Lotus Transaxle

Hi, I am currently building a 1973 Lotus Europa, wich I plan to fit with a Chevy 350. In my many searches I have been sent to this forum several times so I decided to join and find out what transaxles will hold up to 450hp in a 1800lb car, and what is available in the Chicago land area.

Jake
 

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
One place to start might be this old thread, which somewhere in it has a spreadsheet that might also help you with the dimensional issues I think you're going to have since (I think) most or all that will work will be a lot longer than the Europa's original Renault units.

http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tec...w-transaxle-comparison-discussion-thread.html

Add to that list the Quaife answer to a ZF, although it's not really any different for your purposes, and whatever Griffin is cooking up, since those post-date the spreadsheet.

QBE62G - Quaife Engineering
Home Page (Griffin)
Mendeola Transaxles, Inc.

None of these are anywhere near Chicago so it will be a few $hundred to ship them to you.
 
Thanks Alan, are you talking about this? I am on a limited budget, and would like to spend as little on the trans as I can. I am willing to do some work on the gearbox if necessary.
 

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
Thanks Alan, are you talking about this? I am on a limited budget, and would like to spend as little on the trans as I can. I am willing to do some work on the gearbox if necessary.

Yeah, that's the spreadsheet; just be sure you get the latest revision (still 3-4 years old).

There's a lot of transaxle expertise on this forum (but none with me) so I'm sure if you have specific questions you'll get help.

BTW if I remember correctly the Type 47 and the GKN Rover V-8 Europa used a Hewland transaxle, so that seems like an obvious one to investigate. I don't know which Hewland though and have no idea what it would cost. Probably not synchronized either.
 
Probably the best for that much HP on a budget would be the 6-speed Cayman transaxle. Anything much stronger will be much more expensive.
 

Dave Lindemann

Lifetime Supporter
Hi, I am currently building a 1973 Lotus Europa, wich I plan to fit with a Chevy 350. In my many searches I have been sent to this forum several times so I decided to join and find out what transaxles will hold up to 450hp in a 1800lb car, and what is available in the Chicago land area.

Jake

Jake - Just curious, are you installing this 350 Chevy in a stock Europa chassis?

Dave L
1973 Lotus TCS
 
Hi Jake,
I have a friend in Texas that makes a "kit" to instal a Toyota 4AGE engine in the Europa that works very well. I think it can make enough power (they use this engine for Formula Atlantic) and still handle well. a V8 in a Europa might be a bit much weight wise. I'm all for power to weight, I put a 400HP Chevy in a 1970 Datsen pickup but it had a fully boxed frame, but the frame design on the Europa is not the best for that heavy an engine. Are you going to build a new frame? Just a thought.
Steve
 
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Howard Jones

Supporter
How about a alum buick V8 and a Renault R21. 300hp is doable from those v8s and the gearbox will live a nice long life . there have been several GT40s built with this power train. Yields a nice light car for a reasonable cost and a controlable amount of power on limmited grip street tires.

IMHO 450hp is too much. Think about tires FIRST, then HP. You are going to need 10 inch wide wheels in the back minium and at least 8 inch wide wheels in the front to get anything close to a ballanced setup and be able to use that much power. Do not exceed the suspension geometery limmits on wheel widths. Talk to some people who race those cars a find out what works.

Lastly, north of 300hp at the wheels and you MUST have a limmited slip diff period! When I put a quaife in my Renault R21 it transformed my GT40. Felt like I had a 100hp less.

Audi's transaxles are also a option that have been put in GT40's many times. They also work well up to about 375hp/300 at the wheels. Again add limmited slip.
 
I agree with Steve about the chassis. Unless you are going to lengthen the chassis and body (Lotus 47D) it just won't fit. In addition to that the stock Europa frame is probably inadequate- note the poor handling of the Lotus 30. Similar backbone frame with V8. Richard Winter at Banks Europa has done at least one V8 Europa, but with a totally new space frame. I've got an S1 Zetec engine Europa and a SPF GT40 and can give you measurements if that would help.
As far as transaxles you are probably limited to Porsche, Audi, or Renault UN1 due to cost. Have you thought of a Zetec, Duratec, or Toyota transplant? I have to say my Zetec Europa is a far more nimble track car than my GT40.
 
You might want to consider using the same small block Ford and ZF5 speed setup that was used in the Mark I GT40 and the Pantera. However, even with wide wheels, the Europa's aerodynamics won't generate the downforce necessary to keep the car manageable at the speeds 4lbs/HP are capable of reaching.
You might consider a smaller engine making 250-300 HP. All things considered, 450 won't get you around corners any faster, and without extensive modifications done by a pro, straight line speeds over 150 mph will be unsafe. Your project is doable, but it needs to be thouroughly thought through.
 

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Wow thanks for the feedback, first let me say that my Europa has been wrecked and the frame has been damaged and improperly fixed, so the rear part of the frame needs to be rebuilt. The weight is one of the prolbems with a small block.

Steve,
I've heard about the 4age conversions but I was unaware that kits were avalible, do you know how much they cost?
 
Jake,
Contact Jon Pels thru groups.yahoo.com/group/lotuseuropa/
I don't know the cost, but he is the one that made the 4AGE kits. If you've already got a TC 5 speed and bellhousing the Ford Zetec coversion is even easier. Bolts right up and the same starter can be used with a pinion gear change. The Zetec is 2 liter vs 1.6 for the Toyota. 180 hp is easily obtainable. Contact me if you need more info.
Dave Miller
 

Charlie Farley

Supporter
Jake,

You also might like to contact John Wisher on this forum.
He had for many years, a 289 in a Europa spaceframe,
frightenlingly fast. any probs contacting him, PM me.
Regards
 
Wish I could see that Europa in the flesh! Looks like the wheelbase was stretched, but maybe not the body length? Love those massive NACA ducts ahead of the wheels. That thing must be a beast at probably 1800lbs. with god knows what h.p. !
 
I talked to John Wisher, he told me that he had done fairly extreme modifications to the frame and suspension and had fitted a zf gearbox.

I think this is it
1970 Lotus Europa | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

no this is not the v8 europa, this one (dark blue) has an ford turbo engine (2.0 sierra cosworth) spoke to the owner at the last donnington lotus show.

dave, anything over 270bhp in a europa is overkill (according to richard winter) I came accross a guy in Australia with a vauxhall 3.0 v6 into his europa around 240 bhp and he recon it was a perfect fit for the car.

I am building one with a nissan turbo between 210-230 bhp

forget about the v8 because the front of it will sit between your seats and your arms have no place to go. imho a 4 turbo or a NAv6 is what you need

go for 15"wheels and a renault 21turbo gearbox like many gt40s

keep us informed!
 
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Dont know much about Europas but theres alot of people who put small block chevys in Porsche 914's. A good bang for your buck transaxle is the Porsche G50 or Porsche 930. The 930 is very strong indeed.
Pic03.jpg
 
Okay, so I know that the zetec conversion is the easiest, but if I go with the zetec I would need a bell-housing, but I can't f find zetec bell-housings anywhere, any leads?
 
I saw a Europa in the UK with the rover 215 alloy block engine and a renault transaxle installed, in Birmingham of all places. The rover engine had webers and some trick heads and the owner thought she put out around 250 hp/tq. He had added some cross bracing and longitudinals up the chassis. Needless to say, the thing went like crazy.

He had paid attention to weight and believed the car was about 250lbs heavier than stock including the add'l bracing and V8/transaxle. That might be a bit optimistic, perhaps 300lbs heavier, but probably 200lbs (or more) lighter than would be the case with a SBF and heavier duty transaxle (930/G50 or ZF). It looked like a LOT of engine for the car. I took some pics on my crappy 1st gen iphone and will look to see if they're on my hard drive somewhere.

The installation was nicely done and it was a very nice (and fast) car.
 
Okay, so I know that the zetec conversion is the easiest, but if I go with the zetec I would need a bell-housing, but I can't f find zetec bell-housings anywhere, any leads?
You did say you have a TC Europa? The TC bellhousing bolts right up to a Zetec engine (same Ford bolt pattern). If your car is minus a bellhousing check Europa websites for used ones.
 
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