Basket-case Europas

Remind me, did I say I wasn't going to touch the head? It was something about keeping things simple, getting the car together, then worrying about power later, right???

Because I just bought a freshly rebuilt, ported/polished/shaved .030, 3-angle valve job, with titanium springs, Zetec head. For $275-shipped. I'm also getting a set of new cam gears, new coil, and wires for a grand total of $400.

I just had to post this pic. Pardon me, I need a moment....

Yes, I need to trim ~1/2" off the bottom, and get some 2" hose to couple it all together - but they FIT - and I'd had such difficulty finding any stacks I thought would work, I'm happy just for that. Oh, and they were under $50 shipped. I was working out the calculation for the length of them too, but I found conflicting info regarding whether standing-waves are an issue if you don't have a common plenum?

I did find some dyno charts showing that generally longer is better, as far as a wide smooth torque range, and that top-end power doesn't drop off significantly until intake length grows over about 20", and I'll be about 12" with this setup. That puts me at 4th-order harmonics around 6000rpm, so I think that will work.

I added these to help tune the length on mine and to fit air cleaners more easily.

Looking good! They are thexy, aren't they?

In reply to turboswede:

Those are crazy! Do they stick out of the hood? Because, honestly, that would be pretty cool!

turboswede wrote: I added these to help tune the length on mine and to fit air cleaners more easily. Looking good! They are thexy, aren't they?

petegossett wrote: In reply to turboswede: Those are crazy! Do they stick out of the hood? Because, honestly, that would be pretty cool!

Nope, they fit just fine.

I got a bit of work done over the past two nights. First, I picked up some of this stuff from Napa and plugged the holes in the throttle bodies left over from the extra butterflies.

While I was there, I got some 2"i.d. hose and clamps, then trimmed the stacks and assembled it all. The stacks needed quite a bit of trimming, which required some delicate work with the 4" angle grinder. This is after I'd already trimmed ~1/2" off these.

But now the ITB assembly is together. I still need to get the injectors and fuel rail mounted, then disassemble and port-match the intake.

Speaking of intake, I received the head and cam gears today...mmmm, shiny!

Nice work! Can't wait to see/hear it fire up!

You are going to post videos, right?

Oh yes! ...in about 2-3 years when it finally gets installed in the car, which I've not yet really started on.

I thought I'd better post an update, before everyone thinks I'm a slacker. I just haven't had much photo-worthy to update until now.

Thanks to tips on here to go to McMaster Carr for Dremel bits, I've finally been making progress on cleaning the transaxle case.

Well the transaxle is as clean as I care to make it. I'd estimate I have close to 12-hours into getting it this clean.

In the process of cleaning the case, I did discover a date stamp.

"1 SEPT 72" Which makes sense as a manufacturer date for the transaxle, since this one came out of the '73 Europa.

I still need to order new seals for the transaxle, as well as some fresh Amsoil gear oil for it. I can only imagine what the 40-year old sludge is like that's in there now....

I also have the engine block about as clean as I can get it. I need to order a POR-15 engine kit for it(and I might as well order some POR-15 for the frame while I'm at it). Although I think I'm going to do a bit more disassembly before prepping it for paint. And I'm not entirely decided on a color either, though I'm thinking silver at this point?

A tiny update, but one I thought was worth posting. I finally worked one of the rear brake drums off the '73, and was able to confirm the brake shoe has a width of 1.5". That confirms this car is a Twin Cam Special, as opposed to the '72, which is just a Twin Cam. Honestly, that was the only performance-oriented difference between the two, although the Special could have been ordered with a 5-speed.

What this really means is that I'll try to use the the 1.5" brakes off the '73 vs. the 1.25" brakes which are on the '72. I'm not sure if it will prove to be worth the effort.

Oh. berkeley.

That's one of the two head bolts down inside the spark plug valley. And those are the remaining bits from its Torx head which have sheared off and are lying inside the center. Both bolts did this.

So now it looks like I need to find a machine shop who can extract them. Yay.

Ouch. Can you drill the heads off?

I broke a couple of 3/8" torx bits trying to get the head off my Porsche 924, finally had to go buy a 1/2" drive one from Sears to finish the job.

Yeah, I'd usually expect a head bolt to be hard as hell to drill. However, if it stripped that easily then it might be worth trying to drill out the heads before taking it to a machine shop.

Bryce

Nashco wrote: Yeah, I'd usually expect a head bolt to be hard as hell to drill. However, if it stripped that easily then it might be worth trying to drill out the heads before taking it to a machine shop. Bryce

Once the hole is opened up a bit, an air grinder with a cone bit and a steady hand might work a bit faster. You just want the head of the bolt removed to release the tension, once broken loose, the rest of the bolt should spin out.

Just wear eye protection in case stuff comes flying at you....

A torx head bolt is such a horrible idea.

I've drilled out many a head bolt, you won't need a grinder. Use cobalt bits, don't even mess with the black oxide or high speed steel, you might as well be using your hootus as stick one of those in a drill. Start small and keep going bigger, you'll hear a 'crack' or 'ping' noise and the head of the bolt will come off.

petegossett wrote: I don't understand why these would be so much more difficult to do machine work to than any aluminum-head DOHC engine either? But they sure make a fuss about it on the Lotus sites.

My opinion, not knowing much about the lotus stuff specifically, but just about small local machine shops in general, and about owners of cars like classic lotuses in genearl is: 1) Local machine shops like working on stuff they know for people they know. No complaints, no surprises. Sometimes foreign motors have surprises and unplanned stuff. They don't want to end up having to eat an expensive berkeley up. So they tend to tell people that have a motor they haven't worked on that its more complicated than it really is, because they don't know and probably don't want to find out.
2) A lot of classic car enthusiasts think their engines run on magic, partially because of #1. A few members of a community attempt to build their own engines or let a local shade tree place do it and the engines blow up (as many self rebuilt engines do, whether they are jag v12's or chevy 350's). The anecdotal evidence (non pro engines blowing up, pro's saying its a hard motor work on) scares everyone into getting their engines built by specialists, who are only too happy to further the rumors by telling them how specialized their engines are. These rumors reach the ears of the machinists in #1, leading them to further exaggerate the difficulty of repairs, and so on and so forth. lol

dculberson wrote: A torx head bolt is such a horrible idea.

I think the only thing worse is those weirdo 'three square' or 'XZN' 12 point bolts the Krauts are enamored of.

My uncle has one of those new, parallel twin BMW bikes. I really liked it...until seeing it was held together entirely with TORX.

Curmudgeon wrote:

dculberson wrote: A torx head bolt is such a horrible idea.

I think the only thing worse is those weirdo 'three square' or 'XZN' 12 point bolts the Krauts are enamored of.

These hold my cv joints to the hub and trans. What a pain in the jimmy.

chandlerGTi wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote:

dculberson wrote: A torx head bolt is such a horrible idea.

I think the only thing worse is those weirdo 'three square' or 'XZN' 12 point bolts the Krauts are enamored of.

These hold my cv joints to the hub and trans. What a pain in the jimmy.

Replaced mine with regular Allen head bolts of the same type and strength. Much easier to deal with. The head bolts were replaced with studs :)

turboswede wrote: Replaced mine with regular Allen head bolts of the same type and strength. Much easier to deal with. The head bolts were replaced with studs :)

I'm probably going to be replacing the clutch in my TDI soon... please tell me more... I agree the triple-square bolts suck... made more fun by the crappy tools that seem to be available for them.

Just took a couple out and went to the local hardware store (Parkrose Hardware) and picked up replacement Allen head bolts.

There's also stage8 locking bolts available for the 924/944, not sure if it will work for your car or not.