Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Posted: **Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:31 pm**

Well I never! Thanks Mark.

I had a 2 door MKII but it was a lowly 1500 Deluxe. I think the 2 door body is so much better looking, they should have made more...

Elanintheforest wrote:Ford did try a 1600E with a BDA to see what happened

So what happened?!

Robbie

Posted: **Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:09 pm**

They stopped making the Mk 2! But before that they decided that the Capri was the perfect car for the BD engine (as a mass-produced unit), but it proved to be too unreliable. So the BD was only used in the RS1600 from late 1969 onwards, really just for competition use. Cosworth could have been a different company if the engine had been reliable enough for the Capri. It took another few generations of cars and 23 years before a reliable 16 valve twincam was developed...the good old Zetec!

Mark

Posted: **Tue Feb 28, 2012 11:05 pm**

Elanintheforest wrote:It took another few generations of cars and 23 years before a reliable 16 valve twincam was developed...the good old Zetec!

What about the 16 valve twin cam development that Cosworth did for the Mercedes 190E? A friend has one that has not skipped at beat.

Posted: **Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:38 am**

Russ,
In Mark's defence I think he is referring to the zetec being the first reliable Ford specific 16v twincam engine for general mainstream fitment.

We loved those 190E Cosworths over here, a much classier albeit slower alternative to the Sierra Cosworth.

Posted: **Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:09 am**

Yes I was linking up the Zetec and Ford connection. The Merc was an interesting car that unfortunately handled like a Sierra Cosworth with flat tyres. It was quite nippy in a straight line, but the Sierra Cosworth outshone it in all performance respects, and that YB series engine is a masterpiece. Trouble was, in the day, insurance was nearly impossible to get for the Sierra as they were so often stolen. A bit of a bargain car to buy today if you can find a good one.

The YB was also super reliable but expensive to make and rebuild, so not really viable as a mass-produced unit. Based on the Pinto block, it was another Cosworth / Ford bitza, but one capable of 500bhp quite easily and nearly 900bhp for a daft race engine! Bet that wouldn't last long, but quite impressive for a 2 litre engine!

I'm surprised that nobody has sheohorned one into an Elan yet, although it may require some engine bay mods to fit the turbo in. There are plenty of Escorts and Cortinas running 400bhp YBs on the road, but they must be virtually undrivable!
Mark

Posted: **Sat May 12, 2012 11:49 pm**

Ok folks, bare with me since I'm a bit off topic here. Just the phraise "shoehorning" that caught my attention. A swedish guy put an Alfa Romeo 3 lliter V6 in his Europa, fitted it with twin turbos, a fat spoiler, wing, widend the body and put on some seriously wide tyres... The Alfa engine is for those who don't know it alu-blocked so the total weigt was a "reasonable" 550kg... That and ca 450-500bhp delivered from the engine... Was going to say beauty and beast but since it's a Europa perhaps beast and beast is more suited :mrgreen:

This was some years ago so I'm imagining if the car's still alive it propably has even more juice today, it was being raced in modsport.

I can see why one would wan't to put a lightweight V6 into a Europe but this project, atleast according to me, went all bananas...

Regards
Jens J