Richardinaustria

Ok gents, thanks for the info, I‘ve stripped the shell completely so I‘ll see what the Austrian paint suppliers think of the code, any problems then I can always import from the UK, once again, thanks a lot

Thanks Jim, So you reckon if I take the Lotus paint code which I think is L15 to a paint shop they can recreate the colour for me? even if the code is 50 years old. Cheers Richard

Hi Everyone, At last I'm coming to the end of repairing the shell of my Twin cam special Europa (black) , Will need to buy paint before long, I have the Lotus code and ICI code but does anyone have a pantone code? Thanks in advance Richard

thanks Dave

Hello! Attached vid shows the inside driveshaft Boot on my Evora IPS, this is leaking grease as one can see, the boot appears to be in good condition and the Oetiker clamp also seems tight even though the boot isn't itself tight against the joint housing (where the leak is) any words of wisdom welcome! Richard IMG_1753-compressed.MOV

Hi Rick, no, I don’t know him but I saw the pictures, looks like a lot of work to fix it.

Hi Rick, Sorry for the late reply, I hadn't seen your post. I haven't got around to making the nuts that will lock the inner post of the hinge down on to the outer threaded tube, I haven't got a mill yet, it's the next big toy on the list! Have you any plans to visit Innsbruck this year?

A short update on Europa progress, I've repaired the chassis, cleaned and painted it, I managed to knock up some brass hinges on the lathe for the doors which I think will work ok. lots of spares arrived last week from Lotus supplies and there is a load more coming next week from Chris Foulds, the body is coming along slowly, it's a lot of work. I had good luck with the engine, whilst some of the bearings showed some slight wear, all measurements were within tolerances, so no machining required. Had a weekend off last week to go to the Jim Clark revival at Hockenheim, so many Lotus from Elites, 22's, 23's, 41's Nigel mansells F1 car, all sorts of stuff there, great weekend. Cheers Richard

Yes, let us know when you come over, thanks for the good luck message - I might need it!

Thanks Rick, I'm near Innsbruck, only a couple of hours away, I'll go and have a look, I'm a member of the club so should be easy. Cheers

Update on progress! chassis and body separated and everything removed from chassis. The chassis has been repaired / modified at some stage and I need to refabricate the rear hoop that supports the gearbox, unfortunately, I can't find any dimensions for the later chassis, my car is a 5 speed gearbox model, can anybody help, I have attached a pic showing the dims that I need. Cheers Richard

A bit of an update on the first few hours of work, seat runners very rusted but recoverable and the seat frames themselves in wonderful condition, managed to get them out using copious amounts of WD40 and ever larger hammers, I think removal of the doors will have to wait until the body is off the chassis and higher up, the hinges all look very rusted and it looks like a couple of "special" spanners will have to be welded up to get to the nuts. Managed to get all 4 spark plugs out and from what I can see, the bores etc don't look bad, fingers crossed. carbs also removed and in the house for cleaning and overhaul. Bought an ultrasonic cleaner which I'm pleased with so far. Great support and interest from the wife at the moment, must remember to get her a jar of Swarfega for Christmas! If I can have a couple of days of warmer weather then should be able to get the body off. Cheers

Hi John, Hi Filip, Thanks for your replies, I'm really looking forward to starting the project, I'm not exactly sure when the machine will be delivered, we are currently in lockdown here and there also some snow issues at the moment! I think the first 2 big questions are to decide on whether the chassis is good enough to use / repair or whether to buy a new one and the same question for the body, there appears to be no crash damage but there is crazing all over, I'ld like to keep and use both if possible from a point of view of cost and originality but we will see! Cheers Richard

Hi Everyone, I've purchased a basket case that's been dry stored for the last 36 years, prior to that it has been repainted in red (worst respray I have ever seen) I attach a copy of the Typenschein which is the initial registration document when the car was imported into Vienna in 1973 (car is LHD), this includes a picture of the actual vehicle that was imported, this picture appears to show a JPS logo on the bonnet, however, the car was built in October 1972 and I have read that the JPS's were only built in 1973, is this true? The car was originally laid up because of a driveshaft problem and seems to have been forgotten about, I'm sure that there will be a lot more wrong with it now! If anybody can add any knowledge to this I would appreciate it. Thanks Richard

Knowledge is everything!! Inside the transmission case is a thermostat that opens the oilways to the oil cooler at the front of the car, this only opens at 72 degrees C and only when the oil is this warm can you drain the transmission fluid completely - Thank you customer services - Lotus.

Anybody know how to completely drain the transmission fluid including what is in the cooler at the front of the car? unscrewing the drain on the sump only allows out 2 or 3 litres. Thanks Richard

I'm looking for a LHD Elan (original model) prefer S3, S4 or Sprint DHC but would consider anything. I'm after a car needing some TLC rather than a concours model. I live in Austria, so a car already registered in the EU would be an advantage. Thanks.

NA 2011 car

Might help. Just ordered 6 x Denso FK20HR11 from Q-parts24 in Germany €62.26 including delivery of €10.

thx

Yes, I use a trickle charger over the winter when the car is laid up. You are spot on with what you say about the electrics, I've been struggling with Lotus electrics for nigh on 40 years since I bought my first dilapidated Elan!

Thanks Bibs and Tom. Think I will buy a new battery as a precaution, strangely enough the car has behaved for the last 20 hours, all I have done is sprayed drivers door catch and "bonnet" catch with wd40. Fingers crossed, hoping to drive to the UK with it in a couple of months. Cheers R.

Not sure how old the battery is, but it's showing 12.85v when resting, 11.2 v on starting and 14.4v on running which I think is ok

so, 2011 n/a IPS LHD, Friday night, alarm went off for no reason, reset and it went off a couple of hours later, this continued. Saturday disconnected siren so as not to upset the neighbours anymore. Today total chaos, lights flashing, boot unlock/lock functions every 5 seconds (on it's own) when the lights aren't flashing, can occasionally get the car to start, it runs fine then, everything functioning ok. At the moment the car has behaved for approximately 90 minutes but I know it will reoccur, have reset the alarm/immobiliser as per the manual - no effect. considering disconnecting the battery maybe this would work - any suggestions welcome. I don't know if the ICE system would require a reset code if I did this and I can't find one. Regards Richard

anybody know what size the driveshaft nut is on an Evora, it's a bit difficult to measure and I don't want to buy the wrong size socket, it is either 35 or 36mm I think???