Things are starting to come together, literally, for the Lotus 65 Europa S2.
Friday August 27 had good weather, so I vacationed out of work at noon and
hopped a bus for the homestead.
I wanted to get to the body lift. I was unsure if I would be ready, but I
wanted to do it this weekend so I could take advantage of some time off
this week to work on the car with the body on. I didn't want to call
everyone for the lift, and then call it off.
I started by vacuuming up all the debris in the nose, trunk and engine
areas of the body. The area around the tanks and the pockets in the back
corners were especially troublesome. Luckily, I could get right inside
the engine bay.
I went after the two-into-one fuel block, fuel pump and pressure regulator
on the custom rolled-edge alloy mounting plate (complete with little chef
picture) on the firewall. The crappy fake-Aeroquip hoses were removed.
The pipe-thread fittings were all redone with Teflon tape. The
metalized-foam heat pad was sandwiched to the firewall on the right side
by the through-bolted cookie sheet.
I phoned Terry Pitts to discuss the fuel fillers. I had removed the silly
side-mounted ones, and had new filler necks from Bean. Terry had wanted
to remove and glass over the boxes for the side mounts before the lift,
but I contended that you can't really reach anything from the backside
anyway. Sawing the new holes in the stock position would be a real hassle
with the engine and tanks in the way, though. Terry agreed to bring his
Europa around on Saturday for measuring.
I popped out Saturday morning to get a 2-7/8" hole saw. I found out the
way to go was with a Sears mandrel (works in 3/8" drill chuck) and a
Milwaukee saw (Sears are more expensive and only come in 3").
Terry and I did some fancy measuring and drilled a small pilot hole in my
car's just where the center of his filler lies. I crawled underneath and
scoped out the "repair" that some PO did to fill the stock hole. I could
make out the original hole imprint and saw that it was abut a quarter inch
further aft than Terry's. We want to look at his car again, and saw that
the filler hose jogged a bit. Apparently someone moved the center of
Terry's filler forward when they installed the Monza filler. I decided to
stick with the factory on this one and put a second pilot further back.
Hint: When using a hole saw with a 1/4-inch drill center in thin
fiberglass, use a separate 1/4-inch drill to open the hole first. I
thought I could just open the hole with the 1/4-inch drill center in the
saw. Wrong. The drill catches in the glass and slams the saw into the
surface, stalling the drill motor. It took no time at all to clean the
pilot hole, then we had no more trouble.
Just in the front of the hole was a finger-sized glob of resin where some
PO cleaned up after where another PO had put truck stop lights against the
rear window. Sigh. We took a piece of broken hacksaw blade and sawed it
flush with the bottom of the panel.
Then we repeated the process for the right filler. They fit both fine and
look stock. Now, if they will just line up with the tank.
We came to the realization that there was really nothing to prevent us
from putting the body back on. Terry left with the promise to return and
I started making phone calls. This was a lot less notice than I expected
to give, but I got:
Larry Felsing, who started autocrossing even before I did. Corvair and
Spridget in the old days and now an RX7.
Glenn Ciegler, who autocrosses a Europa in my soon-to-be class of AP. I
introduced him to the sport three years ago so he could give me some
competition. Well, actually, I never expected him to buy a Europa to go
with his Esprit.
Brian Martens, who autocrosses a Dutton, also in AP. They both made jokes
about only being there to sabotage the car.
Bill Fuhrmann, Fiero pilot and member of TEAM.NET.
Mike Fitzpatrick, who dominates D Street Prepared hereabouts with his MGB.
Larry Ackerman, a coworker who restores late fifties Caddys.
Al Shetka, the manager of the Street Maintenance Division. Al is not
really a close friend of mine, but he likes to lift things, so I called
his bluff. All is a national trophy-winning amateur weight lifter in some
senior division.
And of course, Terry Pitts, president of LOON and a owner of three
Britcars, Europa, Jag V12 saloon and a round-arch Midget.
I can't thank them enough.
There were others that had expressed interest in the past, but I didn't
catch them at home or could not make it.
While waiting for the troops to arrive, I found a bolt for a locating
dowel. There are two bobbins on the top of the tunnel where the dashboard
hits it. Two 3/8-NF (UF for OFATP) bolts are to go through these to
tapped blocks in the frame. I found a long bolt and hacksawed off the
head. Then the sawed end was ground to a rounded shape. The idea was to
get exact location, then take it out with a vice-grips when the other bolt
had been installed.
We had very little trouble. Most of it was screwing around with the gas
tanks to get them in the holes. Two of the closed-call foam pads on the
sides of the frame rolled up like Chilitos, so we lifted again so they
could be yanked out. The holes all lined up fine. The brake lines all
cleared. Neat.
Most of the guys stuck around to bench race and drink cold Cokes. The car
looked high. In fact, it was higher than Glenn's Esprit Turbo, which he
brought in to show the guys. This is probably because the suspension has
not settled. There is some weight to add yet: Radiator, coolant, gas
tanks, master cylinder, seats, dashboard, and wiring (not nearly as much
as was there!). The decklids won't add much.
So now I embark on assembly and the manufacture of some parts. I am
optimistic that it will be on the road. Not for Bay Area netter Steve
Valin's visit next week, nor for the Wheels and Wings show at Classic
Motorbooks on the 11th, but for the MOWOG autocross on the 26th. I'm
taking some more vacation time, like this Tuesday and Thursday, and Ima
gonna do it. I have owned a Lotus long enough. It is time I drive it.
Phil Ethier, THE RIGHT LINE, 672 Orleans Street, Saint Paul, MN 55107-2676
h (612) 224-3105 w (612) 298-5324 phile@stpaul.gov USA
"There is nothing like a complete money-is-no-object restoration.
And this is going to be nothing like one." - Phil Ethier
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