1969 Lotus Europa V6 turbo

I have been working on this for about a year. I was posting some the progress on the Europa board but I think it would be better suited on GRM. I wanted another fun, fast weekend car that I can autoX on occasion. I know it will not be competitive in any class due to weight but the fun factor will be the same. The engine is a 2009 Toyota 2GR-FE. They make between 275-290 whp stock, I will run it around 350rwhp. Transmission is an MR2 E153. I have a spare Camry trans for a 3.62 final drive. This is what has been done up to this point .

I am working on the front brakes now. I will have some more progress pics later in the week.

This is from the first week. <img src="[URL=http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/Cliftoninaz/media/DSC00310.jpg.html][/URL]" />

With turbo

The rear hubs are early mr2. Struts won't fit so I converted them from strut to upper/lower lower control arm. [URL=http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/Cliftoninaz/media/DSC01179.jpg.html]

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I think we need more build pics as it came together and then some on-track video.

In reply to NOHOME:

I thought I put the previous year in the first post. It is still far from done. This is what I have done so far.

First year of build

What's that stuff you clean glass with?.... EDIT...countertops, what's that stuff you clean countertops with?

oh yeah,

FANTASTIC!

Edited to avoid glass pitting...see below.

Very cool, I don't know why you say you wouldn't be competitive with the weight. What will it weight when done?

Well that's just awesome.

Who says Europa projects just die on the vine.

Great project, just finish it. Very cool.

wheelsmithy wrote: What's that stuff you clean glass with?.... oh yeah, FANTASTIC!

Fantastic on glass is not such a hot idea.
The Phosphoric acid can etch pits into the glass.
Yes, you can work quickly to wipe it off, but rinsing afterwards is the only way to get all of it,
and who wants to do double work, the cleaner is supposed to make things EASIER, not HARDER.

In reply to mbruneaux: When I was calculating the brakes I put it on the scales and it was 1630bs. It might end up being 20 pounds more with flares and body work. Being that it is a street car first, with a/c and full interior, I am giving up some handling for comfort. It will be on Rival S or the new Maxxis VR-1 if they are faster.

230 horse in 1700lb? And you're worried about it being slow?

I've got 400 whp in 3500 lbs, and it's scary when it's running right.

So almost the same power to weight ratio. You will be able to have some fun if you can get it to stick to the pavement.

This is awesome. One of the cooler projects I've seen. Ive always wanted to do a 2gr or some other newish toyota powered esprit, I dont even know if that's possible but....

This should be really rowdy. Love what you did with the hubs and brake setup.

So awesome!

But 400lbs lighter than a miata with 3x the power and your worried it will be to heavy to compete? Even if you dont autox it i think you will end up with one hellacious car

Something's suddenly wrong with my pants. I need new ones.

Cool project. I did this same basic swap (no turbo) in my Lancia Scorpion. Mine weighed 2150 lbs before with the FIAT based 1.8 liter. This added 140 lbs and brought it up to 2290 lbs. It is a ton of fun with the reliability of a Camry. My engine is from a RAV4.

In reply to Scott_H:

I think we need to know more about this Scorpion.

Scott_H wrote: Cool project. I did this same basic swap (no turbo) in my Lancia Scorpion. Mine weighed 2150 lbs before with the FIAT based 1.8 liter. This added 140 lbs and brought it up to 2290 lbs. It is a ton of fun with the reliability of a Camry. My engine is from a RAV4.

Pretty sure I saw your car up by Blood Mountain in North GA (Suches area) over the winter or last fall, I can't remember when.

Following this Lotus build, looks epic!

Wow - just saw a sweet yellow scorpion on Craigslist....

mblommel wrote: In reply to Scott_H: I think we need to know more about this Scorpion.

Thanks. I won't corrupt this British/Japanese thread with an Italian/Japanese thread. Let me get some photos hosted and I'll start a new one.

Scott

simontibbett wrote: Pretty sure I saw your car up by Blood Mountain in North GA (Suches area) over the winter or last fall, I can't remember when.

Pretty good chance There are not a lot of Scorpions out there and I think the green ones are the rarest. That, and I like to go up there with a few buddies.

I'll share all the links I used, it might help someone. This calculator to figure out piston diameters and master bores. Brake calculator

Unfortunately there wasn't an off the shelf hat that would work for the front. I had a pair of rotor hats made with an offset that would work with a flat caliper bracket so I could make it with a drill press, saw and grinder. Same as I did on the rear.

Did you know you can get stainless headers for the 2GR? If you ask the guy he will sell only the flanges if you like. The headers were something like $6-700 for the pair.

What are you going to do for the engine management with the turbo?

>Scott

In reply to Scott_H:

I used the stock manifolds. I just flipped front to rear and extended the O2 wires so I could clear everything. I'll post pics of the exhaust tomorrow.

I'm still not sure what I want to do on the ECU. I have the car set up with a Camry pedal now. I can run a Rav4 ECU and piggy back it with Geddy Emanage to control timing, fuel, and bump the rev limiter up. If I run the stock injectors I will have to bumop the fuel pressure up some and I will be limited by injector size or run the Lotus Evora S ecu, harness and injectors. The Lotus route is a lot more expensive but doesn't need to be tuned and will get me running sooner.

Outstanding.

sesto elemento wrote: This is awesome. One of the cooler projects I've seen. Ive always wanted to do a 2gr or some other newish toyota powered esprit, I dont even know if that's possible but....

Sounds like the Evora