other engines

[locust]

Just bought a s3 dhc for restoration and it is minus engine and box, as lotus engines are expensive is there an alternative? I was thinking about a rover twincam K series and ford box, has this been don, will it fit?
Any advice welcome.

[jimj]

When you have spent x?s and x hours doing your restoration the finished car will be worth probably half as much with the "wrong" engine. I`d suggest spending the extra, say, ?1,000 now.
Jim

[locust]

I agree, but I'm still after an alternative, as this will be a budget build and use as a daley car and I don't want the worries of an expensive engine to rebuild all the time, I had that with my Excel.

[tdafforn]

put in a tuned ford crossflow (good for 100 BHP) and then when you have the cash you can add the lotus head (you need to deck the crossflow block and make a few modifications.)
Tim

[MintSprint]

put in a tuned ford crossflow (good for 100 BHP) and then when you have the cash you can add the lotus head (you need to deck the crossflow block and make a few modifications.)
Tim

You don't need to deck the block, even - you'll be needing a Twin Cam front cover, if you're converting the Crossflow to a Lotus Twincam head, and you can but special 'tall' front covers (or fit a spacer plate) to suit.

And tuned Ford Crossflows can be good for quite a lot more than 100bhp... I've got one in my Sylva that makes about 155bhp, revs to 8,000rpm and is still tractable enough for road use in a light car like the Elan.

I've seen Elans with Alfa Twin Cam engines fitted, and it's possible to convert to Ford Zetec engines as well (though it'll probably cost you more than simply buying a new Lotus Twin Cam), but the Crossflow idea is definitely most sensible if you are really strapped for cash.

[garyeanderson]

Umm how do I say this politely. You just got a car with a lot of potential to go up in value if you spend the money right, Coversely you can spend a lot of time getting nothing much done that will add to that upside value. That said look at the 1500 pre-crossflow, almost as much potential as the crossflow but the block is correct for the twin cam head. Wonder of wonders its almost a bolt in. It will be up and running in no time getting 30 mpg no mater how hard you beat it. Buy a set of webers and maifolds, you'll need the carbs for the twin-cam head that will come alondg later.

Gary

p.s. its your car, do as you please with it. I really would like to see you get what you want...

[memnon]

Hi,

You asked a question about other engines and got, frankly a lot of people saying "don't do it". I may well prefer a twin cam in my Elan, but I have given thought to the following other options...

Its upto you what you do, I'm sure you can work out the consequences and make your own mind up!

I looked at a 2l Ford Zetec, It can be made to fit and is relatively cheap to do (search here for more information), converting to RWD is easy as all the parts already exist.

I toyed briefly with the idea of Japanese Bike engine as it already had an ECU and fuel injection.

I almost went for a BDA but decided that I would have to do too much work to the rest of the car to cope with the power.

Personally I don't rate the K series engine due to the head gasket issues, but again it could be made to work.

The main consideration is the height of the engine. Duratec engines are too tall, most modern engines have the same fate.

In the end I decided that I would rebuild the twin cam and just save a little more money to get it done right.

[elansprint71]

The Zetec is a very attractive modern option but hardly falls right into the hole; you will need to do fairly major chassis surgery, unless you happen to have the requisite Spyder item already fitted.

I'm with Gary; closely followed by a crossflow. Let us know what you do.

Cheers,
Pete.

[memnon]

Yeah, I thought that too, but I did some reading and found this link:

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1469

Which suggests that it does fit. Therefore I condisered the engine

[locust]

Thanks for the replies, I will have to think about this a bit more, but the x-flow might be the way.

[pamitchell]

FWIW, I saw a S3 with Toyota 1.8 L power and trans. Very neat install. I've also seen Sprites w. Toyota engines. I'm with the other listers. It's your car. Besides, you can always revert to the TC in future.
Phil

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Locust,

returning to your original posting.
The K series engine was widely used in Caterhams so all of the bits including a suitable gearbox should be easily available.
The K's certainly a lightweight compared to other alternatives with cast iron crankcases that have been suggested. The head gasket problem does have to be assessed as a risk however. The Zetec will slot in without chassis changes provided you can find an Elan g/box.
In any case the production intake systems will most likely be too large to fit in an Elan & that's where you will have to start spending big money along with the cooling, engine management & exhaust saystems.

Cheers
John

[rkneeland]

Locust

The crossflow IS a good interim choice.

I did the same for a +2 I had a while back. And I still have the engine if you're interested. The only pain was fabbing an exhaust manifold and there's not much clearance for the downdraft Weber (on the +2 anyway).

It's a 1600 x flow from a Cortina GT that I owned many years ago. It's NOT a 711M Block, so it's not really suited to tuning or conversion to a twincam.

Shipping engines is another headache.