Flordia tranny repair recommendation for Europa 5 Speed.

[holywood3645]

I met a guy recenlt who has a nice europa and has been have problems with his transmission. He lives in Flordia and it is a 1974, 5 Speed model,

The issue is " It does not go into 2nd, 4th, and reverse. It is not a linkage problem"

Can anyone recommend a good shop with experience?

Thanks

James

[roblotus79]

I cannot, but suggest that you contact the guys at Wirewheels.com. They sell numerous Lotus and might be able to point you in the right direction?

http://www.wirewheel.com/

Cheers

Rob

[Mazzini]

Twenty-five years ago I had one of the last Europa Specials built, it was factory owned till '79. Reverse gear involved me fishing round the box for five minutes then my girlfriend would get out and push the car backward... I could adjust the linkage so I could get fifth gear or reverse but not both.

[gjz30075]

Try Steve Smith at Twincam Sports cars in Sarasota. Tel: 941-923-0024

Greg Z

[twincamman]

My Europa had 4th to reverse clash shift problems so I added a small strong spring from the rear of the trans axle to the shift rod .this increases the effort for reverse and aids the shift into 4 th ...no welding required ...ed

[UAB807F]

James,

I'm in the wrong country to be able to help with a shop, but your friend might have more luck trying one of the Europa forums just in case there's specific knowledge available. The two that spring to mind are Joe's Europa forum at

http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php

From this forum Joe has included several links to other enthusiast pages, including one which has workshop manuals for the Renault gearboxes and a good rundown on what's available. In the UK at least, the original 5sp box is rare and difficult to obtain some parts for, so if it really is terminal it might be a case of fitting another box.

And of course there is the Yahoo group which has a lot of very experienced guys contributing

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/LOTUSEUROPA/info

One of these guys has collated all the posts from the yahoo group and produced a searchable "knowledgebase" which will certainly take time to go through but might produce some helpful pointers

http://lotus-europa.com/ekb.html

Best of luck,

Brian

[holywood3645]

Thanks for all the replies. I will pass the responses along. The owner may have to look a little further than his home state for a solution. Anyone in the US would be considered.
Keep the recommendations coming.
James

[twincamman]

There are two small rod ends on a turn buckle right in the middle of the car. These join the two shift levers . If you stress these with desperation shifting or just plain temper one or more will bend or break the center of the rod out causing slop in the shifter you can adjust these in or out for distance......I put the aforementioned spring on the transaxle to remove slop after replacing a broken rod end ...3:






Check these , it means getting under a carefully and safely jacked up car and looking up with your nose an eighth of an inch from the part Ed

[StressCraxx]

I am no expert on Europas, but have helped a few friends in shifting issues. The most important thing we learned was to find the slop in the linkage and eliminate it. We replaced almost every piece of plastic and rubber, plus the plate and spherical bearing under the gear lever. What a difference it made! You could actually select the desired gear on the first try!

[Famous Frank]

I owned both a 4 speed 72 Europa and a 74 Special. Nearly won the SCCA Solo II Championship with the 74. Absolutely a magnificent car!

Now let me tell you what was wrong when I thought I blew up my 5 speed. I was at Rockford Speedway at a Solo II event that utilized the banking and the infield. When the track would transition from the infield to the banking, the entire suspension would bottom out from the g force. I felt great, especially when the back end would start to come around on the banking and when done right would aim you perfectly for the infield.

On the third run, while the whole suspension was bottomed out, it became hard to get back to 2 gear! Oh, I thought "this is going to be expensive. It was very hard to get it gear, and not having a trailer, I nursed it home the 75 miles, and like you, could not get reverse.

That night I checked the linkage, drained the oil and looked for metal shavings (There were none found) and then, when I was so frustrated and started thing where can I take this for a correct but too costly a fix, BAMM! I found the problem! The motor mount had broken which allowed the transmission to tilt just enough that it messed up all the linkage geometry. I supported the motor oil pan on some boards, removed the motor mount, welded up where it broke all the way through and then gusseted it for more strength, and re-installed the mount. Walla! The trans was fine and shifted as good as ever!

Best of luck and I hope you are having the same problem.

Famous Frank

[Famous Frank]

Hmm, a few typo's.

"I felt great" should read, "It felt great".

"started thing" should read "started thinking"

"but too costly" should read "but not too costly"

My apologies if there are more. No wonder I'm not getting hired!

[holywood3645]

Thanks for the insight. I will pass along.
James

[RogerFrench]

Voila, it's fixed!

[Famous Frank]

Hurrah, it's fixed! But what was the fix? Interested parties want to know!!!

Famous Frank

[holywood3645]

It's not fixed.... He was have some fun
James