SV reX said:In reply to maschinenbau :
No, at the middle of the X there are 2 cross sections of tubing on an FIA bar
Correct for an FIA X-bar, but I'm talking about a NHRA X-bar, which is one continuous tube (mandatory) with 2 short tubes (optional) to make the X.
I like the taco gusset version of the NHRA X-bar, especially since I'm planning to use mild steel. Should be legal and safe everywhere I take it.
In reply to maschinenbau :
My bad. I got confused.
Wow, this is getting ambitious. If you're going down that road, check out GT-1 race car construction: 2x2 tubing is awesome, and many of those things were like square bathtubs of 2x2, with very minimal round tube, bent or otherwise. I only realized this after using 2x3 . . .
As for a cage, you might find a pre-made (at least NHRA legal) cage from Chassisworks or S&W or somebody that will suit you by width, then just cut off the legs to suit your car's lack of height. It might actually be cheaper than buying raw tubing and then bending it.
Funny thing regarding the future: A stock Toyota Camry engine winds up being "too fast." It's berkeleying hysterical, but cool in some way.
In reply to rustomatic :
Europas have no frame, no floor pan, no door sills, no firewall, and basically no other structure. What would he attach a pre-made cage to?
It's totally not possible to approach that way. It's a very unique car.
It's not an invalid strategy. If I find a cheap used cage with the correct width, with careful cuts I may be able to harvest the main hoop and other pieces. My main hoop will be shorter than most, so I could cut down to size. I recall the Nelsons building cages from used cages. The 2x2 floor frame is the cheap and easy part to build new. Those tubes are half the cost of DOM.
maschinenbau said:The total weight added would be 175 lbs, which I would make up for with nitrous.
Statements like the above are why I keep coming back to this thread.
With southern winter almost over and having it sit with insurance for over 2 months now, it's about time to get this Lotus on the road for car show season. So I pulled it inside the shop for the first time in months. The short list:
- Fix issues found at the 2023 Challenge
- Make it street legal
Issue #1: the shifty-sliding steering rack mounts. The little die cast aluminum rack clamps and 1/4" bolts aren't quite cut out for modern sticky tires. There is a welded flange that prevents it from drifting to the driver's side, but it happily shifts to the passenger side, causing a code-brown situation when the steering u-joint gets caught on the brake pedal pushrod, locking both at certain steering angles!
Not going anywhere now!
Another issue was the shifter cable bracket. After my 2nd drag run at the Challenge last year, it popped out of its socket, meaning I had to reach a hand inside the frame to shift into park. It was that exact moment I decided my 2 drag runs was enough :) More metal fixes that problem. Working on this car is like building a ship in a bottle.
A couple street-legality items. Lights and signals all work, except I didn't have a brake pedal switch.
Boom, fixed. I also adjusted the pedal ratio slightly firmer by moving the pushrod up to a new set of holes.
I dug the original horn out of the depths of the boxes. Check out the label. Heh heh.
Stock location works well enough. It goes hoot!
Just waiting on rearview and door mirrors, and a nice warm day to drive it to the tag office. Might look into suspension next... spring rate needs to go up and my cast poly bushings don't seem to be working out well.
Needs some big flares on the rear, now that its getting warm enough outside for fiberglass work. Some inspiration
And what's the word for the opposite of inspiration?
Working on this car is like building a ship in a bottle. .... I know the feeling, just spent two hooking up a wire I should have done before!!
Well damn that purple one makes me wish I grabbed the body, that's the best looking europa Ive ever seen
In reply to Patrick :
banks sells a ready made body like that minus the lip and side skirts. 3500 gbp but getting it to the US from england would kill the viability a bit
In reply to gixxeropa :
The first two, don't really do it for me, but I get the appeal. Quite sexy
The last picture... that's bad. I could live with it in an unfinished looking body - but he was proud enough of it to try to put pretty paint on it!
That last one actually competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona back in the day. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974-lotus-europa-6/
I was thinking something more along these lines...
I like that color too. A Porsche midnight blue metallic is a color I've considered for mine
That's hot!!
$51,500?? Holy crap!
Street car! Tagged, insured, and ready to break the hearts of purists.
In reply to maschinenbau :
Fan-f'n-tastic ! Lovin' it!
In reply to maschinenbau :
Would love to buy it, but 99% chance (or more, likely) it be way out of my price range.
Only thing I could do, is assure you it would stay within GRM, and not be driven in anger without additional safety features.
Finally took the Europa to a car meet. Forgot how FAST it is! Like really, really uncomfortably fast. Very scary to drive on the street. The young car meet kids loved it. I had to wait for eveyrone to leave to take pictures because they were crowded around it.
I am also considering parting ways this car. I am tempted to pull its engine for the Camry Coupe swap and sell as a roller. Or just sell it as a running driving car. I do not think I will ever be motivated to build a proper cage for it, which as discussed, is the only way it should ever go back on track, whether drag strip or road course. Perhaps I could autocross it again, but I don't really care to. There are other cars I'd rather spend time on and I feel like I've accomplished what I set out to do with this car.
Seems like you are parting ways with a couple long term projects. Everything good?
In reply to Mr_Asa :
It's all good, but I own 6 cars and I'm about to build a shop and pour a driveway! Need to thin the herd, recoup some funds, and free up some space (physical and head space).
I think that's totally rational. I will say though- pretty sure the rat rod is gonna go for an extra 0 than this one. Haha
I would sell the Europa as a roller. Because let's face it, nobody sells them running and driving!
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
sometimes they're listed as running and driving, but by the time the buyer gets there, they're usually broken
I think the problem is selling it as a roller is that it's gonna be hard to find someone that wants to take the time to find a donor and reassemble the car, whereas someone just scrolling marketplace might see a running driving toyota powered europa and think that its cool enough to drop a moderate amount of money on.
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