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John's Online
LOTUS Museum
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Lotus Europa
TYPE 74
Series 4
Twin-Cam & Twin-Cam Special
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.TYPE 74
Europa Twin Cam & Twin Cam Special
1972 to 1974
Production GT

                    Engine: Lotus Twin-Cam 1558cc
                  Gearbox: Renault 352 4- speed (Twin Cam) 
                                                or 365 5- Speed (Special)
                   Chassis: Detachable central Box-section steel backbone with fork extensions at the rear, linked by light cross- member.
Front Suspension: Unequal-length double wishbones, & coil spring / damper units.
  Rear Suspension: Strut-type, with tubular lower link, upper link formed by fixed-length half-shaft, & coil spring & damper units.
              Wheelbase: 7 ft. 8 in.
             Front Track: 4 ft. 5.5 in.
              Rear Track: 4 ft. 5 in.
                     Length: 13 ft. 1.5 in.
                     Weight: 1500 lbs.
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  Design project of new Lotus engineer, Mike Kimberley, who came to Lotus from Jaguar.
The Type 65 Europa was fitted with the Lotus Twin-Cam engine and received an improved cockpit and lower rear buttress panels.
  It achieved 0- 60 in 7.0 seconds, and top speed was 123 mph, which was an improvement on the Type 54 and Type 65 cars, and was on a par with the original lighter Type 46 S1cars. 
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  Colin Chapman had originally envisioned the Europa as the heir apparent to the Lotus Seven, a view that Lotus abandoned when it tried to break into the luxury sports car market. 
In it's haste to get the new third generation  Type 75 Elite car into production, Lotus tried fitting their Ford-based Twin-Cam engine into the Europa and also changed it's body styling. 
The result was a car that neither handled as well, or looked as good as the original Type 46 Europa. 
  Lotus would have been better off going into full series production of the Type 47, ( with the Ford Twin-Cam engine), or the Type 62, (with the then new Lotus 907 twin-cam engine), which were both successfully developed designs. 
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  It is a misconception that Lotus decided to use their own Ford-based Twin-Cam engine in place of the Renault unit because it was a better power plant. 
  The truth is that the engines that Renault produced were the only ones to ever rival Ford as far as Horsepower Output in racing. 
In fact the Renault 807 Cross Flow Hemi Head engine easily surpassed the Lotus Twin-Cam as far as achievable Horsepower Output AND reliability. 
It produced 95 H.P. in Standard Factory Tune, and easily achieved WELL over 150 H.P. for racing. 
This was from a PUSHROD operated 8 Valve Head !!!
  The real reason that Lotus had to stop using the Renault engine was because Jean Redele`, (who owned the French firm Alpine), protested against Renault selling the 807 engine to Lotus because it would directly compete against his cars in the marketplace. 
  When Renault purchased Alpine in the early 1970's they then refused to supply engines of ANY type to Lotus when the original Contract ran out for that same reason, (although they did continue to supply Transaxles to them). 
  It is ironic that Lotus originally decided to use Renault engines in their cars because they wanted to reduce their dependence on Ford of England, and then had to use Ford again when Renault pulled the rug out from under them. 
(Lotus has had to cease production of the popular Esprit` because Renault has now stopped making the Transaxle that is used in it.)
  However, the use of the Twin-Cam engine was only a short term 'Fix', as Ford had announced that it was going to discontinue production of the Kent engine , (which was the basis for the Lotus Twin-Cam engine), and that helped to push Lotus into getting its Vauxhall-based 16 valve 907 engine into production that much quicker. 
  The Lotus 907 engine would have performed much better if it had been used in the the Europa rather than in the much heavier Esprit, but Chapman wanted to move Lotus 'Upmarket', and the Europa was too much of a link to the companys 'Kit Car' roots. 
  If Lotus HAD used the 907 engine in the Europa instead of the Esprit, it would have had a legitimate 'World Class' GT car, as the Esprit was a laughable 'Pretender' to the title of 'Supercar', a claim that it NEVER lived up to, (even with a Turbocharged V8 engine installed in it), as the term was usually applied to the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, and even McLaren & Jaguar, all of which built cars that can easily surpass 200 MPH and are built to a standard of luxury, comfort, and safety that Lotus could only dream about !!! 
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*******A Word of WARNING!: *******
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  Because of the number of Renault Type 336  transaxles that are showing up on eBay, (and are being listed as suitable for use in the Lotus Europa), some points should be clarified.
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  Although the Lotus Europa used a Renault Type 336 Transaxle,
 it was a HEAVILY MODIFIED unit.
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 First: 
   The Lotus unit was modified by changing the position of
 the Crown Wheel to the other side of the case.
 This had to be done because the Lotus Europa is a Mid-engine Rear
 Wheel drive car, with the engine in FRONT of the transmission,
 and the Renault R16, (from which the Type 336 transmission
 came), is a Front wheel Drive car, with the engine BEHIND the
 transmission.
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 What this means is that if you try to use a Renault transmission
 in the Lotus Europa, you will have only ONE (1) forward gear,
 and FOUR (4) REVERSE SPEEDS. !!!
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 Second:
  The engine that was used in the Lotus Europa was HIGHLY
MODIFIED, (increased from 53 to 87 horsepower), by Lotus.
To take advantage of the increased horsepower, special gears 
(made by Hewland Engineering, of Racing Transmissions fame),
were cut and heat-treated.
The gear ratio was also changed to suit the higher rev range of
the engine.
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  Even if one went through the trouble of reversing the Crown Wheel inside a standard Type 336 case so that it could be used, the stock Renault gears would not last very long when used in a Europa with its greatly increased horsepower.
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 In short, only the Type 336 (4 spd.), & the Type 352 (Twin-cam 4 spd.), that were specially built for Lotus, and the Type 365 (Twin-cam 5 spd.),  & the Type 395  5 spd.,  (used in the Renault R-17, Fuego, and R-18, which had the Type 807 and Type 843 Cross-flow Hemi head engines), Transaxles  should be used in any Lotus Europa, especially if one expects to get all of the performance that these cars are capable of. 
  (A very rare Type 385 5 Speed Transaxle that was used on the Alpine A110 Race cars can also be used, and is very desireable because of its Side-Shifting mechanism, but the Ring Gear MUST be reversed because the Alpine had the Transaxle ahead of the engine. 
  The rare Type 365 5 Speed Transaxle that was used in the later Delorean DMC-12 must also be modified for this same reason.) 
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  The Renault transmissions are fairly easy to spot on eBay, as they use a completely different Shift Linkage then the ones used by Lotus. 
Also, many times they will have the Renault mounting hardware still attached.
If a Seller still insists that the tranny can be used in a Lotus, get a guarantee in writing, that you can return it for a refund, (including the Shipping Charges), if your car goes slow in 1st gear, and real fast in Reverse 1, R2, R3, and R4. 
                                                      .-JMM----
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  If a standard Renault 3XX series Transaxle is used on a Lotus Europa, the rotation of the Ring Gear in the Differential MUST be reversed. 
This is done by opening the Transaxle Casing and swapping the Differential from one side to the other. 
  The Differential Nuts that locate the Drive Axle Stubs must then be adjusted for the proper clearances. 
The Differential Nuts are made of Aluminum and have 'Fins' that are very fragile, (especially as they age). 
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Renault Differential Nut
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  This Wrench is Self Centering, (due to the Indexing of the Radii of the Nut Fins in the Engaging Slots), and engages the 'Fins' of the Nuts to distribute the force evenly around the circumference so that they won't snap off. 
  It is now almost impossible to find replacements for the Differential Nuts, so I suggest to anyone that is going to work on their Renault Transaxle that they should invest in one of these Renault.Transaxle
Differential.Nut.Wrenches while they are still available. 
  Although the lotus-europa.com website states that a tool to adjust the Differential Nuts is available from PEP Boys,  that tool is actually for adjusting the Front Hubs of a 4 Wheel Drive Vehicle. 
It has only a few Lug PINS on it which are used to move the Nut, and because the force is not evenly distributed, (especially as the wrench can not be properly Centered), the 'Fins' can, AND DO, snap off.
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PEP Boys - W 1270
Hub Adjusting Tool
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