Any Lotus 33 experts here?

[Orso]

I finally got two kits without any set plans on how to build them. I had some vague thoughts of perhaps mate a Lotus 25 with on 33 for a Lotus 25/33 but I have left that trail of thoughts. Instead I have been thinking of build one as chassis R9 that has the Lotus 25 cockpit tub and than get one of the later tubs for the other car.
So I started to assembly the kit. As mentioned in another thread the body sides don't fit at the rear as they are straight and don't follow the cockpit tub.
Using hot water I managed to bend the sides so I could glue the parts together. The fit didn't get 100% so I had to clamp the parts together while the glue set but I got a good fit in the end. I tried to fit the upper body after this an found a small miss alignment but after the left hole in the tub was enlarged a bit it fits fine.
But the problem with the sides has made me hesitant to get the 3D printed tub for the next build. There will be tensions in the rear want to split the joint and knowing how brittle super glue is I feel that it is a large risk it will break. Perhaps I should try to convert the tub instead.
But now to the question that was the reason for this post:
I will build an early chassis car and decided to make it with the 16 valve engine but now I'm beginning to think (and that is never good). Would it be possible to build a 1964 season car from the kit without much problems? It has the complete exhaust system from the Lotus 25 kit included but is there something else to consider.
I don't understand why I never manage to build a kit straight out of the box.

[Emersonsquirrel]

Hi Bjorn,
I certainly wouldn't claim to be a Lotus 25/33 expert, but I have done a lot of research on the variations and am happy to pass on my findings. The quick answer to your question is 'Yes', it is possible, and probably easier, to build an accurate 1964 Lotus 33 from the kit than it is to build an accurate 1965 car. The key issue would be which car you wanted to build!
The original two Lotus 33's were built on the Lotus 25's chassis and are almost indistinguishable from the last of the works team's 25s. As the 33 developed and the 32 valve engine became available the differences became more marked. For a specific race I would recommend looking at the photos on motorsportimages.com and revsinstitute.org as they are invaluable in that respect. There was a very good article available on the vsrnonline site before it disappeared that highlighted the key changes however I lack the skills to upload it to this post! If you pm me I'll happily forward it to you!

Regards

ES

[59hrld]

Just a suggestion...: try to contact classic Lotus on this one...

Richard

[Orso]

Thanks for the links.
Here is something odd added in front of the radiator:
https://library.revsinstitute.org/digit ... 17257coll1

[gablet]

Hello Bjorn,
that is the electric fuel pump and they fixed there for cooling purpose.
Lotus had fuel over-heating issues and tried to solve them moving the pump in various areas of the car.
Gab

[JamesB]

Our good friend Paul aka PJE is a Lotus 25/33 pundit, if I am not wrong!