Engine hoax?

[Garibaldi]

Yep, it's a Fiat/Lancia Twincam, probably from a Supermirafiore, as that's just about the only possible donor car with RWD.

There's another Lotus connection here: A few years back, the Top Gear TV show let loose some Lotus guys on a Lada Riva. As the Lada is basically built on the 1970's Fiat tooling, they chose this engine, suitably tuned, as the power plant. The finishing touch was a Black/Silver paint job similar to the Lotus Sunbeam.

If you're feeling curious, the article can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbOfA5JvYgo

Cheers,

I went looking for google images of the mirafiori twin cam [Brava, 131, 124 twin cam, etc.]and couldn't determine conclusively which side the intake was or where the dipstick was. Then I thought, "maybe I can find a picture of a Vegantune VTA head, which had a lot of Fiat Twin Cam parts. Couldn't find a piccy. Anybody here know conclusively that it's not a Vegantune head? That would be something...what, I'm not sure...

GP

[rgh0]

An old article on the Vegantune VTA engine attached from 1983 with some photos of what the head looked like

regards
Rohan

[RonR]

Here's a pic of a Fiat TC engine in a Fiat. The distinctive shape of the cam covers is the easiest way to identify it.

The Inlet/Exhaust sides are indeed different to the Lotus TC.

Cheers,

[Garibaldi]

An old article on the Vegantune VTA engine attached from 1983 with some photos of what the head looked like

regards
Rohan

Rohan,
You are the Library of Alexandria of the Lotus World! I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mr. Robinson of Vegantune notoriety in the mid 80s. To say it was an experience would be too banal a word. Oh, the stories...

GP

[Frank Howard]

Hey guys, thanks for posting the photos. In one of my previous posts, I said that I doubted the first motor (green one, posted by Johan) was a 2.0L because as the motor evolved from 1.4L to 1.6L to 1.8L to 2.0L, the distributor migrated from the block to the cam. Johan's photo shows it on the left side of the block near the front. Sadlotus's photo shows the fitting for the distributor on the right side of the right cam near the rear, but the distributor has not been fitted yet hence no plug wires. Finally, Ron's photo shows the distributor mounted on the right side of the right cam near the rear. As I said before, I can't remember exactly when the switch was made, but I knew it happened either when the 1.8L was introduced or when the 2.0L was introduced. In other words, the first photo is that of a 1.4L or 1.6 L engine.

[RonR]

Hi Frank,

I think the flexibility of distributor location was something that developed over the years with this engine. Certainly the 1.6 and the two 2.0 Lancia engines that I owned had the distributors on the side of the block. This engine was also surpercharged (Beta HPE Volumex) and Turbocharged (Delta HF Turbo) in it's time. Also, a 16V head was developed which was used in the Delta Integrale. AFAIK, the engine was originally designed by a Ferr*ri F1 designer who was on a sabbatical.

Cheers,

[rgh0]

Rohan,
You are the Library of Alexandria of the Lotus World! I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mr. Robinson of Vegantune notoriety in the mid 80s. To say it was an experience would be too banal a word. Oh, the stories...

GP

GP - not quite the library of Alexandria but I do seem to have collected a lot of seemingly useless information on all things Lotus over the last 30 years.

Mr Robinson seems to have collected quite a reputation in the eighties. I was looking at buying a VTA engined Evante at the time but in the end decided not to, probably a very good decision.

regards
Rohan

[Garibaldi]

Mr Robinson seems to have collected quite a reputation in the eighties. I was looking at buying a VTA engined Evante at the time but in the end decided not to, probably a very good decision.

regards
Rohan

I was there in 1984 and I seem to remember a very large building filled with dreams and promises. In the back of my mind I kept hearing, "It's a Norwegian Blue; lovely plumage..."
GP

There are a couple of Evantes in the US and the owners seems pleased with them...

[Frank Howard]

Rohan,

I understand you're in Australia so I'm very interested in your bookshelves. I mean, do they have some sort of hidden bracket system that prevents the books from flying into the ceiling

[rgh0]

Frank / GP

Conceptually the Evante was a good car. A local lotus club guy built a wide bodied Elan similar to the Evante by adding a couple of inches to each side of the body and putting a plus 2 suspension on the car. He added a fuel injected twin cam and it was a great track day car.

Similarly the VTA was conceptually a good redesign of the twin cam head, probably should have been done as a 4 valve head given when it was developed but otherwise a good design.

Turning good ideas into a real payable business is always the challenge ( or at least making it semi payable if you get the tax dodges right) the fact that Lotus has done it for for over 50 years is a credit to the creativity and hard work all the people involved.

As for keeping the books in the shelves - I tie strings to them so I can pull them down from the ceiling if I have to.

regards
Rohan