By Rick Barenholtz
On July 5th 2019, I dropped off my Twin Cam engine parts to Barry Sales at PHP Racengines. I say engine parts because the engine was disassembled nearly 30 years ago. So was the 1973 Twin Cam Special “project car” I bought as a rolling basket case. Along with the rolling chassis came 28 boxes of parts and a spiral bound notebook.
The previous and possibly the original owner, told the guy I bought the car from that in 1988 the car wasn’t running right. So what did he do? He disassembled nearly the entire car over the next two year period. The process included lifting the body off the chassis, disassembling the engine, transaxle, and rear suspension. Included in the purchase was a notebook with photos documenting the 2 year disassembly. I read through the notebook and crossed my fingers hoping all the parts are there.
I bought the Europa project on December 5th, 2018. I found a storage unit nearby; took delivery of the car and parts and tucked them all away for winter. But like a kid, I would go to the storage to dig through some of the boxes to see what I had gotten myself into. Then, I brought a few parts home and I started to clean them up, and now I was into it and the process began. I sent the distributor to Minnesota; the carburetors went to Joe Curto in NY, and the starter, alternator, and blower motor went to Dusty’s DC Electrical and Powder Coating in Fox Lake IL. I took the radiator to Lake Zurich Radiator, I sent the transaxle to Auto Europe in Birmingham, MI. Later, in July, I delivered the Engine parts to PHP Racengines Wauconda, IL.
Searching the net for Europa information I found Bob Herzog’s book “Europa Euphoria”. I bought it on Amazon and it gave me some needed direction. Next, I joined the Lotus club, obviously. Reading Bob’s book, I inadvertently found Barry at PHP Racengines. Bob used Bill Truesdale at Apex Engineering for his Europa engine so I gave Bill a call. I went and visited Bill who is a very nice man and it looked like it wouldn’t be a problem for him to handle the engine rebuild. Interestingly enough, Bill mentioned after he rebuilds the engine I may want to take the engine to Barry at PHP in Wauconda for tuning. I was confused. I thought if Bill rebuilt the engine it would be ready to go. Next step, I needed to find out who Barry at PHP was, especially since I live 15 minutes from Wauconda.
I visited PHP Racengines and met the owner, Barry Sale. It was an extremely clean and well organized shop. Really cool machines everywhere. The crux of PHP Racengines is Barry, and I decided I would rather keep the engine closer to home. Not only that, Barry was very welcoming and Barry is a wealth of knowledge. I also met Leo Franchi another super nice guy who works with Barry, and Wayne, who doesn’t work there but is also a very nice guy. After spending some time talking cars and engines with these guys it seemed only natural that I bring the engine here. I also learned that engine tuning meant putting the engine on the Dyno. Now this was getting cool. I have only rebuilt two engines in my life, a 1725cc Sunbeam Alpine engine, and a 260 Ford V8 for my Sunbeam Tiger, like 40+ years ago. Maybe I could have rebuilt the engine, but I knew I couldn’t do as good a job as either of these professionals. I looked forward to visiting Barry’s shop every couple of weeks to see the progress and because the time Barry or Leo would spend chatting with me was so enjoyable.
So, Barry rebuilt the engine and Dynoed it and I couldn’t be more ecstatic to have this talented legend build my engine. Barry said it would be a good choice to get a forged steel crank for a 1600 Ford, new pistons which it needed anyway, keep the rods, bore the block out and turn the motor into a 1702 cc motor. I was all in. I checked in to see the progress and it was very impressive to see my engine come together and some of the other engines they were rebuilding and “tuning”. I also saw my first engine on the Dyno. It was also a Twin cam but a full race motor that made about 187 HP. I watched Barry do his magic and I was so excited with the anticipation for Barry to be working on my engine. Like “Flounder” said in national Lampoon’s Animal House “This is so great”. Also in process for rebuilds at PHP, was a 351 Ford V8 for an Intermeccanica, another twin cam for an Elan, a BMW 2002tii turbo and a BMW M1 motor salvaged from a fire was also brought in, in pieces. There were also a couple of early MG motors on stands looking proud too. There were also a number of others motors that were built elsewhere but sent in for tuning. I had no idea people sent their motors across the country just for tuning. What an eye opener.
Now, fast forward to December 21, 2019 – my engine Dyno day. I went to PHP eager to see how the engine would run. Barry had the engine set up on the Dyno and he had run it for a while the previous day. It looked beautiful and it was now time to find out how many HP and how much torque it would make.
Barry was sitting at his control panel while Leo was making adjustments during and in between engine runs. The control panel and the engine are in two different rooms. First, Barry ran the engine to bring the oil and coolant up to temperature. Now the first run and the HP reached the mid-120 range. Barry shut it down and adjusted the carbs with an increase in power. Another adjustment and a few more ponies were developed. Now the timing was adjusted and another run. More carb adjustments for more fuel brought the horsepower up to 131. Leo made another timing adjustment and the HP now reached 132. One last cam timing adjustment and the engine turned out 134 HP at 6100 rpm and the torque peaked at 128 foot pounds at 4700 rpm with the air box and a muffler installed. Barry was happy with these figures and I am tickled pink. This is especially good news as my engine has a pair of Stromberg carburetors.
In January 2020 I paid Barry a visit and he showed me the results of the other Elan Twin Cam, same 1702 cc build but with the coveted Weber carbs. This engine made 148 HP. Barry said to convert my engine to Webbers would only cost around $4,500.00 more dollars.
Leo who has been in professional road racing for many years, put it in perspective and said my car with 134 HP and weighing approximately 1500 lbs. should be pretty quick and a lot of fun to drive. Leo showed me a picture of an older Lola Sports racer with a similar power to weight ratio and said my Europa’s performance shouldn’t be all that far behind. Of course my Europa will not be as fast, but for me it will be every bit as exciting. I can hardly wait to finish the project and get behind the wheel.
Currently the car is at Northshore Imports where Keith will be installing the engine and reuniting the body and chassis.
