Yeah, it's mechanical. The overwhelming majority of Europa owners go electric and I will if I can't find a stock one for cheap. The problem is that I'd have to fab a blanking plate for the block where the stock one sat. That, along with other reasons, makes me want to stick with mechanical for now. I am prepared to go electric if I need to. I'll pull the pump tomorrow and see whats up. I'll also probably start disassembling the carb and try to get the hanging gasket back where it belongs. It appears rebuild kits for Solex 26-32's aren't that easy to find.

 

You could leave the mechanical one in place & plumb in the electric if you can't find the mechanical one. For a blank off plate you could use a piece of aluminum. Pretty easy to work with. all you need is a hacksaw a drill & a file. Make a cardboard template of the back of the old pump were it bolts to the block. You can buy some gasket paper & cut your own.

As far as the carb goes be very careful with those gaskets. They are likely to be very brittle. Also if it doesn't have one do put a fuel filter on there & use a metal body one, not plastic.

Keep at it she'll be humming along in no time.

 

Thanks for the info. I got at the carb this morning and got the hanging gasket back into place. It should work for now until I can find a new one; even with half the gasket out of place, it only dripped a few drops.

I started on the fuel pump and got the stock screen (filter) out but the fuel hoses are stuck so tight to the pump that I can't pull them off. I'll save that for the afternoon. A previous owner had added a filter between the pump and the carb. I'll probably add one before the pump as well. The stock screen is more of a metal mesh that stops big chunks from getting to the pump.

 

It's been a few weeks so I though I'd give everyone an update:

The fuel pump works.
The carb leaks (I should be getting a service kit in a week or two)
The fuel pickup in the tank is clogged and the bottom of the tank is filled (I assume about a 1/2") with gunk. <---major problem

I put some POR-15 Marine Clean in the tank for a couple days and drained it today. It seems to have worked a little but I gave it a 2nd dose and will leave it in all week. As long as I can keep the pickup tube free of gunk, I'll be happy.

Now a new issue...today I noticed it doesn't roll very easily. I'm betting the parking brake has bound (note to self, leave in gear and no more parking brake)

 

Parking brakes have a very bad habit of seizing up when they've set unused for a long time like yours has. You're making progress & that's great. One job at a time, you'll get there. Thanks for the update. I was wondering how it was going for you.

 

Whats the microphone on the center console for?


Paul

 

It goes with the head unit. You can actually record onto the tape deck. The 2nd owner apparently added it for a trip he took from OH to NY. The radio portion doesn't work because the car doesn't come stock with an antenna . Eventually, I'll probably just rip the audio system out as I have no use for it. It just adds weight and we know what Mr. Chapman thinks about extra weight...

 

I'd leave it in as it is a period radio and the Mic just add something. To me anyway. Very Matt Helm/MAxwell Smart?

And you can show your kids "cassette tapes" or record your adventure while driving or sitting on the side of the road waiting for the flat bed..


Paul

 

Well I just drained the Marine Clean out of the tank and flushed it through with some water and then fuel. I had high hopes when the drain on the bottom of the tank stopped getting clogged. I was able to keep the pickup tube clear as well. I then put some fresh fuel in and tried cranking to no avail. Turns out the pickup tube got clogged again. This time, I couldn't even clear it with compressed air. I have no clue what's in the bottom of that tank but it definitely needs to come out. Now I have to find the best/easiest way to drop the tank.

 

How about connecting fuleline to a temporary tank? Check out the fuel pump and engine then.

Paul

 

Hera cool web site. Bet they would have some tips.

http://www.lotuseuropa.org/

http://www.lotuseuropa.org/images/Wo...uel_System.pdf
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/images/Wo...uel_System.pdf


Paul

 

Yeah, I've already been on those sites. The Europa forums have been down for quite some time so they have a Yahoo group where they chat. I've been on and asked about dropping the tank.

As for a temporary tank, I might just try that...Mythbusters style . I do want to run it for a few minutes to get the oil circulating and warming up so I can change it.

 

The only way to clear up your problem is removing the tank. Unless you do that & get it really cleaned out you'll be chasing that problem forever. I'd call around to radiator shops & see who can clean your tank out for you. Once back I'd recommend using some sloshing compound in there to keep the rust from flaking off. Be careful with the tank. No smoking!! Good luck.

 

I know it needs to be dropped. The problem is that on the Europa, dropping the tank is fairly difficult...mainly due to the fact that the rear end of the car needs to be jacked up a couple feet. I asked the Europa guys how high it really needs to be so we'll see. If I can't get the rear end high enough, I can push it into the backyard and dig a hole under the tank.

It gets easy once the tank is out. I know radiator shops can clean it; I'll call around. Apparently, one of the guy's had a radiator shop clean, etch, and coat his tank. Either way, getting it out is my priority.

 

New update...

Last weekend, I drilled out the rivets that hold the inner fender liner. This exposes the nuts that hold the bolts that hold the fuel tank in. Today, my dad and I removed the bolts and after a couple hours of knuckle busting madness, it's loose and sitting on the ground inside the car. I picked up a 2.5 ton long frame jack from Harbor Freight (normally $170, on sale for $120, plus I have a 20% off coupon...ends up being $96) that can reach over 31". It should be able to get the Europa high enough to remove the tank. I posted some pics of the rivet drilling on my Europa page under "fuel tank cleaning."

 

Great news that you are making headway. Also you got to buy a new garage tool at a good discount. Keep on pluggin away. One step closer to the prize...driving your new car.

 

Well, its done! Jacking the car proved to be the easiest part since I have the right equipment to get it up high enough. New pictures are HERE. Look at the crud in the bottom of the that tank.

 

Those last three shots look like an underwater shot of the Titanic....yuck! What a load of crap that tank had. Makes me wonder about the integrity of the tank itself. Do they sell new or reproduction tanks? You could have a fuel cell built to those dimensions if you can't source a tank. Not cheap, but an alternitive if all else fails.

 

Keep at it. When you got it up and running, you will have a very beautiful and finely crafted sportscar.

 

Yeah, it does look pretty disgusting in there. I can get a replacement tank from Banks in England but that's my last resort = serious $$$. The tank actually seems structurally sound. The bottom is thicker than the sides. I'll see what the radiator shop can do with it. One guy said he had a shop actually cut the tank in half, sand blast it, seal it, and weld it back together; all for <$100. Hopefully I am that lucky.

Chows, it is going to be beautiful driving down the road. Although I'm not sure about the finely crafted part I actually had a dream this week about driving it.

 

The hand made not a cookie cutter car is one of the aspects of a Lotus that makes it so special. Given enough time & miles in your Europa you'll forget the bad stuff.

 

I guess it's time for a new update. There's been several new discoveries and happenings in the world of Lotus.

The radiator shops in town wanted $300+ to clean and seal the tank. That's how much new tanks cost (if I could find a new one ). I had a guy on the Lotus message board offer me his spare tank for much cheaper than that and it had already been sealed. Unfortunately, there was a lapse in communication (I recently heard his internet provider was screwing up his e-mail) and durring this time, I decided to have a go at cleaning it myself. I heard about using two acids, Phosphoric and Muratic, to clean tanks. Phosphoric is a weak acid used to etch metal and eat rust. Unfortunately, the bottom of the tank was solid crud and that wasn't strong enough. It did to a great job on the sides though. I pulled out all stops and went to Muratic for the bottom. This is ~30% HCl and is used to clean pools, etc. After a few 2-3 minute doses, the sediment at the bottom of the tank was soft enough to push a screwdriver through. I pried it up in clumps and eventually got nearly all of it out. With this working so well, I ordered some US Standard fuel tank sealer from POR-15. This weekend I gave the tank another dose of Phosphoric acid (to clean up as much surface rust as possible) before drying it and using the sealer. The sealing went well and it left a thin layer of impermeable paint on the inside of the tank (I don't think I'm ever going to get this stuff off my hands ...). I kept the pickup tube free by blowing compressed air into it every once in a while as it dried. It'll sit and cure for the next week and I'll put it in next weekend.

I also played around with the interior light. I had ordered an LED bulb for the MINI dome light and decided to try one in the Europa as well (btw, 9 LED 39mm festoon in the MINI is sweet). I was told that the Europa uses a 38mm festoon so thats what I ordered (without checking first ). It turns out the bulb is a 31mm festoon and I could not bend the contacts back enough to fit it. I also learned why the pastic bulb housing was melted...the stock bulb is 6w but there was an 8w installed ). Of course in doing this, I had to drop one of the fixture bolts and get it wedged under the passanger seat slider . This gave me a good reason to take out the seats .

They were held in by 4 bolts through the fiberglass and came out easy once I got the slider mechanism to work. I noticed some rust forming on the thin metal backing so I sanded and painted them with black rustoleum. I also noticed each seat had different initials on them...I'm assuming they were from the worker who made them (pretty cool). After putting them back in, I also noticed that the seat hits the firewall when the slider latch is almost halfway between the last two notches on the slider. After thinking about this for a while, I concluded that it never was latched and lack of lubrication is what held the seat in place. Of course I lubricated it so it'll probably move up 1/2" the first time I stand on the brake pedal. Eventually, I'll take it out and cut a new notch at the point the seat bottoms out.

Whew, that's a lot of typing. If all goes well, I'll have the tank in and possibly fire her up next weekend.

Some new pictures can be found HERE. Go into the two links at the top of the page.

 

nice!!! almost there.

 

Very interesting stuff. I enjoyed catching up on the progress!

 

The tank is now back in and solidly (well, as much as it can be with fiberglass...) bolted to the car. I'm all ready for an attempt at starting it up tomorrow.