200bhp & big wheels

[Citromike]

Hi Jon

The reason you don't know anyone with a "streetable 200 bhp Elan" is because
there aren't any.

This is quite apart from squeezing 200 bhp out of a 1600 engine 40+ year-old
design. Consider that the trans and rear end come from cars rated at 45-80 hp
- the engine is nearly the strongest part of the car anyway, in stock form.
Remember Colin Chapman was renowned for taking weight and strength OUT of
cars.

If you are prepared to spend the money to bump up the engine you should save
$5-8,000 to do the rest of the drivetrain too. That will buy you an uprated
clutch, gearbox, some shafts, a new diff, and rewelding for your chassis as
it cracks in various places. Oh - and hubs and wheels and sticky tires too.
Make it 10 grand.

Dave Bean's catalogs for the Elan and the English Ford have lots of useful
information. You should give them a call, drop $12 bucks, and buy both. You
can get a complete Cosworth BD engine from them for about $9500 that is rated
at 185 hp. They might have a 200 bhp spec too - it's not in the catalog I
have.

They say the BD engine almost drops in - it's taller, so you need to move the
motor mounts down on the frame to clear the hood, and it's longer, so you may
need to do some moving of miscellaneous stuff near the front of the engine.
Maybe an oil tank, new radiator, hoses, etc. as well.

Nw you've spent $20 grand.

When you dump the clutch you may be able to spin the tires. If you put big
sticky rubber on it, you might not - you may explode the axles, the hubs, the
frame or the diff. I was looking at a very nice Seven yesterday that blew up
when "a friend" dropped the clutch on 150 bhp and slicks - it wasn't a pretty
sight. The engine is fine, it's the back half of the car he faces rebuilding.

Guys, am I being too pessimistic here?

Michael Roeder
***@***.***
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[garyeanderson]

Hi Michael

I don't think so. I know that with my S2 I replaced the diff output
shafts (Dave Bean cv conversion) axels, rear hubs, torsen center
section (all of this is considerably heavier then stock). To remove
some of the weight that I put on, I installed an aluminum
flywheel,aluminum bellhousing,gearcase,and tailshaft. In all I spent
something like $20,000.00 (I can't count any higher,or don't want to)
plus the cost of the S2.

Gary

--- In ***@***.***, ***@***.***e:

[brettengelaz]

Michael:
I have to second Gary's opinion, you will need to start at the
front pulley and work to the diff drain plug if you want a
reliable high output drivetrain. I have a DaveBean "150hp"
engine, Spyder frame, close ratio g-box, Quaife LSD and CV
axles. The car is marginally street legal, a pain to drive
in any traffic and is now being prepped for racing only. I've
broken engine mounts, sway bar mounts, and now I'm bending
(shearing) the 4 bolts on rear u-joint<>pinion flange. After
I replace the the bolts with NAS grade fasteners,the problem
will just migrate to yet another spot. Be prepared to spend
$$$$ and time in proportion to the HP output on the rest of the
car.

I haven't installed the alloy bellhousing and tailshaft, but
those may be next...
Your mileage (and your failure points) may vary...


-----Original Message-----
From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.***
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 7:53 AM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] Re: 200bhp & big wheels


Hi Michael

I don't think so. I know that with my S2 I replaced the diff output
shafts (Dave Bean cv conversion) axels, rear hubs, torsen center
section (all of this is considerably heavier then stock). To remove
some of the weight that I put on, I installed an aluminum
flywheel,aluminum bellhousing,gearcase,and tailshaft. In all I spent
something like $20,000.00 (I can't count any higher,or don't want to)
plus the cost of the S2.

Gary

--- In ***@***.***, ***@***.***e: