Engine Drawings
Engine Specifications
The Gordini engine has been a popular conversion for the Renault R16 powered Lotus Europa. The two images below contain some information I saved from 1971 when I was looking for ways to make more horsepower for my 1970 Lotus Europa S2. I obtained it from a business in Glendale, Calif. called Franco-American Motors. I believe the owners name was Claude. I doubt that these engines are still available. I don't think that Franco-American Motors is still with us. However, the information contained here might be of some use to anyone contemplating a conversion. See caveats.
It looks like there is a lot of power potential in this engine. Notice in particular engine #809 with 174 HP. That would make a very interesting Europa! Move out of the way twink! I found some more info from a three page Franco-American document titled High Performance Equipment for Lotus Europa. Please note that this document is for historical purposes. The company and the products are no longer around and the prices are from 1971 (oh for a time machine). Unfortunately this is all of the information I have on this subject. I don't have any info on engine internals so I can only guess at components needed to make #809 (like cam, head, valves, rods).
The two images were scanned from the original document which was in rough shape. I took the liberty (out of necessity) of cleaning up the images as well as converting some difficult to read handwriting to printed text. This took quite some time (hint: applause). The image editing work was done with Ulead PhotoImpact. Since originally doing this, I went back and reduced the size of these files so your download time won't be so long. I don't think the quality was comprimised.
Click on an image to view full size. Most likely the image will be too big for your screen as they are 4038x25544. Don't bother printing with your browser. It will probably generate four overlaping pages. Instead, save the images by right clicking on them and then left clicking on "Save Image As..." (Netscape) or "Save Picture As..." (Internet Explorer). Save the image file in a suitable location and then view/print with a graphics program such as Ulead PhotoImpact or Adobe PhotoShop, etc. You can also download and use a freeware view program such as Xnview or IrfanView (see InfranView notes).
Engine Specifications
Caveats:
One note of caution: the information in the above two pages came from an independant supplier and are not official Renault documents. This means there may be some errors in content. Considerable image editing was performed. I did not add, delete or change any information from the original. The changes were done strictly for legibility.
InfranView Notes:
To insure that InfanView works correctly with these GIF files, you must not use the "Fit to the desktop" function. On the Image menu, uncheck "Best Fit to Desktop." On the Options - Properties - Viewing menu, uncheck "Always Fit To Desktop For Big Images."
Last update: 21 Nov. 2003