By Don Nester

One of the maladies that affect Europas is increasing negative rear wheel camber. Although this gives the car a somewhat hairy appearance, it does very little for the longevity of the tires. So, the obvious solution is to crawl under the Lotus with a fist full of wrenches and readjust the camber back to the specified 1 degree… WRONG!… There are NO adjustments for the rear wheel camber.

At this point, one might ponder how the camber disease afflicted the Europa. Was the previous owner involved in a rear end accident?… Did the previous owner autocross the car?… Was it bad from the factory?… No, none of these is the real answer. The cause of this problem is mainly from sagging motor mounts (both forth and aft). Now, although replacing motor mounts will certainly improve the situation, one will not find perfection in this solution since there is also some sagging of the frame and some wear in the rear drive components. Since replacing all of the mechanical components of the rear drive train is somewhat impractical and very, very expensive, a better solution is worth investigating.

The obvious solution is to make the camber on the rear wheels adjustable. Once again crawling under the Europa and peering at the rear suspension, one finds that a rear wheels is vertically supported by the half shaft and a single arm underneath the half shaft.

Now, unless one has a masochistic tendencies, the only reasonable engineering solution is to modify the lower suspension arm to allow adjustability. This may be accomplished by either fitting hiem joints to both ends of the lower suspension arms or by modifying the lower arms so that they may be adjusted in the center. The first solution is very elegant and very expensive; the second solution is just as effective and very inexpensive. Because I have implemented the second solution, tested it for 14,000 miles, and have had no failures, nor problems, I am providing you with a description of my solution.

Modifying the Europa Rear Suspension To Allow Camber Adjustments
Modifying the Europa suspension to allow camber adjustment requires alteration of the lower suspension arm to be adjustable (upper arm is the drive half shaft). In order to perform this modification, a crude metal lathe and welding equipment will be required. The adjusting mechanism is made from a 1972 Buick Electra (or similar GM product) front end tie rod with split pipe adjustor. These parts may be purchased for $5-10 at your local junkyard (both sides). The following steps are suggested to accomplish this modification.

1. Purchase all parts (Buick front end parts and 2 feet of 7/8" OD plumbing pipe.
2. Remove bottom suspension arm.
3. Remove 6 ¾" from the center of the suspension arms. Note 1: Do one side at a time so that the one arm may be used as a measuring standard; Note 2: The end of the arms are angled and after modifying one arm, the unmodified arm may be used to set up the modified arm.
4. Hacksaw off the rod ends from the adjustment assembly. Note: Leave as much as possible of the unthreaded shaft.
5. Hacksaw two lengths of pipe which are to be fitted over the unthreaded portion of the shafts. Note: Pipe sleeve is to be flush at the end and 3/8" from the threads at the other end.
6. Turn sawed off tie rod shafts so that they fit inside the pipes (interference fit).
7. Expand outside of the pipe sleeves so that they are a force fit inside of the suspension arms.
8. Position adjuster on the sawed off tie rod ends so that ¾" of threads are exposed.
9. Fit parts together and weld together. Note 1: Use the unmodified arm as a master to set up the modified arm. Note 2: When welding, wrap rubber bushed ends with water soaked rags.
10. Now using the modified arm as a master, modify the other arm.
11. Reinstall in the car and adjust the camber as desired.