Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

hi,

just ordered a smaller crank pulley from dunnell engines, they also have the correct sump, a lighter flywheel, and an engine management system for use with twin 45 dcoe webbers. i will have to see how far i can stretch my budget!

when talking to Paul at dunnells about the engine mounts he explained that i could always have spreader plates made that would match up with the original chassis mounts, any thoughts on this?

which alternator and starter motor are you guys using, i understand that the Mazda 323 alternator would be a good choice, lightweight and compact. but am not sure about the starter.

have removed the rad, exhaust, carbs and inlet manifold. when under the car i noticed i have a removable cross member on the chassis, it is quite a lightweight piece of steel will take pic to show you.

The removable u-shaped steel cross member is standard from the factory. There are threads on here about replacing it with rectangular tubing. Mine isn?t in great shape so I think I?ll be doing that before I?m done.

My budget is a constraint with all my projects. I hope to augment mine with the sale of factory parts that I won?t be using. It?s just a matter of making absolutely sure I don?t need it before I part with it.

hi,

just thinking i saw a reference to a vibration damper fitted to the zetec engine, mine does,nt have one? does anyone have a photo of one?

exploring the bike carb route, bogg brothers will make an inlet manifold for gsx 1000, or r1 carbs for ?180.00 saw some gsx carbs on ebay at ?100.00 mmm?

Keith

Keith
I am pretty certain the vibration damper is built into the front pulley, that is why it is quite bulky.

Bud
Sorry for the late reply but I have been away.

Firstly my modifications to the front crossmember are as shown with the cut being 155mm wide, 75mm from the top of the chassis to the bottom of the cut and 54mm in from the rear of the front crossmember:


This plate is also welded to the bottom of the crossmember for added strength.



I will be retaining the original chassis brace and anti roll bar and the sump required modification as in the pictures below:


The distance from the front of the front crossmember to the front face of the crankshaft pulley is 57mm, the centreline of the crank to the top of the crossmember 35mm and the bottom of the block to the top of the chassis at the engine mount is 101mm.





With regard to the intake side of things I will post another reply.

Regards
John

Hi again
I am using motorcycle throttle bodies on a manifold that I have made which I will use in conjuction with a modified original manifold, this will allow me to use the original fuel rail and injectors; I will use an aftermarket management system to control the ignition and injection.

Modified original manifold(even though I appear to have also attached this to the end of the previous post!)






All of this is complete trial and error and hopefully the purists will forgive me but as I have explained before, better cars than mine have been broken for parts.

hi,

lots of info here, the crank on my zetec has been balanced, wondering if this negates the need for a vibration dampener, must ask the guy i bought it from, he and his family raced westfields in the past the zetec was a spare engine. while it has never been fitted to a car it has been run up on a dyno. the engine came without a crank pulley. if i don`t need a dampener,the cut out on my chassis should be quite a bit smaller than normal, heres hoping!

i didn`t know i would still need the injection rail, thanks for the info. bidding on some gsxr 1100 carbs on ebay, they come with a bogg brothers mainifold to fit an 8 valve 1.8 vauxhall lump, if i win i will sell the manifold on.

what engine management systems are you guys using, i have been told the megajolt is a good one.

thanks.

Keith

Hi Keith

I am using throttle bodies not carbs which is why I need the fuel rail, I would think that setting up carbs for a Zetec may be a problem but I have added the links below for some useful information. For the engine management I am using a DTA system which is slightly dearer than the Emerald system but is a bit more idiot proof!

http://www.turbosport.co.uk/forumdispla ... tallations
http://www.turbosport.co.uk/forumdispla ... Management

Regards
John

hi,

ok throttle bodies gotcha, bogg brothers have made lots of manifolds for bike carbs to fit the zetec, when i spoke to them they were quite blase about it. but will investigate more.

your engine mounts look very professional, no spreader plates there then! will have a proper look at the new crank pulley tomorrow, and post some snaps, i can`t remember if it has timing marks.

thats a cracking job on the chassis, both yourself and bud have made real neat alterations.

Keith

mornin!

on nights so snatched a few minutes to have a gander! good job altering the sump, is that an escort or mondeo unit?
some more thoughts on carbs, i already have a pair of 40 dellortos, but both tops have broken float posts, good news is that they are available from the uk dellorto dealer. should work out to just over ?100 for a pair. although the 40s will be at their limit, to keep costs down think i will stick with them.

after a good look at both your pics of the chassis changes, i am hoping that i will get away with a more moderate cut.
it appears that the main reason for the alteration is the size of the crank pulley, as i said the one on my motor is a lot smaller than either of yours. i will post photos later on today, after my beauty sleep.

Keith

Hi Keith

The sump is off an Escort which gives you the front sump bowl. The 40's will be fine but the jetting will depend on the chokes that are in the carbs already; I am no expert but I would imagine that as long as they are around 32/33mm diameter all should be well for road use - smaller and you will struggle with top end power, too large and you will lose torque but I am pretty certain you will find jetting and choke details to get you started if you follow the links on my previous email.

Regards
John

I?m leaning toward the injection system from the Honda CBR600RR. The system uses 40mm throttle bodies. It?s a dual stage system that has two injectors per cylinder?one upper and one lower?controlled by the ECU. Lower injector enhances throttle response while upper injector improves top-end horsepower. At lower rpm only the lower injector is working. At higher rpm both injectors are activated. The lower injectors are mounted between the throttle butterflies and the head. The upper injectors are mounted above the throttle bodies and spray directly through the butterflies. This cools and increases the air density of the incoming air. A megasquirt ECU should be able to be programmed to handle the task.

I built an aluminum intake manifold to mate them up. I started with sort of long intake runners to keep the zetec low end torque. They may get shortened, especially if I run into space constraints for the air box. Here?s a pic of them mounted. They still have all of the Honda vacuum/air injector lines attached. I think those will go away and the throttle bodies will get plugged.

John - I really like your idea of using the modified zetec manifold between your manifold and the head. That not only keeps the injectors in the most efficient location but it provides a bit of thermal insulation for the throttle bodies as well. I was going to leave the (lower) injectors in the Honda throttle bodies, but was concerned about the distance from them to the valves/combustion chambers.

? but at this point that?s all somewhere down the road.

hi,

been a while since i posted, backed up at work and i finally got the parts for my sons car, ( 8 month wait) so been busy with that.
john, where did you get the engine mounts that are attached to the chassis? also it would be helpfull if i had some measurements of the cuts you did on the escort sump. still trying to source the sump at the moment, there are lots of steel ones out there but very few of the type i need, just have to keep trawling fleabay!

Keith

Keith
I can't help with the sump measurements but the mounts that John's using are the stock Lotus twin cam mounts. They're just turned around with the side normally bolting to the motor, now bolting to the frame. His idea works so well I blatantly copied it.

I'm looking for a sump to modify as well. The one I have is a front sump, but it's the one for mounting the motor at an angle in the Ford Escape (small SUV). It would be very difficult to cut and weld. Your chances of finding the right one there are much better than me finding one here. I just can't bring myself to pay what they want for a Raceline sump. I'm hoping I'll have that unobtainable Lotus part that I'm not using that I can trade to someone for a UK sourced sump.

I've been a lot better at getting work done on the car than I've been at posting progress. I'll do an update in the next couple of days.

bud,
thanks for the info, i will order the mounts today. regarding the sump, i will try to get you one if you like, can,t promise to find one but will do my best.
keith

hi,
john regarding the sump, is yours from a petrol zetec? might sound like a daft question but i am a bit confused, i have just been offered one from a 1.8 tdi escort, i,m not sure if they are the same pattern. did ford make a tdi zetec?

keith