Late december, 2001
long time since last update. This is due to the fact that very little has happened on the car... Though; I've put out pictures on the roof I made up instead of the sun-roof. Click here to see it.

August/september, 2001
Well, really not that much to tell you all. I've managed to make a plain fibreglass plate substitute the removed sunglass, and I've grinded and found some more cracks in the bodyshell. These are all fixed by now (actually; the bonnet was the worst, with a long crack over most of the length), and the car is ready for filler. I bought some plastic fiber I'll try to spray on. Hope to do this within the first two weeks of october (weather is a major factor - it has been raining for some weeks now...). Then it is some hard grinding work, before I hope to paint the first two strokes with yellow. For the final coats; I'll have a professional painter do the work.

The gearbox problem is coming to an end now, I hope. I've come over a gearbox just some 30 km from my home; hope to buy this next week. Then I'll either rebuild this one with a reversed crown wheel and pinion - or move the countershaft from the new box to my original 336.46 box. We'll check the new box's condition before any decision is made.
 

Late june, july, 2001
What can I say? Things progress very slowly. I thought that summer and sun would speed up my work, but the opposite happened. Though; I finally got the correct oil pump, from the Dutch Renault Club, and the engine is back in the garage, less distributor, oilpressue giver and temperature gauge. These disappeared during the engine rebuilt process....
Still the gearbox causes trouble; now he syncro-ring on the 2nd gear is wrong. Guess I'll have to put back the original parts, just to get the box back in the car.
On the body part, I have picked out the sunroof, and fixed some more cracks I found in the bodyshell. Now I'll try to make a plain fibreglass plate to fit into the big hole in the roof, where the sunroof was. The first attempt of making this plate resulted in a 3 dimension map over Norway, with all the lakes and high mountains.. Better talk to some fibreglass specialists before I try again...

Did I tell you I got a letter from the previous owner (the famous "PO")? He had used the cars as his daily driver for the last twelve years before I bought it. Strange he didn't get killed....

 Late May, early june, 2001
I have had some trouble since last update. It turned out that the oil-pump I received from SJ Sportscars was an incorrect type - and it has been a lot of work to trace the correct pump. In the end it now seems that the Dutch Renault Club can supply the correct pump, for a reasonable (...) price. I have sent the money, now it is to wait for the pump to arrive.
Also, the primary shaft received from Dave Bean turned out to be incorrect. The one I got had too few teeth on the 2.gear. So; now I wait for Dave Bean to come up with a solution on this on.
Meanwhile I have started working on the body again; hopefully this will be completed within a month or so - then I can plan painting! I hardly can't wait; the ugly plastic thing I bought almost two years ago is starting to look like a Lotus Europa again!!!
 

Mid-easter, 12-13 April 2001
A lot of work has been done.
Front suspension has been correctly mounted, as the first attempt resulted in the A-arms being mounted upside down, and left vs right. After speaking to Richard Winter at Banks, I found out this was wrong, and corrected this.
At the rear part of the chassis, the radius arms, brakes and suspension has been put back in place. I have also put on new brake-lines (except from the one on the right radius arms - this will be bought tomorrow).
After several hours of hack sawing I also managed to remove the left door. Fortunately; this was in much better condition than the right one.
Engine is finished, just missing the oil pump. This is on its way from SJ Sportscars, UK, together with a lot of parts for the gearbox. The rest of the gearbox-parts is on a ship from Dave Bean of California. Hopefully the "Bean-shipment" will be here within a month, so I can put the 'box and engine back together and into the chassis.

Pictures from this period will be put out as soon as the digital camera is back from service..

Now I'm struggling with the gearshift mechanism. I'll try to improve it, as this is one of the weakest point on the Europa's.
 

Weekend, January 27th/28th, 2001
Ah, big progress! Front suspension is back on the chassis!
The new radius arms that arrived from Banks Europa Engineering just before the weekend has been painted - and the left one has been attached to the hub. New bearings are fitted, and brake pipes are ready to be put on. As the drive shaft is put away to try to remove the UJ, I can't put the radius arms back on the chassis. The engine will be sent away for overhaul next weekend, I've decided to stick with the original 1565 ccm Renault engine in the beginning.

Though; I felt the new front suspension was a bit wide; when I put the trunninon and shock absorber in place, there was app 1 cm free space on each side. This had to be forced together - is this correct? I put in lots of washers; but I guess this will affect the castor? Pictures from this weekend is here

January 7th, 2001
Finally - some work done!
I have at last managed to split the rear suspension/hub, though not the 'ordinary' way. I had to use an angle grinder to remove the locking nut, then a big puller in order to get the drive shaft away from the rear bearing house... Now I need to buy a lot of new parts to assemble this again. Though; I'm back in progress!