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Europa

TC Rebuild 1996

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I completed the engine rebuild in 1996 and the engine sat on a stand till 2002.... All the moving parts replaced except crankshaft and rods and jackshaft, which were crack-tested.

• Cams reground by Elgin Cams to Sprint specs.
• Cams very carefully set to exact factory cam timing using those offset dowels the usual suppliers sell (mine from Bean).
• Higher pressure oil pump. Like Kamp engines this one is around 60 PSI.
• Regrettably, I left the flywheel standard weight.
• Exhaust is a 4-2-1 design with large diameter into the muffler. A design from Dave Bean.

Unfortunately, adjusting the rev limiter from 6300 to 6700 lead to running a bearing, many sparklies in the oil. The bearing in question seems to have been the rear cam bearing near the alternator drive. Others have used more rpm with no ill effect.

Some have told me that some cranks are just willowy and bend too much and unevenly (for high rpm track use). And that Formula Ford folks used to toss these crankshafts after two seasons and put in a new one.

The TC oil pan is baffled extensively (see elsewhere on the europa pages).

I must say upping the rpm limit (while short lived) had a remarkable effect: top speed up from 95MPH to 105 mph at the end of the straight at Thunderhill. Lap times improved a few seconds too. While not as torquey as my TwinCam engined Elan the high end on the TwinCam Europa was apparently quite decent.

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