1974 Lotus Europa Project & Parts Cars! Rare!!

1974 Lotus Europa Description

For sale is this 1974 Lotus Europa project. It was a running car with 24,000 miles. VIN 74-3281R original color carnival red. This lot also includes a 1974 parts Lotus Europa VIN 74-4407R, original color cirrus white. #4407R was purchased for its re-done frame that was put under #3281R. All of the parts removed from both cars come with this lot. #4407R did not have an engine or gear box. #3281R has an engine and gear box. An extra gear box is included with the parts. The 3281R body has been reworked and painted in white primer. The engine was rebuilt and hot rodded. (Look at invoice) Then run on a dyno, 195 hp, 157 fpt The engine work alone was over $15,000 the work was done by Macrovicci Wenz in Ronkonkoma, NY.New parts include windshield, wood dash panel, Various seals, gaskets, 2 fuel tanks and other items. Both cars have clean titles. Deposit via Paypal with 24 hours. Cash or Wire transfer full payment.Buyer is responsible for transportation of both cars and parts.Below is information from the owner. For More Information or Photos please send a message! Thanks for looking!!For sale, one of the most unique cars ever produced, by Colin Chapman, winner of the most F1 Championships in the 1960’s-70’s. The first and most copied production mid-engine car engine car of all time. Imagine a car that could weigh in at around 1,400lbs and yet can deliver 195 HP on the dyno (at engine) and yet you could insure it for a year around $200 (antique vehicle insurance). Th handling of these cars is legendary, and like there brothers, the Elans and Super Sevens, these cars are capable of running with 5 liter mustangs and camaros all day long.Where are these cars you ask. Owners buy them with intention to totally re build them so most of them are in the process of that, yet lately large numbers are coming out of garages and start introducing themselves to America. My car is one of these projects, my vision for my car was to have a reliable, trouble free street car that could be taken for a day at the track and embarrass a few prima donna’s, Europa were designed under Chapman’s motto: When modifying it Add Lightness. Chapman was the king of automotive design during his time, and all racing greats (Ferrari, Cooper, Aston Martin, Jaguar etc copied what he did in his racing cars. Anyway, there are a few weak areas in the Europa and my intention as to modify these areas to make strengths out of its weakness. Weakness #1 Given the layout of the engine and transmission with this last element being was at the back of the car, the factory shift changer system is designed with bent hollow rods articulated at key points, which reach from the gear shifter all the way to the rearmost tip of the car, where the rod attaches to the transmission gear changer. Anyway with many pieces that must be set in perfect coordination, the smallest amount of wear or miss-alignment make for a driver searching for gears. quite frustrating. Weakness #2 Lack of power This model had the most powerful engine available in the US The Ford Kent 1585 engine with a Lotus DOHC alloy head of straight thru design (twin Cam) and double carbureted producing 115bhp.My solutions to these weaknessesWeakness #1 For the shifting mechanism I used what many owners who change their power-plants to Toyota engines have used: I changed the Renault 4 spd transmission for a newer model Renault NG3 5 spd tranny. The added advantage of this tranny is that shifting is by cables (a new generation of technology) A member of the Lotus Europe Forum Dave Lindemann offered to make 10 sets of the conversions employing Toyota MR2 shifters machined to the exact specs of the Europa original shifters and designed with all new cables and connections necessary. I secured one of the 10 conversions. The reports of the function of these linkages includes all kinds of ooooooohhh’s and aaaaaahhhhhh’s. The shifter linkage has not yet been installed, but is in a box with instructions and pics ready to install. Weakness #2 Regarding power, I decided to stay with the original power source. I envisioned a historic race here or there or a hill climb as well. Holger Ahl my builder at Powerslide Motorsports LLC in Wall, NJ 07719 recommended having an engine built by Marcovicci-Wenz Inc at 33 Comac Loop Unit 10 Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 (631)467-900 or we dealt with Mr Marcovicci. The engine was bored and stroked to 1700 cc was balanced, had Pertronix ignition kit, new aluminum flywheel, baffled oil pan, custom pistons, new cylinder head assembly with cams, 45mm Weber carbs light weight flywheel and rod bolts, new bearings etc.Engine was run 3 times in the dyno. I witnesses the 3rd run at 195hp and 140 ft lbs of torque at the engine. Engine cost to me was $15,033.65 I paid directly to the race shop. Engine has not been started since then (12-11-2009) I started taking the car apart with help from Bryan Boyle of the Europa forum. He was amazing. Coming from just finsihing the restoration of his own Europa. Then I continued with help of my stepson. We finished taking the car apart and sent the engine for the build. Then I turned to the front end, cleaning parts, then sand blast them at low pressure and priming and painting them, the rebuilding the front end. By then David Hoffman (the body man who also did B Boyle’s car) had my car stripped, primed and ready to go to Holgar Ahl’s shop by Great Adventure. Holger started fitting the NG3 tranny and the formula ford rear suspension into place, as well as setting up the clutch, placing hydraulic racing pedals instead of the originals and fitting a Banks roll bar modifying it a little for a tighter fit in the cabin of the Europa. The fit is amazing, you don’t even know its there. The extra benefit of the roll bar is hat it works instead of the little wire trusses across the firewall on the engine side, and along the sides of the engine where the little trusses stiffen the engine compartment walls in 2 dimensions. To benefit the roll bar extensions bolt into the same wire truss bolt holes that came from the factory. One other area of improvement is the door sills of the car. There is nothing structural there other than a small plate of steel onto which the side safety belt bolts on, the plate is insied the thickness of the door sill. Holger took the sill apart and created a SS plate that was brake bent and run the length of the sill. Then we ran square tubular steel from the inside edge of the door sill towards the center tunnel of the car. These tubes lay against the floor of the interior in th thickness space under the bobbins that hold the seat runners. the tube lays across and under where your knees go and they bolt onto the tunnel in the middle. The end result is we created some structure for the floor and a perimeter of strong steel for side protection. You will see that the old walnut veneer dashboard is temporary mounted in the interior. I posted a picture of the custom new one made of KOA wood with the most exquisite grain. with no recess for the speedo and with a hinged glove compartment door. I paid $600 for the dash. I intended to buy a new dash cover from Banks. I took the seats apart (covers, sponge and steel frames) Had the frames straightened and welded, then blasted and powder coated. The seat runners I fine tunned until the seat run on them as tho they were on ball bearings to make entry and exit easy. I envisioned the seats been covered in new MB naugahyde in a medium beige or saddle color.