Cosworth Elan

[PETER GILGRIST]

Have just located,purchased and collected S3 FHC been stood 20 years,got it home spotted cosworth engine on floor wanting new home.Spent all night mentaly working out how to fit,ITS GOING TO HAPPEN wife thinks i am mad,son thinks i am ace,daughter disowns me any comments advice etc that may help restore my mental state Thanks PETE

[Jolly Jumper]

What sort of Cosworth engine is it? A BDA-Type?

It has been done before, there is an article in one of the books.
However, why should you want to do it?
It will actually decrease the value of an otherwise orginal car. Your wife is right!

[PETER GILGRIST]

Cosworth engine iis ex sierra cosworth 270bhp did not buy car for value just to have some fun

[will]

It may be worth contacting Spyder. They have a spaceframe chassis which accepts the Zetec and Duratec and, I believe, have fitted the Cosworth engine too. However, I think it was normally aspirated as there is no room for the turbo? 01733 205639

[steveww]

IIRC the cosworth YB engine has the inlet/exhaust sides swapped round compared to the Lotus twinc. Various other people have fitted BD series engines to the Elan so I would think with a bit of effort and making up some of your own parts it should be possible. Remember you will have to upgrade brakes, suspension etc to match. Would like to see on a track day soon.

[PETER GILGRIST]

Car will use sierra cosworth hubs,brakes diff etc,still do not know if it will fit size wise not been allowed back into garage until new conservatory finished(not far off now)so hope to have some news shortly.Hope to try and keep same wheelbase,track etc so to keep looks,Will have to go with bigger wheels and have wishbones and driveshafts made any advice greatly appreciated(not necessarily used but more brains the better)THANKS PETE.

[paros]

Yes it can be fitted - I did for racing in NW BARC chamionship for years. used Spyder space frame chassis and widened it for Rocket box, Quaife diff with Atlas cwp, exhaust going around the engine and VW radiator. Car heavier than DBG cars but as you probaly know the car won many races at Oulton, Anglesey [ still holds record there ], 10" wide rear slicks, pds made asymetric drive shafts, 9" wide fronts, March 761 front uprights and Ralt F3 rear with twin wishbones in plave of mcpherson struts. mallock wing. 8300 rpm limit with 2,4 litre engine all steel

[steveww]

Now you mention that car I think I saw it run on a few occasions. I did some racing in the Slick-50 series and I think our series shared a few days with the BARC race series you mention. Do you have any photos?

[stevebroad]

Hi Peter

Is this topic still live?

Are you still working on project, completed or given up?

If still live, drop me a line on [email protected] and we can compare notes.

Steve

[v7slr]

Yep, I'm keen to hear any progress. I've been looking at the VAG 1.8T unit but I can't find a suitable bellhousing, nor do I really understand the oiling requirements to spec a dry sump. After looking into all that it seems a more sensible solution to use the Cos engine, but I intend to retain the turbo. I really want a LOT of power.

There must be a way of fitting the turbo in.

Finding a suitably strong (and short enough) gearbox was challenging, but I think I've found one in the Drenth now. It looks as though it'll fit between the chassis rails as snugly as the MT75.

The gearbox is hideously expensive but a 320bhp Cos engine is only about ?2500 (plus dry sump system) if I build it myself, so overall engine and box costs are no more than an expensive nat asp engine and lower spec box.

[mct340]

This looks like a quality job... parts alone worth big$$$

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Lotus-Elan-1965-Lotu ... dZViewItem