibreglassing to redo the underbody. That triangular bracket on the right
is for the battery on the S2 I think. Don't need for the S1. The vertical
bracket inside the right fork is for the gearshift linkage. I may or may
not use it. Also have to drill four holes to mount the rear of the frame
to the body.
The new
S2 frame is the garage and laid on the floor beside the old S1 frame.
Can you guess which one is which? Measurements match pretty much
as I expected. A few details are different, but nothing to get concerned
about. Next step is to slip the frame in the Europa and see what
it looks like.
The S2 frame doesn't have the
box covering the lower pin. The S2 flanges above the top pin are
vertical instead of angled. The bottom panel has to be welded to the backbone.
You can see that the mounts for the Renault handbrake are higher on the
S2 frame versus the S1 frame, not important. However there are no mounts
for the throttle pedal on the new frame, have to add those. Also the brakes
and clutch pedals will be overhanging from the top of the T section, not
floor mounted, therefore the lower hole will not be used. The master cylinders
and reservoirs will be in the plenum chamber (front trunk area).
Compare the heater tubes to the
picture below. The S2 ones are vertical versus the angled ones
on the S1. Again this is not a problem.
Nice. Going to get
some circular plugs mades out of Delrin to blank off the unused holes.
The factory just used tape.
Ugly, Cracked, Bent and Rusted.
Going to the recycling dump soon.... But before it goes, I guess I should
try to get the handbrake cables out of it.
Jan
27, 2003
The Europa's
new frame arrived today at my office. Now I've got to get it into my garage
later this week. Can't wait. It's excellent. Almost too nice to put in
the car. I'm tempted to just hang the frame on the wall in my office as
sculpture.
Jan
17, 2003
I finally
bought a frame, S2 design made in Montreal, Canada. Now, there is not really
much difference between the S1 and the S2 frames, just slight detail
changes, so there should be no problems in reverse-engineering the S2 frame
to fit the S1 body. Whatever I'll make it work. I was considering going
with a space frame from Banks and actually at one time thought about making
a space frame locally. But figured that it would only stall the process
of getting the Europa back on the road. At least if I do this, it forces
me to get off my butt and do something. The frame should be here in about
2 weeks and the first thing I'll do, is slip it into the Europa and see
how it fits. I don't really foresee any major problems. Engine?
Oh Yeah, need one of those also.
Merci Marcel
& Harald.
