Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I've not posted on this site before.

I'm contemplating the purchase of a header for my stock '66 Elan FHC. I was thinking of using a straight pipe to the rear with a Supertrap muffler (which I happen to have on hand). Any advice on which vendor sells the best header for the best price, comments on how well this system should perform or a different/preferred approach would be greated appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Mark
36-5755

Mark, where are you located? I'm in Northern CA. with a 1967 Elan coupe LHD 36/5785, close to yours in production. RD Enterprises at www.rdent.com for lotus parts shows headers on his web site. I kept the original header and replaced everything back with original new stuff. Also Dave Bean Engineering, also in the US, my be worth checking.
Have fun with it. Sarto

Sorry, my error - I'm located in Phoenix, AZ, USA.

I've run the set-up you suggest - header (2-Y) w/ straight 2" pipe to a supertrapp. Also, know a guy w/ an S4 with a similar exhaust system. Works fine, can get some popping on decel. Can be a bit loud, but you can tune it to be quieter w/ some top end power loss.

Which SuperTrapp are you going to use?

Kiyoshi

Hi all,
Has anyone got any experience with the Tony Thomson large bore manifold?
It is listed as - "MANIFOLD LARGE BORE 4.2.1? 26R STYLE" in their price list.
-E
1969 FHC 8624

The Supertrapp that I have has about a 2" inlet and seems shorter than most that I've looked at perhaps 18 - 24" in length (I'm going by recollection, so this isn't exact). Bean's catalog mentions a header that is nearly stock configuration with minimal attempt at performance improvement, then a large bore system that is intended to be a performance enhancement. Both are $$! RD Enterprises has a much less expensive system, but I'd be interested in knowing it's "level of performance".

Kiyoshi, thank you for your input and especially your experience with how it sounds. The friend who gave me the Supertrapp said it was too loud for his taste.

Mark

Evan -

I have the TTR big-bore manifold and full exhaust system in my S2. The manifold is a bit of a pain to fit, but ultimately it fits nicely albeit very close to the bodywork. I had some heat problems with the old manifold, so I had the TTR manifold coated before I installed it. I added a heat shield on the footwell side - I should have fitted this before I installed the manifold, as access is severely restricted. No problems so far, even on the closest part of the bulkhead, where I did not fit any insulation or shielding.

Cutting the free ends of the primary tubes to fit the collector was a bit tricky, it must be postioned to clear everthing and mate up with the exhaust pipe. I hung the entire system more or less in place with wire to work out the lengths. After the collector is in place, the exhaust pipe needs to be cut to length: the position of the muffler and the joint to the pipe are determined by the design of the car, so all trimming is done at the connection to the collector.

The system has a nice note, and is reasonably quiet at light throttle, but is quite loud (at least within the car) at heavy throttle. I haven't had any negative comments from the police, but then I don't use full throttle if I see them about

All in all, I like the system and would buy another if I had the occasion. I think the high-temp coating is very important, as is some heat shielding on the side of the footwell.