Well..... I did it...bugeye was my first race car back in 66... several
sprigets later I moved up to Datsun and haven't looked back.... Even my
current vintage racer, a 1965 Ocelot DSR has a Kawasaki Motor......;BUT......
I have returned to the fold... May god have mercy on my soul.... Garage
saling this weekend the seller had a Lotus Europa in the other part of the
garage.... Excellent body and interior.... We got to talking racing And I
happened to ask if he wanted to sell it. he said yes and he wanted $5500....
I said I would buy it and , By the way..... does it run?... It fired and ran
well. he said he bought it from and old lady that lived under the "H" in the
Hollywood sign and he had the pics of it sitting in her car port. She bought
it new in 69 (still had the bill of sale) and had driven it until she
couldn't get in it any more. She was now almost 80. The car had sat for a
year. The guy has owned it for several years now but only driven it rarely.
Only registered it a year ago and it passed smog.
The questions are numerous.... The water expansion tank is rusted through and
Dave Bean says they don't make those anymore... No problem. I have a friend
that has his own machine shop... He can make anythng. The motto on his card
is "The impossible is only expensive".
What Renault engine do I have ... when looking for tune up parts... How many
Europas were made..... Will a FF engine fit and do I need an adaptor plate.
Not planning on an engine swap right now but would just like to know... Where
could I get a roll cage for it if I wanted to go vintage racing.... Is the
Renault reliable enough for that... cooling system etc.... Should I gget rid
of the points and go to an electronic system of some sort...Did the racers of
that era do that (so it would be legal in todays vintage.)..... do I have to
fork out $110n for the factory shop manual..
For the moment,,, replacing anything suspect to restore it back to original
is the goal. I plan to street drive it some and autocross it. Since the
original car was built to handle, I don't want to do anything to hurt it so
will need advice when I replace shocks or put on autocross tires.... What
wheels should I look for for the spare autox tires... .... enough for now...
Thanks for any help ...Gene
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