Early Zetec Elan... Nothing new under the sun?

[Spyder fan]

Found this car on Ebay, Its described as a Christopher Neil conversion from 1992, 1.6 zetec on webers with 5 speed box all fitted to a Spyder chassis (non zetec obviously) with standard brakes and running gear.

Looks to be in good order and is described as such and is a reasonable price at ?8750, but only if you wanted to return it to original or Spyderise it properly in my humble opinion. Have a look closely at the picture of the interior, I really don't think I would ever get used to having the gearlever that far back and the power can't be much of an improvement if any over a well sorted LTC. Personally I would rip out the chassis and Zetec it properly with a 2.0 and MT75, it can't really be sacrilege with a car thats already been messed with this much can it? I already have a +2 Zetec so I am biased.

sprint 2.jpg (19.78 KiB) Viewed 1934 times

sprint 3.jpg (18.25 KiB) Viewed 1931 times

sprint 1.jpg (17.18 KiB) Viewed 1932 times

Here's the link for more details http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

[gerrym]

Alan, re gear shift lever position, it does seem to be along way back. The advert states 5 speed: do we have a guess as to which 5 speed.

Gerry

[richgilb]

If there was room for a turbo.....and if the gear sleeve was the same colour as the rest of the interior and the knob was wooden, I think it would be desirable. Is there likely to be room for a turbo? The 2 litre zetec is a touch heavier than the Lotus engine...perhaps this is a bit lighter?

[Spyder fan]

Gerry,
well it certainly isn't an MT75, I'm thinking maybe a type 9 from a Sierra which would make the gearlever further back, but then I'm assuming that the zetec has been fitted at the normal position Spyder would put it which in most cases means modifying and cutting into the crossmember/vacuum tank on a standard chassis.

[Spyder fan]

If there was room for a turbo.....

Rich,

You could always mount a turbo remotely at the silencer end of the exhaust.... works but causes a bit of lag

[lotusanglia1965]

The 1600 won't be any lighter than 2.0,which wasn't available in 1992,the blocks are all the same size externally,and the cranks and rods are common to all three size engines.

[barefoot]

Looking at Elan prices this car seems a bargain to me yes bit of a makeover on the interior and it's not original but if it drives as well as it looks I think someone will get a cheap car that will never be worth less than the money asked it will only go up in value.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hmm, feeling a bit miffed now. Being one of the few instead of the very few.
I started my Elan/2.0L Zetec conversion in 1998 & finished it in 2000.
Quite similar to the one pictured.
Would it be possible to post a bigger picture of the engine bay?
I'm interested to see what they did with the cooling system.
I used a lot of TTR alloy housings on the standard Elan transmission & with a lot of luck achieved a weight distribution of 50:50
Putting on the Zetec Anorak; I would say that from the Cam cover the engine is a bit younger than stated.
As a comparison there are some nice pictures, in the archive, of the engine bay of my Elan that Mark (Elanintheforest) kindly posted a while back.

Cheers
John

[Spyder fan]

John, I have sent you a PM

Regards

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

If there was room for a turbo.....and if the gear sleeve was the same colour as the rest of the interior and the knob was wooden, I think it would be desirable. Is there likely to be room for a turbo? The 2 litre zetec is a touch heavier than the Lotus engine...perhaps this is a bit lighter?

If you move the radiator forwards into the nose of the car a lot of space can be gained for fitting a Turbo.
A basic ex-manifold would need to be developed, but eliminating the space gobbling 4 branch would leave some room for the exhaust from the Turbo to go back down to meet the rest of the exhaust system.
There should be enough room for an inter cooler as well.
However are you the man to handle over 200bhp in an Elan?

Cheers
John

[Elanintheforest]

Here are the engine photos as big as they'll go, John. I bought some bits from this chap a few months ago and had a look at this car. At this price it has to be very good value.

Something to check out. Chris Neil used to built the CN Sprint, built up or as a complete / part kit, which was essentially a new Elan Sprint. Sometimes, to avoid a 'Q' plate, the identity of a Plus two would be used...so the chassis number would start with 50. This was mainly on cars built up by private individuals using a Plus 2 as a donor. I don't know if any of that applies to this car....I'd guess not as it doesn't have the donor twincam.

This would be a great fun car, and could surely be cheaply developed with a 2 litre.

Mark

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hi Alan, Mark,

firstly thanks for the bigger Photos & the PM'd Photos.
That cooling system certainly does look a bit wierd & that nice bit of stainless tubing seems to have a similar function to that of the cast "Raceline" coolant rail, which in an Elan (not necessarily the +2) may cause thermoshocks, depending on where the thermostat is & what flow goes over it.
The engine bay is a bit of a "Pigs ear" but could be tidied up with a certain amount of effort.
The ex-manifold looks as though it could also handle a 2,0 Liter engine.
There must be a conversion kit on the market now, that would move the gearlever forwards.
In fact if there is one, the gear lever might end up too far forward because the engine seems further forward than in my installation.(Which maintains the original gear lever position almost)
Possibly so placed to provide space for the stock Zetec thermostat housing?

Ah so the car will be registered as a Lotus then, something I was thinking about regarding the CN Elans.
A nice twist
In any case that car is pretty good value for the money & should provide lots of fun.
I wonder what's been done to the rest of the transmission; not much I assume because the 1600cc engine will be fairly tame.

Attached a Photo of my take on Elan / Zetec engine installation.

Cheers
John

[Spyder fan]

Hi all,

The car has now been sold as the item has been ended on Ebay....Either someone took our advice and stormed in there quick with some ready cash or the owner reads this forum and maybe thought again about selling at that price.

Regards