Engine for '69 Lotus Europa?

[Tobra]

ha, ha, side impact protection, yeah, it doubles as a window regulator

[fred cook]

Originally Posted by nzporsche944s2

Off topic but there isn't any side impact protection in that chassis - does the glass fibre body have a metal cage built into it?

The driver and passenger are the crush zones for a Europa chassis! I don't think that the fiberglass body would help much! When "Overhaulin" did a Europa, they used a turbo charged Toyota 4 cyl engine w/a Porsche gearbox. You might want to find those 2 episodes and watch them. Foose and company did a lot of chassis reinforcing and suspension mods to make it work. One possibility would be to replicate a Lotus 48 which was a Europa with an aluminum Buick/Rover V8 engine. Good luck!

[aschen]

sir colin Chapman was never a big fan of adding weight in the name of safety, or even structural integrety sometimes

[atcjorg]

I think I saw a build about 30 yrs ago with a turbo isuzu impulse motor fwiw

[aigel]

I partook into your original thread quite a bit but missed the reasoning behind the auto. That's crazy unless you are handicapped and can't drive it otherwise. It will kill resale.

The engine swap will be a real challenge in that V gap. Looks like the chassis was built around the engine. Get ready to do that again. I would just put more effort into the existing unit as I mentioned before, you can do a lot with head, cam, pistons and even EFI.

G

[zelrik911]

Ford Zetec SE mated to a Subaru Auto gearbox. ????
A 2.0 L Crate Zetec-R has a shipping weight of 100kg dry (220 lbs)
Sube gearboxs point in the right direction.

Wouldnt a VW Van auto have to have a reversed Ring & Pinion?

[HHI944]

Originally Posted by atcjorg

I think I saw a build about 30 yrs ago with a turbo isuzu impulse motor fwiw

That's the engine the Elan M100 uses. It's a pretty stout little sucker with good/cheap parts availability. It comes in the Elan at ~170hp, but very easily gets to 215-220 (there's a gent in the Elan community that makes a plug in to remap turbo timing for this) and some maniacs have pushed it over 300.

BUT, it's a transverse setup......and a manual...

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by zelrik911

Ford Zetec SE mated to a Subaru Auto gearbox. ????
A 2.0 L Crate Zetec-R has a shipping weight of 100kg dry (220 lbs)
Sube gearboxs point in the right direction.

Wouldnt a VW Van auto have to have a reversed Ring & Pinion?

The Zetec or Duratec are awesome engines and you can do lots to Mae power... Look at what Cosworth has done with these...

Another option is Sr20de or a turbo variant. Think old school Nissan GTR.

[unclebilly]

Oh, and the old tercels had a front wheel drive setup with an inline 4 that was mounted the way you need it. I'm guessing that if you want and auto, performance is not a top priority...

Thus was a circa 1981 tercel.

[Scuba Steve]

What about a Toyota 2ZZ-GE? It was found in late model Celica GT-S, but also the Lotus Elise and Exige. They can be equipped with a 6-speed manual or four speed tiptronic auto.

If an engine absolutely must be installed in a front-back orientation I'm really stumped... maybe the best course of action would be to start with a transaxle you want and then look into what engines it could be mated with.

[nota]

stock they had a renault econo car motor
maybe a modern renault twin cam will bolt in with out an adapter ?

what about a r5 turbo motor ? the rally car with the motor in the back seat area ?

but the race version type 47 had a ford [lotus twin cam]
all the MR2's are sidewinders not front to rear like this car needs

crash protection in a lotus ? LOL

[petrolhead611]

Hi the original Europa had the Renault 16 engine and transmission, all aluminium and highly tuneable a la Alpines.It was the announcement of this drivetrain that decided Chapman to design a sportscar around it. They then progressed to the Lotus-Ford twin cam engine using the Austin Maxi transmission. Both the !6 and the Maxi were available with automatic transaxles, and you may find one lingering in a or French or UK wreckers yard.
There is a firm in the UK incidentally that makes a kit version of the Europa, using I believe, modern European GM running gear.

Side impact was taken care of to some extent by the overlap of the door with the A pillar in Chapman designs. Of course we didnt have huge barges of cars, and idiotically sized 4x4's and pickups to deal with in the UK back when the Elan, Europa,Elite, Elan+2 were current. There were plenty of other contemporary sportscars available in the UK which were just as or even more unforgiving in a crash- I had a Berkeley B105 for example which was just a fast moving coffin, and then I had a Mini-Marcos which was an even faster moving coffin.

[nota]

Originally Posted by fred cook

The driver and passenger are the crush zones for a Europa chassis! I don't think that the fiberglass body would help much! When "Overhaulin" did a Europa, they used a turbo charged Toyota 4 cyl engine w/a Porsche gearbox. You might want to find those 2 episodes and watch them. Foose and company did a lot of chassis reinforcing and suspension mods to make it work. One possibility would be to replicate a Lotus 48 which was a Europa with an aluminum Buick/Rover V8 engine. Good luck!

I suspect the 48 is a afterwards nick name NOT A LOTUS TYPE
as there was a REAL TYPE 48 , A FORMULA 2 RACE CAR

[David]

In case you haven't found this site yet: Lotus Europa Central -- Home Page

[Mark Henry]

To me they look like crap (back end)...but this I would roll!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKSfJZxYfg4

[petrolhead611]

The car in the Youtube video was one of the replica Banks kit cars I mentioned before.
The Europa had a breadvan style body, like mid engined Ferraris of its era. Looks are a matter of personal preference, but the Ford twin cam engined cars were formidable competition cars in their day. The Buick/Rover V8 engined one was initially just a test bed for later drivetrain components.
Hot rodding these cars is just a certain way to ruin them

[scottmandue]

Gas turbine engine! No transmission required!

[gwood]

Gas turbine engine! No transmission required!

But it will idle at 90 mph. Better upgrade the brakes.

[BK911]

Oh wow, thanks for all the input guys.
Performance is definitely not the goal.
Just a nice driver to throw around some mountain roads to and from work.
Resale is not really an issue either because I doubt I will sell the car.
Same reason I keep a 914; just not worth enough to bother selling.
Worth more to me as a semi daily beater.
And yup, I wanted the auto tranny because I am lazy!!
A nice FI engine with CVT would be pretty cool, IMO.
If I were to stick with a manual tranny, I would just go back to original engine and tranny. Which I am kinda leaning towards.
Just curious if I could spend about the same money as a stock rebuild and get a nice FI engine with a 4/5/6 spd auto.
I could pick up an old-ish Passat for a coupe grand and pick all the pieces I need, then scrap/sell the rest and not feel too bad $ wise.
I have a couple on months before I need to do anything, just starting some preliminary research.

And yes, I saw the Lotus forums. Most conversions are the ford zetec or the toyota ??, both of which use the stock tranny. I am trying to think outside the box!

I like the idea of picking the tranny then seeing what engine mates to it. After all, that is really the deciding factor.

[BK911]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

To me they look like crap (back end)...but this I would roll!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKSfJZxYfg4

Now that was bad a$$!!
Little more than I want though.

Thanks for posting. Sort of, now I am watching utube! M u s t g e t b a c k t o w o r k......