Engine Swaps for Lotus Elan

[Fred Talmadge]

Wondering how many different engine changes there are.
Scanned the forums and this is all I found.
Cosworth BDA
Ford Zetec
Honda S2000
Ford Duratec 2.0

[CBUEB1771]

I doubt there as anything about it on this forum however I remember a short piece written by Dennis Jenkinson when he was alive, kicking and writing for Motorsport. DSJ had just helped a friend install a Triumph two-liter inline six in a +2. He said it made a very nice conversion. Pretty agricultural by today's standards but a compact inline six still sounds attractive to me.

[rgh0]

I recall a reference to an Alfa conversion and of course those push rod Ford 1500 / 1600 cross flow / non cross flow engines that have been dropped in when the twink has gone missing.

cheers
Rohan

[Elanintheforest]

The Vauxhall 'Red Top' is a fabulous 2 litre 16 valve engine used a lot by the Escort boys. A lot of the design work for this engine was done by Cosworth, and a road usable 240 bhp is easy to achieve, although a more modest 200bhp probably more appropriate in a road Elan.

Only seen one once in an Elan Sprint about 12 or so years ago at Donnington....it flew!
Mark

[types26/36]

Back in South Africa a few years ago there was an Elan that had a Mazda Rotary RX2 engine and also a Plus two that had a Toyota 16v 4AGE engine.

[john.p.clegg]

With a little enginuity....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rolls-Royce-C ... 2a283d0ee6

John

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

With a little enginuity....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rolls-Royce-C ... 2a283d0ee6

John

Now that's quite a bargain & an adapter flange for an MT75 gearbox should be do-able

[el-saturn]

Back in South Africa a few years ago there was an Elan that had a Mazda Rotary RX2 engine and also a Plus two that had a Toyota 16v 4AGE engine.

a friend of mine has one of those rotarys' in a europa s2 - she's quick!

[stevebroad]

I am still in the process of fitting a Ford Cosworth YB turbo.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

That's reminded me; wasn't there a guy who posted quite a bit two or three years ago.
He was in the process of fitting a very juicy Cosworth Turbo engine.
Now it's all quiet on the western front!

Or was that you Steve?

[stevebroad]

Yes, that was me

Life got in the way for a while, but back on track now. Sorting out an inboard damper system for the rear at the moment so wider wheels can be fitted.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Well, you should feel duty bound to write a few lines to fill in that gaping hole & if possible add a couple of photos.
Consider yourself well & truly scolded!

Cheers
John

[stevebroad]

When I get back from A&E I will do an update

[elans3]

Sorry to re-hash an old thread, but I remember sometime around 2002-3 going to view an Elan with an Alfa Twincam installed. All I can remember was that it was in West Yorks, and I was impressed with the installation. The car was dark green with some yellow stripes, maybe down the centre longtitudinally.
I didn't buy it, because at the time it was similarly priced to an original car and the then owner wasn't inclined to reduce the price because of the lack of originality.
Can't remember whether it was a 1600 or 2 ltr Alfa motor, but it did look good in the engine bay.
Wish I'd have bought it now, and maybe converted it back.

Does anyone have any knowledge of the car, and whether it still exists ?

Steve
elans3

[stugilmour]

A local chap has a Plus 2 project underway that uses a Toyota TC four cylinder. Plan is to use Toyota injection. Have seen similar drive train used in LoCost Seven's using Webers. I assumed it was a pretty popular choice as it also provides a nice five speed. He mentioned the donor RWD Toyota but I can't recall. At a Cars and Coffee session the young drift car guys recognized the Toyota engine in the Seven right away and really liked it.

If I got the story right he had a Spyder frame made up for the engine and shipped to South Africa, although the project is in Canada now. Not sure of the exact engine designation that is favored for this, but think it is a 1600 variant from a Corolla? with about 130 HP in stock tune. I really want to see this car finished up as it sounds like a fantastic combo.

Here is a list of Toyota engines:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_To ... Straight-4

Stu