"64Mali" (ctaaffe64)
09/02/2015 at 10:55 • Filed to: Lotus Work, Europosite
6
24|
"64Mali" (ctaaffe64)
09/02/2015 at 10:55 • Filed to: Lotus Work, Europosite | 6
| 24 |
Its been a while since I have posted, life certainly gets in the way of things. Some progress has been made on the Europa. Its been 98% stripped down and the body is almost fully released from the frame.
As it turns out having a giant hole in your roof means the inside of the car gets water, funny thing, and water = rust. Every nut, bolt, linkage Etc. was rusted on this car. I see a lot of new hardware for it in the future.
The wiring harness was completely removed, this thing had been hacked and rewired multiple times. Also 1970s Lucas should be a curse word so it will be fully replaced.
The body has some cracks all over so fiberglass and Carbon fiber were ordered to be used as repairs. The existing firewall on the car turned out to be made of cardboard/fiberboard as were many other sections of the car. Why Lotus decided this was a good idea we will never know but the firewall is now going to be Aluminum wrapped in Carbon Fiber to help with the bonding to the fiberglass body.
Yes that is cardboard
Someone say Carbon Fiber
Hopefully soon the body will be off the frame now that all the bolts have been ground out.
A neat trick my Father learned for doing rust removal was using electrolysis to eat the rust away, so far it has freed up the seat tracks as well as the pedal assembly. Best part is no harsh chemicals so you can just dump the leftover rusty water anywhere.
Now for some photos.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 10:57 |
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True story - the wiring harness for my Rover was so effed up when I got it that the ammeter leads (just as a for-instance) had been replaced with a lamp cord.
LongbowMkII
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 10:59 |
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Interesting idea for your firewall replacement. I’d like to see the details on that.
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64Mali
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
09/02/2015 at 11:01 |
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I would laugh, But the shop truck at the garage, had phone cord running as power for the plow...
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64Mali
> LongbowMkII
09/02/2015 at 11:02 |
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Right now its sheet aluminum wrapped in CF, the CF extends wider than the AL to allow it to be riveted to the fiberglass around the hole. then it will be bonded with a few extra layers and covered in fire wall insulation. I haven’t been by since my Dad started doing that so I will get some pictures next time I stop by.
Jayhawk Jake
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 11:11 |
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Please tell me there’s fiberglass between the carbon and aluminum...
Carbon Fiber and Aluminum have galvanic corrosion issues if they contact. Anywhere we have carbon touching aluminum on airplanes there's a ply of fiberglass acting as a buffer between the two.
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64Mali
> Jayhawk Jake
09/02/2015 at 11:15 |
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No idea, and good to know, I will pass the information on. Its been a long time since I did CF layup for aerospace. Thanks for the head sup.
MonkeePuzzle
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
09/02/2015 at 11:20 |
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“wires is wires” seems to be thinking of many home mechanics.
once (foolishly) offered to help a friend wire a new stereo. pulled the wiring out of the dash and the previous owner had wired everything, EVERY. THING. with red wire. all the same. it was a simply impossible task
uofime-2
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 11:45 |
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Why are you using aluminum as the core for a sandwich panel? Its not really thick enough to add much ridgidity to the panel.
Balsa, chemical resistant foam, or nomex/aluminum honey comb would be a better option for a core.
CKeffer
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 11:46 |
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Ugh, wiring *shudder*, I hate wiring.
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64Mali
> uofime-2
09/02/2015 at 11:47 |
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Mostly as a heat barrier as the exhaust is right there. And we had some lying around.
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64Mali
> CKeffer
09/02/2015 at 11:47 |
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But wiring is easy. I could do that car from scratch in 6 hours.
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CKeffer
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 11:49 |
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Don’t care, I’m color blind, and hate working with all the tiny wires. Give me nuts and bolts anyday, but electrical problems? Not so much.
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64Mali
> CKeffer
09/02/2015 at 11:53 |
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Never knew you were color blind. That would explain the hatred of wiring.
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64Mali
> MonkeePuzzle
09/02/2015 at 11:54 |
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Seen that before, I have all this red wire its fine to fix the car with. Then your spending hours tracing.
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uofime-2
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 12:08 |
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You can get self adhesive gold foil from someone like DEI which is perfect for that.
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CKeffer
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 12:10 |
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Yeah it plays a big part in it.
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64Mali
> uofime-2
09/02/2015 at 12:11 |
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The plan was to add that also. The fuel tank sits right behind the driver so the more insulation the better.
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64Mali
> CKeffer
09/02/2015 at 12:12 |
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If you weren’t out west I’d offer to help, I find it relaxing.
RallyWrench
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 12:13 |
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Nice progress, I’d imagine the new firewall will help the body stiffness quite a bit.
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uofime-2
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 12:16 |
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on my school’s FSAE car we used it on our firewall that was a 1/2” nomex hex core sandwich panel with the header less than an inch away from it. It works well.
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CKeffer
> 64Mali
09/02/2015 at 13:28 |
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West and way south, but yeah thankfully the Miata hasn’t needed much in the way of wiring....yet.
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64Mali
> CKeffer
09/02/2015 at 13:29 |
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True, I am pretty northerly
luvMeSome142 & some Lincoln!
> 64Mali
10/09/2015 at 10:20 |
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Did you get the firewall installed yet?
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64Mali
> luvMeSome142 & some Lincoln!
10/09/2015 at 10:26 |
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Not yet. I haven’t had time to write the latest update I need to snap some more pictures. The body got completly stripped and sent to media blasting. The frame also got sent out and we are waiting to get that back as well. I will have an update post once I compile all the pictures from that.