Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

What is the current state of play with regards to 5 speed conversion?

I've read, (quite a lot), about the Voight job , but at ?2500 it would require considerable consideration!

Any other alternatives? Apart from the obvious buying a 130 / 5 in the first place.

There is a lot more choice with existing 4 speeders.

Vince

You could always consider the 6 speed currently being offered by Spyder. I'm not sure they've released the price as yet but I suspect it would be a fair bit more than the Voights box but theirs is a fitted price!

A 4 speed with original diameter tyres and a 3.5 diff is good for modern motorway speed and realsitic compared to a 5 speed conversion.

But If you want to run modern lower profile tyres and use it on the motorways a lot then a 5 speed box is a definite benefit. Though i do enjoy my 4 speed Elan with a 3.77 diff and low profile tyres at 5000 rpm on the highway as its only cruising compared to its 9000+ rpm redline!

Apart from the original 5 speed Lotus box which you should be able to find for similar or less compared to Voight conversion if your patient you have a few other choices

The Isuzu 5 speed from a range of 80's cars ( the Holden Gemini here in Australia) has been done many time with an adapter plate to match the bell housing to block

The T5 from a range of US cars has also been an option.

I believe Alfa 5 speed boxes have been fitted.

All the European Ford 5 speed boxes in various configurations have also been tried


Most of these options have been discussed here at various time so keep searching the past posts and you will eventually find them.

cheers
Rohan

These people have various conversion kits. The Toyota T50 is best suited for our cars, although they offer the Supra also.

http://www.conversioncomp.com/

The usual disadvantage is that these are sedan ratios, thus not so well suited for our cars. Colin Dray claims to be able to source CR gear sets, but I have not corresponded with him for years now.

David
1968 36/7988

Thanks for the replies.

I imagine a 3.5 diff would be almost as awkward to source as a Lotus 5 speeder.

Still it would be a lot easier to fit.

I came across this interesting .pdf about updating and fitting a 5 speed to a small Elan. I imagine most of it is old hat to you lot.

http://www.gglotus.org/ggtech/elan-5spd/elan5spd.pdf

Off to see a car tomorrow.

vincereynard wrote:Thanks for the replies.

I imagine a 3.5 diff would be almost as awkward to source as a Lotus 5 speeder.

.

However, just had a look on Ebay and there are 3 there!

My first visit in a while. Has anybody tried fitting a ZF S5-18/3 transmission in an Elan? They were fitted to rally Escorts so bellhousings must be available. All those derelict Maserati Biturbos have one of these excellent gearboxes so they are out there...

vincereynard wrote:I imagine a 3.5 diff would be almost as awkward to source as a Lotus 5 speeder.

A full range of "English axle" crown wheel and pinion sets, including the 3.5:1, are now being made by Quaife/Tran-X. They are available from Tony Thompson Racing and others.

You guys need to download the 2 pdf files and read. There is a guy in the UK building 5 speeds in the 2000E housing

lotus-gearbox-f37/speed-2000e-option-mods-for-elan-t34248.html

holywood3645 wrote:There is a guy in the UK building 5 speeds in the 2000E housing

Yes, a fascinating topic. Unfortunately this replica of the rare Hewland 5 speed conversion is dog-engagement only due to the axial space constraints of fitting another pair of gears into the 2000E main housing. The available ratios are a pretty tight set to boot.

Has any one fitted a TTR manifold with a type 9 box, if so were there any clearance problems between the two?
Cheers Curly

Hi Curly.

Good question. I'll be fitting a T9 (Voights) transmission to my 26r clone with TTR large bore headers. I hope it fits without alteration of the headers, but we will see.

Bill

A simple mod to the Y piece is all that's needed.

CBUEB1771 wrote:

holywood3645 wrote:There is a guy in the UK building 5 speeds in the 2000E housing

Yes, a fascinating topic. Unfortunately this replica of the rare Hewland 5 speed conversion is dog-engagement only due to the axial space constraints of fitting another pair of gears into the 2000E main housing. The available ratios are a pretty tight set to boot.

....and 5th is not an overdrive gear, still 1:1.

Great for the track, but not the road.... Unless!
Lower diff ratio!
Hmmmm?